Vince McMahon's 2-Year Employment Agreement, Shinsuke Nakamura Update, CM Punk Was Close to An AEW Return
Vince McMahon has agreed to a 2-Year Employment Agreement with WWE.
WWE Enters Two-Year Employment Agreement With Executive Chairman Vince McMahon
BY SEAN NEUMANN/MARCH 31, 2023 10:28 AM EST
Vince McMahon has officially been back with WWE on a new two-year contract since January, according to the company's latest SEC filing. The two-year deal will see him continue in the role of Executive Chairman of the Board, making a base salary of $1.2 million per year with nearly a million more in potential bonuses, according to the filing. The longtime WWE owner will also receive stock with an "an annual target grant date value" of $4.3 million.
It was reported in early January that McMahon, 77, had dramatically returned to the company, while his daughter Stephanie McMahon and several other WWE executive board members stepped down. McMahon's return had come roughly half a year after he stepped down as WWE chairman and CEO, announcing his retirement following internal investigations into hush money payments he made to several women who were former employees and made sexual misconduct allegations against him.
According to The Wall Street Journal, who initially reported the story, McMahon had made more than $17.4 million in payments in an effort to suppress the allegations. An SEC filing last week showed that McMahon has since reimbursed the company. McMahon's return has sparked speculation among fans and wrestling personalities that he's making an effort to run creative on WWE shows again, a role he handed over to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, McMahon's son-in-law. McMahon is reportedly set to be at WrestleMania 39 this weekend, although it remains to be seen if he'll appear on camera.
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One of the major key players in WWE who has been missing is Shinsuke Nakamura. We haven’t seen Nakamura since November, but a new update suggests Nakamura’s return could be imminent. According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer, Nakamura is "on hold" until after this weekend's WWE WrestleMania 39, indicating that the WWE star could hopefully be returning to TV soon.
It was announced on 3/30 that NXT’s next PLE Battleground will take place on Sunday, May 28th. The thing is, that day is also AEW’s Double or Nothing event. Many wondered if this was intentional, but Shawn Michaels swears it’s not. "No, no. Look, I'll say this, from a holiday standpoint, that's the thing. In the past, we've done well on the holidays. So it's my understanding that's why we did that," Michaels told BT Sport. "It's not different than, we used to do stuff back in the day on Christmas and on Thanksgiving. Holidays are always big days. That's what this is for us. I'll say this, we're live on Peacock, basically, sort of free. So from my standpoint, it's just the date that was available. The holiday does really well for us."
Many have wondered if CM Punk will ever return to AEW. The chances of that seemed pretty slim given his recent tirade on Instagram, but a new report suggests that right before that, CM Punk’s AEW return was agreed upon in principle. According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, the AEW star was reportedly close to negotiating a return to the promotion in recent months, setting up a comeback for one of the industry's biggest and most controversial stars. However, Punk's recent social media shenanigans may have shaken the situation up once again.