Tag: Vince McMahon

7 Law Firms Exploring Possibility Of Taking Class-Action Suits Against WWE Over Vince McMahon Allegations

The investigation into Vince McMahon may bring lawsuits to WWE’s door.

WWE’s stock price had remained strong amid the recent bearish trend the market has been experiencing. They just had to find a reason to join everyone else.

Following the news of the company’s investigation into Vince McMahon’s alleged misdeeds and the WWE chairman stepping down temporarily, the price of shares has gone down, causing ears at various law firms to perk up.

According to reports, five such entities are searching for investors who lost money as a result of the development as they look to undertake class-action lawsuits.

No suits have been filed as yet but more firms are said to be looking into the matter, which means there’s likely something to answer to on that front. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics is reporting that two more firms have joined the search as they sense there is an opportunity to make some money at WWE’s expense.

Per Thurston, the Pomerantz Law Firm and Moore Kuehn, PLLC are now looking into the possibility of a suit against WWE. It’s thought that the company’s failure to disclose the information before it became public has caused people to los a lot of money.

McMahon is being investigated over claims he paid $3 million in hush money to a former employee he had an affair with, whom he also passed to head of talent relations John Laurinaitis “like a toy.” His daughter Stephanie will be in charge for the foreseeable future, having returned to grab the reins after leaving on a sabbatical in May.

The firms in question are still trying to determine just how much money people lost in order to come to a decision on whether a class-action suit can be sought.

Should their findings prompt them to take legal action, it could spell big trouble for WWE.

Meanwhile, McMahon remains in charge of creative while Stephanie runs the company.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Board Of Directors Now Being Investigated For Breach of Fiduciary Duties

The allegations facing Vince McMahon are only reaching farther into WWE as the Board of Directors is now under investigation by a law firm.

On the heels of news that Vince McMahon is being investigated by his own board of directors for allegedly paying off a paralegal to keep quiet regarding an affair he was involved in, WWE’s board of directors and senior management are being investigated as well. Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP is investigating whether members of WWE’s board of directors or senior management failed to manage WWE in an acceptable manner, and as such, were in breach of their fiduciary duties to WWE.

Essentially, to be in breach of one’s fiduciary duties is to fail to act in the best interests of another person (in this case shareholders) when it is the responsibility of that person to do so. The reason for the investigation is to determine whether WWE and its shareholders have suffered damages as a result of said mismanagement and are owed any monies or damages as a result.

On June 15, 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that the WWE board was investigating an alleged $3 million settlement that CEO Vince McMahon agreed to pay to keep an affair quiet. Now, the law firm is reaching out to shareholders and letting them know that if they feel they have legal claims against WWE’s directors and officers, they should come forward to discuss the investigation, including whether these same shareholders have legal rights.

Essentially, this investigation will try to uncover if all the incidences that Vince and others are being accused of might have interfered with the company’s ability to make money for its shareholders. If Vince and others named in said suit were not effectively doing their job, the shareholders may have a right to sue. To put it simply, if whatever is uncovered in these investigations shows that McMahon and others were not working in the best interests of the shareholders, things could get ugly and quickly.

Source: TheSportster

Vince McMahon To Appear On SmackDown After Stepping Back As WWE CEO

Following a report revealing the WWE board is investigating allegations made against Vince McMahon, the boss has temporarily stepped down as the chairman and CEO of the company. Vince’s daughter Stephanie has been appointed interim CEO and chairwoman pending the results of the investigation. Vince will remain in charge of WWE creative, something that will likely be addressed tonight on SmackDown.

Shortly after WWE issued a statement revealing Vince will be stepping back from his duties as the promotion’s chairman, a second reveal was made informing fans the boss will be on SmackDown tonight. What exactly Vince will be doing on the show hasn’t been clarified, but as you can see in the tweet below, the implication is he will be opening the show.

Putting Vince on TV amid all this, or rather Vince putting himself on TV in the middle of all this, is quite something. Although the results of the investigation could well prove nothing actually happened, and the currently inactive chairman may well be appearing on TV tonight to deliver a sincere message, advertising the way WWE has on social media makes it feel a lot like a way to get viewers off the back of something that is currently unresolved.

As for Stephanie, the interim chairwoman has already issued her first statement since being brought back into the fold just a month after she stepped away from her previous WWE duties. “I am honored to assume the role of interim Chairwoman & CEO. I love @WWE and all it continues to do to entertain billions around the world,” Stephanie tweeted.

More details about what exactly is going on behind the scenes in WWE will undoubtedly continue to emerge in the coming days and weeks. Perhaps most notably tonight when Vince opens SmackDown. There will likely be a lot of change coming, regardless of the results of the investigation. Plus, the allegations made against John Laurinaitis still haven’t been officially addressed.

Source: TheSportster

UPDATE:

Shortly before 10 a.m. EST, CNBC’s Alex Sherman tweeted out just how McMahon would be approaching his appearance on tonight’s broadcast.

“New from CNBC: Vince McMahon will speak tonight on SmackDown IN CHARACTER as Mr. McMahon to address his temporary absence,” Sherman tweeted. “Could be a big ratings night for WWE. McMahon has torn up the script for SmackDown, which was written last night, I’m told.”

Vince McMahon Has Voluntarily Stepped Down As Chairman And CEO Of WWE, Stephanie McMahon Appointed Interim CEO 

News broke revealing Vince McMahon is being investigated by WWE’s board of directors. The main claim made against the chairman is that McMahon had an affair with a former WWE employee, and when the consensual relationship came to an end, the boss paid her a $3 million settlement to keep quiet about it.

Just two days later, that investigation has led to Vince voluntarily stepping down as WWE’s CEO and chairman pending the results of the investigation. “Effective immediately, McMahon has voluntarily stepped back from his responsibilities as CEO and Chairman of the Board until the conclusion of the investigation,” a press release issued by WWE reads, via Wrestling Inc.

As for who will fill Vince’s role while the investigation is ongoing, and perhaps for good depending on the results, that will be his daughter, Stephanie McMahon. The boss’s daughter has been appointed interim CEO and interim chairwoman of the company in her father’s absence. Vince won’t be gone completely for the time being. The press release also makes clear that Vince will retain his responsibilities as WWE’s head of creative content.

“I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the Special Committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation,” Vince’s part of the official statement from WWE reads. “It is extremely important to me that we have a safe and collaborative workplace. I have committed to doing everything in my power to help the Special Committee complete its work,” Stephanie writes. Her return to fill in as chairwoman comes just a month after she stepped back from her role as WWE’s chief brand officer.

It’s currently unclear how this will affect the day-to-day of WWE for the fans, especially since Vince has retained his role as the head of the company’s creative. That could all change depending on the results of the investigation, of course, although the duration of it also remains unclear at present. The investigation also includes other claims of misconduct made against both Vince and John Laurinaitis since the initial news about the alleged affair and payoff broke.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Board Reportedly Investigating Vince McMahon Following Alleged Affair And Hush Payment

According to a bombshell Wall Street Journal piece, WWE CEO Vince McMahon is under investigation following an alleged affair with an employee.

Vince McMahon, WWE’s founder and CEO, is reportedly being investigated by the board of his own company after making an alleged hush payment to a former employee following an affair.

On Wednesday, June 15 the Wall Street Journal dropped a bombshell story that claims WWE’s board received an email containing details of a workplace affair McMahon conducted with a now-former WWE paralegal and the subsequent payments made in exchange for the unmanned person’s silence.

The email alleges that the female paralegal was initially hired on a salary of $100,000 per year, but her salary was doubled after she began a sexual relationship with McMahon. Allegedly, when McMahon ended the relationship with the former WWE employee, he “gave her like a toy” to the company’s general manager of talent relations John Laurinaitis.

According to WSJ’s report, the board’s investigation began in April and has discovered numerous non-disclosure agreements pertaining to allegations of misconduct leveled at McMahon and Laurinaitis.

Vince McMahon has been married to Linda McMahon, a former administrator of the United States Small Business Administration, since 1966. John Laurinaitis has been married to Kathy Colace, the mother of former WWE Superstars Nikki and Brie Bella, since 2016.

As we previously reported, Vince McMahon’s daughter Stephanie McMahon recently stood down from her role as WWE’s Chief Brand Officer.

“As of tomorrow, I am taking a leave of absence from the majority of my responsibilities at WWE,” Stephanie tweeted. “WWE is a lifelong legacy for me and I look forward to returning to the company that I love after taking this time to focus on my family.”

Source: TheSportster

WWE Reportedly Planning On “Smoke And Mirrors” For Vince McMahon Match Against Pat McAfee At WrestleMania 38

Vince McMahon vs. Pat McAfee is reportedly listed in the internal schedule for WrestleMania 38.

Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reports that although the 76-year-old WWE Chairman will be advertised for a match at the Showcase of Immortals, he is not expected to take any bumps in what will be a “complete smoke and mirrors event.”

Meltzer noted that the match “was confirmed to be on the books for the [WrestleMania] lineup” as on Sunday evening. The seeds for the match will reportedly be planted when McMahon appears on The Pat McAfee Show this Thursday.

With McMahon unlikely to take any bumps in the match with McAfee, there is speculation among fans on social media that Austin Theory will wrestle on behalf of the WWE boss. Theory has been in an on-screen storyline with McMahon for several months.

The news of McMahon starting a storyline with McAfee was first reported by John Pollock of POST Wrestling last Friday. Vince McMahon’s last match was at WrestleMania XVI, where he lost to WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

MLW Has Filed An Anti-Trust Lawsuit Against The WWE

Court Bauer’s Major League Wrestling promotion has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the WWE.

The WWE legal team is working overtime this week … and probably for the next few months.

MLW (Major League Wrestling), the New York-based professional wrestling promotion founded by former WWE writer Court Bauer, has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. MLW is alleging that WWE interfered in some of its business deals and even pressured some third parties to pull the plug on their existing arrangements with MLW.

“WWE’s pattern of predatory and exclusionary conduct has hampered competition in the U.S. wrestling market by deprivingMLW and other competitors of distribution channels, and its conduct has harmed consumers by depriving them of content and keeping prices high,” MLW’s lawsuit states.

MLW claims that WWE sabotaged a “lucrative” agreement between MLW and streaming platform Tubi, which is owned by Fox. According to the lawsuit, a WWE executive contacted Fox and asked Fox to terminate the MLW deal.

As you might recall, WWE and Fox signed a $1 billion broadcast deal in 2018 that facilitated SmackDown’s move from USA Network to Fox. WWE signed another big-money deal with Fox in 2020.

WWE allegedly implied that they would cease doing business with Fox if their demands were not met. Soon thereafter, Fox informed MLW that it had canceled the company’s Tubi contract, which ultimately led to a downturn in MLW’s profits and ticket sales.

MLW also claims that WWE interfered in its deal with VICE TV when WWE senior vice president Susan Levison called VICE to inform the network that Vince McMahon was unhappy that VICE had agreed to air MLW programming As a result, VICE only aired one MLW show.

“WWE has been wrongfully depriving its competitors of critical opportunities for many years, but its latest conduct has been even more unconscionable,” Bauer said in a statement. “I think we speak for the rest of the professional wrestling world when we say that this anti-competitive behavior has to stop.”

In a statement of its own, WWE disputed MLW’s claims.

“WWE believes these claims have no merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against them,” the WWE statement read.

Source: TheSportster

Ric Flair Wants An Apology From Becky Lynch, Oh And $20 Million From WWE

A quick tweet and delete, something The Nature Boy is becoming known for nowadays.

Ric Flair had quite the year in 2021. He started it as a WWE Superstar, even making his return to TV and becoming an active part of what was a pretty odd and eventually scrapped angle. His latest stint with WWE came to an end after he was granted his release. While there doesn’t appear to be bad blood between the two parties for the most part, Flair refuses to let one thing go.

That one thing is WWE’s use of the mantra, The Man. Or, more accurately, Becky Lynch’s use of it. Lynch has been calling herself The Man for a while. However, The Nature Boy claims he owns it, at least in the wrestling world. Flair’s claim stems from when he would say “to be the man, you gotta beat the man” during his heyday.

The situation appears to have become even more complicated rather than get resolved. There has been talk since the turn of the year that WWE has abandoned the trademark. There are also conflicting reports that WWE has simply decided to not have Lynch refer to herself as The Man anymore. Either way, Flair seems to believe he is owed an apology, not to mention a hefty chunk of change for his troubles.

Naitch published a tweet demanding apologies from Lynch and WWE, but then quickly deleted it which has become customary for the 16-time World Champion. “I’ll take 2 apologies- one from Big Time Becks & one from WWE,” Flair tweeted, adding that he’ll also take 20 million. Assuming he means dollars there, and also assuming he believes WWE has made $20 million by having Lynch refer to herself as The Man for part of her career.

Whether WWE has admitted the trademark belongs to Flair or not, it’s hard to imagine a world where The Nature Boy receives $20 million for Lynch’s use of it. This appears to be more about a problem he has with Lynch as opposed to WWE referring to her as The Man. This isn’t the first time Naitch has tweeted something about her and then immediately thought better of it. Perhaps the Hall of Famer is still hung up on the title exchange between Lynch and his daughter Charlotte last year.

Source: TheSportster

Vince McMahon & Bruce Prichard To Take Over Production Of NXT

It’s being rumored that Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard will be taking charge of NXT production soon. The show admittedly needs a bit of sprucing up and it appears a full rebrand is on the way, with a logo change already placed on exhibit.

However, according to Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, people at WWE are telling him that the new NXT will be produced by McMahon and Prichard.

“Like anything, anything can change, anything is possible but I talked a while ago about how we’re gonna have a new NXT. It’s gonna be like the old NXT. I have heard from several people now that when they go back to live shows, this is going to be a Vince McMahon-Bruce Prichard production,” Alvarez was quoted as saying by WrestlingNews.co.

It was previously reported that the show is set to undergo a full overhaul. The new logo gives credence on that front and there’s also some new music from artist Wale. When the show goes live on September 14, in two weeks’ time, fans will be treated to a new WWE Performance Center, with the lighting and colors all different. This is understood to be a result of McMahon’s insistence on moving away from the dark theme. It’s also being reported that there will be talent changes too, with the company now poised to hire younger talent and fewer indie wrestlers.

Per Alvarez, people have been speculating for years with claims McMahon had influence on the show but that was never the case, as it will be moving forward.

In regards to possible changes for the NXT roster, Meltzer noted that there is a chopping block involving names that have been in NXT for a long time. It was reported last month that NXT would focus more on younger and taller wrestlers with a focus more on developmental.

In an update, @Wrestlevotes reports that their sources say the day-to-day operation of NXT won’t be changing drastically, and that it’s still very much in the hands of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, William Regal, Matt Bloom and others.

It was also noted that the look of the weekly NXT TV produce will have a “Vince & Co.” stamp on it.

The news of McMahon and Prichard producing the weekly NXT show led to “#RIPNXT” trending worldwide on Twitter over the last 24 hours.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1431419478609379337

Sources: TheSportster and Wrestling Inc.

Unexpected Raw Changes A Result Of Vince McMahon Losing Cool Backstage [Rumor]

The somewhat unique episode of Raw, one that didn’t feature most of the advertised matches, was rumored to be a result of Vince McMahon flipping out.

According to PWInsider.com, the reason Monday Night Raw seemed like a bit of an odd show was because it was writter, re-written and the re-written again. A three-hour program that featured a lot of talents fans haven’t seen in a while, but also wins by unexpected talents and what appeared to be a shoot fight during the Nia Jax and Charlotte match was just the start of a show that felt different from many of the Raw’s that preceded it.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider writes, “Yesterday was one of the ‘longest’ days in a long time for the WWE Creative team, according to several sources who reached out to PWInsider.com today.” They add that McMahon was extremely unhappy with the original plans for the show, “ripped up the script” several times and even tossed out the initial rewrite. They note that in that rewrite, some of the ideas were actually pretty good but Vince ditched most of them, before finally writing the show himself. They add, “Until 6 PM EST, there was no official direction or plan for the episode” and added, “One source who went through the process described it as “the loudest and angriest” they’d ever seen McMahon on a show day.”

Reports like this should be taken with a bit of skepticsim. At the same time, it was clear Monday’s Raw was unique. It’s fair to assume there were last-minute changes and that either stars weren’t available or Vince just decided to scrap everything the company had promoted the week prior, including two advertised matches.

While the idea that Vince has all these writers and doesn’t listen to any of them is troubling, but also that the talent likely had little idea what was expected of them prior to going out and performing isn’t wonderful news. That said, the show was rather interesting and at times, quite entertaining.

Sure, some of that might have been akin to watching a car crash live, but good portions of the show were well done.

Source: TheSportster