Stephanie McMahon addresses Vince McMahon's retirement in an emotional speech on SmackDown

The Co-CEO of WWE Stephanie McMahon opened the latest episode of SmackDown to address Vince McMahon's retirement in an emotional speech.

Following the news of the former CEO's retirement, The Billion Dollar Princess was announced for the opening segment of SmackDown this week. She will serve as the Co-CEO of the promotion alongside Nick Khan.

The wrestling world was taken by shock a few weeks ago when it was announced that Vince McMahon would be stepping back from his duties as Chairman and CEO of WWE.

While he maintained his role as the head of creative, it was recently revealed that Bruce Prichard would take over his role in that department. Tonight Mr. McMahon took to Twitter to announce his retirement.

On the latest episode of SmackDown, Stephanie McMahon addressed her father's retirement in an emotional speech.

"Earlier tonight, my father, Vince McMahon, retired from WWE. This is the company that he created, that he founded, that he wanted to make sure, in his retirement - that he thanked all of you, the WWE Universe."

After the crowd interrupted her with "Thank you, Vince" chants, she continued:

"That's all of you out there, that's everyone in the back, that's all of the crew - everyone who does the rigging, everyone who does the designs, even Pat McAfee and I guess Michael Cole. This is the WWE Universe and we are eternally grateful for all of you. Since Vince [McMahon] had the opportunity to thank us, I think this is the moment we take to thank him."

It remains to be seen what direction WWE will move towards following the announcement of McMahon's retirement.

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