Prior to his return to the company earlier in January, WWE chairman Vince McMahon settled a lawsuit last month from a former referee who accused him of raping her in 1986, his lawyer told Joe Palazzolo and Ted Mann of The Wall Street Journal.

Per ESPN's Mike Coppinger, the exact sum of the multimillion-dollar settlement paid to Rita Chatterton was undisclosed. McMahon had already paid out a total of $19.6 million in payments related to sexual misconduct allegations before this latest settlement.

"Mr. McMahon denies and always has denied raping Ms. Chatterton," McMahon's personal lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, told The Wall Street Journal. "And he settled the case solely to avoid the cost of litigation."

Coppinger wrote that "McMahon, 77, alleged in a 1993 lawsuit that Chatterton was convinced to make a false rape accusation by another wrestler with a vendetta." He ended up withdrawing the suit in 1994 amid a trial where he was facing allegations of providing steroids to wrestlers.

After retiring in July amid allegations of sexual misconduct and that he paid women to sign nondisclosure agreements, McMahon was reinstated as a board member of WWE on Jan. 9. He returned so he could play a role in the sale of the company and upcoming media rights negotiations, as he remained the majority shareholder even after his retirement.

Upon McMahon's return, his daughter Stephanie resigned as chairwoman and co-CEO. Her husband Paul "Triple H" Levesque remains as chief content officer, and Nick Khan is now the sole CEO. There were also multiple changes made to the company's board members.