As of this afternoon, about 3 p.m. ET, Vince McMahon still hadn’t made it to the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas for tonight’s SmackDown taping.
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Vince had given more than $12 million in “hush money” to four women over the years, including a former WWE wrestler. As of yet, it is unknown if Vince will work the taping.
We previously mentioned that McMahon was scheduled to depart Fort Worth tonight for Vancouver, British Columbia, via Fightful Select. As John Cena was believed to be in town filming season two of The Peacemaker for HBO Max, word from backstage was that Vince was taking a flight to Vancouver to meet with Cena for some reason.
Peacemaker isn’t scheduled to shoot for a while, according to an updated report from Fightful. Cena has not been officially confirmed to be in Vancouver, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t. They also stated that Vince’s trip plans had been shifted from this weekend to the next weekend.
As PWMania.com previously reported, it was disclosed on Wednesday, June 15 that Vince was the subject of an inquiry by the WWE Board of Directors regarding the “secret $3 million settlement” he had given to the former paralegal employed in 2019. The involvement of Laurinaitis is also under investigation, and the Board is also looking into other incidents involving former female employees. Then, on Friday, June 17, it was revealed that Stephanie had come back from her leave of absence to serve as the interim CEO and chairwoman after Vince willingly stood down from his chairman and CEO business obligations while continuing to carry out his creative tasks. Then, on Monday, June 20, it was made public that Bruce Prichard, Senior Vice President of WWE and Executive Producer of RAW/SmackDown, is also serving as Interim Senior Vice President of Talent Relations, standing in for Laurinaitis throughout the inquiry. Then, today, Friday, July 8, it was made public that McMahon had agreed to pay four women, among them a former wrestler, more than $12 million in “hush money.”
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
