Vince McMahon Suddenly Announces Retirement From The WWE

Photo: Ethan Miller (Getty Images)

Today scandal-ridden former WWE CEO Vince McMahon announced his retirement from the wrestling dynasty he presided over for more than four decades.

McMahon suddenly announced his retirement on Twitter, saying that at the age of 77 it was time for him to retire from WWE. After thanking the World Wrestling Entertainment universe, McMahon signed off his tweet with the WWE tagline, “Then. Now. Still. Together”, followed by the hashtag “#thankful”.

Read more: Everything We Know About Vince McMahon’s WWE Probe [Updated]

Update 7/22/2022 6:45 PM ET: In a new statement, McMahon explained his departure:

As I approach 77, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE. Over the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire, move, surprise and always entertain you. I want to thank my family for their powerful contributions to our success, and I also want to thank all of our past and present Superstars and employees for their dedication and passion for our brand. Most importantly, I want to thank our fans for allowing us into your home every week and being your choice of entertainment. I have the deepest appreciation and admiration for our generations of fans around the world who have loved, currently love, and sometimes even love our form of sports entertainment.

Our global audience can take comfort in knowing that WWE will continue to entertain you with the same fervor, dedication and passion as always. I am extremely confident in the continued success of WWE, and I leave our company in the able hands of an extraordinary group of Superstars, employees and executives – in particular, Chairman and Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and Co -CEO Nick Khan. As majority shareholder, I will continue to support WWE in any way I can. I personally thank our community and business partners, our shareholders and our Board of Directors for their guidance and support over the years. So. Now. Still. Together.

McMahon’s retirement announcement comes at an auspicious time considering he is currently under investigation by the WWE for alleged affairs with multiple former WWE employees. Back in June, McMahon “voluntarily backed downof his roles at the company amid an ongoing investigation into one of the alleged cases, which, according to The Wall Street Journalinvolved a secret $3 million settlement between McMahon and the former employee.

The $3 million settlement prohibited the plaintiff, a former WWE paralegal, from discussing her relationship with McMahon or otherwise disparaging him. An internal investigation by a special WWE committee reportedly revealed that McMahon had entered into similar nondisclosure agreements with three other former WWE employees. Employees made allegations of misconduct against McMahon and WWE talent relations chief John Laurinaitis, according to a later WSJ report.

In total, McMahon paid all four women 12 million dollars to keep silent about his alleged relations with them. McMahon and WWE previously claimed the affair revealed in the first report was consensual.

Read more: Vince McMahon 1986 Rape allegation resurfaces as ex-wrestler corroborates story

Although his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, replaced McMahon as CEO and interim president of the company, McMahon has always creative control retained on WWE storylines.

Since the investigation began, McMahon has made several bizarre live appearances on WWE programming. During an appearance on the first Friday Night Smackdown after the WSJ’s initial report, McMahon reiterated WWE’s motto “Then. Now. Always. Together,” before throwing up his microphone and leaving the ring. (After , a WWE employee would have seen McMahon shout “fuck ’em”, apparently about the allegations.) On the following episode of Monday Night Raw, McMahon teased the return of John Cena, which fans already knew about thanks to WWE commercials.

The big question is what happens now. Fallout seems to have already begun, with the Wrestling Observer writer Bryan Alvarez tweets that former Universal Champion Brock Lesnar has left Smackdown. In a follow-up tweetAlvarez added: “Brock’s line was a derivative of ‘If he’s gone, I’m gone’.”

Earlier today, Paul “Triple H” Levesque tweeted that he will officially resume his role as executive vice president of talent relations for the wrestling organization. Time will tell if Levesque will also return to his old role as head of WWE’s developmental program, NXT, or even branch out to have creative control over WWE’s ongoing storylines.