Vince McMahon’s WWE Resignation Came After a Popular Name Convinced Him To Step Down
Stephanie McMahon was the person who convinced Vince McMahon to resign from WWE after the Janel Grant lawsuit became public, Dave Meltzer said. Ari Emanuel’s memoir reportedly details Stephanie’s role, while TKO also faced pressure to remove Vince.
Stephanie McMahon was the person who convinced Vince McMahon to resign from WWE after the Janel Grant lawsuit became public, according to details discussed by Dave Meltzer. The claim comes from Ari Emanuel's memoir, Roll the Calls, where the TKO executive chairman described Stephanie's role in getting her father to step down. Vince had left WWE in 2022 before returning to the board and helping oversee the company's sale to Endeavor. He resigned from the TKO board in January 2024 after the lawsuit emerged. Meltzer said Stephanie's involvement was known privately, but Emanuel's book put it on the public record.
Stephanie McMahon's role in Vince McMahon's 2024 resignation
The detail came up while Dave Meltzer discussed Emanuel's book on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said the book confirmed something that had been known in some circles for a while: Stephanie was the person who talked her father into resigning.
“It was interesting how he framed the whole deal. We all knew it, but it had never been said publicly,” Meltzer said. He explained that Emanuel wrote about Stephanie being the one who convinced Vince to resign. Meltzer said Emanuel had now publicly confirmed the detail.
Vince's exit came after a change in his WWE tenure. He announced his retirement in July 2022 while WWE was investigating allegations of misconduct and hush-money payments. Vince returned to the board in January 2023 and was involved as WWE was sold to Endeavor.
The company later became part of TKO, with Emanuel serving as executive chairman. TKO also housed both WWE and UFC under its structure at the time. Vince joined the TKO board, but his time there ended in January 2024 after the Janel Grant lawsuit became public.
TKO also pushed for Vince McMahon to leave after the lawsuit
Meltzer also discussed the role of TKO President Mark Shapiro. According to Meltzer, Shapiro said Vince needed to leave once the lawsuit became public. The issue was that WWE and Endeavor had structured their deal in a way that meant Vince could not simply be fired, so the company had to push for his resignation instead.
The pressure increased after Slim Jim withdrew its WWE sponsorship because of the lawsuit. Meltzer said WWE had no choice but to ask Vince to step down.
Grant spoke about the case to Post Wrestling after her lawsuit moved into private arbitration. When asked what she felt toward Vince, she answered with two words: “forgiveness” and “empathy.”
Grant also said that when the story first became public, her first instinct was to ask about Vince. She said the news affected him too. Her lawsuit includes accusations of exploitation and trafficking against McMahon.