The Hollywood Reporter has a story on Vince McMahon’s exit from TKO Group, revealing that it was Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro who personally called McMahon and asked him to resign from the role of Executive Chairman after details of the Janel Grant lawsuit came out.
THR says in its report that the extreme graphic details in the lawsuit caught all TKO executives by surprise, leading the top two company execs to demand McMahon’s resignation on January 26. McMahon offered no resistance and submitted his resignation.
After McMahon resigned, TKO had the job to inform WWE’s corporate sponsors that McMahon was gone for good, a move which brought back Slim Jim as a presenting sponsor of the Royal Rumble. Slim Jim had earlier paused all their WWE commitments due to McMahon’s involvement.
McMahon is currently the subject of a federal investigation which might spell even more trouble for him. The attorney for Janel Grant said that they are not looking for a settlement and McMahon’s resignation is not enough. If this lawsuit goes to discovery, it could spell disaster for those involved, even those not named, as texts, e-mails, and other correspondence will come out in public showing who knew what was going on.
