So far it’s a civil lawsuit. I wouldn’t be surprised if this triggers a police investigation and criminal charges.
Apparently the Mr McMahon character was inspired by real life. Extremely 
and sleazy behavior for anybody.
This could effect WWE. Allegedly photos and videos were distributed throughout the company. A lot of executives may need to resign and face questions about what they know and any participation.
Any thoughts? Predictions?
I doubt criminal proceedings move forward–I don’t think that’s the intent of the victim. As I understand it, this is happening because Vince pulled a carnie move that he’s done for decades–made one payment and then just stopped paying what was agreed to in the settlement.
There’s not many well-positioned McMahon loyalists left in the organization (Pritchard is still there apparently but I don’t even know what he does) and you’re right, more heads might roll.
Lesner probably won’t be back anytime soon.
I haven’t seen Triple H mentioned in this story. Maybe he’ll be ok. I know Stephanie took leave of absence last year.
Triple H comments in this article weren’t very good. Imho Seems very cold and inconsiderate for the victim.
I’m shocked to discover the wholesome wreslting I watched as a child in the 80s had a seedy underbelly.
Some of the the promoters during the Territory days were sleazy too. Fortunately social media didn’t exist.
I’ve watched retired wrestlers shoot interviews. They’ve commented about getting shorted on pay. Erratic behavior from drinking and drugs probably wasn’t unusual. But it didn’t make the news.
Vince has a long history of ruthlessness. He bought the company from his dad. Then expanded it by poaching the best talent from other promotions. He eventually bought them out or drove them out of business. The territory companies ended.
Most Wrestlers didn’t have long term contracts in the territory days. They had runs in a territory for a year or two. Used up the best story angles and moved to another Territory. Reset and do another run. Most Fans weren’t aware of the other promotions.
Vince locked all the wrestlers into contracts. Starving the other promotions of the best talent.
Vince may pay her an enormous amount of money to keep quiet and stop the eventual depositions that could implicate many others in this matter. He needs to tamp it down as quickly as possible or face even more civil and possibly criminal action involving the sale of WWE to TKO.
Yeah his reaction has been called “grufly surprised that anyone would want to ask about it.” HHH is going to be fine. He’d be named if he was involved. And didn’t Stephanie leave both times because of this stuff with her dad? The first time when it came out that he had used company money to pay off the accusers…and then second time when he forced his way back in in the board coup.
Some backstory for those Dopers who aren’t wrestling nerds and haven’t been following this for two years.
In early 2022, most of Vince’s family left the company - his daughter Stephanie took an indefinite LOA for personal reasons, his son Shane was fired over a creative dispute, and his son-in-law Triple H was sidelined by a heart attack which led to his retiring from wrestling. In the summer, the news first broke that Vince had used $18 million in company funds to pay off women he’d been having affairs with, and that he and John Laurinaitis (more on him later) had demanded sexual favors from women wrestlers in exchange for more prominent roles on TV. Shortly after this broke, Vince resigned as CEO. Stephanie returned as co-CEO alongside WWE President Nick Khan, a former lawyer and talent agent (and Wheel of Fortune winner!), while Triple H took over as head booker (I.e. showrunner).
Laurinaitis resigned around the same time. He’s also a retired wrestler (formerly known as Johnny Ace) and was one of the company’s top agents (I.e. people who produce and script out matches) and was part of Vince’s inner circle of longtime confidents alongside producer Kevin Dunn and fellow agent Bruce Prichard (who you may remember as “Brother Love” back in the day.) Laurinaitis also has fmaily ties to the company - he’s the brother of the late Road Warrior Animal, and his stepdaughters the Bella Twins wrestled in WWE for a decade and won multiple championships, and were romantically linked to John Cena and Bryan Danielson, who were WWE’s two biggest babyfaces in the early 2010s. He was facing a scandal of his own at the time, as Sasha Banks and Naomi, two very popular wrestlers who were the women’s tag champs at the time, had abruptly walked out of the company after a confrontation of an unknown nature with him. (Naomi ultimately returned to WWE this weekend, the day after Vince stepped down.)
Last January, Vince decided to unretire and used his votes as majority owner to force himself back onto the board of directors as chairman, and to fire several members who opposed him. Stephanie and Triple H both voted against his return, and Stephanie resigned afterward. Vince said at the time he was returning in order to oversee the sale of the company, which he did - in November, it merged with Endeavour, the parent company of UFC, to form TKO Holdings. Former Endeavour CEO Ari Emanuel is the CEO of TKO, and Vince became Executive Chairman, a position which under the new company bylaws was his for life if he wanted it, with Khan reverting to his former position as WWE President. (Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson also joined the TKO board last week just before the latest news broke.)
The lawsuit, which was filed by one of the women Vince paid off, dropped on Thursday and Vince resigned the following day after Slim Jim threatened to walk away from their longterm sponsorship deal with WWE.
One more thing: Kevin Dunn also retired from WWE a few weeks ago, but AFAIK that was unrelated and neither he, Prichard, or any other McMahons have been implicated so far as I know. Vince’s wife Linda hasn’t been involved with the company since her unsuccessful Senate run in 2010, and according to insider gossip their marriage has only existed on paper for several decades now and they no longer live together.
Brock Lesnar is pulled from Royal Rumble. Allegedly he may be implicated too.
I’m not sure watching a pee video 
is serious enough. Disgusting yes. But he can claim not to know it was made under coercion. This may be the tip of the iceberg, uh pee-berg. water sports
https://www.si.com/fannation/mma/news/brock-lesnar-wwe-major-update
Brock isn’t named in the lawsuit and isn’t a defendant, but the description that’s given (a WWE and UFC performer who was negotiating a new WWE contract in 2021) describes exactly one person, so it’s definitely him. His spot in the Royal Rumble over the weekend got taken by Bron Breakker, the son of retired tag team great Rick Steiner (whose own legacy has unfortunately been sullied by bigoted comments he made about a transgender wrestler at a convention last year).
Brock’s a big enough draw that I’d be surprised if WWE never brings him back again, but it’s probably gonna be awhile.
The podcast “Behind the Bastards” had a good series on McMahon early last year.
“History’s Greatest Monster”?
Somebody doesn’t have Cable…
I started listening on YouTube. Thanks.
It’s confirming a lot of things that I’d read over the years about pro wrestling and particularly Vince McMahon.
“Linda McMahon served as the 25th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)” under the 45th President. Not entirely germane to the top story, but indicative of their desire to remain influential.
The titles Robert Evans uses are frequently tongue-in-cheek.
Although, the Vince McMahon series was one of the longest at 6 episodes (and probably could have gone on longer because it barely scratches the surface of Vince McMahon’s later years).
The one on Kissinger is also 6 episodes, and I’m pretty sure Evans would rank Kissinger as much more monstrous then McMahon just due to overall impact on the world.
I was going to say something similar. I think the title also plays into McMahon’s penchant for hyperbole.
Also, the podcast has been running awhile now and most of the bigger monsters have already been covered.
IIRC the Feds investigated Vince a few years ago during his payoff scandal.
Round 2. I assume the information they gathered last time will get added to this new case. Perhaps establishing a pattern of sexual harassment and assault.
The Slate article is well researched and a good read. It’s a good review of Vince’s aggressive career.