PHILADELPHIA – Stephanie McMahon made her first official appearance on WWE programming since she resigned as CEO in January 2023 and with her father Vince McMahon fully out of the company in the wake of a bombshell sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit.
She welcomed the crowd in a surprise appearance on the second night of WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
While McMahon, 47, was also shown sitting next to husband Paul “Triple H” Levesque – WWE’s chief content officer – during the Hall of Fame ceremony Friday night, Sunday was her first time addressing a WWE crowd since her departure from the company.
This marked the first WrestleMania where Vince did not hold a position of power in WWE as an executive or shareholder after resigning in January.
Stephanie appeared to take what could be seen as a subtle jab at her dad while putting over her husband as WWE continued to position this WrestleMania as a fresh start, a new era and dynamic in the company.
“When I was about eight years old, I sat out at the entranceway at Wrestlemania 1 and I have had the honor and the privilege of being at or a part of every single Wrestlemania since.” Stephanie said. “And every WrestleMania is special for its own reason. But I think WrestleMania 40 might be the one that I am the most proud of, because this is the first WrestleMania of the Paul Levesque era.
“And tonight we have people from 64 countries in all 50 states, all of us coming together from different backgrounds, different beliefs to share this one thing that we love that brings us all together. And nobody understands that better than Triple H.”
There has been no word on an official return to the company for Stephanie, but Levesque seemed to insinuate she could be back in some capacity after a successful weekend.
“She hadn’t lost a step,” Levesque said during the press conference Sunday. “So great to have her back home. To have her back here. To see the doubt leave her by being here for the last few days. To see her confidence come back and to know that this is her home.
“All of you, all of us, this business it’s her home and as much as anybody on the planet, she belongs here and hopefully, she knows that now. Happy to have her back.”
The Post also saw Vince’s wife Linda inside the stadium before the show began Sunday.
WWE superstar Bayley spoke about how happy she was to have Stephanie back and visible this weekend.
“I was super excited to see her at there [at Hall of Fame],” Bayley said. “She’s just an awesome person to have around. She’s so genuine and real. She takes care of you. She looks you in the eyes when you’re talking to her. She cares. One time I saw the makeup people spill bobby pins on the floor by accident. She got on the floor and picked them all up.”
Stephanie returned from a leave of absence to take over the role of co-CEO of WWE with current head Nick Khan in July 2022 when her father briefly retired with the company’s board of directors investigating millions of dollars in hush money payments he allegedly made to multiple women.
She stepped down in January 2023 from the position after Vince McMahon returned to broker the sale of WWE and was unanimously elected executive chairman.
WWE was bought by Endeavor in April 2023 and completed a $21 billion merger with the UFC into a new company, TKO.
Vince McMahon stepped down as executive chairman of TKO in late January after a Wall Street Journal report revealed a federal sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit brought against him by former WWE employee Janel Grant.
