and
Vincent K. McMahon, The family's wrestling business started in 1915 when
Jess McMahon (1882–1954), a descendant of the Thomond
McMahon clan in
Western Ireland, started promoting wrestling events. In 1953, Jess and his son,
Vincent J. McMahon, founded the
Capitol Wrestling Corporation, later renamed the
World Wide Wrestling Federation, and then the World Wrestling Federation. Upon his retirement in 1982, his son from his first marriage,
Vince McMahon Jr., took over the business. Vince McMahon Jr. served as
chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of the company until July 2022, when he retired during a sex scandal investigation. On January 10, 2023 Vince McMahon Jr. was re-elected chairman. The company was renamed
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (
WWE) in 2002 and Alpha Entertainment, LLC in 2017. and
Stephanie McMahon in 2014 Vince and
Linda McMahon have two children,
Shane and
Stephanie. and Stephanie is married to
Paul Levesque, known as Triple H. Stephanie and Paul have three daughters: Aurora Rose, Murphy Claire, and Vaughn Evelyn. Shane and Marissa have three sons: Declan James, Kenyon Jesse, and Rogan Henry. In December 2016, Linda was nominated to be the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration by President
Donald Trump, and she held the position from 2017 to 2019. In January 2023, speculation arose that WWE had been placed for sale. Hours before
WrestleMania 39 Night two,
CNBC reported via multiple sources that a deal between
WWE and
Endeavor, the parent company of
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was imminent. The deal involved a merger of WWE with the UFC into a new
publicly-traded company, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake. The sale was confirmed the next day, on April 3, 2023. WrestleMania 39 subsequently became the final WrestleMania event under McMahon family ownership, though Vince maintained his position as executive chairman of WWE. The sale was finalized on September 12, with
2023 Payback being the final major event produced by WWE under the McMahon family ownership. WWE and UFC subsequently became divisions under a new entity called
TKO Group Holdings. By early 2024, Vince McMahon (no longer the majority stockholder in WWE) was removed due to a
sex trafficking scandal involving a former employee. == Family tree ==