Former WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon made a surprise appearance to kick off WrestleMania 40 night two, but as of now, she has not returned as an official employee or executive.
The outlet reported that McMahon “has not officially returned to the company as an employee or executive in any way, shape or form” and that her appearance on Sunday was to give fans “one more thing they did not expect and to personally lend her support to the company’s new era.”
She also appeared alongside husband Paul “Triple H” Levesque at Friday’s Hall of Fame ceremony. After Sunday’s event, Levesque wasn’t asked and didn’t specify on whether his wife was officially back in the company, only saying it was great to have her “back home” in WWE.
This weekend marked her first public appearances since she departed the company in January 2023 when Vince McMahon returned to power as executive chairman. Since then, WWE was merged with UFC to form the new TKO and her father resigned from his position as TKO executive chairman in the fallout from the accusations contained in the Janel Grant lawsuit. She has yet to make a public statement about the lawsuit and the allegations against her father.
Current WWE CEO Nick Khan said in a March 2023 interview that he would love for Stephanie to be part of the company again.
WrestleMania weekend preview, the matches, the plans for the matches, favorites in every match, where things can go next and how we got there
How plans changed throughout the period
Dwayne Johnson’s preparation to get into ring shape
How Johnson’s return came about
Stand & Deliver preview
Business notes on all the shows including the insane scalper market setting a new all-time pro wrestling record
The lawyers grapple in Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon.
What we’ve learned new and the strategy McMahon’s side is taking
AEW cuts and the current realities of AEW business
CM Punk’s interview on the Ariel Helwani show in detail and each subject covered
The most heated pro wrestling show in decades from last week at Arena Mexico featuring top AAA talent, and how the crowd makeup was different, and exactly what happened at WrestleMania 30 that led to this show taking place
The most detailed look at the the ratings from the past week, weekly rankings, competition, segment-by-segment, analysis, how it compares with one year ago
Notes from three Stardom PPV shows this past week
Preview of two major New Japan events
Lots of Mania week shows talked about
Main event for RevPro’s biggest show of the year
Bloodsport coverage
How Kingston vs. Briscoe came about
Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
Streaming numbers and international TV ratings
AEW PPV updates
McGregor sets record
Dana White talks about blowing off a sponsor
PFL signs boxing champion
Nick Khan talks Vince McMahon, Netflix deal and bringing in Dwayne Johnson
Details behind Vince McMahon’s most recent stock sale
Bryan and I will be back up tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw and the latest news.
No lineup for Raw which will be the largest Raw audience in many years and largest U.S. gate ever for a Raw show. There were tickets left yesterday but they were legit over 18,100 tickets because of using a smaller stage tonight.
Raw goes against the Purdue vs. Connecticut NCAA men’s basketball final. It’s one of the biggest nights of competition, but Raw after Mania goes against this most years and it’s usually the biggest rating of the year. Mania week activities are so strong that the basketball competition this time of year don’t seem to affect it like it does in a normal week.
Smackdown did a monster number on Friday with 2.60 million viewers and an 0.77 in 18-49. This was against the semifinals of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament with the early game doing 14.2 million viewers (Iowa vs. Connecticut). That was the largest ESPN audience for any basketball game in years.
Seth Rollins will be taking time off after yesterday. The hope this morning was that this will be only about four weeks off.
The big question coming out of yesterday seems to be whether Stephanie McMahon will be returning as an executive with Vince completely out of the picture. Nobody is directly answering that question, no confirmations or denials.
Rhea Ripley said she had a straight up panic attack two hours before her match Saturday with Becky Lynch. She said she was nervous as expected before the match but the nerves went away as soon as she went through the curtain and was in the zone.
Fightful reported that Matt Hardy had decided against signing a new deal with AEW. He had gotten a contract offer and turned it down. We have confirmed that independently. I believe he is now a free agent, or if not, that will be the case imminently.
Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal will be doing a press tour for their pro boxing match on 4/19 in Los Angeles. They’ll have press conferences 4/12 in LAS Vegas at Resorts World Las Vegas, 4/16 in New York at the Palladium and 4/17 in Miami at Pier 6 at Bayside Marketplace.
For those keeping up with this, the South Carolina vs. Iowa women’s basketball finals won by South Carolina did 18.7 million viewers based on the fast nationals. The final number should be higher, which will come out tomorrow. It was the largest basketball audience on television since 2019, even beating the NBA finals and NCAA men’s finals. Aside from the NFL, the only sports audience larger would have been the 2022 FIFA World Cup final and an Olympic broadcast for anything in the past five years.
Mick Foley said that he was not going to do one last match. He had said that he was looking to do a final death match, but noted even after light training in the ring he had been dizzy and had headaches and his doctors, his family and everyone pretty much came to the conclusion that somebody was telling him something. He said he had symptoms of a concussion and basically did nothing that would have given him a concussion that he was aware of.
This is the AEW lineup for Wednesday. This is the show where they are going to air the backstage footage of Jack Perry and CM Punk. Most feel this is not a good idea and I think it doesn’t come across well with the idea of using Punk to garner an audience, even if the idea is to use it to build Perry. I guess we’ll see on Wednesday. Announced for the show is Samoa Joe vs. Dustin Rhodes non-title, Adam Copeland vs. Penta for the TNT title, Chris Jerichio & Hook & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty & Anthony Ogogo and a segment with Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa.
In Google trends, WrestleMania did 1.35 million searches over the weekend. It wasn’t anything like the basketball playoff numbers but much larger than the past few years of any pro wrestling event.
Liv Morgan has teased going after Rhea ripley starting on tonight’s Raw show.
John Cena will be featured in a new Hefty garbage bag commercial ad campaign. The campaign will continue throughout the year.
Sabu no-showed the Indie Wrestling Hal of Fame. Brett Lauderdale wrote yesterday, “In the true spirit of independent wrestling, Sabu has decided to keep his deposit and no show the indie hall of fame ceremony today. He accepted the booking and took the money, but doesn’t wanna get in the elevator and come upstairs. What a legend.”
The MLW War Chamber match with Akira & Raven & Jake Crist & Jimmy Lloyd vs Sami Callihan & Rickey Shane Page & Cannonball & Dr Cornwallus plus Satoshi Kojima vs. Bad Dude Tito for the MLW title and Tom Lawlor & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Alex Kane & Mr.Thomas, Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher, Star Jr. vs. Virus and more will be on a two-hour Bein Sports special at 10 p.m. on 4/20.
Got good reviews for yesterday’s Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa GHC tag title match from Osaka. Regular reviewer Gerald Di Trolio called it one of the best tag matches this year.
Over WrestleMania 40 weekend, Stephanie McMahon returned to WWE for the first time since her January 2023 resignation.
Stephanie appeared at night two of WrestleMania on Sunday and was also shown at Friday’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. Though she attended a couple of shows after her resignation, this was Stephanie’s first on-camera appearance since then.
At the post-WrestleMania press conference, Paul “Triple H” Levesque said it was great to have his wife “back home” in WWE. He hopes Stephanie knows that she belongs in WWE as much as anybody on the planet does.
“God damn, my wife looked good, right? She hadn’t lost a step,” Levesque said. “So great to have her back home. 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. And as much as anybody on the planet, she belongs here. And hopefully she knows that now. So, happy to have her back.”
WWE hasn’t announced if Stephanie has re-joined the company in any official capacity.
Stephanie’s resignation from WWE in January 2023 came after her father Vince McMahon forced himself back into power in the company. Stephanie had served as WWE’s chairwoman and co-CEO following Vince’s retirement in July 2022.
Vince resigned from WWE and its parent company TKO Group Holdings this January following the sexual abuse allegations made against him in former WWE employee Janel Grant’s lawsuit.
This year was the first time in history that Vince had no involvement in WrestleMania. Stephanie opened the night on Sunday, calling it the first WrestleMania of the “Paul Levesque Era.”
At the post-show press conference, Levesque rejected the “Paul Levesque Era” term.
“It’s not my era, it’s our era,” Levesque said. “When I say our, I mean everybody in WWE. The people that endured. The people that hung in there. The people that trusted. The people that, over the last year [or] whatever it’s been, gave their sweat and tears to get where we are.”
Stephanie McMahon made an appearance during the second night of WrestleMania 40.
Sunday’s show opened with McMahon coming to the ring, welcoming fans to the show saying that she has been a part of every WrestleMania since the very first show in 1985. She also brought up that this was the first WrestleMania being fully run by her husband Triple H.
“I think WrestleMania 40 might be the one that I am the most proud of because this is the first WrestleMania of the Paul Levesque era,” she said. “And tonight we have people from 64 countries and all 50 states, all of us coming together from different backgrounds, different beliefs to share this one thing that we love that brings us all together. And nobody understands that better than Triple H.”
She ended the segment by asking the crowd if they were ready, stealing a line from her husband.
This is the second time this weekend that McMahon made an appearance on television since stepping down as co-CEO of WWE in January of 2023. She was seated next to Triple H during Friday’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, wearing an ECW hat in tribute to Paul Heyman.
Stephanie McMahon and The Undertaker were among the attendees at this year’s WWE Hall of Fame.
During the Hall of Fame ceremony, McMahon was seen seated next to husband Triple H. She wore a hat with the ECW logo attached, similar to one worn when she became the in-storyline owner of ECW during the Invasion angle back in 2001. McMahon had not been seen on WWE television since she resigned as co-CEO of WWE in January of 2023 following Vince McMahon’s return to WWE as chairman.
The Undertaker made a surprise appearance during the ceremony, inducting Muhammad Ali into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Taylor Rotunda (Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy) and Mika Rotunda induced their father Mike Rotunda and uncle Barry Windham, the US Express.
Beautiful moment as the siblings of Bray Wyatt take a moment to remember him tonight before inducting their father and uncle into the WWE Hall of Fame. 🕊️🙏#WWEHOFpic.twitter.com/b3BN0HsAQE
When Paul Heyman came out for his Hall of Fame speech, former ECW stars Tommy Dreamer, The Dudley Boyz, and Rob Van Dam were seen in the audience.
Before the start of the show, AEW’s Keith Lee inadvertently appeared in the background during a CM Punk interview. He has been out of action since December with an undisclosed injury that kept him off AEW Worlds End, where he was set to face Swerve Strickland. He is married to current WWE star Mia Yim.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the four unnamed Corporate Officers in the Grant lawsuit are no longer unnamed, what it means, the apparent eventual return of Brock Lesnar, line-ups for this week, ratings, your RAW report with new WrestleMania matches, and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: WWE executives named in Janel Grant lawsuit, Brock Lesnar/WWE roster
13:35: Mya Lesnar update, new WWE Hall of Fame inductees
Former WWE co-CEO and chairwoman Stephanie McMahon is reportedly backstage at Survivor Series.
Fightful reports that Stephanie is backstage at Saturday night’s premium live event, but she isn’t working at the show. Fightful notes that Stephanie is “said to be hanging out and visiting, as opposed to being there in a work capacity.”
Survivor Series is being held at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
This January, Stephanie resigned from her position with WWE. Stephanie’s decision to resign from the company coincided with her father Vince McMahon forcing himself back into power as WWE’s executive chairman.
Stephanie had shared the CEO role with Nick Khan following Vince McMahon’s retirement in July 2022. Khan’s current job title is president of WWE.
“I look forward to cheering on WWE from the other side of the business, where I started when I was a little kid, as a pure fan,” Stephanie said when she resigned. “I will always remain dedicated to WWE. I truly love our company, our Superstars, our fans, and our employees.”
Stephanie was also backstage at WrestleMania 39 earlier this year.
In a discussion with Bill Simmons taped prior to the official launch of TKO, WWE president Nick Khan gave some hints into how the new company could bolster both WWE and UFC in the near-future.
One of the more interesting hints is the potential of both brands running at different times on the same day (one running internationally earlier in the day with the other running later at night, for example) to create a full-day experience for viewers.
He expects both groups to discuss future dates so they two don’t work against each other for major events. He also said they are having “hyper-focused” conversations about something like a schedule release day or an event like the NFL Draft that could work in a similar way for both companies in terms of fan buzz.
Khan said that both UFC executive VP Craig Borsari and WWE executive VP Kevin Dunn have had “a number of conversations” with each other about “efficiencies” about production and ones that might lead to some news in several months.
He said both WWE wrestlers and UFC fighters will stay separated while acknowledging there are cases like Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey as examples of who have done both but that’s a “once in a decade” situation.
Some other notes from the Simmons podcast:
Khan said Vince McMahon is progressing quite well and to assume he is rehabbing from his major back surgery “faster than he should be.” McMahon was present Tuesday at launch of TKO at the New York Stock Exchange.
He put over how similar the backgrounds of both McMahon and UFC head Dana White are, and how they had to fight to get to the inside from the outside. While he doesn’t see other questioning the other’s respective booking, he does see them working together on event production and promotion and how to make a joint production “the biggest in the world.”
Asked again about Stephanie McMahon leaving the company, Khan reiterated his previous statements about how he would have loved to have her still with WWE, but that it was her decision to leave when Vince McMahon returned.
“I respect the decision. I wish she hadn’t done that and she knows that from me, personally. She’s a terrific executive and a terrific person. That’s her decision. Her relationship with Vince is theirs and once she made it, I have total respect for the decision,” he said.
Simmons then jokingly suggested she come back in an affair storyline with Test which Khan had to correct him on by reminding Simmons that he had passed away years ago.
A former WWE writer who alleged both racial discrimination and wrongful termination in a lawsuit against the company and several individuals voluntarily dismissed the suit without prejudice on Thursday against all defendants with the exception of WWE.
Because the case was dismissed without prejudice, that is a temporary move where she could either refile/alter the lawsuit or bring it to another court against any or all of the defendants.
This past April, Britney Abrahams filed suit in US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, accusing WWE of releasing her after she objected to multiple instances of “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” used in WWE scene scripts, specifically citing examples with Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews.
Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, vice presidents Ryan Callahan and Christine Lubrano, former writers Chris Dunn & Mike Heller, and writer Jen Pepperman were listed as individual defendants. The dismissal applies to all of them.
It is possible this development means Abrahams and her legal team are working on a settlement with WWE. When Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reached out to The Cochran Group to inquire about that, their representative declined to comment.
A former writer is suing Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and other WWE executives.
Britney Abrahams filed suit against WWE in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Monday. She is accusing the company of releasing her after she objected to multiple instances of “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” used in WWE scene scripts.
SmackDown Vice President Ryan Callahan, former writers Chris Dunn & Mike Heller, Vice President Christine Lubrano, and writer Jen Pepperman are also listed as defendants.
Documents related to the suit specifically mention scenes involving Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews as ones Abrahams voiced objections to. The former writer is said to have raised concern regarding Crews using a “stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent” and also objected to a scene where Belair was scripted to say, “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!”
Abrahams sent an email to Callahan regarding Belair’s scene, saying, “I know I’m new, I’m not trying to be disrespectful or step on [Dunn]’s or anyone’s toes, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that [Ms. Belair]’s scene includes racial jargon and offensive stereotypes, particularly her go-home line.”
The suit alleges that Belair also objected to the line, telling Dunn, “3 DIFFERENT TIMES THAT I DON’T WANT TO SAY THAT LINE! BUT HE NEVER LISTENS TO ME! HE PUTS THAT LINE IN EVERY WEEK.”
Belair is also alleged to have said the line would make her sound, “ghetto.”
After Abrahams’ objections were rebuffed, she says the company “pretextually terminated” her for taking home a special WrestleMania 38-branded chair in April 2022. Her lawyers argue that doing so is a common practice, she was told doing so was okay, and white male writers were not punished for the same offense. Abrahams had been with the company since 2020.
Court documents state Abrahams continued to be subjected to racist pitches on a WWE Slack channel after she voiced her objection to the scenes involving Belair and Crews. It is alleged that a storyline involving Reggie/SCRYPTS dressing in drag was scrapped only after a white writer objected, stating viewers would be offended. Reggie would have teamed with Carmella had the storyline gone forward.
Another storyline mentioned in the suit would have involved Shane Thorne as a “crocodile hunter” type gimmick and he would hunt Reggie “for fun.”
Court documents read:
In a nutshell, the said hunting gimmick pitch for new wrestlers, Shane Thorne, and Reggie was, “since Shane is Australian, we should make him a crocodile hunter, and instead of crocodiles, he hunts people.”
Holding Reggie captive in cages was also discussed.
Several allegations are also made against writer Jen Pepperman, including that she, “discriminatorily treated Plaintiff and other black, and African American WWE employees poorly compared to their similarly-situated white, and Caucasian counterparts.”
It is also alleged that Callahan pitched a storyline where Muslim wrestler, Mansoor, would be revealed to have been “behind the 9/11 attacks.”
By way of example, in or around late November 2021 racially discriminatory comments were casually made by Plaintiff’s white, male Caucasian lead writer CALLAHAN about a Muslim wrestler.
Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff, the only black writers on the team, at the time, were tasked to pitch a love storyline between wrestlers Aaliyah, Mansoor, and Angel Garza, who are both Muslim.
Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff pitched that Mansoor has a secret that he’s keeping from Aaliyah.
CALLAHAN disagreed with the secret Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff wanted for the character.
Instead, CALLAHAN suggested, “how about his secret is he’s behind the 9/11 attacks?”
Ms. Sylvers nervously laughed and said, “let’s not do that. Let’s talk about the other part of the pitch.”
When Abrahams and other writers brought concerns regarding this to WWE Vice President Christine Lubrano, she allegedly responded, “Wacky things are said in the writer’s room all the time!” and “I know but look at the waves we’re making in the company. Four years ago, no woman worked on the writer’s team!” Lubrano is also alleged to have said, “I heard it was a joke” regarding Callahan’s comments.
Abrahams’ suit is seeking “reinstatement, damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction restraining the defendants from engaging in such unlawful conduct.”
Nick Khan’s media rounds ahead of this weekend’s WrestleMania 39 continued Thursday as the WWE CEO discussed whether his former co-CEO Stephanie McMahon could return one day.
Talking on CNBC’s Closing Time, Khan was asked about why McMahon left and whether she could be in the company’s future plans.
Khan pointed out that she was taking a leave of absence when he and Vince McMahon called her to request her return to the company to take over both as co-CEO with Khan and interim Chairwoman of the Board as Vince McMahon stepped down due to the scandal of last summer.
Khan said she did “phenomenal work across the board” but he believes she went back to do whatever she was thinking about doing during the aforementioned leave of absence, saying, “she seems to be in a great place.”
Could she return either before or after a sale?
“It’s a question for her. We would always love to have her as part of WWE. The time would need to be right for her and I’m not sure if she’s there yet,” he said.
Other Notes:
He couldn’t comment on who is involved in the bidding to buy the company, but said there is “quite the robust response.”
When asked if the asking price was $9 billion, he couldn’t confirm.
He again reiterated that Vince McMahon made it clear to him and the marketplace that he doesn’t need to be part of WWE post-sale. He said he isn’t sure McMahon wants to be involved if a sale happens.
Regarding gambling, Khan said the conversations they were having were intended to be private and “unfortunately, it got out there.” He said they are looking at the future and see the prospects as similar to other predetermined events where gambling is allowed in some states which includes the Grammys and the Oscars. He said they “remain optimistic on the whole proposition.”
Kevin Owens says Stephanie McMahon has been “nothing but amazing” to him during his time in WWE.
Ahead of his title match with Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble on Saturday, Owens spoke with the San Antonio Express-news and commented on Vince McMahon’s return to the company, Stephanie’s resignation, and a potential WWE sale.
Owens noted that he was glad to see Stephanie more frequently at shows in recent months but everyone is happy she is now able to take time away from the company.
Owens said:
“(Stephanie) has been nothing but amazing to me my entire time here. And I was so happy to see her more at the shows and get to be around her and get to work for her,” Owens said. “Everybody’s also kind of happy that she gets to take this time for herself.”
Owens was also asked about the possibility of WWE being sold. He responded that the roster is just concentrating on putting on the best show possible.
“The internet will say what the internet will say, and then the reality will be what really matters,” Owens said. “We just care about what we do in the ring. That’s what we try to do our best at.”
Stephanie McMahon resigned from WWE on January 10, 2023, shortly before the company announced that its board of Directors had unanimously approved Vince McMahon’s return as executive chairman.
Through the McMahon family corporate tumult that has dominated headlines, WWE CEO Nick Khan has been the buffer between the various parties trying to smooth things over.
Dave Meltzer reported as such in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In reviewing the circumstances in which Stephanie McMahon suddenly resigned as co-CEO and left the company completely this week, Meltzer wrote, “It was also conceded that she and Vince (McMahon) did have issues in working together as family members and how Khan was a buffer who kept things smooth between them as well as between Vince and (Paul) Levesque.“
In a whirlwind of moves, Vince McMahon returned to the company from his July resignation last Friday after six months away and was officially reinstated as Executive Chairman of the Board on Tuesday. Hours earlier, Stephanie had resigned as co-CEO and Khan was granted the full role. She had also served the role as Chairwoman since her father resigned.
At the time Stephanie McMahon had taken a leave of absence to spend more time with family prior to her father’s scandal, a Business Insider piece painted her in a negative light and reported that her father had replaced her. Meltzer reported afterward that wasn’t the case and that she had left on her own accord.
Khan remains as CEO as the company is pursuing a sale this year while Levesque, Stephanie’s husband, is also still in his role of heading up creative as chief content officer.
Just days after resigning as WWE co-CEO, Stephanie revealed that she’s undergone surgery on her ankle. Stephanie thanked the staff at the Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center and noted that she’s already started post-surgery rehab.
Stephanie tweeted: “Busy week! Thank you Dr. Waldrop, @AndrewsSportMed and the Orthopaedic Center Staff for fixing my ankle! And to Kevin Wilk @ChampionSportsM for already getting me started on rehab! (And of course to my amazing caregiver @TripleH) #RoadtoRecovery”
Stephanie announced her resignation from WWE this Tuesday, with the move coming after Vince McMahon forced his return to WWE as executive chairman to pursue a potential sale of the company. Stephanie was named chairwoman and co-CEO following her father’s retirement last July. Nick Khan is now the sole CEO of WWE.
Axios reported on Thursday that both Stephanie and Paul “Triple H” Levesque were opposed to a sale of WWE: “Sources told Axios that Stephanie McMahon and her husband Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, the company’s chief content officer and a retired professional wrestler, had opposed a sale.”
