Report: Reason WWE Tried To Bury Stephanie McMahon When She Began Leave Of Absence Revealed

Stephanie McMahon announced back on May 19 that she would be taking a leave of absence from most of her WWE duties as Chief Brand Officer in order to spend more time with her family. 

Soon after McMahon went home, though, higher-ups within WWE started to try and bury Stephanie, with reports stating there was doubt within the company about her abilities as an executive and that she took a leave of absence as part of a corporate shake-up headed by Vince McMahon. 

A company source even told Business Insider: "Family or not family, we've got to get the right people in place. We weren't seeing that growth. When someone is moved out of a company, it's usually the result of something not working. We took stronger control of that a few months ago."

In an update, Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE trying to bury Stephanie was a "pre-emptive move to preserve the stock price." To those outside of professional wrestling, Vince McMahon's daughter and the perceived heir apparent leaving the company would make it seem like something was wrong within the organisation. As a result, the company claimed McMahon was underperforming in her role to give the impression there wasn't anything wrong and that Stephanie simply was not good enough at her job.

Stephanie would have been aware of the WWE board investigation into Vince McMahon and the $3 million hush payment he made to a former employee over a sexual relationship, with the first email being received by WWE directors on March 30. According to someone who knows all the reasons for Stephanie's leave of absence, the WWE board investigation "was unrelated."

Stephanie returned to WWE from her leave of absence today following the company's announcement that a Special Committee of the Board was investigating misconduct allegations against Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis. Vince McMahon has stepped down as WWE CEO & Chairman while the investigation is conducted and Stephanie McMahon was confirmed as the Interim CEO and Chairwoman.