Report: Vince McMahon Planning WWE Return
Disgraced former WWE Chairman & CEO planning return despite facing 2 new sexual abuse allegations.
Vince McMahon plans on returning to WWE, believing that he received bad advice to resign earlier this year, when the disgraced former Chairman and CEO was alleged to have paid tens of millions of dollars to suppress multiple allegations of sexual misconduct throughout his lengthy tenure.
A new report from the Wall Street Journal states that McMahon believes that had he remained WWE Chairman and CEO, the allegations and investigations would have blown over. The 77-year-old formally resigned from his position in July. Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were appointed co-CEOs in his place, with Paul 'Triple H' Levesque returning to his old Executive Vice President position and becoming head of creative, completing the regime change.
On top of those that prompted his demise, McMahon now faces two further sets of allegations from women who allege the former WWE executive assaulted them, reports the WSJ. One is Rita Chatterton, a former WWE referee who first came forward in 1992, claiming Vince had raped her in his limousine in 1986. A letter from Chatterton's lawyer, John Clune, to McMahon's representation dated 3 November saw Chatterton ask for $11.75 million in damages, though Vince has always denied those allegations.
Mr. Clune's letter included the assertion that the damages to Chatterton as a result of the alleged rape were "hard to overstate," with Rita suffering "years of ongoing depression, substance abuse, disordered eating, lost income, and overall a decreased quality of life.” The letter also noted that Chatterton has passed a polygraph test and has multiple people who can corroborate her account.
The other allegation comes from a former spa manager, whose lawyer claims McMahon assaulted his client in 2011. Unlike Rita Chatterton's allegations, these had never made it to the media before, though the victim alleges they reported the incident to the resort at the time. She also informed her husband, who drove to the WWE event McMahon was in town for, attempting to confront McMahon with a baseball bat. He was turned away, per the accounts.
McMahon has thus far refused to pay settlements to Chatterton and the former spa manager. WWE's auditors have advised the company that even if the resolutions of these claims were kept confidential, they may have to be disclosed by WWE publically.
Despite resigning as Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon retains majority voting control in WWE thanks to his preferred class stock holdings.