An interim Head of Talent Relations has been named as John Laurinaitis is on administrative leave amidst allegations of misconduct.
News broke on June 15th that Vince McMahon was investigated by the WWE Board of Directors for allegedly paying $3 million to a former employee with whom he had an affair.
It was also noted that that the board’s investigation has also unearthed older non-disclosure agreements that surround claims of misconduct made by other former female WWE employees that involve both Vince McMahon and WWE’s Head of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis.
Allegations surrounding the relationship between Vince McMahon and the former WWE paralegal came to light when the company board was sent anonymous emails, with one alleging that McMahon had up the employees’ salary from $100,000 to $200,000 after beginning a physical relationship with her.
The email is said by the Wall Street Journal to contain the unsettling claim that McMahon gave the employee “like a toy” to John Laurinaitis. That email is also said to have included an allusion to Vince McMahon’s long-time attorney Jerry McDevitt as it is quoted as reading “My friend was so scared so she quit after Vince McMahon and lawyer Jerry paid her millions of dollars to shut up.”
On June 17th, McMahon officially stepped down from his duties as WWE CEO and is being replaced in the interim by his daughter Stephanie McMahon. It was noted that he would be continuing his creative duties during this time. While John Laurinaitis was not in attendance at SmackDown that night, there was no word of his status within the company being affected by these allegations until now.
A new report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reveals that Laurinaitis has indeed been placed on administrative leave during this investigation, and that Bruce Prichard will be acting as interim Head of Talent Relations in his absence.
“Fightful can confirm that talent were informed that Bruce Prichard is now interim Head of Talent Relations. John Laurinaitis was placed on administrative leave.”
Fightful can confirm that talent were informed that Bruce Prichard is now interim Head of Talent Relations. John Laurinaitis was placed on administrative leave.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) June 21, 2022
As for Vince McMahon, the former WWE Chairman doesn’t seem to be shying away from the public eye and made appearances on the most recent episodes of Raw and SmackDown.