Vince McMahon And Kevin Dunn Were Not At Recent WWE TV Taping
Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn are an integral part of WWE's weekly television broadcasts behind the scenes, but it appears the duo were occupied elsewhere while a recent TV taping was taking place.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McMahon, along with Dunn, his longtime associate and EVP of WWE Television Production, were absent from "WWE SmackDown" last week in Orlando, Florida — a rare occurrence. The Observer did not disclose any further details about the duo's absence, though notably, on the same day, church bells were ringing for 16-time WWE World Champion John Cena, who married Shay Shariatzadeh for the second time in Vancouver. While Cena's nuptials could be a plausible reason, it's unusual for either McMahon or Dunn to miss a TV taping, and whereabouts that day remain unknown.
We do know that McMahon was in Florida for "WWE Raw" on Monday night — "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair confirmed during his appearance on "Busted Open Radio" this week that he had seen McMahon in Tampa, where "Raw" was taking place, and personally thanked him for putting Flair back in the WWE signature video played at the start of every company television broadcast.
As of this writing, McMahon is under investigation following the uncovering of multiple non-disclosure agreements and multi-million dollar payments made to former employees by the Wall Street Journal. McMahon reportedly paid hush money to those involved in the NDAs to keep quiet about his alleged sexual misconduct — one of the payments reportedly totaling $7.5 million. In response to the allegations, McMahon stepped back from his executive roles as chairman & CEO of WWE, with his daughter, Stephanie, taking the reins in the interim, though McMahon is still leading creative for the company. Hours after the 76-year-old handed over the reins, he made a public appearance on "WWE SmackDown," reminding fans of WWE's signature slogan — "Then, now, forever, together" — before welcoming everyone to the show. McMahon's most recent on-screen WWE appearance came on the June 27 episode of "Raw," when he welcomed John Cena back to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his WWE debut.