WWE Chairman Vince McMahon Retires In Shocking Development

Vince McMahon has retired in less than 140 characters.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon retired in a shocking announcement Friday afternoon on Twitter. Keeping the announcement concise and citing his age, McMahon said it was “time to retire” amid a WWE internal investigation of sexual misconduct.

After the Wall Street Journal broke the story of the investigation in a June 15 article, McMahon’s multiple non-disclosure agreements came to light. Two weeks ago, WSJ (h/t Forbes) reported McMahon paid upwards of $12 million in settlements to WWE staffers and contractors. With very serious accusations beginning to pile up, reporters Joe Palazzolo and Ted Mann teased there could be more stories on McMahon’s allegations to come. Meanwhile, Real Sports is working on a feature about the Vince McMahon scandal.

Though McMahon had stepped down as WWE Chairman, ceding the position to Stephanie McMahon, he still seemed to be in control. Even the announcement of Stephanie McMahon as Interim WWE Chairwoman and CEO was dismissed by many as an “optics move.”

McMahon has famously stated he will “die in the chair,” in a reference to never wanting to retire. Even through this shocking announcement, many will continue to speculate that Vince McMahon is working behind the scenes—like The Wizard of Oz—to maintain control of the company. Based on McMahon’s notorious work ethic and thirst for control, those skeptics would be right to question just how retired is he.

With both McMahon and John Laurinaitis gone from WWE, WWE announced Paul “Triple H” Levesque as the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations.

“I look forward to returning to my prior position as head of Talent Relations. I’m healthy, fired up, and ready to take charge,” said Levesque in a press release.

McMahon did his best to put on a poker face and no-sell these mounting allegations. The day McMahon stepped down as Chairman, he appeared on SmackDown in a brief, somewhat defiant, cameo to open the show. Backstage, during the broadcast, McMahon reportedly shouted “f—k em” in response to the accusers. Three nights later on Raw, McMahon made a similar appearance to announce the return of John Cena.

All the defiance in the world, however, doesn’t seem to be enough to salvage Vince McMahon’s once unquestioned rule of WWE’s throne. Upon stepping down as Chairman, WWE’s stock price initially declined before rallying in the ensuing weeks. On Friday, WWE’s share price closed at $66.22, higher than the $64.87 the day before McMahon stepped down. Perhaps McMahon, and/or WWE’s Board of Directors felt McMahon’s ousting wouldn’t implode the stock. Thereby keeping him around may not be worth the increasing risk.

For now, WWE’s succession plan of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon running the company has been revived in a stunning turn of events. As recently as last month, both Triple H and Stephanie were on the outside looking in on WWE’s power structure.

Now, they’re at the head of it.