– Stephanie McMahon surprised the wrestling world last month by announcing an indefinite leave of absence from WWE. While her announcement came as a shock to a lot of people both in and outside of WWE, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that it was a decision that was “several months in the making.” The report adds that while WWE President Nick Khan is going to assume many of Stephanie’s responsibilities, the company is ultimately looking at hiring a replacement Chief Brand Officer, which would seem to imply that her absence will not be a short-term leave.
– Interestingly, the Observer adds that privately there are people who are saying negative things about her on the way out but behind closed doors as no one wants to be caught doing so. One person backstage commented that part of the frustration in working with Stephanie was that if you would ask her something, she would ultimately have to run it by Vince but in the end, everyone, even Nick Khan, has to get the green light from Vince.
– While publicly, Stephanie has stated that she wants to spend more time with her family - and that part is true - there are other factors that played into the move as well but everyone is keeping it quiet and nothing as of yet has leaked out. The Observer reports that one person close to the situation claims that Stephanie “for sure” won’t be back anytime soon and it’s unclear that if she does come back, whether she would even get her role as Chief Brand Officer back.
