- WWE boss Vince McMahon resigned as TKO high-up due to the sexual misconduct allegations made by his former employee
- Triple H wants the WWE to stay out of McMahon’s case
WWE co-founder Vince McMahon has resigned from his position as TKO executive chairman and member of TKO board of directors. His decision came in the heat of being accused of sexual misconduct by a former employee.
The boss stepped away
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut Thursday, WWE’s former legal and talent departments employee Janet Grant alleges that McMahon forced her to have a sexual relationship with him. Grant claims that McMahon threatened that she would lose her job if she decided not to comply.
Grant also alleges that McMahon “passed around pornographic pictures and videos of her to other men, including other employees.”
Grant stated in the lawsuit that she has been abused and sexually exploited since March 2020. The lawsuit also reportedly has “several text message screenshots that purported to be McMahon asking for depraved sexual acts.”
In a statement, McMahon announced his resignation and called Grant’s allegations “baseless accusations.”
“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. “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.”
Triple H tries to remain unfazed
WWE Chief Content Officer and McMahon’s son-in-law Triple H was unsurprisingly quizzed for comments during WWE’s Royal Rumble press conference. True to form, Triple H insisted that they want to “focus on the positives” despite the evident stir McMahon’s case has caused.
“I think Cody [Rhodes] mentioned it, that we all found out in real time when you were. And that’s the truth. I’ll go back to what I said before, this is an amazing week for us and at this point, I don’t even wanna get bogged down with the negatives of it. I just want to focus on the positives and where we’re going… I feel like we are in the middle of something that we might not be able to put our finger on now but five, ten years from now we’re going to be saying ‘wow, what a time that was’. I want to focus on that,” Triple H told reporters.
Jon Alba and then Brandon Thurston asked Triple H the Vince McMahon lawsuit question.
His answer was: "I don't even want to get bugged down in the negatives, just want to focus on the positives."
OH BOY. pic.twitter.com/LcUrkpgGsp
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) January 28, 2024
As for what the company plans to do to ensure that such cases won’t happen again, Triple H replied:
“I’ll give you the most generalized answer I can. Everything possible. And that is a very important thing to us, a very important topic to us. It’s as simple as everything possible.”
Paul “Triple H” Levesque asked what is being done to make sure people in positions of power can't take advantage of employees under them:
Everything possible. pic.twitter.com/pNaQBouAqP
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 28, 2024
The case is still ongoing and according to a previous report, WWE superstar and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was also involved. As a result, Lesnar’s supposed WWE return is now reportedly in jeopardy.
