Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports
Former WWE chairman Vince McMahon, who stepped down in July amid a sexual misconduct scandal, has plans to return to the company, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Journal’s Joe Palazzolo and Ted Mann report that McMahon “has told people that he intends to make a comeback at WWE” and “has said that he received bad advice from people close to him to step down and that he now believes the allegations and investigations would have blown over had he stayed.”
The report also states that McMahon has been accused of assaulting a former spa manager at a Southern California resort in 2011—an allegation not previously reported in the media. A lawyer for the woman sent an email to McMahon’s lawyer in November detailing the allegations, according to the Journal. Also in November, McMahon’s lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, received a demand letter from a lawyer representing former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who said in a 1992 television interview that McMahon had raped her in the back of a limousine. Chatterton’s lawyer’s letter asked for $11.75 million in damages, the Journal reports.
The Journal previously reported that McMahon had paid more than $12 million to four women over the past 16 years to get them to keep quiet about allegations of McMahon’s sexual misconduct and infidelity.
The first payout to be publicized was paid to a now-former WWE paralegal who had an affair with McMahon. The payment, which was made without the knowledge of the company, triggered a WWE investigation that unearthed additional payments, the Journal previously reported. One such payment went to a former wrestler who said McMahon coerced her into putting his penis in her mouth and then did not renew her contract after she refused further advances. Another woman, a WWE contractor, said she had received unsolicited nude photos from McMahon and that he had sexually harassed her on the job. Another employee said McMahon, who is married, initiated a sexual relationship with her, and she was paid $1 million to keep quiet about it.
After McMahon’s departure, WWE installed Nick Khan and McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, as co-CEOs. Stephanie McMahon’s husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, has taken over McMahon’s former role as head of the company’s on-screen product.
