Bengaluru, July 23: Good ol’ “Vinnie Mac” will no more be in charge of running things in the WWE.

In a shocking turn of events, former WWE Chairman & CEO Vincent Kennedy McMahon, has announced that he is officially retiring from his duties in the WWE after serving in the position for more than 40 years.

He made the following tweet last night ahead of Smackdown to break the news.

“At 77, time for me to retire. Thank you, WWE Universe. Then. Now. Forever. Together. #WWE #thankful,” Vince wrote on Twitter.

At 77, time for me to retire.
Thank you, WWE Universe.
Then. Now. Forever. Together. #WWE #thankful

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) July 22, 2022

WWE’s corporate site then offered a detailed confirmation about the sudden step-down of the most successful professional wrestling promoter to have ever existed.

Then on Smackdown, the breaking news was officially broadcast following which the current WWE CEO Stephanie McMahon kicked things off. Stepahnie got emotional while talking about her father’s retirement. The Boston crowd broke into a “Thank You Vince” during this segment.

Vince McMahon had recently stepped away from his corporate duties in the WWE in the wake of a hush-money scandal investigation. He allegedly made some payments to keep his former female employees silent about their past sexual harassment.

Investigations are still going on around the 77-year-old executive and the former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis who also is reportedly gone from the company. After Laurinaitis’ removal, Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) took over his duties starting Friday (July 23).

After Vince was removed from his position, Stephanie McMahon was appointed as Interim Chairwoman and CEO but her father was still in charge of the creative control of the TV contents.

With one of the flagship programs of the WWE, SummerSlam waiting on July 30th, it’ll be interesting to see whether Vince will oversee things at the event. Another backstage head-honcho and long-term associate of Vince, WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn is also said to be absent from recent WWE TV tapings.

Despite the investigation ongoing against him, Vince McMahon continued to appear on WWE television in recent weeks, most notably to plug in John Cena's 20-year anniversary celebration on Monday Night Raw.

WWE has announced that effective immediately, Paul "@TripleH" Levesque will resume his executive position as EVP, Talent Relations. https://t.co/tPV28gXNDm

— WWE (@WWE) July 22, 2022

A new report from PWInsider suggests that most of the WWE Superstars remain pretty positive following the announcement but some of them are surprised as they thought he’d be in charge till his death.

On the flip side of the story, some are really excited about the future changes in the WWE since the old management (Vince-Laurinaitis-Kevin-Bruce Prichard) is likely to be replaced with a new WWE Creative Process to bring some freshness.

Backstage news also suggests that Vince McMahon will be in attendance at Summerslam 2022, next week so that he can meet and greet WWE Superstars in person.