Vince McMahon Will Reportedly Appear In-Character On WWE SmackDown
If you wanted off the wild ride that is the Vince McMahon hush-money scandal, buckle up because it's not happening any time soon. Following the announcement that McMahon would step down as CEO and chairman of WWE, along with daughter Stephanie McMahon stepping into his role, WWE announced McMahon would be appearing on tonight's episode of "Friday Night SmackDown." And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Shortly before 10 a.m. EST, CNBC's Alex Sherman tweeted out just how McMahon would be approaching his appearance on tonight's broadcast.
"New from CNBC: Vince McMahon will speak tonight on SmackDown IN CHARACTER as Mr. McMahon to address his temporary absence," Sherman tweeted. "Could be a big ratings night for WWE. McMahon has torn up the script for SmackDown, which was written last night, I'm told."
New from CNBC: Vince McMahon will speak tonight on Smackdown IN CHARACTER as Mr. McMahon to address his temporary absence.
Could be a big ratings night for WWE. McMahon has torn up the script for Smackdown, which was written last night, I'm told. https://t.co/vMInFJ1LqQ
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) June 17, 2022
This will be the first time Vince McMahon has appeared on camera since the April 18 episode of "WWE Monday Night Raw", where he celebrated Theory defeating Finn Balor to become the new WWE United States Champion. It's unclear, as of this writing, whether McMahon's appearance on "SmackDown" tonight will be live or pre-taped. At this time, Fox has not commented on McMahon's appearance.
The insanity surrounding McMahon began when a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday revealed he was being investigated by the WWE Board of Directors for a $3 million payment to a former WWE employee to cover up an affair the employee had with McMahon and WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis. The story continued to pick up steam before this morning's announcement, with focus also turning towards the marriage of Vince and Linda McMahon.
Despite the investigation and this morning's announcement, McMahon's presence on "SmackDown" was always expected. Dave Meltzer stated on the most recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that McMahon and Laurinaitis were both scheduled to be at the "SmackDown" taping, with everything expected to be "business as usual."