Here's more wrestling news for June 17th 2022
And your headlines for today include
What does WWE’s code of conduct have to say about McMahon’s alleged affair?
Vince McMahon likely to go to court over XFL firing: Who has the advantage now?
Top New Japan star expected to miss Forbidden Door event for very important reason
Sasha Banks’ legal team is working hard to get her out of WWE
Banks responds to reports that she’s already been released
Legendary wrestling family to be featured in upcoming Hollywood production
Killer Kross says he’ll turn down offers to join AEW made by Tony Khan
Veteran referee announces he’ll retire for good at this Sunday’s Slammiversary And more
We’re starting with WWE, who are reeling from a damning Wall Street Journal article, revealing that Vince McMahon is under investigation.
The WWE CEO is alleged to have arranged a $3 million hush money payment to a paralegal he was having an affair with, and its said that McMahon is cooperating fully with the investigation.
Many have said that McMahon will survive this investigation, no matter what the result may be, but he may soon have even more trouble thanks to his own code of conduct.
According to WWE’s own conduct policy, the kind of action that McMahon is alleged to have done is flat out banned by the promotion. The policy reads:
“Harassment creates working conditions that are wholly inconsistent with WWE’s commitment to its personnel. Examples of prohibited conduct include… The grant or offer of an employment quid pro
quo for personal intimacy.”
A quid pro quo is essentially what McMahon is being accused of, having allegedly doubled the paralegal’s pay from $100,000 to $200,000 a year once they began a sexual relationship.
With a voting majority on WWE’s bord of directors, it’ll be incredibly difficult, if not impossible for McMahon to be ousted from his role, but a violation of his own policy code could spell more bad
news for the Chairman of the Board
More legal trouble for Vince McMahon now, but in a refreshing change of pace, this isn’t coming from his work in WWE.
With everything that’s going on at the moment, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that McMahon was in charge of the XFL just two years ago, and is being sued by his former commissioner Oliver Luck.
McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment attempted to avoid paying a $24 million contract to Oliver Luck, though the WWE boss has claimed that Luck acted in breach of his contract leading to an abrupt dismissal from his role.
We now have an update, as the two parties have again tried to reach a settlement outside of court, but those talks have once again fallen apart.
This is bad news for McMahon, as the presiding judge so far has ruled out all of McMahon’s arguments, with the only one he has left is that Luck allowed Antonio Callaway to play, despite his history of off-field offenses.
At the time of launch, the XFL said they would not have anyone play who had been previously convicted, and McMahon is hoping that Callaway’sperformance will prove Luck was negligent in his duties.
This case has been going on for over a year now, but could be ending soon, and we’ll keep following this legal battle between McMahon and his former commissioner.
On June 26th, AEW and New JapAn will team up to host Forbidden Door, a super Show featuring stars of both promotions.
With the IWGP World Heavyweight Title being defended and the crowning of an interim AEW World Champion, Forbidden Door will have plenty of big names, but one of new Japan's biggest ever stars sadly won't be appearing.
During the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that Kazuchika Okada isn't expected to appear at Forbidden Door, but for a very good reason.
Not only is Okada's wife's birthday around the same time as the event, but she is also heavily pregnant, and expected to give birth later this month.
It had been reported at one time that the plan was for Okada to face Adam Page at Forbidden Door, but with the Hangman hinting at facing Jay White on this week's Dynamite, there's no sign of an Okada match.
This comes as a huge blow to both promotions, as Okada is beloved by fans around the world, but don't expect him in Chicago on June 26th.
Now, yesterday we reported on Sasha Banks, who may have been released by WWE.
We say may as only one source has stated that she has departed the company, but if she has, then it’s something that she’s been working on for some time.
That’s according to Andrew Zarian, who could not confirm that she had been released this week, but said that as of last week, Banks and her attorneys had been working on getting her out of her WWE contract.
Thus far, nobody from WWE has confirmed or denied Sasha Banks’ release, but its clear that the former Women’s Champion wants out.
Time will tell when or where Banks appears next, but it seems that her time in WWE will be ending very soon, if it hasn’t already.
We can’t say for certain if Banks’ time with WWE has already come to an end or not, but the Boss is seemingly refuting the claims of her departure.
On Instagram, the former WWE Women’s Champion shared a message via her stories, saying this is why she keeps off Twitter, and that people are “making stuff up for no reason.”
Banks didn’t specify that she was addressing the reports of her release, but given that the story started with a tweet by Raj Giri, fans quickly figured out what she was referring to.
Of course, we can’t count out this being a misdirect from Banks, especially as it’s being reported that she and her legal team are working on getting her out of her WWE deal.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens next with Sasha Banks, and Naomi for that matter, but don’t expect either woman back in the near future, if ever.
We’ve got some movie news now, as the Von Erich family is one of the most legendary families in wrestling, and will now be featured on the silver screen.
It was first reported that Deadline that a new film will focus on the Von Erichs, and be named ‘the Iron Claw’ the same name as the finisher of the family’s patriarch Fritz Von Erich.
High School Musical and the Greatest Showman star Zac Efron has been attached to the film already, but there’s no word on who he’ll be playing.
We do know that the film will be written by award-winning filmmaker Sean Durkin, who will have his work cut out for him with the Von Erich family.
Fritz Von Erich had six sons, five of whom all died under terrible circumstances, with Kerry, Mike and Chris Von Erich all taking their own lives after careers in wrestling.
Interestingly, SEScoops has learned that the Von Erich family will not have any involvement in the film’s production, but we’re sure this will make for a fascinating watch for wrestling fans when it
eventually comes out.
In late 2021, Killer Kross was released from WWE, despite two reigns as NXT Champion.
Kross had an impressive run in NXT, followed by an underwhelming run on Monday Night Raw, including an awful looking attire and his wife Scarlet Bordeaux not serving as his manager.
Despite his success in NXT, Kross hasn’t appeared on AEW programming yet, and it looks like the former Superstar has already turned down an offer.
Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Kross was asked about his thoughts on Tony Khan, and revealed that he’ll say no to the AEW President:
“I like the guy. There’s a lot of people who upon getting that phone call would’ve just taken his money, and maybe they’re in a position where they absolutely have to. I’m not going to do that to
him. I have too much respect for him and the place and my friends that work there to just take the money. I know what I can do and I’m not interested in doing anything less than my best work.”
AEW is already home to several former WWE Superstars, and already boasts several former NXT Champions, including Samoa Joe, Adam Cole, Andrade El Idolo and Pac.
Fans may hope to see Kross join the company one day, but it doesn’t look like that’ll be happening, as the Killer is perfectly happy operating as he is right now.
And we’re ending today not with a wrestler, but a referee, as Brian Hebner is hanging up his stripes.
Hebner, the son of infamous ref Earl Hebner, has been calling matches in the ring for 23 years now, but on the latest episode of his podcast, confirmed his retirement.
Brian explained that he’ll be leaving the ring for good after Impact Wrestling’s upcoming Slammiversary Pay Per View, and said he will also be leaving Impact and working for himself.
Hebner has called the action in several major promotions, including Impact, WWE, Ring of Honor, AEW and the NWA, but after this Sunday’s Slammiversary, wrestling will have lost one of it’s most
respected officials