Should WWE fire Chief Creative Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque over his deep personal and professional connections to former CEO and company co-founder Vince McMahon?
One professional wrestling veteran certainly seems to think so.
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In a recent appearance on the "Keepin' It 100" podcast, longtime heel wrestler Bin Hamin asserted that McMahon's legal issues, which ultimately led to him leaving the company in recent years and generally being swept under the rug, make Triple H a liability.
"You asked me why I thought I'd get rid of [Triple H]," Hamin said. "I'm looking at it from a board of directors' point of view of anybody with one degree of separation from McMahon we don't need here anymore because that is an open liability that could come back and shock us."
Triple H is married to Stephanie McMahon, Vince's daughter, and herself a former CEO of WWE. That is the most obvious personal connection of Levesque to the co-founder of the company, but the two men also worked closely together for decades.
Vince stepped down as WWE CEO and chairman in June 2022 following allegations of hush-money payments related to affairs with former employees. Stephanie took over as CEO in his absence, while Triple H became the Chief Creative Officer of WWE.
McMahon announced his retirement the next month but made a return in January 2023 as executive chairman. Later that year, WWE merged with UFC's parent company, Endeavor, to form TKO Group Holdings, where McMahon held the role of executive chairman.
The SEC fined McMahon over $1.7 million for failing to disclose the alleged hush-money payments. However, in January 2024, he resigned from TKO amid fresh allegations of sex trafficking and assault.
However, McMahon's legal troubles were far from over. The SEC's charges against him related to the unreported settlement agreements with women, which caused WWE to misstate its financial reports for the years 2018 and 2021.
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These settlements were not disclosed to the board or the company's auditors, leading to "material misstatements" in WWE's filings.
McMahon was fined $400,000 and ordered to reimburse the company $1.33 million as part of his settlement with the SEC.
Meanwhile, McMahon faced accusations of sexual assault and trafficking from former WWE employee Janel Grant, who filed a lawsuit against him and other WWE officials in 2024.
McMahon's lawyer has denied the allegations, and while the SEC charges did not include criminal penalties, the case against McMahon continues in the courts, with the Department of Justice reportedly still investigating him for potential criminal charges.
At the moment, it is highly unlikely that WWE will try to remove Triple H, considering his reportedly well-liked leadership of the company (with announcer Michael Cole recently praising his era and direction) and his spearheading of huge deals like partnerships with Netflix and Saudi Arabia.
However, no matter how the company tries to minimize it, Triple H's connection to Vince McMahon and all his troubles remains.
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