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Vince McMahon is in the headlines yet again, as Wall Street Journal learned about additional NDAs tied to alleged sexual misconduct from the longtime WWE figurehead.
Upon publishing the story, Fightful was contacted by multiple WWE staff, including some who had remained quiet in the past about McMahon's handling of the situation. One told Fightful they wished they'd spoken out sooner, and said that McMahon's response would often go from "no selling the whole thing," to "being defiant." They also said that after Vince McMahon's "pointless" June 17 appearance, he returned to the Gorilla position and shouted "Fuck em!" seemingly in response to the allegations that caused his insistence to appear on television.
McMahon has appeared on 3 episodes of Raw and Smackdown total since then, and made a rare public appearance at UFC 276. He's scheduled to be at the site of Smackdown on Friday night, but we don't know if he's appearing on screen.
When the initial Wall Street Journal story emerged, a former talent contacted Fightful and they said of "at least one major story" would come out in the coming weeks, but didn't feel comfortable identifying the story specifically. They confirmed to Fightful this morning it was tied to the former talent who gained a $7.5M agreement. McMahon's behavior was heavily rumored among the writing team based on those that we spoke to, though we didn't hear if elements of coercion and NDAs were well known. One former writer we spoke to said that McMahon's relationship's would be a half-joking excuse as to why he'd be late to meetings before TV.
Everyone that Fightful spoke with continued to believe that John Laurinaitis was "done" in the company, but believes he has a "golden parachute" deal with WWE that will likely take care of him. Female talent had contacted Fightful last year upon his promotion back into talent relations expressing their frustration. One higher up told Fightful "Johnny Ace's ninth life is about to be lost."
WWE talent have not been available to speak on the record about the allegations and reports, but have spoken with Fightful privately and expressed displeasure and extreme frustration with Vince McMahon's handling of it.
Fightful's requests for comment went unreturned by WWE on this matter. We also reached out to those close to the situation on the matter, and former WWF referee Rita Chatterton, who made rape allegations regarding Vince McMahon in the 1980s.
Vince McMahon was backstage at Smackdown on July 8, continuing his usual duties in creative.
Since the publishing of our original post, a memo went out to staff
"The Wall Street Journal has published a second story with expanded details on its initial WWE report last month. We want to reiterate that we and our Board of Directors take these allegations seriously.
We’ve been cooperating fully with the investigation led by our Board of Directors and will continue to do so until its conclusion. Please note that upon its conclusion, WWE leadership will make itself available to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you."
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