Despite what you might think, Bret Hart says he’s not gloating about Vince McMahon leaving WWE.
During a recent interview with Bill Apter for SportsKeeda, Bret Hart commented on Vince McMahon retiring from WWE in July, noting that he thinks no matter what happened, Vince’s absence will be felt in the company.
“I’m mostly like everybody else, I’m surprised. I don’t think anybody’s ever made as big of a footprint as Vince McMahon. I feel kind of sad about it, actually. People might think I’d be gloating or happy to see him go through what he’s going through, but I don’t,” Hart stated. “I feel bad that it happened, whatever’s happened. I think his loss, or his absence, from the business will be sorely missed.”
Vince McMahon retired from WWE on July 22 after a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that he paid millions of dollars to multiple women to stay silent about affairs. In total, McMahon was found to have paid $19.6 million out to various women, including a $7.5 million agreement with a former wrestler who “alleged that Mr. McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex and then demoted her and, ultimately, declined to renew her contract in 2005 after she resisted further sexual encounters.”
In response, Triple H (Paul Levesque) has assumed “all responsibilities related to WWE’s creative” in addition to his regular role with the company, and Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named co-Chief Executive Officers of WWE. According to a subsequent report from the Journal, new SEC investigations linked to these hush-money payments sped up McMahon’s retirement.
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