Details On Deposition From WWE Board Members About Vince McMahon Investigation
It was a month ago that Janel Grant took to Instagram to post the deposition of former WWE Board member Michelle McKenna from the now settled WWE shareholder lawsuit. Said deposition revealed that McKenna was of the belief that WWE President Nick Khan had been the one to leak information regarding Grant and then WWE Chairman Vince McMahon's relationship to the Wall Street Journal in 2022, triggering a series of events that led to Grant filing a lawsuit against McMahon. Last Friday, in the latest edition of the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter," Dave Meltzer provided more information regarding McKenna's deposition, as well as the deposition of another former board member, Jeffery Speed.
The deposition of McKenna, who joined the WWE board on September 15, 2022, revealed that she was under the belief that McMahon couldn't be brought back after he "retired" in July following the original Wall Street Journal article. McKenna answered "no" to whether she had been under the impression McMahon and Grant had an affair, and "yes" to whether she saw their relationship as sex abuse and sexual trafficking.
This would confirm that the WWE board knew of Grant's accusations against McMahon well before the lawsuit was filed in 2024, despite claims to the contrary by McMahon's then lawyer Jerry McDevitt. As McKenna remained with the board till after the WWE/Endeavor merger, it would also mean she voted against McMahon's return in December 2022, before changing her mind and voting yes in January 2023 following McMahon's forceful reentry into the company.
As for Speed's deposition, he confirmed that the board's investigation into McMahon revealed the text messages McMahon sent to Grant, as well as messages involving Grant and Brock Lesnar. Speed claimed the messages were read out loud to the board, describing them as very graphic. However, while he noted files were found during the investigation, the board was ultimately not shown the photos. Unlike McKenna, Speed was removed from the board in early 2023 when McMahon returned to power.