Vince McMahon is not expected to be at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, even with daughter Stephanie McMahon due to the headline the 2026 class of inductees.WrestleVotes reported via Fightful Select that a source with knowledge of the situation had indicated McMahon is not currently planned to appear at the ceremony. Naturally it's possible for plans to change between reporting and Friday night, but for the time being WWE is not planning for McMahon to be in attendance and no additional measures have been put in place to indicate his appearance.McMahon resigned from WWE and TKO in January 2024 following a lawsuit filed against him and the company by Janel Grant, alleging that during her time working for him he sexually exploited, assaulted, and trafficked her. McMahon has consistently denied the allegations and pushed for private arbitration per an NDA he and Grant had signed though Grant's attorneys contend the agreement was made under duress, facilitated by and deliberately designed to work in McMahon's favor.He is also the subject of a lawsuit in Maryland, with anonymous plaintiffs in that case alleging that he and wife Linda McMahon failed in their duty of care and went out of their way to obscure sexual abuse suffered at the hands of senior staff while the plaintiffs worked for WWE as ring boys.And in Delaware he is also the subject of a lawsuit from shareholders alleging that he had pre-empted the sale of WWE to Endeavor as to secure himself an executive position for himself post-merger. It's believed he chose Endeavor because they intended to keep him on despite his prior resignation in 2022 after NDA payments were first disclosed.Stephanie McMahon is referred to in Grant's sex trafficking suit as "Corporate Officer No. 3," though she is mentioned in an ambiguous context as it stands.
There will be many clinging to the past with a white-knuckle grip who will be disappointed at the confirmation McMahon is very, more than likely, not going to be at the ceremony on Friday. Others may see it as an obvious development, considering the sheer levels of corporate radioactivity emanating from him.For all the claims that "women make stuff up," it does seem a rather tall order for a single staffer to convince the DOJ, the FBI, the SEC, and then all the attorneys that there is smoke without at least one glancing at an ember flickering in the distance. And that alone should be enough to abandon the idea that heshouldcome back. The path of least resistance would be to simply defend and exonerate oneself in court, as is being pushed for by every party but the defendants across several states.There's just too much noise for it all to be untrue in some regard, and even if one was to strip all the legality of things it's just not behavior becoming of an executive officer in a company that actively markets itself to children.Stephanie McMahon is being inducted, not her father, and chances are that may only come posthumously once grief and revision play their part in the WWE canon. Presuming she was merely an innocent bystander, a naive observer, then this should be her night. Much can be said about the hyperbole surrounding her contributions to the company and the sport, but she did play a part and it's her moment to accept the praise for it. That doesn't need to be marred by the alleged sins of the father.
