Vince McMahon retires, backstage news.

Vince McMahon announced his retirement at 4:05 PM EST, saying "At 77, time for me to retire.  Thank you, WWE Universe.   Then. Now. Forever. Together."

Fightful has been told there is an "all hands on deck" meeting at 5 PM EST. We'd reported earlier today that new EVP of Talent Relations, CEO Stephanie McMahon, and President Nick Khan are all set to be in Boston, the site of Smackdown.

A mass message went out to those within WWE from Vince McMahon, announcing the news. There have been heavy moves made within WWE, and we're told to expect more. 

One talent immediately contacted us and they said "they'll believe it once shows come and go and he's no longer involved." Another upon hearing the news said that they were surprised, as they expected Vince McMahon to be with the company until he dies. 


UPDATE:

It was confirmed to us by WWE that Vince McMahon is retiring from all active roles in the company, and they claimed this is not a storyline.

Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named co-CEOs, eliminating the interim title from Stephanie's role. Those that we spoke to believe the decision was made last week. The news came as a shock to most within WWE. 

There were immediate internal rumors that Brock Lesnar was "very pissed off" about the news and left, as Bryan Alvarez reported. We have also heard this rumor. It was confirmed to us that Brock Lesnar was slated to be "all over" Smackdown tonight and abruptly left. We haven't heard on if he plans on returning. 

The "all hands on deck" meeting wasn't as all hands on deck as originally portrayed. We're told several Raw talent weren't required to attend, and it was simply a quick goodbye to those that were there. The internal message to staff initially received was that Vince was retiring and he wants them to continue waving the flag of WWE. Talent were told in a meeting at Money in the Bank weeks ago that Vince McMahon was here to stay and wasn't going anywhere. 

Thus far we've heard from several people in the company who have not been told who is running the creative end of things for either show as of this point.

There was a rampant and unconfirmed rumors among talent that they expect Kevin Dunn to be the next to leave, even though Kevin Dunn and Bruce Prichard are the points of contact for the show tonight. When the same talent speculated that John Laurinaitis would be ousted, that ended up being the case. Kevin Dunn was a part of the talent meeting Friday. 

Vince McMahon is actively being investigated by the WWE board for sexual misconduct allegations tied to claims of sexual coercion, and NDAs. 

SECOND UPDATE:

Fighful Select has learned that Smackdown for July 22 was re-written to not feature Brock Lesnar. 

Producers and some members of creative were told that Bruce Prichard is taking over Vince McMahon's television duties moving forward. Producers were also told that Bruce Prichard is taking some direction from Vince McMahon as the transition takes place. 

We will constantly update this article this evening with additional news.