Vince McMahon's life after WWE: Kittens, vacations and staying in touch with Trump

As he faces a mountain of legal woes, former WWE leader Vince McMahon is traveling, eating out and keeping in touch with friends and associates — including former President Donald Trump.

McMahon resigned as executive chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment’s parent company almost three months ago after a former employee, Janel Grant, accused him in a bombshell lawsuit of sexual abuse and trafficking. He denied the allegations. McMahon, 78, is also facing a federal criminal investigation, although he hasn’t been charged.

NBC News and CNBC talked to 11 people familiar with McMahon and WWE about how he’s been spending his time — and how the global brand he built over more than four decades is moving on without him. These people, including close personal associates and company insiders, declined to be named, citing ongoing legal cases and the confidential nature of internal corporate communications.

Multiple WWE insiders said he hasn’t had any contact with company leaders and figureheads since he resigned. Mark Shapiro, the operating chief of WWE parent company TKO Group Holdings, said in March that McMahon “doesn’t work for the company, doesn’t come into the office, and he’s not coming back to the company.”

That also means McMahon hasn’t talked to his son-in-law, WWE creative chief and former superstar Paul “Triple H” Levesque, or daughter, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, regarding company matters, sources said. While she introduced WWE’s WrestleMania event earlier this month, McMahon-Levesque, who worked beside her father for more than 20 years and played roles in storylines, currently has no involvement with the company, according to people familiar with the matter. Levesque and McMahon-Levesque declined to comment through a spokesperson, as did a WWE representative.

McMahon is nonetheless indelibly linked with the wrestling outfit, which he bought from his father 42 years ago. Still, he seems to have moved on, according to multiple sources. McMahon has kept up his other routines, and it’s as if he’s unfazed by his legal fights, two sources said...More?

source: nbcnews.com

Vince McMahon Puts Remaining TKO Stock Up For Sale in Major Financial Move

Vince McMahon is actively offloading his holdings in TKO stock, placing all his remaining shares on the market. According to a recent SEC filing, McMahon, alongside stockholders Nick Khan and Steven Koonin, listed their shares for sale but have not yet completed any transactions. McMahon has made available 8,021,405 shares, his entire remaining stake, following a sale earlier in the week of nearly 3.5 million shares, which brought him over $300 million.

Listing shares for sale does not guarantee their immediate purchase, but it does open the possibility for McMahon to potentially earn more. If sold at current market prices, his 8 million-plus shares could yield over $786 million. Amidst ongoing legal issues, McMahon has been converting his stock into cash rapidly, amassing approximately $1.5 billion from these sales. This aggressive divestment suggests that McMahon is distancing himself significantly from TKO and WWE, likely marking a permanent departure.

WWE Makes Behind-The-Scenes Changes In Talent Relations

Days after Paul "Triple H" Levesque was promoted to Chief Content Officer in September 2022, WWE announced the hiring of Dan Ventrelle, who was positioned to serve as the new Executive Vice President of Talent. In this role, Ventrelle oversaw WWE's talent department while reporting directly to Levesque. After nearly two years, Ventrelle has now reportedly left WWE, causing the company to make a few changes in the talent relations department.

Days after Paul "Triple H" Levesque was promoted to Chief Content Officer in September 2022, WWE announced the hiring of Dan Ventrelle, who was positioned to serve as the new Executive Vice President of Talent. In this role, Ventrelle oversaw WWE's talent department while reporting directly to Levesque. After nearly two years, Ventrelle has now reportedly left WWE, causing the company to make a few changes in the talent relations department.

News of Ventrelle's exit first emerged via SEScoops' writer Aaron Varble, who stated that Ventrelle departed from WWE earlier today. Fightful Select has since corroborated this report, adding that WWE President Nick Khan sent out an internal memo to inform staff of the subsequent backstage shakeups.

"WWE has begun the process of reorganizing its Talent Relations group," Khan wrote. "Moving forward, Chris Legentil, in addition to his role in Comms, will help us in leading this new group. Matt Altman, in addition to his role in marketing, will be working closely with Chris to help this endeavor. Talent Development and Recruiting will now report to Shawn Michaels. All of Talent, which includes Talent Relations, Development and Recruiting will continue to ultimately report into Paul Levesque. As of today, Dan Ventrelle will be moving on from WWE. We thank Dan for his tremendous contributions."

Triple H: I Told Ari Emanuel When TKO Formed, ‘I Just Want To Have Fun. If It’s Fun, I’ll Stay’

Triple H just wanted to have fun.

WWE and UFC officially merged in September 2023 to form TKO under the Endeavor banner. Triple H was already appointed as the Chief Content Officer, but Vince McMahon would often make remote changes throughout 2023.

With the merger, Vince started to become less involved until he eventually resigned as TKO Executive Chairman in January following a lawsuit against him where he was accused of sex trafficking and sexual assault.

With Vince fully out of the picture, Triple H has ushered in a new era.

"I’m loving what I do, that’s the biggest thing for me. When TKO went down and Ari Emanuel talked to me about this, I said, ‘I just want to have fun. If it’s fun, I stay. If It’s not, we’ll figure out something else.’ We’re having fun. I want everyone to have fun. When the signature was playing, I picked up the headset and said, ‘Biggest thing we want to remember tonight, everybody, have fun. Enjoy this.’ If this is fun, everybody loves it. If we have fun making it, you’re going to enjoy watching it. That’s what I believe," Triple H said at the WrestleMania XL press conference.

WrestleMania 40 Shatters Multiple WWE Records to Become Highest-Grossing Event in Company History

WrestleMania 40 broke multiple WWE records and has become the most successful live event in the company’s history.

WrestleMania 40 took place over two nights at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Per WWE, the gate for the event was up 78% compared to the previous record set during WrestleMania 39, with 145,298 in attendance across both nights this year. The company also says viewership was up 41% versus last year, while merchandise sales — in partnership with Fanatics — was up more than 20% over last year.

But the live events on Saturday and Sunday nights are just one part of the story. WWE set up a massive presence in Philadelphia from Thursday-Monday. The company, along with Fanatics Events, hosted the WWE World experience at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where fans could pay to get up close with authentic WWE memorabilia from their archives as well as take part in immersive experiences. This was coupled with the WWE Superstore, which featured a wide range of branded merchandise from apparel to toys and beyond.

The April 5 episode of “SmackDown” originated from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, drawing the largest gate in “SmackDown” history. Likewise, the April 8 episode of “Monday Night Raw” drew the largest gate in “Raw” history. WWE also put on the NXT live event “Stand and Deliver” on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center, which drew a record breaking crowd of 16,545, the most ever for an NXT event.

On social media, over 660 million views were generated across WWE’s social channels, while the WWE YouTube channel had its biggest day ever on Sunday with 67 million views in 24 hours.

WrestleMania 40 featured a number of smash hit matches, most notably the WWE Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes on Night 2. On Night 1, the two squared off with the aid of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Seth Rollins, respectively, in a tag team match that marked Johnson’s first match for WWE since 2016.

source: variety.com

Triple H Says He’s Happy To Have Stephanie McMahon Back Home, She Belongs Here

WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H says he’s happy that Stephanie McMahon was “back” at WrestleMania 40 Night Two.

Former WWE Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon appeared at WWE WrestleMania 40 Night Two and hyped up the crowd. This marked her first official appearance since she left the company in January 2023.

During the WrestleMania 40 Post-Show Press Conference, Triple H commented on Stephanie McMahon’s appearance on Sunday

“My wife looked good right? She hasn’t lost a step,” Triple H said. “So great to have her back home, right. I get her home all the time. But to have her back here, to see the doubt leave her by being here for the last few days, to see her confidence come back and to know that this is her home…all of you, all of us, all this business, it’s her home.

“As much as anybody on the planet, she belongs here. Hopefully she knows that now. So happy to have her back.”

Forever

Stephanie McMahon rings in the Paul “Triple H” Levesque era

The Rock comments on the job Triple H has done and how this WrestleMania felt knowing Vince McMahon is no longer involved

“I think that Triple H has done a tremendous job as our chief creative officer, I think that’s his title, he has a few, earned every single one of them. I like ushering in new things and new times and new eras and it feels like in our world here, professional wrestling, it is a new era that we’re ushering in. I talked to Triple H earlier as we were kicking off and kicking off the show tonight and without giving detail on what we talked about, it was a special night for him. This was the beginning of something and marking the beginning of something new for him, under his creative, and I think from a company standpoint, this is an exciting time for the company, for WWE, an exciting time for TKO. You felt the convergence towards the end of the year when the acquisition happened, you felt the convergence in the first quarter of the year as I was fortunate enough to come back and kind of traversed our way to what these storylines could look like, so it’s an exciting time and I think we capped off day one of WrestleMania that we had stated was gonna be the biggest of all time, which is really saying a lot given how many great WrestleManias there has been in the past, so I thought collectively as a company and a team, [it was] a really great show tonight.”

credit 411mania.com for the transcription

Paul Heyman: For The Rest Of My Life, I Will Forever Be A Paul Levesque Guy

Paul Heyman delivered an emotional speech as he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Paul Heyman was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5. Undisputed WWE Universal Roman Reigns inducted Heyman at the ceremony, which was held in Philadelphia, and the crowd showered Heyman with “ECW” chants.

Heyman delivered a passionate speech as he discussed his career. Among other highlights, he praised WWE Chief Content Officier Triple H and said that he would be a “Paul Levesque Guy” for the rest of his life.

Lia Maivia to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2024

As first announced by her grandson Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Lia Maivia will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

A matriarch of the legendary Anoa'i family, Maivia shattered glass ceilings as one of the first women to become a powerful sports-entertainment promoter and laid the foundation for one of the most decorated bloodlines in wrestling history.

Maivia joins her late husband, WWE Hall of Famer “High Chief” Peter Maivia, in the WWE Hall of Fame, as the two key figures in the rich wrestling history of Hawaii.

After The High Chief’s passing in 1982, Maivia took over control of the National Wrestling Alliance territory in Hawaii known as Polynesian Pro Wrestling where she became one of wrestling’s first-ever woman promoters.

In 1985, Maivia was in charge of promoting A Hot Summer Night, which was an event that featured several WWE Hall of Famers including Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Rocky Johnson (Maivia’s son-in-law), Dusty Rhodes, Antonio Inoki, and many other notable Superstars that drew a crowd of more than 20,000.

With Lia Maivia’s strength and influence, the Anoa'i family grew into one of the industry’s defining families as WWE Superstars such as The Rock, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Yokozuna, Rikishi, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, and many more developed into some of the most globally renowned sports-entertainers of their respective eras.

Maivia passed away in 2008 at the age of 77, but her strong-willed business sense coupled with her love of sports-entertainment left a lasting and profound impact on the industry and the many people she influenced and impacted in her amazing life.

CM Punk On WWE Return, Reconciling With Triple H, Nick Khan As The 'Difference Maker'

It took a walkout, a decade, and a controversial two-year run in AEW, but CM Punk finds himself back in WWE once again, having returned in his hometown of Chicago at Survivor Series 2023. While plenty has been made about Punk's return or what came before it, the story of just how he and WWE came to terms on a reunion had remained a mystery, until today. Appearing on "The MMA Hour," Punk spoke about his talks with WWE on a return, confirming that the process began only a few days before his Survivor Series return. He also revealed that it was WWE who reached out to him.

"The action of it started the week of, I think, Thanksgiving...," Punk said. "I'd have to look at a calendar to figure out dates exactly. I remember times and places of where I was when I would get phone calls and such. And I had a CFFC show coming up, I think. So I got a call from Nick Khan, and he was just like 'Hey, we want to talk to you.' And I was like 'Cool. [I'm] on my way to the gym, and I have this coming up. CFFC, I'll be back.' 'Cool, you want to talk Monday?' 'Great.'

"So it was the week of Thanksgiving. I spoke to him Monday...The call, I'm always so nervous about pulling the curtain back on stuff, but I think the call was more about 'Hey, we want to talk about you coming back. We'd love you for Royal Rumble.' Cause they assumed that I probably had some sort of noncompete or something like that, and were kind of floored when I was like 'No man, I'm ready to go. Let's do it."

While Khan and Punk continued to talk frequently during the next several days, things took a turn when Punk asked Khan if he could put him in contact with Paul "Triple H" Levesque, whom Punk had a tumultuous relationship with during his first WWE run.

"It's funny because everyone calls him Paul [now]...I always call him Triple H or Hunter," Punk said. "When I spoke to him, that's when the ball really got rolling, you know? Cause it was a very...I asked him if he wanted to talk on the phone, and he said 'No. I would actually rather kind of like to face-time you, so I can see you.' And I was like 'Oh, that's interesting.'  

"We just talked about a whole lot of stuff, and about stuff that was at one point serious to probably both of us...that is silly now. And we just kind of laughed and buried the hatchet. And then we started talking business."

Among the more shocking revelations was that Punk confirmed there had been talks of him returning to WWE before, even before his stint on "WWE Backstage" in 2019, but that things only seriously moved forward during the recent talks. As good as his conversation with Triple H went, Punk ultimately believes that it was Khan who helped steer things towards a WWE return, something that host Ariel Helwani, Khan's former client, seemed to agree with.

"He was the difference maker," Helwani said.

"I think so," Punk said.

source: "The MMA Hour" with Ariel Helwani

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