WWE’s Battle of The Billionaires at WrestleMania 23 in 2007 saw current WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley defeat the late Umaga. Lashley was backed by Celebrity WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump, who would go on to become the 45th President of the United States. Umaga was backed by former WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon, who recently retired amid controversy. Per the stipulation attached to the match, McMahon had his head shaved bald due to his Superstar losing.
A new report from The Wall Street Journal notes that Trump’s contract for the WrestleMania appearance said Trump directed McMahon to send a $4 million appearance fee to The Donald J. Trump Foundation.
Furthermore, Trump had his associates review the contract with WWE to ensure that under no circumstances would McMahon be allowed to shave Trump’s head, even if Trump’s wrestler, Lashley, dropped dead in the ring, according to a source close to the matter.
After the WrestleMania appearance, Trump boasted that his appearance was such a success that McMahon agreed to give him an additional $1 million, according to the source.
We recently noted how a new WWE SEC filing revealed that the company found an additional $5 million in unrecorded company expenses related to two payments made by Vince in 2007 and 2009. It was believed that the payments had to do with McMahon’s alleged payouts to women for non-disclosure agreements, but a follow-up report from Wrestlenomics speculated that the $5 million may be related to Trump. The Wrestlenomics report pointed to how IRS filings stated that WWE spent a total of exactly $5 million in contributions to The Donald J. Trump Foundation in the same two years, 2007 and 2009. The records indicate the contributions came from WWE, and the WWE HQ address was used, with no specific person named, and years-old comments from WWE’s media relations people attributed the donations to Vince and Linda personally.
In an update, the new report from The Wall Street Journal confirms that the ongoing WWE Board of Directors investigation found that the contributions totaling $5 million to Trump’s charity in 2007 and 2009 were among the $19.6 million in unrecorded company expenses that Vince paid out before resigning from the company amid misconduct allegations. People familiar with the Board investigation said the $5 million represented charitable donations to the now-dissolved Trump Foundation in the same two years that Trump made WWE TV appearances. In a recent WWE SEC filing, WWE stated that the $19.6 million that came out of Vince’s pocket should have been disclosed because the transactions benefited the company he ran. While the bulk of the payments went to women who accused Vince and former WWE Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis of sexual misconduct, WWE noted in the filings that the $5 million was unrelated to such allegations, but the purpose was not stated.
Longtime WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt did not dispute that the contributions were related to Trump’s WWE appearances, but he did challenge the notion that $1 million was a bonus for the success of WrestleMania.
“Mr. Trump and WWE entered into a contract whereby WWE agreed to and did pay him personally an appearance fee of $1 million,” McDevitt said in an email. “At the same time, the McMahons made a personal contribution to the Trump Foundation of $4 million. There was no additional fee paid to Mr. Trump, or any additional contribution to the Trump Foundation, due to the success of the event.”
McDevitt added that Trump received a $100,000 fee for his 2009 RAW appearance, while “at the same time” Vince and his wife Linda McMahon made a $1 million donation to Trump’s Foundation that year.
The WSJ noted that a WWE attorney said the payments to Trump should have been booked as business expenses because Vince was a principal shareholder and the payments benefited WWE. He declined to say why the payments benefited the company. It wasn’t clear if this lawyer is McDevitt.
The tax returns for the Trump Foundation in 2007 and 2009 show contributions of $4 million and $1 million, respectively, from WWE. In 2007, Trump appeared for The Battle of The Billionaires storyline at WrestleMania, and then he appeared in 2009 for a storyline that saw him take over RAW before selling it back to Vince at double the price. The $5 million was listed on the Trump Foundation tax returns as coming from WWE, but WWE noted in the SEC filings that the payments came from Vince personally. The $4 million sent by McMahon to the Trump Foundation in 2007 represented 98% of all contributions the foundation received that year, while the $1 million in 2009 amounted to 91% of the foundation’s receipts that year.
WWE noted in this week’s Q2 2022 filings that the Board investigation into McMahon is “substantially complete,” and that they spent $1.7 million for general/admin expenses for the investigation. They currently anticipate they will need to spend around $10 million more during the rest of 2022 for the investigation, and that related costs will exceed that figure. WWE also stated in their earnings report how Vince’s departure could hurt the company financially and creatively.
Vince remains the majority owner of WWE stock, which gives him the bulk of shareholders’ voting power.