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EXCLUSIVE: Vince McMahon is facing charges of rape, defecation, sex trafficking and more with WWE and UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings.
“I stand by my previous statement that Ms. Grant's lawsuit is full of lies and obscene fabricated incidents that never occurred and represents a vindictive distortion of the truth,” McMahon said this evening. “I will vigorously defend myself against these baseless allegations and look forward to clearing my name.
“Out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO Company and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, as well as all the employees and Superstars who have helped make WWE the global leader it is today, I “I will be resigning from my chairmanship and the TKO board effective immediately,” the WWE co-founder added.
McMahon's abrupt exit was sparked by former WWE employee Janel Grant's detailed and shocking lawsuit on January 25th.
The lawsuit specifically targets Grant's portrayal as a constantly abused sexual punching bag for McMahon and various WWE executives and at least one unnamed “WWE Superstar” during her time with the company from 2019 to 2022, and seeks various damages and revocation of the NDA The former employee was forced to sign. A McMahon spokesman on Thursday called Grant's lawsuit “full of lies” and said his client would fight it in court.
Today, TKO Deadline referred McMahon's statement to learn more about the situation. Who could take over McMahon's vacated position as CEO of the company or whether that position will remain is still up in the air, according to sources.
McMahon's fall from his TKO perch amid the sexual abuse allegations is sudden, but follows his expulsion from the WWE, which he co-founded, in 2022 for “alleged executive misconduct.” The misconduct, which WWE talent relations chief John Laurinaitis called out, came as numerous multimillion-dollar payouts to former female employees and others were made public.
One of those revelations involved a $3 million payout to a woman with whom McMahon was having an affair. In her complaint, Grant says McMahon agreed to pay her $3 million in 2022 to keep their sexual relationship secret if she signed an NDA. Grant, who is now trying to have the nondisclosure agreement neutered, signed it at the time but says she has only received $1 million from McMahon so far.
As a defendant in Grant's lawsuit, Laurinaitis left WWE in 2022. Although McMahon was fired from the company by the WWE board in early 2022, he returned not long after, installed a new board, and completed the sale of WWE to Endeavor and the formation by TKO last year. In her lawsuit, Grant calls the internal investigation into the claims against McMahon a “sham.”
Having previously boasted about McMahon's role in Endeavor-owned TKO, where Ari Emanuel is CEO, he said yesterday, after Janel Grant's personal injury lawsuits were filed, that Mr. McMahon does not control TKO or oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE.” They continued to distance themselves from McMahon, adding: “Although this matter predates our TKO leadership team's tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant's horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”
This latest lawsuit against McMahon was filed just over 48 hours after it was announced that TKO had inked a 10-year, $5 billion deal with Netflix to have the streamer appear on WWE's Monday Night Raw, among other shows, starting next year The company's programs can climb the ring.