In the USA, resignation of the big boss of wrestling and MMA, accused of sexual assault

Trump's great friend will have to explain himself. MAXPPP – ROGER WALSH

Vince McMahon, the boss of the TKO Group holding company, bringing together the American professional wrestling league (WWE) and the mixed martial arts league UFC, announced his resignation on Friday after the filing of a complaint against him on accusations of sexual assault.

Vince McMahon, the boss of the TKO Group holding company, bringing together the American professional wrestling league (WWE) and the mixed martial arts league UFC, announced his resignation on Friday after the filing of & #39;a complaint against him on accusations of sexual assault.

Janel Grant, a former employee of WWE, of which McMahon was the undisputed boss for four decades, filed a complaint Thursday in a court in Connecticut (northeast) against her ex-company and her former boss, as well as against another manager John Laurinaitis, for "sexual assault", "exploitation" and "psychological violence".

In a press release, Vince McMahon refuted the accusations and announced that he was resigning from the board of directors of TKO Group, a holding company created last April from the WWE merger, of which he is the co-founder , and the UFC, the main MMA organization. "I intend to defend myself vigorously against these baseless accusations and I am waiting to be able to clear my honor", he added, specifying that his resignation was with "immediate effect".

Trump's great friend

The complainant accuses Vince McMahon of having forced her to maintain an “intimate relationship” and of having shared photos and videos of her of a sexual nature with male colleagues , and subjecting her to "increasing perverse sexual demands", including intimate relationships with other men.

McMahon, a long-time friend of former US President Donald Trump, bought the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from his father in 1982, which he turned into a very successful league, transforming it into World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. With its events filling theaters in the United States and abroad, WWE had reached $1 billion in annual revenue in 2022.

That year, however, Vince McMahon was pushed to leave following accusations of extramarital affairs but also of sexual harassment, cases marked by the signing of agreements of confidentiality to the tune of several million dollars.

He returned to the head of the company a few months later, before leading the merger of WWE with UFC, the new holding company taking the name TKO Group . The announcement of his resignation comes as Netflix announced Tuesday that it had signed a ten-year broadcast agreement with WWE, a move described as major for the platform which has so far remained behind in the race for rights to broadcast sporting events, unlike Amazon.

The value of this contract is estimated at five billion dollars.