Vince McMahon has stepped down from wrestling giant, TKO Group and its branch, WWE that he established, because of a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and trafficking, which he has said that he will fight.
“I have made up my mind to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effective immediately,” McMahon had announced in a statement released by TKO.
The suit by an employee, filed on Thursday in federal court in Connecticut, is accusing McMahon, WWE and one other executive of “physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking at WWE,” and is seeking an unspecified costs and damages for those charges.
McMahon has denied these claims in the statement, saying, “I plan to vigorously defend myself against these unfounded accusations, and I look forward to clearing my name.”
The WWE President, Nick Khan had had written a memorandum to employees saying that McMahon “will no longer have a role with TKO Group Holdings and WWE.”
McMahon had bowed out from WWE in 2022 in the midst of allegations of misconduct. He had paid $17.4 million to the company to cover the costs related to an inquiry into that case. He however, returned to the industry in January 2023.
McMahon, who is the powerhouse behind the wrestling entertainment company, had transformed it from a regional player in a highly fragmented industry of the 1980s to a global giant, boasting of about a billion dollars in revenue in 2021.
He incorporated scripted matches, celebrity wrestlers and glitz to make the brand more palatable to television audiences, and built the concept of pay-per-view matches for bigger wrestling events such as “WrestleMania” to expand its revenue base.
TKO was established last year when McMahon brokered a deal between WWE and the Endeavor Group-owned mixed martial arts franchise, UFC.
