Gloria Holmes
Was WWE President Vince McMahon having an affair with an employee and then silenced her by multimillion? The company’s board of directors has been investigating the allegations for weeks. Now the Wall Street Journal has published a report on the new wrestling scandal.
WWE CEO Vince McMahon has reportedly paid the departing employee $3 million to wrestle the wrestling world.
McMahon had a consensual relationship with the woman, who joined WWE in 2019 as a paralegal. The financial settlement, made in January 2022, was designed to ensure the woman would remain silent about events that occurred during her time in WWE. that reports that The Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
As a result of an investigation by the WWE Board of Directors, which began in April, older secret agreements related to other misconduct by McMahon towards former female employees were revealed. And John Lorenatis, as Head of Talent Relationships, All Things WWE Superstars, also plays a role here.
The Wall Street Journal could not determine the exact number of silence agreements reached in the past – but it seems certain that several million US dollars have been paid over the years to cover up former personnel affairs. It is said that McMahon paid his own fortune.
An independent law firm was consulted and is now investigating what happened at WWE Public.
Ex-employee ‘passed over like a toy’
The WWE Board of Directors is said to have received an email for the first time on March 30 from a 41-year-old paralegal friend. She says she originally received a $100,000 annual salary. After the woman had a sexual relationship with Mr. McMahon (76), the amount increased to $200,000.
The email claims that McMahon “handed it over like a toy” to John Lorenatis. He continued, “My girlfriend was so scared that Vince McMahon and his attorney Jerry (editor’s note) gave her millions of dollars to shut her mouth.”
Is McMahon’s role as president swinging right now?
Could these discoveries jeopardize Vince McMahon’s position at his own company?
One thing is for sure: McMahon controls the majority of the voting shares and the WWE Board of Directors cannot be voted out of office. If this story develops into a broader media issue, and perhaps makes even bigger waves, McMahon may still have to fight back. Especially if pressure from business partners NBCUniversal and FOX, which are responsible for more than half of WWE’s annual sales, should increase.
The crucial point remains whether the special payments the paralegals receive come directly from WWE. This was rejected by Jerry McDevitt in a Wall Street Journal article. However, it appears that the 41-year-old has already received a bonus after she started dating McMahon. The SEC should take a closer look here.
The WWE Board of Directors consists of twelve people. Among them are McMahon’s brother-in-law Triple H (Paul Levesque) and daughter Stephanie McMahon, who abruptly left her day role in May. By this time she will have known of the investigation that has been opened against her father. Recently, a media report surfaced that was supposed to show Stephanie in disrepair. Accordingly, one can now speculate on how the scandal surrounding CEO Vince McMahon will be placed in the media.
One thing is for sure: The position of WWE President Nick Khan, the former sports rights executive who joined the company in August 2020, is stronger than ever.
