Vince McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive, who retired from the company last year is plotting a return to the WWE, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
McMahon left the WWE following a hush money and sexual harassment scandal. He now plans on returning as executive chairman of the company. According to a report, the reason McMahon wants to return is to help spearhead a sales process for the media rights for Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown, as they are about to be renegotiated. He reportedly communicated to the board that he won’t accept any media-rights deal or sale unless he has direct involvement from the outset.
Last year McMahon suddenly announced his retirement from WWE on Twitter while he was under investigation for paying multiple women to keep quiet about alleged sexual affairs. The WWE has disclosed multiple expenses totaling $19.6 million, which forced the company to revise its financial statements for 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The WWE board reportedly told McMahon that it would welcome his help on a potential review process, but that he would have to repay expenses incurred by the company. McMahon said he would continue to work to reimburse the company, but wouldn’t agree to not returning to the company.
Following his retirement, the company announced that Vince’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, would serve as the wrestling promotion’s CEO and chairperson. Shortly after, the company announced that Stephanie’s husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, would be in control of WWE creative storylines.
