When Was The Decision Made That Vince McMahon Would Reitre?
Vince McMahon's retirement has shocked the wrestling industry, but that doesn't mean the decision was made overnight.
PWInsider is reporting that the decision for McMahon to retire was privately settled on about a week ago. Shortly after that, the choice was made to replace him with his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan, as co-CEO's. Only an extremely closed circle of people knew about the impending retirement, with talent and other corporate employees being blindsided by the news. Many in the company probably believed that they would never see a day where McMahon wasn't at the helm, and the announcement sent talent backstage at tonight's "WWE SmackDown" into "mass confusion."
The decision to announce McMahon's retirement on a Friday afternoon was supposedly deliberate in order to combat any negative fallout from the media and stockholders. WWE stock had closed today at $66.22 at 4pm EST, and the tweet from McMahon followed shortly after.
McMahon will no longer be involved in the creative process within the company going forward. News has yet to come out regarding who will be on the creative team or how the process will work. Kevin Dunn and Bruce Prichard are the point people on "SmackDown" tonight and will be running the show. Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque are both said to be backstage tonight, but it is not known if Nick Khan will be present.
News broke that McMahon would be retiring when he made the announcement on Twitter. Along with Stephanie and Khan taking on new roles, Levesque will be returning to his position as the new EVP of Talent Relations as John Laurinaitis' replacement. All this movement at the top of the WWE hierarchy comes after it was revealed by the Wall Street Journal that McMahon had allegedly paid hush money to at least four women totalling more than $12 million, including a former paralegal with whom he allegedly had an affair, a former wrestler he solicited into having oral sex, and a former employee to whom he had sent unsolicited naked pictures.