Ex-writer suggests that key figure within WWE could possibly have set up the lawsuit against Vince McMahon (Exclusive)
Vince McMahon's resignation from WWE following the allegations by Janel Grant has dominated the headlines for the last few weeks, giving the wrestling world mainstream coverage, albeit in a bad way. Ex-WWE writer Vince Russo suggested that a certain Executive may have been wary of the allegations and possibly set up McMahon's departure.
In the latest episode of Writing with Russo, Vince Russo went into detail about a few theories he had regarding Vince McMahon's resignation. He was asked by host Dr. Chris Featherstone if TKO head Ari Emanuel was aware of the allegations and felt that Vince McMahon's exit was the best route.
Vince Russo stated his opinion that Ari Emanuel was fully aware of this. He pointed out the CNBC interview where they spoke of the merger and how Ari Emanuel was propping Vince McMahon up. The ex-WWE writer believes that Ari Emanuel took the route of getting Vince McMahon out of TKO because he knew this situation was coming:
"Not only was it the best route, but he [Ari Emanuel] knew all of this. He knew this was coming down the pipe. I'm not saying I believe in these theories, but remember the interview Ari did next to Vince [McMahon] - propping him up, propping him up. 'Oh, we did this deal because of Vince', '20 year friendship' with Vince'. This is like GoodFellas. Now they get the deal with Netflix, 'Bro you ain't getting any of the $5 billion bro. You're out of here'." (8:56-9:40)
He also theorized that Ari Emanuel was the one who ordered the remaining NDA payments of $2 million (over four installments) to stop.
*It should be noted that the NDA payments allegedly stopped in the summer of 2022, which was several months before the TKO-WWE merger deal was made official. So Ari Emanuel being involved in stopping the NDA payments is highly unlikely.*
Regardless, Vince Russo said that Ari Emanuel may have created the opportunity for the lawsuit against Vince McMahon to happen:
"That's why I said, bro. Ari was the one to say 'Stop paying the NDA'. He stopped paying the NDA and like I said, whether he was in cahoots with this woman or wasn't, he knew this would open up an opportunity for her to sue Vince. What do we always hear? Follow the money. At the end of the day, it's all about power and money. This guy is 77 years old, does Ari really want this guy, does he really need this guy? I'm not saying none of this lawsuit isn't real, I'm not saying that. But I'm saying the opportunity could have been created for this lawsuit to happen." (9:41-10:42)
You can watch the full video below:
Ari Emanuel's quick action against Vince McMahon was predicted before it happened
The Hollywood Reporter put out a story stating that Vince McMahon had reportedly been pressured into resigning with TKO after Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro told him to do so.
Mike Johnson reported on PWInsider before the official resignation that Ari Emanuel would ferociously eradicate anything that stands in the way of business:
"They 'don't know Emanuel' and they don't understand how 'ferociously he will eradicate' anything that needs to be taken care of to protect his businesses."
He also said WWE employed Emanuel's daughter for several years, and the Endeavor head was known for walking away from deals in the past
Do you think the TKO CEO acted quickly enough? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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