As noted, WWE announced today that they are reinstating several financial statements due to “certain unrecorded expenses” by Vince McMahon, which are obviously the NDA payouts made to several women over the years. The payouts were just revealed in recent months, and led to McMahon’s retirement on Friday. It was also announced that WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations Paul “Triple H” Levesque is leading the WWE creative team once again, while the new roles for WWE Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and Co-CEO Nick Khan were made official.
The full SEC filing can be found at this link. The filing indicates how Vince is being investigated by other entities. This may be a reference to the law firms investigating WWE over the allegations, but it could be something we haven’t heard about yet. The filing notes:
“As previously announced, a special committee of independent members of the Board is conducting an investigation into alleged misconduct by Vince McMahon, which investigation remains ongoing. The Company has also received, and may receive in the future, regulatory, investigative and enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or demands arising from, related to, or in connection with these matters.”
As we’ve noted, it’s believed that more allegations against Vince may be revealed in the coming weeks or months. Mainstream media outlets are also working on pieces about Vince, including HBO’s Real Sports, and those may include additional allegations.
In another interesting note from today’s SEC filing, they described Vince’s exit as a resignation, not a retirement. This could be a situation where retiring and resigning mean the same thing from a corporate perspective, but the language used is interesting as we’ve only seen Vince’s exit called a retirement until this filing. Today’s filing notes:
“On July 22, 2022, Vincent K. McMahon informed the Company and its Board of Directors (the “Board”) of his resignation from his positions as Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and director of the Company, effective immediately.”
It was also confirmed that Vince is gone from the WWE Board of Directors. The WWE Corporate website now lists the following members of the Board:
* Stephanie McMahon (Executive Committee Chair)
* Nick Khan (Executive Committee Member)
* Paul Levesque (Executive Committee Member)
* Steve Koonin (Compensation Committee Member)
* Ignace Lahoud (Audit Committee Member)
* Erika Nardini (Compensation Committee Member)
* Steve Pamon (Audit Committee Member, Governance & Nominating Committee Chair)
* Man Jit Singh (Compensation Committee Chair, Governance & Nominating Committee Member)
* Jeffrey R. Speed (Audit Committee Chair, Governance & Nominating Committee Member)
* Alan M. Wexler (Audit Committee Member)
Friday’s massive WWE corporate shake-up came after the WWE Board of Directors began investigating Vince and then-Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis over allegations of misconduct earlier this year. As we’ve noted, it was initially revealed on Wednesday, June 15 that WWE’s Board of Directors has been investigating Vince over the “secret $3 million settlement” he made to the former paralegal that was hired in 2019. Laurinaitis was also being investigated for his involvement, and it was revealed that the Board had been looking into other instances with former female employees as well. It was then announced on Friday, June 17 that Stephanie McMahon returned from her leave of absence to act as the Interim CEO & Interim Chairwoman after Vince voluntarily stepped away from his Chairman & CEO corporate duties, while still continuing his creative responsibilities, at least at that time. It was then revealed on Monday, June 20 that Bruce Prichard, WWE’s Senior Vice President and RAW/SmackDown Executive Producer, was working as the Interim Senior Vice President of Talent Relations, filling in for Laurinaitis during the investigation. It was then revealed on Friday, July 8, that McMahon agreed to pay more than $12 million in “hush money” to four women, including a former wrestler, as another round of allegations were made public. Prichard is no longer working the interim role as WWE announced on July 22 that Triple H is the new WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. Vince’s retirement was announced hours after Triple H’s new role was revealed, and Vince was the first to confirm that Stephanie is the new Chairwoman & Co-CEO, along with Co-CEO Nick Khan. Laurinaitis is believed to be gone from the company. WWE announced today, July 25, that Triple H is also the new head of creative. WWE also announced today that previous financial statements are being revised due to “certain unrecorded expenses” by Vince, which are the payouts to various women. You can find full details at the links below, including statements from Vince and Stephanie, full details on the anonymous e-mails that led to the investigations, the “hush money” pacts, and more.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. Below are links to our various reports on the McMahon – Laurinaitis situation, and Triple H’s new role, Brock Lesnar walking out of SmackDown, and more.
FULL COVERAGE OF THE VINCE MCMAHON – JOHN LAURINAITIS ALLEGATIONS AND FALLOUT:
– Vince McMahon Facing Additional Investigations?, More on Vince’s Exit from WWE
– WWE Restates Financial Statements Due to Unrecorded Vince McMahon Expenses, Vince to Pay Money Back
– Backstage News on Brock Lesnar Working WWE SmackDown After Walking Out Earlier
– Stephanie McMahon and WWE Fans Send “Thank You” Message to Vince McMahon
– Read Vince McMahon’s Full Retirement Letter Sent to WWE Employees
– Brock Lesnar Officially Pulled from WWE SmackDown
– WWE to Replace Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam?, More on Lesnar’s Reaction to Vince McMahon’s Retirement
– Backstage News on Vince McMahon’s Retirement, Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan’s New WWE Roles, More
– Brock Lesnar Reportedly Leaves SmackDown, Upset Over Vince McMahon’s WWE Retirement
– Vince McMahon Retires from WWE
– Triple H at WWE SmackDown, Backstage Talk on Triple H’s New Role, Bruce Prichard Update, More
– WWE Announces Triple H’s New Executive Role, Triple H Comments
– Netflix Reportedly Pulls Vince McMahon Project, Millions of Dollars Spent
– WWE Issues Internal Statement on Latest Vince McMahon Allegations
– Vince McMahon Reportedly Paid Millions of Dollars In “Hush Money” to Former Wrestler and Others
– News on Who Made the Decision to Name Stephanie McMahon as WWE’s Interim CEO & Chairwoman
– Stephanie McMahon Addresses Investigation Into Her Father During WWE HQ Meeting
– How Much Value WWE Has Lost Since Vince McMahon Scandal Broke, WWE Ratings Up Due to Buzz?
– WWE Now Facing Multiple Potential Class Action Lawsuits
– Vince McMahon Makes Surprise WWE RAW Appearance to Hype Big Return
– More Details On Vince McMahon’s Mood, Backstage Atmosphere At Friday’s WWE SmackDown
– Vince McMahon Opens Tonight’s WWE SmackDown, Video of the Segment
– Stephanie McMahon Sends Message to WWE Staff After Today’s Huge Announcement
– Vince McMahon Announced for WWE SmackDown
– Pat McAfee Reacts to Vince McMahon Allegations, Thinks We Will Never Get the Truth
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.
