For a few decades, it would’ve been unthinkable that Vince McMahon wouldn’t be involved in the WWE. The emperor of sports entertainment had taken his father’s well-respected north eastern territory and within a handful of years had broken the majority of the rules of the old guard to propel it into a national promotion. He changed the perception of not only what pro wrestling was, but also what it could be. Granted, it’s debatable if that was an overall positive or negative, but that’s a different discussion for another time. A few decades after Vince’s expansion, his sports entertainment juggernaut was so massive that those from the prior generation that might’ve scoffed at his attempts to cross the regional lines of the territory system of a bygone era wouldn’t have thought success on such such a level was possible in the industry. As incredible as the old school business was, when kayfabe invoked legitimate emotion from the audience, the modern WWE was on a completely different scale. The promoters of their specific territories looked to draw a good house, whereas Vince became a billionaire by putting his wrestling company on the stock market.
So, it wasn’t a stretch to think that the grim reaper might be the only one that could’ve taken Vince McMahon away from WWE, and given Vince’s sheer defiance of anything that opposed him, even the reaper’s odds were questionable.
That’s why it was so shocking when the Wall Street Journal story initially broken in June of 2022 that Vince had paid off several women over the course of several years to keep quiet about affairs and misconduct allegations. These accusations ranged from consensual affairs to clams of assault. The story has been well-documented and discussed at length so there’s no need to rehash some of the deviant details of the allegations, but for a guy that was so meticulous with every aspect of his sports entertainment production, it was almost unbelievable that he threw around an estimated $19 million to cover up his affairs with the notion that money was all that he needed to essentially buy his way out of any responsibility. If proven to be true, and there’s evidence to support the claims against him, Vince’s behavior was horrendous and careless, which is the exact opposite of how he carefully crafted for sports entertainment product. Again, this was a guy that beat Uncle Sam in court in 1994, partially because he was smart enough to never put himself in a position where he could be directly or indirectly tied to his roster taking steroids. It just didn’t make sense that he would leave a paper trail of non-disclosure agreements, but it appears that being a billionaire made him think that the almighty dollar could cover up almost anything. We know the lengthy story about his “retirement” before his return and the way that he strong-armed his way back onto the WWE board to set up the eventual sale to Endeavor that created the TKO corporation after the merger with the UFC. More recently, a lawsuit about the merger went into the discovery phase last month, claiming that there were text messages exchanged that prove that McMahon had prearranged the sale to Endeavor because the conglomerate agreed to keep him in the position as the head of WWE. Of course, this would be a violation of the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission since it was be evidence that McMahon didn’t act in the best interest of the stockholders if he didn’t legitimately take offers from other potential buyers. As I wrote previously, this will probably be nothing more than a relatively small payout to investors, given that such a massive amount of money that has been made for those same shareholders since the merger with the value of the stock, especially after the WWE and UFC media rights deals respectively.
However, the bigger point is, Vince could’ve been working hand-in-hand with Endeavor long before the merger was officially on the table. Furthermore, there were reports that Vince was a key figure in getting the UFC deal done with Saudi Arabia since he worked with the country for several years prior to that through the WWE events held there.
The Janel Grant lawsuit that ultimately exiled Vince from the company was filed in January of 2024 before it was dropped by the Justice Department the following year a few months after Trump took office for his second term. The donations to the orange villain’s campaign really paid off. With the criminal charges dropped, the ongoing legal proceedings were initially to determine if the lawsuit would be heard by a jury, which would make it a part of the public record, or if it would go to arbitration based on the original non-disclosure agreement. After several months of legal jargon, it was decided that the lawsuit would go to arbitration later this year, which would keep the details away from the public.
However, the initial filing was public, which is why it caused enough negative press that Vince had to resign in disgrace. It also mentioned a former UFC and WWE champion, with Brock Lesnar as the only one on the roster with those accomplishments. As a result of Lesnar being named in the lawsuit, he was gone from the WWE for two years before he resurfaced at Summer Slam last August. As we’ve seen on recent WWE programming, he’s scheduled to compete against Oba Femi in a few weeks at Wrestlemania.
Grant made her first public comments about the allegations against McMahon at a conference to help other assault victims in Connecticut last month. Since the criminal charges were dropped after Trump took office, and the lawsuit is going to arbitration, the entire case more or less becomes about the amount of money that Janel Grant would be willing to settle for. If Vince should be held responsible criminally for any of the claims made against him by any of the women is more or less irrelevant because the Justice Department dropped the charges against him. Those that signed NDAs that didn’t go public with their story will continue to get paid as scheduled to stay quiet. Janel Grant will probably have to decide on a number to get paid to settle the case.
So, is it possible that Vince McMahon could make a comeback to the WWE?
Taking into account that all that is left from the Janel Grant accusations is the arbitration later this year, Brock was brought back into the fold last year, and the previously mentioned arrangements that McMahon might’ve had with Endeavor years ago, it’s not necessarily out of the question that Vince struts down to the ring again. Sure, it’s completely sleazy and with his track record of accusations made by female talent, the argument could be made that it wouldn’t be safe for the female wrestlers or office staff to be around him, but pro wrestling hasn’t been known for its ethics or moral standards.
I could be wrong, and truthfully, I hope I’m wrong, but I think the Cody Rhodes/Stephanie McMahon segment on Raw could’ve been a way for the company to “test the waters” to to speak with implied references to Vince on the show.
Of course, the main point was that Cody made reference to Stephanie’s father in the promo, and even at the conclusion of the segment, it seemed to be used as a cliffhanger with more to unfold ahead of Wrestlemania. There was also the fact that Stephanie was introduced simply as McMahon, instead of McMahon-Helmsley. There was also the phone call that Randy Orton made on WWE programming, could it end up being Vince on the phone?
The storyline more or less writes itself in terms of why Vince would get involved. Randy Orton is a guy that was built by the WWE system, but Cody opted to walk away from the company, only to return six years later to prove Vince wrong when he became the top guy after that. As notorious as his reputation is now, it would undoubtedly be a memorable moment if Vince returned at Wrestlemania to assist Randy Orton in winning the WWE championship. How a McMahon comeback would affect the creative process or the structure of the company would depend on how much responsibility the TKO executives would give him, and it’s completely possible that they would want him to be strictly an on-screen performer. The fact that the WWE fan base would bow to Vince as if he was the Second Coming is one of the most reasons why the majority of the general public looks down on pro wrestling. All things considered, I’d say it’s at least possible that Vince will be back into the fold of WWE, especially because of how unpredictable the past few years were with his exile and the merger that formed the TKO corporation.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
