WWE: Former WWE Board Member on Decision to Leave Company, Randy Orton Spotted at PC, More News

Former WWE Board Member Ignace Lahoud Comments on Decision to Resign from Company Over Vince McMahon’s Return

The LA Times held a recent interview with former WWE Board of Directors member Ignace Lahoud. One of the topics discussed included Lahoud’s thoughts on his decision to resign from WWE following Vince McMahon’s return to the company earlier this year.

“It wasn’t aligned with my way of seeing what governance is. There was a misalignment with what my values are.”

The LA Times also reported that one person close to one of the ousted WWE Board members following McMahon’s return described McMahon as “He’s the kind of person who expects loyalty.” This same person reportedly also stated that McMahon had viewed the company’s investigation into his sexual harassment allegations and hush money payments as being an act of disloyalty towards him.

In regards to WWE’s investigation against McMahon last year, another person close to WWE’s Board stated “He said, ‘OK, do whatever you guys need to do. I’m not going to stand in your way.’ Of course, when the board said, ‘Well, you know, we think you need to step down,’ he wasn’t happy about it, but he did it.”

---

Randy Orton Reportedly Visited WWE’s Performance Center

As noted before, Randy Orton has been out of action for WWE since May of 2022 due to a back injury and had underwent back fusion surgery this past November.

WrestleOps reported that Orton was spotted at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday based on a video sent to them by a fan.

Fightful Select reported that their sources confirmed that Orton was at the Performance Center this week but he actually has been at the venue for quite some time lately.

It was reported that Orton has been working out in the gym at the Performance Center and was stated to have gotten “huge” in a good way at one point but as of early August, he had not resumed in-ring training for a potential return.

It was also reported that Orton had informed those close to him that he was adamant about making an in-ring return from his injury.

It was also reported that WWE currently has a very strict rule in place for talent in regards to them returning from an injury or showing up to the company that requires them to first to work out in some capacity at their Performance Center.

---

WWE News & Notes

This past Monday’s RAW show in Salt Lake City, Utah featured the announcement of Rhea Ripley being out of action for WWE due to her suffering an injury at the hands of Nia Jax at last week’s show. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Ripley’s injury is not a legitimate one and instead was just WWE’s way of writing out Ripley so that she could travel back to her home in Australia for a vacation break.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials made many late changes to the original plans for this past Monday’s RAW show in Salt Lake City. Among the changes reportedly included Tegan Nox was originally planned to be the surprise opponent for Becky Lynch’s NXT Women’s Championship match before it was changed to Natayla instead. This change reportedly took place around 10 minutes before the show started for reasons currently not known. It was reported that Lynch had pushed for Nox to be her opponent for the show prior to the changes being made. Those spoken to reportedly stated that they are currently hopeful that WWE will continue Lynch’s “open challenge” for her NXT Women’s title but there is no guarantee of that.

This past Monday’s RAW show also featured the announcement of Erik not being medically cleared to compete on the show for the reason why the advertised Best 2-out-of-3 Falls match between New Day and The Viking Raiders was pulled. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that this was another late change made by WWE officials to their original plans for the show.

As noted before, WWE will be holding a new set of tryouts at their Performance Center in Orlando, Florida this week. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that indie wrestler J-Rod, real name Jessica Rodan, is confirmed to be another talent who was invited by WWE for their tryouts this week.

Former WWE commentator Pat McAfee was recently announced by the NFL to be among the Modern Era nominees who are eligible for the voting for next year’s Hall of Fame class.

WWE reportedly is currently working on plans for worldwide soccer star Cristiano Rolando to make a potential guest appearance at their upcoming Crown Jewel event this November in Saudi Arabia, according to Diario AS.

IYO SKY recently revealed on Twitter that she is featured on the cover of the latest issue of of Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine in Japan.

As noted before, Alexa Bliss has been out of action for WWE since this past January first due to skin cancer treatment-related issues and afterwards due to her currently expecting the birth of her first child. Bliss recently provided an update on Instagram stating that her baby daughter will be named Hendrix Rouge Cabrera.

This past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Denver, Colorado featured a heavy usage of muting of the crowd during The Rock’s “You are an Asshole” chant along with the crowd towards Austin Theory. Fightful Select reported that the reason why this was done was simply just WWE and/or FOX wanting to avoid any potential FTC violations instead of anything TV-PG related. It was reported that the current rules for TV-PG shows do not prevent the usage of foul language on shows.

Bianca Belair has been noticeably absent from WWE programming since the August 18th SmackDown show. In a recent interview with Metro, Belair stated that the reason for her current absence is just due to her taking a break and also working on plans to write a children’s book. Belair stated “Right now, it was just some self-care. We did some things with us personally that I’m so excited about, it has to do with the future. I’m trying to write a children’s book as well.“