WWE’s latest SEC filings revealed the full cost of payments Vince McMahon made to allegedly quiet incidents of sexual misconduct, and it’s several million dollars higher than any previous report.
As noted by CNBC, the figure cited by WWE is $14.6 million: $2.6 million more than the Wall Street Journal had uncovered in the second of its two bombshell stories detailing the full extent of Vince McMahon’s efforts to cover up alleged affairs and misconduct with multiple women who were former WWE employees.
The payments are having a direct effect on WWE’s required financial reporting, as the company said it would need to revise reports from 2019 through the first quarter of this year to account for the “unrecorded expenses.” Yet they should have relatively little effect on the bottom line, as WWE’s operating income is well up over the same quarter in 2021, and its stock has weathered the storm around Vince McMahon over the past month and a half with little trouble.
WWE could also get a boost in sentiment from the confirmation that Paul “Triple H” Levesque will be in charge of creative going forward. Levesque only recently resumed his full executive duties following time off for his heart health scare last fall, but his new role should please WWE fans who enjoyed his time as the force behind the original NXT brand.
Despite that, the revelation about the exact size and nature of McMahon’s payments is the biggest sign yet that his retirement is permanent. He won’t be laying low until the heat from his scandal blows over, just to retake the reins sometime down the road. His actual departure from the company he built into the force that drove the professional wrestling industry for decades was always a possibility, but it’s now a reality, and one whose full impact will take some time to play out.