The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we covered:
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Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about HERE ON FUN FRIDAY, although all the news is not necessarily fun, as we must talk about Vince McMahon and the death of Black Bart. But then we’ll try to make it fun, with your help in the form of calls and texts. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Image: WWE
It was a huge week for WWE with Raw’s debut on Netflix.
On this week’s Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher and I look at what went down and what might be next as well as what’s coming up for AEW off of this week’s Dynamite.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
Click here to listen (sub needed)
After being found in violation of failing to disclose previous settlement agreements to the WWE Board, Vince McMahon has agreed to a settlement with the SEC.
McMahon will pay a $400,000 civil penalty and reimburse WWE $1.33 million after the SEC found he violated the Securities Exchange Act.
By not disclosing “the agreements to WWE’s Board of Directors, legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel, or auditor. Doing so circumvented WWE’s system of internal accounting controls and caused material misstatements in WWE’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements,” the SEC stated in a Friday release.
McMahon was WWE’s executive chairman of the Board and CEO at the time of the agreements. WWE was merged with UFC in September 2023 to create TKO of which he was executive chairman until January 2024 after Janel Grant sued he, John Laurinaitis and WWE, accusing them of sexual trafficking and misconduct among other accusations. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
He released the following statement after the settlement went public in which he diminished the purpose of the investigation and its findings:
“The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be. As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading.
“In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”
The SEC specifically noted two undisclosed settlements McMahon had with two women totaling $10.5 million, one in 2019 and one in 2022. While not specifically named, one of those women is assumed to be Grant.
Grant’s attorney Ann Callis released the following statement to Post Wrestling:
“During his time leading WWE, Vince McMahon acted as if rules did not apply to him, and now we have confirmation that he repeatedly broke the law to cover up his horrifying behavior, including human trafficking. The SEC’s charges prove that the NDA Vince McMahon coerced Ms. Grant into signing violates the law, and therefore her case must be heard in court. While prosecutors for the Southern District of New York continue their criminal investigation, we look forward to bringing forward new evidence in our civil case about the sexual exploitation Ms. Grant endured at WWE by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis.”
From the SEC Friday:
“The order finds that, because McMahon failed to disclose the agreements to WWE, WWE did not evaluate the disclosure implications or the appropriate accounting for these transactions in its financial statements. The SEC’s order finds that, because the payments required by the 2019 and 2022 agreements were not recorded, WWE overstated its 2018 net income by approximately 8 percent and its 2021 net income by approximately 1.7 percent. In addition, according to the order, these payments should have been disclosed as related party transactions.
The order further finds that McMahon signed management representation letters that were provided to WWE’s auditor that did not disclose the existence of either settlement agreement. After learning of the settlement agreements, WWE issued a restatement of its financial statements in August 2022.
McMahon consented to the entry of the SEC’s order finding that he violated the Securities Exchange Act by knowingly circumventing WWE’s internal accounting controls and that he directly or indirectly made or caused to be made false or misleading statements to WWE’s auditor. The order also finds that McMahon caused WWE’s violations of the reporting and books and records provisions of the Exchange Act. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, McMahon agreed to cease-and-desist from violating those provisions, pay a $400,000 civil penalty, and reimburse WWE $1,330,915.90 pursuant to Section 304(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”
McMahon has reportedly been building up a new entertainment company with former WWE executives and hasn’t been in the spotlight or in the public eye for some time. According to TKO leadership, he has had nothing to do with WWE in any capacity since he stepped down last January.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Collision doing a huge number thanks to a great lead-in, the latest on Vince McMahon and Janel Grant, all the latest news, plus we’re joined by VINNY PACIFICO to talk wrestling all over the world, movies and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Vince McMahon vs. Janel Grant, Lee Fitting update, WWE and AEW big show advances, full results from AEW Dynamite with the end of the block finals for the Continental Classic, NXT, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Christmas and wrestling, Rey Mysterio Sr. article, the weekend Bryan met Dave
10:00: Vince McMahon/Janel Grant/WWE suit & Lee Fitting updates
18:44: WWE & AEW ticket advances
24:23: Dave’s thoughts on Tomohiro Ishii’s recent matches, Battle in the Valley card additions
33:25: CMLL’s Gran Alternativa tournament
37:48: AEW Dynamite recap, Worlds End lineup
1:02:57: WWE NXT recap
Both Vince McMahon and WWE filed court documents on Monday seeking arbitration in the nearly year-long Janel Grant lawsuit.
Filed in Connecticut, McMahon requested the court “for an order compelling arbitration of this matter” while WWE did the same which is their second time attempting to secure arbitration and the first since this past May. The company specifically cited that since the six-month federally mandated pause/stay in the case ended on December 11th, so did the decree to deny all pending motions to go to arbitration:
“The stay expired on December 11, 2024, and accordingly, WWE hereby files a renewed and updated Motion to Compel Arbitration, with supporting memorandum of law and statement of facts. WWE respectfully requests that the Court schedule oral argument for this motion, and such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.”
Both also filed similar supporting documents Monday, stating the 2022 NDA that Grant signed with McMahon had an arbitration clause.
From the documents:
“Simply put, Grant has no claims actionable in this Court because the separation and non-disclosure agreement she signed with McMahon (who signed on behalf of himself and WWE) (the “Agreement”)—the monetary benefits of which she concededly accepted and retained— contains an arbitration provision that unambiguously precludes this Court from adjudicating her claims.
In particular, Grant agreed that “the sole and exclusive legal method to resolve any and all disputes and/or controversies is to commence binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act.” The language is clear and unconditional. Not only are Grant’s allegations squarely within the scope of the arbitration provision, but the Agreement also expressly commits to arbitration the issue of arbitrability itself. Accordingly, this Court should enforce the parties’ agreed-upon method of addressing Grant’s claims and compel this action to arbitration.”
John Laurinaitis is also part of the lawsuit, but it’s been unreported if his legal team will, or has, attempted to file the same documents with the same reasoning.
Grant sued McMahon, WWE and Laurinaitis in January 2024, accusing the two men of sexual misconduct, sexual assault and sex trafficking during her time with WWE. Grant alleges that the NDA she signed stated McMahon promised to pay her $3 million, but that he paid her only $1 million.
After news of the lawsuit broke, McMahon resigned from his TKO executive role that same month and no longer has anything to do with TKO or WWE.
In a moment that likely will go down as one of the most talked about in the history of WWE, at the end of Raw on 6/11, Vince McMahon opened the door of his limo, there was a giant explosion, and it went up in flames.
The WWE web site, which is now completely storyline oriented, ran a story saying “Mr. McMahon presumed dead,” and talking about how firefighters and federal agents were investigating, after the show went off the air. The move, in discussion for about a month, was the next stage in the angle Vince McMahon started a few weeks back when he made the cancer reference. While many afterwards compared it to the ending of “The Sopranos” the night before on HBO, what happened was purely coincidental as the segments were taped on both 6/9 and 6/10, the former date before “The Sopranos” aired, the latter hours later, but it had all been scripted a month ahead of time.
This story has been updated.
A six-month long pause in the civil case filed by Janel Grant against Vince McMahon, WWE & John Laurinaitis ended on Wednesday, clearing the way for the near year-long lawsuit to resume.
Filed this past January, Grant’s lawsuit accuses McMahon and Laurinaitis of sexual assault and trafficking during their time together at WWE, something the two men have denied. Both are no longer with WWE or its parent company, TKO.
Per a June request from the U.S. Department of Justice in order to continue their pursuit of their own federal criminal investigation of McMahon, the lawsuit was paused for six months. On Wednesday, the Southern District of New York allowed that pause/stay to expire while the federal investigation also continues.
Grant’s legal team released the following statement about the ruling:
“Today, the United States Southern District for New York informed us that they will be letting the stay expire on Janel Grant’s lawsuit against former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, WWE executive John Laurinaitis, and WWE for sexual assault and human trafficking. This decision allows Ms. Grant to proceed with her civil charges against McMahon, Laurinaitis, and WWE while federal prosecutors continue their criminal investigation.“
Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis released the following statement of her own:
“We are pleased that prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have concluded that they can continue their criminal investigation while we bring forward new evidence in our civil case about the sexual exploitation carried out by Janel Grant’s abusers. For the last six months, Ms. Grant has patiently waited to hold Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE accountable for the sex trafficking and abuse she endured at the company on a near daily basis. Her wait is over, and we now look forward to sharing Ms. Grant’s story.”
On Thursday, McMahon’s attorney Jessica Rosenberg released a brief statement to Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston:
“Ms. Grant’s representative’s self-serving statement is, as usual, factually incorrect and intellectually dishonest.”
The legal team for WWE or Laurinaitis have yet to release their response as of this writing.
A judge has issued a stay in the lawsuit filed on behalf of five survivors of the “ring boy scandal.”
In October, law firm DiCello Levitt filed suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County against WWE, Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and TKO Group Holdings, alleging WWE was aware of and did not attempt to stop Melvin Phillips Jr’s sexual abuse of underage boys on the ring crew.
On December 3, 2024, a judge ruled the case to be paused until after the Maryland Supreme Court rules on challenges to 2023’s Maryland Child Victims Act, which eliminated the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits on behalf of child sexual abuse survivors.
The Board of Education of Harford County, Key School in Annapolis, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, D.C. are challenging the act’s constitutionality.
Judge James K. Bredar agreed with WWE’s claim that the plaintiff’s case “depends entirely on the constitutionality of the CVA.” He granted WWE’s motion to stay the case until after the Maryland Supreme Court rules on the challenges to the act, which is expected to take place before the end of the court’s current term in August 2025.
A full copy of yesterday’s ruling is available here.
It reads:
“MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This case was removed to this Court from the Circuit Court of Baltimore County. Defendants have filed three motions: a Motion to Stay (ECF No. 2); a Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to Plaintiffs’ Complaint (ECF No. 3); and a Motion to Shorten Time for Plaintiffs’ Response to Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to Plaintiffs’ Complaint (ECF No. 4). This case will be stayed.
The Complaint raises allegations regarding sexual abuse committed in the 1980s, and the timeliness of the claims depends on the Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 (“CVA”). As Defendants explain, the viability of Plaintiffs’ claims “depends entirely on the constitutionality of the CVA” and “[t]he Supreme Court of Maryland is poised to decide that precise issue in consolidated appeals of The Key School, Incorporated, et al. v. Valerie Bunker, Board of Education of Harford County v. John Doe, and Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. John Doe, et al.] that have been fully briefed for months and were argued just over two months ago.” (ECF No. 2-1 at 5.) Defendants seek a stay of this case pending the resolution of the consolidated appeals by the Maryland Supreme Court.
It is well established that “the power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Maryland v. Universal Elections, Inc., 729 F.3d 370, 379 (4th Cir. 2013) (quoting Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936)). Further, “[w]hen considering a discretionary motion to stay, courts typically examine three factors:
The Court concludes that a stay is warranted in this case. The question of the constitutionality of the CVA—which is a dispositive issue in this case—is currently before the Supreme Court of Maryland. In such a circumstance, stays are routinely granted. See Amdur v. Lizars, 372 F.2d 103, 106 (4th Cir. 1967) (“[A] federal district court has the discretion to stay proceedings on its docket pending the outcome of a similar suit instituted earlier in another court.”). Moreover, Defendants contend that they will challenge the constitutionality of the CVA should the case proceed. As this Court explained in another case in which the constitutionality of the CVA was at issue, “the appropriate course of action…is to certify a question to the Supreme Court of Maryland regarding the constitutionality of the CVA, rather than resolving this question itself in the first instance.”
Doe v. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 723 F. Supp. 3d 451, 453 (D. Md. 2024). Thus, principles of federalism, comity, and judicial economy strongly counsel in favor of a stay, where the question is already before the Maryland Supreme Court. Further, the Court discerns no prejudice to Plaintiffs in granting a stay pending the resolution of the consolidated appeals by the Maryland Supreme Court.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED that:
DATED this 3rd day of December, 2024.“
Welcome to another episode of The Latest with Denise Salcedo breaking down the biggest wrestling news headlines of the week so far.
TOPICS:
— WWE Superstars attend Moana 2 world premiere
— Tony Khan AEW media call: Grand Slam Australia updates, WWE ID, new event strategy
–Vince & Linda McMahon are ‘currently separated’
–CM Punk feels like he ‘wasted some matches on some people’ in AEW
–CM Punk tabbed for new Syfy scripted series
–Jade Cargill signs with Paradigm Talent Agency’s Sports Group
–International Women’s Cup four-way announced for Wrestle Dynasty
Image: WWE
In the second installment of my 12-part pro wrestling year in review series, Josh Nason’s Punch-Out takes a stop in, you guessed it, February 2024.
Joining me this month is Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net.
As the headline indicates, this month was dominated by the formation of the WWE WrestleMania 40 main event from The Rock vs. Roman Reigns to Cody Rhodes vs. Reigns instead, made official during a press event during Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas. We hit on all the key points and happenings including the #WeWantCody movement.
Of course, there was the continued fallout from Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon and his latest fall from grace. Many wrestlers went on the record about Vince. What did they say and why were they so conflicted?
We talk about the surprising firing of Scott D’Amore from TNA Wrestling, the announcement of AEW Big Business, Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay both wrapping up in NJPW, Giulia preparing for her immediate future, and lots more from all your favorite groups.
Click here to listen and be sure to check out all the episodes as listed below:
Confirming a longstanding rumor, Vince & Linda McMahon are officially not together as a couple anymore.
Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s attorney, confirmed to the Washington Post that Vince & Linda are “currently separated.” The news was included in a story the Washington Post published on Linda last night as she is set to join Donald Trump’s administration for his second presidency.
While Linda & Vince have been married for nearly six decades, Dave Meltzer wrote in 2022 that they have “lived largely apart for a long time.”
It was announced on Tuesday night that President-elect Trump is nominating Linda to his cabinet as secretary of the Department of Education. She had been considered a leading candidate for secretary of Commerce but got this position instead after Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick was chosen for the Commerce job.
Linda will need to be confirmed by the United States Senate for her role, though there is expected to be a 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate following the results of the 2024 election. When Linda was nominated to lead the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first presidency, she was easily confirmed with bipartisan support in an 81-19 vote.
Last month, a new lawsuit was filed against Linda McMahon, Vince McMahon, and WWE relating to the company’s “ring boy scandal” of the 1980s-1990s. Linda could face questions about the lawsuit during her confirmation process.
Brevetti claimed to the Washington Post that the lawsuit is “baseless.”
“This lawsuit based upon thirty-plus-year-old allegations is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations,” Brevetti said.
Vince McMahon and WWE are facing a separate lawsuit from former WWE employee Janel Grant, who has accused Vince of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking. Vince resigned from WWE and its parent company TKO Group Holdings after that lawsuit was filed. This summer, Linda said everyone in her family is “doing great” in the wake of Grant’s allegations.
Grant’s lawsuit has been on a six-month pause since June amid a legal investigation into Vince. That six months runs through December 11.
In addition to her cabinet role in the first Trump admin, Linda’s political history includes two unsuccessful Senate campaigns as a Republican candidate. She is a former executive for WWE and once served on the Connecticut Board of Education. Recently, Linda has been helping run a pro-Trump fundraising organization.
For WWE in January, it was the best of times and the worst of times.
That and more kicks off my third annual Josh Nason’s Punch-Out pro wrestling year in review series where I do 12 episodes covering all the news and happenings for WWE, AEW, TNA, Japan and everything else that made headlines.
Helping me kick things off with January 2024 is Rich Fann of PWTorch and POST Wrestling fame.
Among our topics:
Join me here twice a week as I continue the series with new guests. Did I forget anything from the month? Let me know.
As mentioned during an interview last week, Vince McMahon remains as a TKO shareholder with an SEC regulatory filing Thursday showing just how much he still owns.
In an SEC 13G filing, McMahon’s current allotment sits at 8,021,405 shares as of September 30th of this year. The reason for the filing is that he exceeds 5% ownership of a specific class of stock which requires disclosure. In this case, his shares account for 9.88% of class A stock but his portion of all TKO shares remains under 5%. He has no voting rights.
In a talk with CNBC, TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro noted he had breakfast with the former TKO chairman recently “just to check in” following the recent Netflix docuseries drop. He said he hadn’t heard from McMahon at all and “wanted to see where he was” with everything. During that interview, he said McMahon still was a stockholder but was not involved in any TKO business, nor was he asked his opinion on anything. He said McMahon “couldn’t have been more positive” about the direction of WWE, but specifically said he wasn’t asked for his opinion.
McMahon remains under federal investigation following the Wall Street Journal exposed hush money scandal with the current sexual misconduct lawsuit against him by Janel Grant put on pause as the federal case continues.
Reports recently emerged that McMahon is preparing to launch an entertainment company that includes several former WWE executives.
