Vince McMahon has left WWE effective immediately.
On Friday, January 26th, McMahon issued a public statement to Deadline to once again deny the recent allegations and to announce his resignation as WWE Executive Chairman and member of the TKO Board of Directors:
“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 this evening of the scorching lawsuit against him filed earlier this week. “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, effective immediately.”
January 25th saw an article by The Wall Street Journal published that detailed Vince McMahon being accused of sex trafficking by a former WWE employee. The disturbing details included multiple counts of sexual assault and degradation, which included the former employee being forced to commit sexual acts to multiple executives and talent.
Vince McMahon released a statement that day to deny the allegations and claim that the lawsuit was filled with lies. The following day, major WWE sponsor Slim Jim announced that they would not be sponsoring the company in light of the allegations:
“Slim Jim values integrity and respect in all of our partnerships. Given the recent disturbing allegations against Vince McMahon, at this time we’ve decided to pause our promotional activities with WWE. This decision reflects our commitment to our brand values and responsibility to our community. We will continue to monitor the situation and base our future engagements on our values and what’s best for our brand.”
Sean Ross Sapp would later report that another major sponsor had elected to not continue their partnership with WWE following the allegations. The announcement was made internally by WWE President Nick Khan, who sent the following company-wide email:
“I wanted to inform you that Vince McMahon has tendered his resignation from his positions as TKO Executive Chairman and on the TKO Board of Directors. He will no longer have a role with TKO Group Holdings or WWE.”
Vince McMahon Will Not Return
Back in July 2022, McMahon announced his retirement from WWE following the first allegations that came to light. However, as many predicted, McMahon would return to the company just 6 months later. As noted by Dave Meltzer, with sponsorship implications and a lack of voting power, there is no coming back from this time:
Vince really isn’t coming back this time. He doesn’t have the voting power. That lawsuit made it impossible. Sponsor pullouts can be a domino and they needed to stop the dominos from falling immediately.
