The story about Vince McMahon’s payments to settle past sexual misconduct allegations continues to grow. According to a Wall Street Journal story on Friday, McMahon reportedly paid $12 million to four women over the past 16 years to keep allegations of sexual misconduct quiet.
The latest story follows a report from earlier in June noting the WWE board was investigating a “secret $3 million settlement” that Vince McMahon had paid to a paralegal he allegedly had an affair with, now with three additional payments added. The latest was from 2006 until 2018, with one allegedly totaling $7.5 million to a former wrestler who alleged McMahon tried to coerce her into giving him oral sex, later declining to renew her contract when his advances were denied.
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Another $1 million payment was for a woman who worked as a contractor for WWE and allegedly received “unsolicited nude photos” from McMahon. A third $1 million is reportedly connected to a former manager who had worked with McMahon for a decade.
After the first WSJ report, McMahon made his first appearance on WWE TV in years, strangely appearing on Smackdown on Fox as a sort of way to calm concerns. But then he has appeared on each show since and made a very public appearance at the latest UFC event in Las Vegas after Money in the Bank.
McMahon did step back from his role as Chairman and CEO of WWE, with daughter Stephanie McMahon stepping into an interim role until the investigation is concluded. “I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the special committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation,” Vince McMahon said in a statement after the scandal broke. “I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”
He’s visibly still part of the company and monitoring the creative storylines for the product inside the ring. According to Fightful, this might even be a way for McMahon to remind the world who is in charge of the company and who helped to build it into the giant it is today. McMahon even used his SmackDown appearance to reportedly say “f-k em!” when he returned through the curtain to backstage.
