The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Palazzolo and Ted Mann spoke on Monday’s Busted Open Radio about their reporting of the WWE Board of Directors’ investigation into Vince McMahon. Between the pair’s initial report on June 15 and the second report that dropped on July 8, McMahon is now being accused of dealing out more than $12 million in hush money to cover up affairs, alleged sexual harassment and alleged sexual coercion of at least one female wrestler. The two said they first heard about the initial $3 million agreement with the former paralegal back in April, though weren’t able to get enough sources to confirm it until June. They then described the $7.5 million that was paid to the former wrestler as “eye-popping.”
As for McMahon’s response to the reports via appearing on both Raw and SmackDown, Palazzolo said, “He’s going to do what he’s going to do. It’s not going to affect what we’re doing in any way, shape, or form. What I’m more interested in is, how does the talent feel? How do his employees feel about him doing that? There is probably a range of opinions, but I imagine it doesn’t go over very well with them.”
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The two were then asked if WWE’s business partners like NBCUniversal and FOX (which air Raw, NXT and SmackDown on weekly television) were paying attention to the investigation. Palazzolo said, “This cannot be something that they’re not paying attention to. Anyone doing business with the company is paying attention.”
As for what’s next for their investigation of the accusations, the two confirmed they’ll continue to report on the situation but don’t have anything bigger than the $7.5 million payout as of right now.
“No, you’re asking if there’s something bigger than a $7.5, that’s not something we have in our back pocket. We left it all out on the field on a story. There are a couple of things we are still reporting on,” Palazzolo said.
“Sometimes, this has happened in similar scandals elsewhere, there are people who have something to share who become a little more emboldened to talk about it once some of the first coverage has happened and we’re still working to figure out if there are such people out there,” Mann said.
