Report: Backstage News On Vince McMahon's WWE Retirement

In a shocking turn of events today, Vince McMahon announced his retirement from WWE, departing the company at 76-years-old.

According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, McMahon privately decided to retire "about a week or so ago" with one source noting it was "around 10 days ago."

The decision to release the statement on Friday afternoon ET was reportedly to avoid any negative fallout from a media and shareholder perspective with WWE stock having closed at $66.22 at 4 pm ET. McMahon's announcement was released eight minutes later.

Only a "very closed circle" knew about Vince's decision and the overwhelming reaction within WWE has been one of shock, especially amongst longtime employees as "they never truly believed there would be a day they worked for the company without Vince McMahon at the helm."

Bruce Prichard and Kevin Dunn are running tonight's episode of SmackDown while Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are both backstage.

With his retirement, Vince McMahon has also stepped away from all involvement in WWE creative. There is no word on what the new creative team will look like.