WWE veteran suggests that Vince McMahon was "set up" for his resignation by 62-year-old figure (Exclusive)

The allegations made against Vince McMahon and his subsequent resignation from TKO have dominated the headlines in the wrestling world in the last few weeks. One WWE veteran suggested that McMahon was set up by a key figure backstage.

On the latest episode of Writing with Russo, ex-WWE head writer Vince Russo had different theories regarding the second departure of Vince McMahon from the company he led for so many decades. Russo went into depth and suggested that Ari Emanuel and TKO may have already wanted McMahon out and prevented the remaining NDA amount of $2 million from going to Janel Grant.

(It should be noted that the NDA payments to Janel Grant allegedly stopped in the summer of 2022 once the Wall Street Journal article about Vince McMahon came out. The TKO deal wasn't finalized for several months afterward, so it's highly unlikely that Ari Emanuel or TKO had anything to do with stopping the NDA payments.)

Regardless, Vince Russo said:

"There's a lot here bro that's like...it's just starting to look real fishy and you got to ask yourself the question, was Vince [McMahon] set up? When Ari [Emanuel] bought WWE did he want Vince out? Bro, TKO, they're the ones who stopped paying the NDA. They stopped paying her [Janel Grant]. Now, could they have stopped paying her knowing that darn well she was going to file a lawsuit? Could they have stopped paying her, and they told her it would open up an opportunity for you to file a lawsuit? Bro, there's just a lot of things here that don't add up. Here's another one bro. They have this one picture of Ms. Grant. And when you look at this picture, this looks like an innocent 26, maybe 28-year-old. All I'm seeing is my daughter. My daughter is 28. Ms. Grant is 43 years old." (4:19-5:45)

Russo admitted that he doesn't believe his own theory either, but believes that there are two completely different sides to this story:

"So in other words, when this is all going down, she's what? 38? 39? They're not showing you a picture of a 38 to 39-year-old. They're painting a picture of 'Oh, look at this poor, innocent'. I'm not saying by any means Vince is not guilty, but bro, Stevie Ray taught me a long time ago. When they want you out, you're going to be out. And it's funny because look at the history of Vince McMahon, all the promoters he put out of business. Was the rug now pulled from under him and he didn't expect a thing? The only reason I'm saying that I'm not saying I believe this theory, but there are two completely different sides to this." (5:46 6:39)

You can watch the full video below:

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Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro reportedly called Vince McMahon and suggested a resignation

While there is no concrete proof that Ari Emanuel knew about the Janel Grant allegations beforehand, it wouldn't be surprising if he was aware of it considering the price tag of the TKO merger deal.

Regardless, he listed McMahon as a liability in an official filing to the Security and Exchange Commission.

The Hollywood Reporter stated that Ari Emanuel and TKO President Mark Shapiro called Vince McMahon and suggested a resignation, which he followed through on.

TKO has been quick to cut ties with Vince McMahon and even PWInsider's Mike Johnson said before the resignation that nobody knew how quick Ari Emanuel would be to eradicate anything that would negatively affect business.

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