Here's your wrestling news for June 16th 2022
And your headlines for today include
WWE CEO Vince McMahon under investigation! $3 million hush money payment allegedly made
Long-time WWE employee expected to lose job due to ongoing investigation
Sasha Banks rumoured to have been released by WWE!
AEW crown new Tag Team Champions after Jeff Hardy DUI arrest controversy
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match announced for Forbidden Door
Tony Khan gives major update on Forbidden Door long-term plans
Thunder Rosa fires back at claims of sabotaging recent Women’s World Title match
Former WWE Champion is working on match with John Cena
WWE Hall of Famer pulls out of Roast of Ric Flair due to “unforeseen circumstances.” And more
We’re kicking off today with none other than the Chairman of WWE, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, who is now facing a major scandal.
It’s been reported that WWE’s board have opened an investigation on McMahon over a $3 million settlement that he allegedly paid to a former employee who was leaving at the time.
The Wall Street Journal reports that documents unearthed in the investagion by the board allege that McMahon was having an affair with the former employee, who joined WWE as a paralegal in 2019.
In January 2022, the alleged separation agreement between the two me ant that the person was unable to reveal details of their alleged relationsh ip with McMahon, who it is claimed paid $3 million to keep quiet.
The first email sent to the board alleges that McMahon hired the woman at $100,000 a year, which bumped to $200,000 after their alleged affair began.
The email also claims that McMahon “gave her like a toy” to WWE’s head of talent relations, John Lauriniatis.
The investigation, which we’re now learning started in April, reve aled other non-disclosure agreements between female ex e mployees, and one email has this particular line:
My friend was so scared so she quit after Vince McMahon and lawyer Jerry [McDevitt] paid her millions of dollars to shut up.”
The $3 million was reportedly going to be paid in instalments, with the first $1 million paid immediately, and the other $2 million distributed over five years.
While it’s unconfirmed how many NDAs there are in total, the board’s outside counsel claims that settlements have been handed out in millions of dollars.
New York law firm Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett LLP is conduc ting the investigation, and also looking into whether WWE’s Human Resources team are sufficiently keeping staff safe.
In response, WWE’s spokesperson said that McMahon, Lauriniatis and the company are complying fully with the investigation, and WWE’s lawyer Jerry McDevitt told the Journal that there was no
harassment claim against McMahon.
This is a major story, arguably the biggest McMahon has faced in years, and we’ll keep following this situation as more information comes out.
These are early days into the investigation, but it seems that Laurinatis’ days with the WWE may be numbered.
That’s according to Fightful, who report that WWE staff, including in-ring talent were made well aware of the investigation before the story broke by the Wall Street Journal.
Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan are all on WWE’s board so they were made aware of the situation, and it’s even alleged that someone in the company intentionally leaked the
story to the press. The report adds:
One former office employee said they believe this will be a “ domino effect” and believes Vince McMahon will fight hard to s tay, but doesn’t see a situation in which Laurinaitis doesn’t resign.
Lauriniatis, who served for years as Head of Talent relations, returned to the role in 2021, worrying female Superstars given his “archaic” practices as the report calls them.
The legend goes that during the divas era, Lauriniatis used a binder full of modelling photos to hire talent, rather than consider actual wrestlers, and that he was a major force behind the years of trashy storylines.
While McMahon will fight hard to stay in his role as CEO, this will be a huge battle for the Chairman of WWE, and even if he stays, Johnny Ace isn’t expected to be around for much longer.
In May, Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of Raw, due to a difference with creative on that night.
The then-WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions didn’t agree for plans for them both to enter Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champi onship feuds, believing it lessened the importance of the titles they held.
Neither has been seen on WWE TV in a month now, and it could be that fans never see Sasha Banks again.
According to a report from Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc, The Boss has been released from WWE, though it’s unclear if this was WWE’s call, or if she requested to be let go.
We should stress that this is only a rumour for now, as when talent were contacted, they were told that they hadn’t heard anything about a release yet.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful said that he hadn’t heard about a release, but didn’t dismiss Giri’s claim, saying he has good sources.
What we do know is that Banks’ contract was coming up at the time of her walkout, and that WWE had reportedly been against the idea of freezing her deal.
If she has been released then this is arguably the biggest departure since Bray Wyatt last year, and we’ll have to keep an eye out on what Banks does next, and whether she’s in or out of WWE.
Over to AEW now, as last night saw an AEW World Tag Team Title Ladder match, but it wasn’t the one fans had expected to see.
Initially, it was going to be Jurrassic Express defending against the Young Bucks and The Hardys, but that didn’t happen due to Jeff’s recent arrest.
Never the less, the match continued with the two remaining teams, and it was the Bucks who got the win, becoming the first-ever two- time AEW World Tag Team Champions.
Post-match, Christian Cage cemented his teased heel turn, attacking Jungle Boy with a steel chair in a moment that got a huge response from the crowd.
This has certainly been an interesting week for AEW’s tag team division, and while the Hardy’s had been the favourites to leave with the World Tag Team Titles, it’s now the Bucks who are on top of the division again.
This week’s Dynamite also saw the build continue towards Forbidden Door, with several matches being confirmed for the huge crossover event.
We knew going into Dynamite that Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi will determine the interim AEW World Champion on June 26th, but that won’t be the only title on the line.
On Dynamite, Jay White appeared and the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion confirmed that he will be defending his title later this month.
Both Adam Cole and Hangman Adam Page said they wanted the match, but White didn’t declare an opponent, leading to ] speculation of a triple threat match next week.
A massive tag team match has also been confirmed, as Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki will take on Wheeler Yuta, Shota Umino, and Eddie Kingston at Forbidden Door.
With the first AEW All-Atlantic champion also set to be crowned at Forbidden Door, the show will certainly be a night to remember for both fans of AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Even a week ahead of Forbidden Door, the crossover event is proving to be a hit with fans, with tickets selling out almost immediately after they went on sale.
It’s clear that fans are all in on a crossover show featuring AEW and New Japan talent, so it should come as no surprise that Tony Khan is already working on what comes next.
Sitting down with Comicbook.com, Khan discussed the show, and when asked if Forbidden Door will be an annual event, said that this is the idea.
Khan said he enjoys working with Gedo, who runs New Japan, and that for the past year, wrestlers from both companies appearing on the other promotion has proven to be a highly successful
venture for both AEW and New Japan. Forbidden Door has already proven to be popular with audiences, with tickets selling out incredibly
quickly at the United Center in Chicago, and fans can look forward to more Forbidden Door events in the years to come
More from AEW next, as Thunder Rosa successfully defended her AEW Women’s World Title last week against Marina Shafir, in a match that had fans scratching their heads.
At points, Shafir seemed to struggle with work with Rosa, and it was claimed on social media that the Champion was ‘sandbagging’ deliberately sabotaging the match for some reason.
A tweet claiming that Rosa had deliberately tried to ruin the match was liked by both Shafir and Dr. Britt Baker, but the AEW Women’s World Champion isn’t fretting what some fans have to say.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Rosa was asked about the accusations against her, and replied saying:
I have nothing but respect for my opponents. I send them nothing but blessings. Moving forward, I will continue to work harder to have the best matches… People are going to talk and that’s fine. I’m not worried
about that
People may talk, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time these sorts of claims have come out, with a 2020 match with Ivelisse being criticised because she and Rosa didn’t get on the same page.
AEW has shown no sign of Rosa’s reign as champion ending anytime soon, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Puerto- Rican star works after this latest accusation.
Later this month, John Cena will return to WWE to celebrate 20 years since his main roster debut, challenging Kurt Angle in an open challenge.
It’s been reported for some time now that Cena’s return won’t be a one -off, but will lead to a feud with United States Champion Theory, culm nating in a championship match between the two at Summerslam.
That may be the plan, but Theory isn’t the only Superstar with an eye on the 16-time WWE World Champion.
Appeaing on The Bump, Drew McIntyre laid his claims to a match with Cena, saying that he’ll keep working forward to make the match happen.
Cena and McIntyre have never faced one on one, but that’s something Drew would like to change.
With John getting busier and busier in Hollywood, the amount of matches he can have has drastically decreased, but we’ll have to see if Big Match John and the Scottish Warrior ever face off.
And we’re wrapping up today with the Roast of Ric Flair, which will take place on July 29th, two days before the Nature Boy’s retirement match.
With decades in the wrestling industry, there’ll be no shortage of things to talk about at the roast, but one major name won’t be involved.
It was reported earlier this week that Mike Tyson would be at the event, given that the Boxing legend is a huge wrestling fan.
Now though, a representative of Iron Man has told TMZ that Tyson won’t be appearing, saying that unforeseen circum stances had meant it impossible for him to show.
The representative did not give any explanation as to what these circumstances are, only that the boxer is out.
Even without Tyson, the Roast of Ric Flair will be a huge night for everyone involved, and mark the beginning of the end for the Nature Boy’s wrestling career at Starrcast.