Vince McMahon Departs From TKO, Proclaims He “Will No Longer Have Role With WWE”

In light of the sexual abuse crisis that has shocked the wrestling community, Vince McMahon said on Friday that he is resigning from his role as executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings, the company that owns WWE. In a complaint filed on Thursday, the employee claimed that McMahon had promised her a job and promotions in return for having sex. In addition, she charged him with physical abuse, human trafficking, and sexual assault. The day after the charges were made public, McMahon resigned while strongly criticizing the allegations.

In a statement, McMahon told Deadline, "I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth. I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name. However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all of the employees and Superstars who helped make WWE into the global leader, it is today, I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effective immediately."

This week, former employee Janel Grant filed a shocking complaint against McMahon, the co-founder of the contemporary WWE. In it, she claimed that he had sexually assaulted her using devices he had named after famous wrestlers, trafficked her to other WWE officials, and defecated on her during a threesome. Grant said in the complaint that she was introduced to the 78-year-old businessman by management at the building where McMahon had a penthouse. In June 2019, she started working at the WWE headquarters in Connecticut. She claimed that McMahon welcomed her in his underwear during a meeting. The lawsuit claims that after that, he threatened to keep silent and coerced her into having sex in exchange for a job.

The Wall Street Journal revealed in 2023 that the WWE was looking into a $3 million payment that McMahon had made to a female employee who had left the company after a consensual affair. In her current case, Grant—who was not identified until last week's accusations surfaced—states that she earned $1 million but received no further money after signing an NDA to keep things private. In the case, Grant, who formerly held positions in WWE's legal and talent departments, named McMahon, as well as John Laurinaitis, the organization's former general manager and director of talent relations. According to a McMahon representative before his resignation, the complaint was "replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth." As reported by The Sun, the spokesperson further added, "Mr McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE. While this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally."