In January, Stephanie McMahon announced that she was no longer with the company in an executive role as she had resigned as Chairwoman and co-CEO of WWE.
Her departure was days after her father, Vince McMahon, voted himself back, alongside George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, to the Board Of Directors. Vince later agreed to be acquired by Endeavor and has since merged with the UFC to form the TKO Holdings Group.
This was after she announced in the summer of 2022 that she was taking a leave of absence from WWE, only to return after Vince’s hush money scandal broke. He eventually resigned from his WWE duties.
At the time, the story going around WWE was that Stephanie knew it was a matter of time before she was demoted following Vince’s return. This led to her leaving because she didn’t need the money/job, especially after making the decision months ago to leave anyway.
While speaking with Bill Simmons on his podcast, WWE President Nick Khan talked about Stephanie’s departure.
“Yeah. She decided to step away. Initially, she was on a leave of absence. Some of the Vince stuff started to happen. He stepped out for a moment. She was asked by Vince, by myself, by the board to come back. She came back, and we were extremely gracious for her in doing so. And ultimately, when Vince came back, she decided that, hey, she was ready to go and step out. I respect the decision. I wish she hadn’t done that. And she knows that for me personally, she’s a terrific executive and a terrific person. That’s her decision. Her relationship with Vince is theirs. And once she made it, I have total respect for the decision.”
Khan was asked if Stephanie will come back eventually to WWE.
“Well, I don’t know what the future holds, but with Vince as the chairman of the company, Paul, the head of creative. Me and the role that I’m in, you know, Stephanie wanted to do something with WWE. Of course, WWE would embrace that. The WWE Universe would embrace that. I think she’s enjoying some time off. And you know the drill. After grinding hard as you’ve grinded hard as she grinded hard to take a few months off, she still has school-age children; she and Paul do. I think she’s enjoying herself.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Bill Simmons Podcast with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
