Vince McMahon to appear on WWE SmackDown

On the same day he voluntarily stepped down as WWE Chairman and CEO during his ongoing misconduct investigation, Vince McMahon will appear on tonight’s WWE SmackDown.

In a very brief media release, WWE stated, “WWE today announced that Mr. McMahon will appear on SmackDown tonight at 8 pm ET live on FOX.”

It’s unknown if the appearance will be live or taped.

The company announced Friday morning that as the investigation for misconduct is carried out related to an alleged $3 million “hush money” arrangement with a former love interest that was an employee, he would voluntarily step down from both Chairman and CEO roles. However, he will remain in charge of creative as if nothing has changed.

In the meantime, Stephanie McMahon has returned from her brief leave of absence to take over as interim CEO and Chairwoman.

As of this writing, the U.S. stock market hasn’t opened so it’s unclear how Friday’s developments could affect WWE’s stock which closed at $64.87 Thursday. In pre-open trading, it was down 1% to $64.20 (9:30 AM Eastern).