WWE Shareholders Drop Lawsuit Against Vince McMahon

A lawsuit against Vince McMahon by WWE Shareholders has been dropped as of Wednesday according to a new report from Bloomberg, a result of McMahon agreeing to repay the $17.4 million it cost the company to investigate him. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster granted the motion, and the council for the WWE investors indicated they will seek a "mootness fee" for helping to force McMahon's hand. The report also notes that the $17.4 million seems to cover only the probe and not the $20 million or so that McMahon allegedly paid out to his accusers.

There is another group of shareholders who are also seeking a mootness fee after they dropped a related case when McMahon backed off on some bylaw changes he put into place when he returned to power in January.

These will end the lawsuits from investors and shareholders, though there is still a lawsuit in play. That is from former WWE writer Britney Abrahams, who alleges Vince McMahon and other WWE executives of using racial and gender stereotypes in scripts and of wrongful termination. Abrahams worked for WWE from 2020 to 2022, and in the lawsuit, she was ultimately fired after pushing back on "offensively racist and stereotypical jargon" in scripts for Black superstars.

Examples cited in the lawsuit include scripts for Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews. Belair's scripts had the line "Uh-Uh! Don't make me take off my earrings and beat your a--!", while Crews was told to say things with a "stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent." In both cases, those were used on WWE TV, but the lawsuit cites other examples that didn't make it that far.

Those included a pitch to have a Muslim superstar be revealed to be "behind the 9/11 attacks" as part of a storyline. Abrahams was let go from WWE in April of 2022 for taking a WrestleMania 38 branded chair, but Abrahams alleges she was fired due to retaliation because of her protesting of racist and sexist pitches from WWE Creative. In the filing, it is also stated that taking those chairs home was "common practice that white male writers weren't punished for."

WWE was recently acquired by Endeavor, who also owns the UFC, and the deal was for $9.3 billion. Endeavor will own 50% of the company while WWE shareholders will own 49%, and Vince McMahon will remain executive chairman, but McMahon also stated that the current management team will continue to stay in place.