Over the last few weeks, some rumors have popped up online about the marriage of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Some people on social media have pointed out that Stephanie has been seen without her wedding ring at times and many have speculated that she stepped away last month from her role as Chief Brand Officer because she and Hunter were going through a divorce.
Wade Keller addressed the rumors on a recent PWTorch audio show and he was told by a well-connected source that the rumors are not true at all. Keller also said that her decision to step away last month had nothing to do with the investigation into her father Vince McMahon’s alleged $3 million settlement to cover up an affair with an ex-employee.
Keller said, “There are rumors about why Stephanie stepped away and I was told by somebody pretty plugged in that it didn’t have to do with knowledge of this story being worked on. Now, that’s one source. It’s reliable [and] plugged in but I’m leaving open the possibility that the stories are connected. But at this point, my leaning is to believe my source on that Stephanie did not walk away knowing this is going to come up waiting to swoop in and take over. But that does not rule out that this isn’t a major turning point in the power structure of WWE, especially if the NDA that the Wall Street Journal obtained and if that the board obtains discovers that there have been things going on with Vince McMahon that they find morally objectionable and unpalatable to continuing to work with him and allow him in power.”
On the Hunter-Stephanie marriage rumors, Keller said: “I know when Hunter had his health problems, and then Stephanie stepped aside there were, I don’t wanna say rumors because that’s overstating it. [There was] conjecture that maybe there were marital issues that they were dealing with. I’m told that’s just flat out not the case and that they are a team.”
He added, “Triple H works full time, he’s a talent scout, but Stephanie stepped away and they reduced their hours. Hunter reduced his hours. As I’ve talked about, Hunter was just drinking iced coffees constantly when he was not a caffeine guy beforehand, just to keep up with his demands. So he scaled back to a more focused job with less stress after his health scare, but he is full-time with WWE and Stephanie stepped away in part because of the age of their kids. And also just the idea that they have enough money, they want to appreciate life, and do some things outside of working for the company.
On Stephanie taking over as the interim CEO, Keller said he’s heard some things that lead him to believe that Stephanie could end up in that role permanently. Keller said, “Some of the things that I’m hearing, make me consider the possibility as worthy of conversation that this could result in Stephanie taking over as head of the company, and Triple H and I saw speculation of this on Twitter, and I could totally see this happening, Paul Heyman taking on a bigger role in creative. Paul Heyman gets along really well with Hunter and Stephanie. And so I wouldn’t rule that possibility out either. But again, that’s inspired by someone saying a dream scenario would be Vince McMahon stepping down [and] John Laurinaitis stepping down and Stephanie taking over and hiring Hunter and Paul to work together to run the company.”
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