Stephanie McMahon says her oldest daughter, Aurora Rose Levesque, was on a real path toward an in-ring WWE career before the sexual misconduct and trafficking allegations against Vince McMahon, and her own exit from the company, changed everything.
Speaking on her own podcast, What’s Your Story? with Steph McMahon, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed that Aurora had already stepped through the ropes with two of the company’s most respected names.
“Well, Aurora used to want to (get into the wrestling business), and she even got in the ring with Nattie and Charlotte (Flair). She rolled around a little bit,” McMahon said. “But then, everything kind of happened with my dad and me leaving and it was an awkward time. Like right in the time that she would’ve really been making her decision.”
According to Stephanie, the timing was the problem. The fallout landed at the exact moment Aurora was weighing whether to pursue the family business, and the door she had always seen open suddenly felt closed.
Stephanie also stressed that her daughter’s talent was never in question. She said both Natalya and Charlotte Flair, who personally trained and worked with Aurora, came away convinced she was a natural in the ring.
Aurora, now 19, has redirected her focus elsewhere. “She still could, but her mind right now is on getting her Doctorate in PT,” Stephanie said, referring to physical therapy.
The admission adds a personal cost to a scandal that has already reshaped WWE’s executive landscape. Stephanie left her role as chairwoman and co-CEO in the wake of the allegations against her father, and her comments suggest the upheaval may have also closed the book, at least for now, on a fourth-generation McMahon competing inside the ring.
Stephanie left the door open for a return down the line. As she put it, life constantly changes, and Aurora “might find her way back to it” someday.