Vince McMahon Resigns Following News of Sex Trafficking Lawsuit

Vince McMahon, the decades-long force behind the WWE, has resigned a day after news broke of a former employee filing a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and sex trafficking.

In a staff memo confirmed by multiple outlets -- including The New York Times and ESPN -- WWE president Nick Khan wrote, "I wanted to inform you that Vince McMahon has tendered his resignation from his positions as TKO Executive Chairman and on the TKO Board of Directors. He will no longer have a role with TKO Group holdings or WWE."

McMahon issued a statement to the media denying the sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations. He referred to the allegations as "a vindictive distortion of the truth. McMahon further noted, "I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name."

News of the lawsuit was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The publication has broke news related to McMahon's alleged sexual misconduct since June 2022. WSJ reports that Janel Grant is the former WWE employee who filed the sex trafficking lawsuit. Up until now, all former WWE employees who signed nondisclosure agreements regarding McMahon's behavior and received hush money have not been named.

This lawsuit lists in graphic detail various incidents Grant allegedly experienced during her employment with WWE. They include disturbing text messages from McMahon, who also allegedly shared nude photos and video of Grant with other WWE executives and wrestlers.

One of those wrestlers in question appears to be Lesnar. WSJ notes that McMahon had Grant create "personalized sexual content" for a WWE talent he was trying to re-sign. While Lesnar isn't named in the lawsuit, this talent WWE was trying to re-sign is described as a UFC fighter and WWE talent. WSJ says people familiar with this situation say that talent is Lesnar.

On top of the "personalize sexual content," McMahon told Grant via text in August 2021 that part of Lesnar's deal to re-sign with WWE "was f---ing U."

WSJ further notes McMahon "recruited people to have sex with Grant." Among those people were John Laurinaitis, the former head of talent relations at WWE, who is named as a defendant in the sex trafficking lawsuit. Laurinaitis has also been previously mentioned in other reports related to McMahon's alleged sexual misconduct.

McMahon announced his retirement from WWE in July 2022 while the company's board was investigating him for alleged misconduct. However, WSJ included in their latest report, "McMahon, who was the controlling shareholder of WWE, returned to WWE in early 2023, elected himself to the board and replaced several directors. Upon his return, he negotiated a sale of WWE to Endeavor Group, owner of the UFC mixed martial-arts league."

The 2023 Royal Rumble is tomorrow (January 28), and it marks the official kickoff of WrestleMania season aka: "The Road to WrestleMania."

There's ample speculation abound for the men's and women's Rumble matches, from who's going to win to surprise appearances. However, the Royal Rumble card has other attractions. For example, Kevin Owens will take on Roman Reigns in a match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Bianca Beliar will defend the Raw Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss. We'll also find out what exactly a "Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match" is when Bray Wyatt and LA Knight face off.

With this in mind, we're looking at the history of the match/event. Thanks to research from Wrestling-World.com, here are some surprising statistics about the Royal Rumble you may not know.

WWE's YouTube channel is full of videos about current events in the promotion as well as archival matches. Several Royal Rumble matches are available to watch in their entirety. So, which Royal Rumble match has the most views? It's the men's match from 2017, which has over 128 million views and was won by Randy Orton.

The Royal Rumble match has existed since 1988, meaning many past and present WWE superstars have made multiple appearances. But which wrestler has been in the Royal Rumble the most? That's gotta be Kane...and Isaac Yankem...and Fake Diesel! Glenn Jacobs, the current Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, was best known as Kane in WWE, but before he became the Big Red Machine, he was the creepy dentist Isaac Yankem DDS and the infamous Fake Diesel. Between all three personas, Jacobs has appeared in 20 Royal Rumble matches.

Eight wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble twice: Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena, Randy Orton and Edge. However, there is only one wrestler that has won the Rumble three times making him the wrestler with the most victories. If you knew that wrestler was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, give us a "Hell Yeah!"

Austin won the Royal Rumble in 1997, 1998 and 2001. The entire 1997 Rumble match is below in its entirety.

Sure, winning the Royal Rumble is impressive, but so is managing to stay in the match for long periods of time. In the three+ decades of its existence, Chris Jericho has logged a cumulative time of 4 hours, 59 minutes and 33 seconds in the Royal Rumble match. With Jericho now with AEW, he's certainly not going to be adding more time to that total any time soon. (If he did, that would truly be one of the most shocking appearances in Rumble history.)

Just behind Jericho is Randy Orton with a cumulative time of 4 hours, 34 minutes and 33 seconds in the Royal Rumble match. Orton has been out with a back injury since May 2022, but there are no signs of him returning. Then again, anything can happen during WrestleMania season.

Considering he's been in the most Royal Rumble matches, Glenn Jacobs (Kane/Isaac Yankem DDS/Fake Diesel) has the most over-the-top-rope eliminations in the match with 46. In the 2001 Royal Rumble alone, Kane eliminated 11 entrants. It was a record that stood for 13 years until Roman Reigns broke it in 2014 with 12 eliminations. Braun Strowman went on to eliminate 13 entrants in the special "Greatest Royal Rumble" event in Saudi Arabia in 2018, which featured 50 instead of 30 entrants. Brock Lesnar is the current recognized single-match elimination record holder. He eliminated 13 entrants in the 2020 Royal Rumble.