Despite a recent report from the Business Insider which alluded to Vince McMahon be the driving force behind driving Stephanie McMahon taking a leave of absence from WWE, a new report from F4WOnline, says that is not the case.
The F4WOnline report notes that Dave Meltzer confirmed Stephanie took a leave of absence on her own.
The Business Insider story features quotes from “WWE insiders” that painted a less positive picture of Stephanie and appears to be part of what F4WOnline called a burial by WWE.
A quote from the Business Insider report states the following:
“We weren’t seeing that growth,” said the company insider (said) of Stephanie McMahon’s tenure. “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.”
One of the quotes in Business Insider focused on the lack of growth on sponsorship which was around $20 million in Q1. Stephanie said on the Q1 investors call that there’s no reason WWE couldn’t be bringing in hundreds of millions a year in the next three-to-five years.
Back on May 19, Stephanie announced she was taking a leave of absence from WWE to take time off to spend with her family, and looked forward to making her return to the company at some point.
WWE announced on Monday that Catherine Newman has been named Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing.
According to WWE’s Press Release, Newman brings more than two decades of executive experience to WWE including her most recent role as Chief Marketing Officer of Manchester United Media. She has also held senior positions at The Times of London and Financial Times, leading global marketing initiatives, developing strategic partnerships, and boosting subscription growth across various products. As part of WWE’s senior leadership team, Newman’s oversight will include Marketing, Brand, Community Relations, Entertainment Relations, Creative Services and Photography.
Newman is a graduate of Loughborough University, a Chartered Institute of Marketing Postgraduate from Buckinghamshire New University and a Fellow & Mentor in the Marketing Academy, United Kingdom.