Vince McMahon is not entirely gone from TKO, reveals company president; recently had breakfast together
TKO President Mark Shapiro recently addressed former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon's status in the company. He revealed that he recently had breakfast with the 79-year-old.
McMahon initially retired from WWE in 2022. However, he returned in January 2023 to once again become the sports entertainment giant's executive chairman. After reaching a deal with Endeavor and forming a publicly traded company, TKO, McMahon became the newly formed company's executive chairman. Nevertheless, he resigned earlier this year amid being sued by former employee, Janel Grant, for alleged sexual assault and sex trafficking.
In an interview with CNBC, the TKO President disclosed that he recently had breakfast with McMahon. He claimed the former chairman was a "total pro" during their get-together:
"I had breakfast with him a few weeks ago. Just to check in, it had been a long time. Haven't heard from him at all. Obviously, the series on Netflix came out, I wanted to see kind of where he was. By the way, he couldn't have been more cooperative, he couldn't have been nicer. I mean, he was a total pro at breakfast, if you will. It's a one-on-one get-together."
Despite putting his shares in the newly merged company up for sale, Shapiro recently revealed that McMahon is still a shareholder within TKO Group Holdings. However, he pointed out that the 79-year-old is out of the business entirely and does not make decisions:
"But he's out of the business entirely, he doesn't make decisions, he's not on the board, he doesn't opine, we don't consult him. He's got some litigation that he's working through and frankly, he wants the privacy and the time to work through it. Which is great because in the meantime we're going to keep building TKO and WWE and expanding the horizon, expanding the opportunities. And by the way, he's still a shareholder. Not the shareholder he once was, but he's still a shareholder." [H/T: Cultaholic.com]
Does Vince McMahon have an informant inside WWE?
Although Vince McMahon is no longer with WWE, some of his former close associates are still in the Stamford-based company, including Executive Director - CWT Bruce Prichard.
In an interview with the Wrestling with the Devil podcast, former WWE Head Writer Vince Russo claimed Prichard was Vince McMahon's "informant" in the promotion, stating that the 61-year-old lets the former chairman know about everything that goes on in the company:
"Here's the part that puzzles me. With Vince no longer a part of that company, would you not have thought loyal soldier Bruce Prichard would have been the first one to say, 'You know, Endeavor, I don't wanna have anything to do with your company. I am a Vince McMahon guy. That's why there's a part of me like for Bruce to not do that and to still have a job there is the reason he still has a job there is because to this day he is Vince's informant and still letting Vince know everything that's going on in that company," Russo said.
According to recent reports, Prichard is currently on temporary leave from WWE for family reasons. His return date remains unknown.
