-- After being the center of another scandal that has led to a lawsuit against him and WWE, Vince McMahon submitted his resignation earlier this evening, stepping down effective immediately from TKO as an executive. While he continues to own significant shares of TKO, his run on the leadership team is over.
-- The backstage internal reaction so far after the news broke was a mix of "relief and happiness", depending on whom you talked to according to a report by pwinsiderelite.com. Some felt that McMahon got "what was coming to him" based on the serious allegations levied against him in the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant while others were glad that Vince is now officially distanced from WWE as he was described as being a bit of a "black cloud hanging over everything" despite not having a direct, hands-on involvement. Others felt that a major move was bound to happen with McMahon being forced to resign once Slim Jim decided to pause their sponsorship of Royal Rumble and WWE in general in a deal that was worth a significant amount of money. However, not a lot of people expected this domino to fall so quickly.
-- With Vince gone, some within WWE are hoping that this opens the door for Stephanie McMahon to return to the company, though it should be cautioned that WWE is not the same company it was when she was leading it nor is it the same company when she exited. It's unclear how or if she would even fit into the current structure of TKO and WWE, should she want to return.
-- Another belief internally is that with Vince out of the company, Endeavor may use this opportunity to release anyone from his remaining team in order to usher in their own new, fresh regime. When Vince originally resigned in late 2022, there were employees who also exited but returned when Vince forced himself back in. It is very possible that anyone who has a connection to McMahon could be viewed in a negative light moving forward. Unlike last year when McMahon resigned and then bullied his way back into WWE, it is not possible for him to do that this time around because despite owning a huge number of stocks within the company, he is no longer majority shareholder and does not have the same sort of power before Endeavor acquired WWE.
