Vince McMahon has been the owner, chairman and face of the WWE for over 40 years.
Today, the 76-year-old revealed he'd be stepping back from his leadership roles in the business while the company investigates media claims that he gave an employee of the company $3 million not to speak about a relationship they had after she decided to leave the company.
Vince McMahon and his alleged affair
The news comes days after The Wall Street Journal published a report of an alleged $3 million hush pact paid by Vince from a company account to a former employee who he allegedly had an affair with.
The agreement which was reportedly made in January 2022, which prevents the former employing "from discussing her relationship with Mr. McMahon or disparaging him."
The WSJ claim that investigations into the scandal started in April, after the WWE allegedly received an email saying that Vince McMahon had bumped the woman's salary from $100,000 a year to $200,000 after beginning a relationship with him.
The WWE board made up of Vince's daughter Stephanie and husband Triple H are still investigating the details of the alleged affair and payment. This week, the WWE board did release a statement to the Journal stating that the relationship between McMahon and the former employee was consensual.
You can read the full statement by the WWE here.
The newspaper claim the board is also investigating "other, older nondisclosure agreements involving claims by former female WWE employees of misconduct by Mr. McMahon," while also looking into other misconduct claims made against John Laurinaitis, the company's head of talent relations.
This gif summed everything up perfectly.
Live scenes from the WWE Headquarters pic.twitter.com/80VabYpLqU
— 90s WWE (@90sWWE) June 17, 2022
Despite the controversy, the WWE have announced that Vince McMahon will return to Smackdown tonight.
Mr. McMahon will appear on SmackDown tonight at 8 PM ET live on FOX. pic.twitter.com/6XEEDwR0Hy
— WWE (@WWE) June 17, 2022
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