>>6337216When the initial Wall Street Journal story emerged, a former talent contacted Fightful and they said of "at least one major story" would come out in the coming weeks, but didn't feel comfortable identifying the story specifically. They confirmed to Fightful this morning it was tied to the former talent who gained a $7.5M agreement. McMahon's behavior was heavily rumored among the writing team based on those that we spoke to, though we didn't hear if elements of coercion and NDAs were well known. One former writer we spoke to said that McMahon's relationship's would be a half-joking excuse as to why he'd be late to meetings before TV.
Everyone that Fightful spoke with continued to believe that John Laurinaitis was "done" in the company, but believes he has a "golden parachute" deal with WWE that will likely take care of him. Female talent had contacted Fightful last year upon his promotion back into talent relations expressing their frustration. One higher up told Fightful "Johnny Ace's ninth life is about to be lost."
Around the time of the first Wall Street Journal story, we were quickly told that WWE talent and staff were briefed via memo about the story and investigation. We're not told of any memo reflecting today's story. WWE talent have not been available to speak on the record about the allegations and reports, but have spoken with Fightful privately and expressed displeasure and extreme frustration with Vince McMahon's handling of it.
Fightful's requests for comment went unreturned by WWE on this matter. We also reached out to those close to the situation on the matter, and former WWF referee Rita Chatterton, who made rape allegations regarding Vince McMahon in the 1980s.
