The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Vince McMahon is finally gone from WWE, leaving in the disgrace he deserves.
The longtime WWE promoter finally ran out of the power to save himself and could no longer hide behind the millions of dollars he paid to women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
McMahon, 78, swiftly resigned from his position of executive chairman of the board at TKO Group on Friday, a day after a bombshell civil lawsuit was filed against him by a former WWE employee that accused the billionaire of sexual abuse, trafficking her to other WWE employees and even defecating on her during a threesome in May 2020.
There will be no “Thank you, Vince” segment on TV this time as there was when he briefly retired two years ago when this scandal was just getting started – just the legacy of arguably the most influential combat sports promotor in history forever soiled by years of alleged misconduct and the lurid details of the lawsuit.
The former employee, Janel Grant, is accusing McMahon of causing her physical harm with his fists, and other objects (including sex toys), along with locking her in a WWE office before he and another WWE executive took turns sexually assaulting her, according to the lawsuit. She also accused McMahon in the lawsuit of forcing her into sexual relationships to keep her job and passing around pornographic pictures and videos of her to other men, including fellow WWE employees.
McMahon’s resignation ends a 20-month saga that was set off by a Wall Street Journal report in June 2022 that said the then-WWE board was investigating McMahon for a $3 million hush money payment to a former employee, who had not been named until Grant filed her lawsuit that claims she had only been paid $1 million. WWE’s investigation concluded that McMahon paid a combined $14.6 million to several women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
McMahon has denied Grant’s claims in the lawsuit but finally did what he should have done from the beginning.
“I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” McMahon said in a statement Friday to Deadline. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.
“However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all of the employees and Superstars who helped make WWE into the global leader it is today, I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effectively immediately.”
McMahon and WWE are no stranger to scandals.
He was acquitted in 1994 after facing federal charges he conspired to distribute steroids to wrestlers working for the company. Former referee Rita Chatterton accused him of rape in 1987. McMahon has always denied the claim but the two reached a multi-million dollar settlement last January “solely to avoid the cost of litigation,” McMahon’s lawyer Jerry McDevitt said at the time.
Unlike in the past when McMahon owned WWE outright or was the controlling shareholder, he wasn’t the man fully in charge this time.
McMahon played all the cards he had left when he returned from his six-month retirement to pursue a sale of WWE in January 2023, which concluded in April in a transaction with Endeavor that led to the merging of the UFC and WWE into the publicly traded, $21.4 billion valuation TKO, led by CEO Ari Emanuel.
Dealing with this so quickly will allow WWE as a company to turn the page and attempt to focus the narrative back on its positive progress. It’s what Triple H did following the Royal Rumble while skating around questions about McMahon and saying he hadn’t read the lawsuit.
McMahon was in more of an advisor role in WWE. TKO already knew it was making a deal with a volatile asset, conceding in an SEC filing back in September that McMahon could “expose us to negative publicity” that could affect the company financially.
It didn’t take long for that to happen, and WWE must now scrub itself of anyone associated with the culture that allowed McMahon’s actions to go unchecked for years.
The news of the lawsuit broke about 48 hours after a banner day for the company, including McMahon ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange touting WWE’s $5 billion “Monday Night Raw” rights deal with Netflix and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joining the TKO board. TKO stock prices are down 13.3 percent heading into trading Tuesday with WrestleMania 40 just two-plus months away.
McMahon couldn’t survive this time, especially with the chance all of this was going to be revisited in greater detail at a trial.
After more than a year and a half of trying to hold on to power, McMahon got the fate he deserved from the start.
It will be curious to see if he will be treated like so many of the former WWE wrestlers who were omitted from being mentioned on broadcasts because their images and histories didn’t line up with the values the company wants to champion.
For now, McMahon will walk away from his wrestling empire monetarily richer than he’s ever been, but with his already shady reputation shattered even further.
The 10 Count
The first real day of Matthew and Nicholas Jackson’s new characters felt like a disappointment. Admonishing Top Flight for being late when they were also late and standing in the back with headsets on watching Sting and Darby Allin’s promos like a bunch of goofballs doing nothing? If the new Young Bucks don’t egregiously abuse their EVP power and embarrass talent in storylines weekly to get heat this isn’t going to work. They should have cut off Darby’s mic for a few minutes and pumped maybe some Christian rock/gospel music into the arena instead. Be bold. If people hate it, that’s good!
I legitimately feel for CM Punk, who finally had his WrestleMania dream lined up before another injury. It was, however, great seeing a teary-eyed Punk do some business with Drew McIntyre on the way so they can do some money-making business on his way back in.
Seth Rollins’ promo was so superb that it made the best and most compassionate case you could for Cody Rhodes to challenge him for the “Dusty Rhodes” title and not the Hogan/Hollywood belt that Roman Reign has — while leaving the door open for The Rock to slip in. But Cody will have to say no or look like a liar to the audience.
AEW might have something in the Escape the Cage team concept after FTR with Daniel Garcia and House of Black put on an excellent, well-booked first showing. Garcia is building some real momentum now.
Mustafa Ali is following the Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre playback as he was a part of TNA and Wrestling Revolver programming. Change your presentation from WWE and feel more like a star and then wrestle everywhere you can no matter how big or small
Something about the opening Dynamite with Hook telling Samoa Joe he’ll see him in the future before he beats up more security guards.
We called for the teaming of Santos Escobar, Huberto Carillo, Angel Garza, and now Elektra Lopez in this space back in November. Triple H must be reading.
Glad the returning Serena Deeb got to cut a very passionate live promo after her Collision match. It made me feel a connection to her in a way I never quite did when she was a heel, and there is plenty more to expand on considering the seriousness of the injury that kept her out.
If WWE is going to do a crossover with TNA on the men’s side, please send either Moose or Josh Alexander over.
With Kevin Patrick now off the SmackDown commentary team and Pat McAfee added to Raw, it’s time for WWE to do at least two things. 1. Gauge Mauro Ranallo’s interest in coming back. 2. Give great consideration to elevating Vic Joseph from NXT. He and Corey Graves have great chemistry together.
Extra: Does New Day continually getting outnumbered by Imperium feel like it’s setting up Big E’s long-awaited return from injury or am I just being way too hopeful?
Wrestler of the Week
Cody Rhodes, WWE
After months of speculation about The Rock, Rhodes got the next step in his validation as the man who should dethrone Roman Reigns by becoming just the fourth wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumbles. After a drama-filled finish with CM Punk, it was refreshing to see Rhodes call out those who doubted his standing by proclaiming he was “the guy” at the press conference.
Social Media Post of the Week
Match to Watch
Grizzled Young Veterans vs. ABC, TNA (Thursday, 8 p.m., AXS TV)
Former NXT stars Drake and Gibson have made their way to TNA and have immediately found themselves in a best-of-three series for the company’s tag team champions Ace Austin and Chris Bey. If you haven’t seen a lot of either of these teams, this is a great time to give them a look as they are some of the top duos not in WWE and this series has a ton of potential.
