WWE has announced that McMahon will be replaced by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, while the investigation is going on. Stephanie has previously worked in various executive roles and on the WWE creative team, though she recently announced that she was taking a leave of absence from the company. With Vince stepping down as chairman and CEO, Stephanie will be returning to WWE to fill those positions as interim CEO and interim chairwoman.

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Even though Stephanie McMahon is taking over Vince’s duties as chairman and CEO for the time-being, Vince is not leaving WWE completely while the investigation is going on. Vince will continue working on WWE’s creative team and will appear on-screen in-character as Mr. McMahon. In fact, it has been confirmed that Mr. McMahon will make an appearance on SmackDown tonight at 8pm ET on Fox.

For those that haven’t been following the situation at WWE, the investigation stems from a $3 million “hush money” payment that Vince McMahon allegedly paid a paralegal at the company. A report by The Wall Street Journal details emails that the WWE board received from an anonymous source. The emails claimed that McMahon initially hired the paralegal in question at a salary of $100,000, but then doubled her pay to $200,000 after starting a sexual relationship with her. It was also claimed that the former employee was then passed on to WWE executive John Laurinaitis. McMahon issued a statement on the matter, saying, “I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the Special Committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation. I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”

The $3 million settlement occurred in January of this year, and the WWE board received the emails at the end of March. The WWE board is said to have started the investigation in April, and so far it has discovered other NDA agreements that were made between Vince and other former female WWE employees. John Laurinaitis is said to have similar NDAs with former employees as well, though the board’s investigation seems primarily focused on Vince McMahon.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal