June 27, 2022 Observer Newsletter: Stephanie McMahon named interim CEO of WWE, Forbidden Door preview

In one of the strangest playing out of a story in pro wrestling, Stephanie McMahon is not only back with WWE weeks after leaving and then being buried and is now both the interim CEO and interim Chairwoman of the Board.
The move was made on 6/17, days after the Wall Street Journal story broke regarding her father and John Laurinaitis having affairs with Laurinaitis’ 41-year-old assistant and the story going into detail on a $3 million payoff in exchange for an NDA with the woman, to be paid out over a five-year period. The story also noted that there were other payoffs made to women over the years by Vince McMahon that totaled millions of dollars.
Vince McMahon announced that during the investigation against him that he was stepping down as CEO and Chairman of the Board, but would remain as the head of creative. At both Smackdown and Raw, where ratings have shot up huge coming off the publicity, particularly with younger viewers, backstage, with Vince McMahon in charge, it was largely business as usual.
Subscribers can read this week’s Observer Newsletter here.