Vince McMahon is making headlines at the moment after the Wall Street Journal released a report about the WWE board investigating a secret $3 million dollar settlement that Vince paid to a former employee he allegedly had an affair with. The report also noted that the board learned of other non-disclosure agreements involving Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis.
Fightful Select is reporting that WWE made their staff aware of the Wall Street Journal article when they issued an internal email which stated the following:
“The Wall Street Journal has published a report about WWE with allegations that we and our Board of Directors take seriously. We are cooperating fully with the independent investigation initiated by our Board of Directors.”
Sources indicated that Vince McMahon’s relationship with the former employee was suspected by many in the company. It was also indicated that around the time WWE made cuts in April of 2021 she was promoted from assistant to John Laurinaitis to a “director” role.
It was noted that Stephanie McMahon would have been made aware of the investigation because she’s on the board, and the same goes for Triple H and Nick Khan. It’s not clear if her leave of absence had anything to do with the investigation. There was said to be immediate speculation that someone within the company leaked the information intentionally.
Fightful reportedly spoke with female talents who expressed frustration when John Laurinaitis was brought back to the role of Head of Talent Relations in 2021. One anonymous talent followed up today and said, “I’d rather get all my shit sent to me in a trash bag when I get fired than have to deal with him, and neither are good options.”
Other sources in WWE who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity agreed that this is the biggest threat to Vince McMahon’s power since the steroid trial. The same sources expected John Laurinaitis to be replaced with one saying Laurinaitis is the “latest fall guy for Vince, his turn in line was coming.”
