Vince McMahon announced his retirement from WWE back in July 2022, while surrounded by allegations of sexual misconduct.
It was alleged that McMahon made a series of “hush money” payments to multiple women to suppress the claims. Among the allegations were claims that McMahon paid a former wrestler $7.5 million after she suggested that he had coerced her into giving him oral sex.
Meanwhile, a little over ten days after returning to WWE in January 2023, McMahon reached a settlement with former referee Rita Chatterton. The settlement was in relation to a 1986 incident where Chatterton alleged that she was raped by McMahon.
On April 3rd it was announced that WWE would be merging with UFC following a deal struck worth $21 billion with parent company Endeavor. Following the announcement, McMahon appeared on Squawk in the Box with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel to discuss the deal. During the interview, the allegations were briefly mentioned along with McMahon’s legacy. The Executive Chairman claimed that he’d “owned up” to his mistakes.
“I’ve made mistakes, obviously, personally and professionally through my 50-year career. I’ve owned up to every single one of them and then moved on. I’m not sure of the legacy stuff. I’m not going to write it. I don’t know. I want to say, as someone who had an extraordinary amount of fun, great passion for what they did and wound up with the biggest deal he’s ever done in his life,”
McMahon went on to claim that WWE would have been sold even if the sexual misconduct scandal didn’t happen.
“Absolutely.
It makes sense. Nothing has ever happened like this before. I’m always looking what’s best for our stockholders and our company. This is the best thing that has happened in a long time. All the WrestleManias combined doesn’t equal to the magnitude we will do together.”
Ari Emanuel and Vince McMahon on CNBC talking the Endeavor-WWE Deal
Ari Emanuel says he wouldn’t have let Vince McMahon walk away pic.twitter.com/bceJJJYdfV
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) April 3, 2023
Vince McMahon To Be Involved With WWE Creative
Vince McMahon also confirmed that he will be involved with WWE creative going forward. McMahon denied that he would be “in the weeds,” but instead involved on a “higher level.”
Following Roman Reigns shocking win over Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania it was speculated that this could have been down to Vince McMahon. However, it has been reported that this wasn’t the case.
H/t to Fightful