Ex-WWE Chairman 'Vince McMahon wants to buy back the company' - just one year after sex trafficking lawsuit led him to resign - but would TKO sell back to him?
Recent reports have suggested Vince McMahon wants to buy back the WWE from TKO.
The former chairman resigned from the company in January 2024 following a lawsuit filed by ex-employee Janel Grant, alleging sexual harassment and trafficking.
Since leaving, McMahon has been selling off his shares in the company, and is believed to have made over $1.5billion (£1.1bn) from these sales.
TKO President Mark Shapiro has previously insisted that McMahon will not return to the WWE and that he has no internal contact with the company.
He said in March 2024: 'We're not in conversations with him [McMahon]. We don't know his motives, his plans or his timeline.
'He doesn't work for the company, doesn't come into the office and he's not coming back to the company. And that's where we sit.'
And it seems TKO have double down on their stance, as a new report from PWN Reports has claimed that the company still have no interest in selling to McMahon.
In fact, WWE insiders reportedly view the notion of McMahon returning as laughable, considering the heinous nature of the allegations made towards him.
A post on X read: 'I was given word that TKO is not interested in selling off #WWE. And the source I spoke with chuckled at the thought of Vince purchasing it back.
'It's very possible he may feel like he wants it back, but seems very unlikely at this point since WWE is not for sale.'
Part of Grant's 67-page lawsuit accused McMahon of pressuring her for sexual relations in exchange for her job.
McMahon allegedly 'greeted her in his underwear, touched her, repeatedly asked for hugs, and spent hour sharing intimate details about his personal life'.
Once employed, Grant alleged that McMahon and John Laurinaitis, who served as head of talent relations for the WWE, sexually assaulted her 'while colleagues were busy at their desks.'
Her allegations include that McMahon and Laurinaitis locked her in a room at the WWE's Stamford, Connecticut headquarters in June of 2021 and took turns sexually assaulting during the work day.
The married McMahon is additionally accused of trafficking Grant to other men, forcing her to perform sex acts 'on demand' and sharing nude photographs of the plaintiff.
In one alleged text message from 2020, he is accused of sharing a photo of her with others and writing: 'She may scream and try to say NO!!although it would B difficult to say anything with a c*** down her throat.'
Another message allegedly sent by McMahon to Grant a month earlier read: 'I'm the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f*** U.'
A spokesperson for McMahon stated after Grant's allegations: 'This lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth. He [McMahon] will vigorously defend himself.'
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