WWE chief content officer Paul Levesque and Cody Rhodes were asked about the lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon on Saturday night after the company’s premium live event – Royal Rumble.
Rhodes was the first superstar to get asked about the McMahon lawsuit days after it was filed in Connecticut and one day after the WWE founder resigned as executive chairman of TKO. Rhodes agreed that the lawsuit brought a “dark cloud” over the event.
“I know as far as the news is concerned, we were finding it out and reading the same thing that you guys were reading. You said a ‘dark cloud’… certainly,” Rhodes said at the post-Royal Rumble press conference.
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Cody Rhodes attacks Shinsuke Nakamua during the Men’s Royal Rumble match at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, Jan. 27, 2024. (Joe Camporeale-USA Today Sports)
“As far as TKO, Nick Khan and the board, clearly took it very seriously, acted immediately. Looking at the future, I don’t know the answer to that,” he said.
Rhodes added that the rest of the roster is very family-oriented and drew on his own experiences from dealing with uncertain times as a wrestler and a leader behind the scenes.
“I’ve been through dark periods in our industry before. If you’re in my position, that’s a time when ‘Hey, we got 50,000 people out here. I want to give them something else from this weekend that isn’t a terrible situation and terrible news.’ I think we were able to do that. Obviously, as more news comes out, we’ll be seeing it just like you do.”
Levesque was also asked about the McMahon lawsuit but pointed to the “amazing week” the company had before the complaint was filed. He cited the company’s deal with Netflix, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joining the TKO Group’s board and putting on a sold-out show.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque speaks at a WWE news conference at T-Mobile Arena on Oct. 11, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“I choose to focus on the positive and yes, there’s a negative, but I want to focus on that and just keep it to that.”
He said the company will do “everything possible” to make sure employees feel safe in the workplace and called it a “very important thing.”
Levesque said he didn’t read the lawsuit and said he found out about it in real-time as Rhodes did and the rest of the media gaggle at the press conference.
“I’ll go back to what I said before. This is an amazing week for us, and just at this point, I don’t even want to get bogged down in the negatives of it,” he said. “I just want to focus on the positives and where we’re going and we’re at the most exciting time of the year for us.”
McMahon was accused of sexual abuse and sex trafficking in a lawsuit filed earlier in the week. Amid the furor over the allegations, McMahon resigned as the executive chairman of the TKO board on Friday
He maintained his innocence in a statement.
WWE chief content officer Paul Levesque speaks during a press conference after the Royal Rumble at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 28 2023. (Joe Camporeale-USA Today Sports)
“I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” McMahon said in a statement. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations and look forward to clearing my name.
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“However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents and all of the employees and superstars who helped make WWE into the global leader it is today, I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effective immediately.”
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