Vince McMahon resigns from TKO, WWE following sexual assault lawsuit By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon looks out to the crowd during NBC’s “Today” show in New York, USA, April 2, 2007. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) – Vince McMahon has resigned from wrestling giant TKO Group and the subsidiary he founded, WWE, in the wake of a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and human trafficking and will fight it, the company said on Friday.

“I have decided to resign from my position as Executive Chairman and the TKO Board of Directors effective immediately,” McMahon said in a statement released by TKO.

The former employee’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Connecticut, accuses McMahon, WWE and another executive of “physical and mental abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking while at WWE” and seeks unspecified costs and damages.

McMahon denied the allegations, saying in a statement, “I intend to vigorously defend against these baseless accusations and look forward to clearing my name.”

In a memo to employees, WWE Chairman Nick Caan wrote that McMahon “will no longer have a role with TKO Group Holdings or WWE.”

McMahon retired from WWE in 2022 amid allegations of misconduct and paid the company $17.4 million to cover costs related to the investigation into the incident. He returned to action in January 2023.

McMahon, the wrestling entertainment powerhouse, transformed the company from a regional player in a highly fragmented industry in the 1980s into a global behemoth with sales of about $1 billion in 2021.

He used scripted matches, celebrity wrestlers and flashiness to make the brand more acceptable to TV audiences and created pay-per-view match concepts for marquee events like “WrestleMania” to build a revenue base.

TKO was formed last year when McMahon struck a deal between WWE and the UFC, a mixed martial arts franchise owned by Endeavor Group.