The McMahon family drama, except it's real.

June 17, 2022 5:36 AM

After claims of misconduct and alleged affair with a coworker, Vince McMahon has "stepped back" as Chair and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. McMahon's hiatus comes after a week of revelations. The WWE board of directors discovered a US $3 million hush payment from McMahon's personal funds to a former employee, a paralegal, from an anonymous tip from "a friend" of the former employee. The unnamed employee allegedly had an affair with McMahon and (WWE Manager of Talent Relations) John Laurinaitis. McMahon's daughter, Stephanie McMahon, has returned from family leave to serve as the Interim CEO and Interim Chair. She was on a break from her existing role of Chief Brand Officer, after leaving in May to "focus on her family."

Stephanie McMahon's reason for leave was not a euphamism; her husband (and former long-time WWE talent and executive) Paul "Triple H" Levesque underwent a procedure to repair damage to his heart caused by a genetic heart issue. During her time away, she has been "buried" by some of her collegues. [paywalled link]

All of this happens during a time many suspect WWE is attempting to be acquired by a major entertainment company.

Vince McMahon controls about 80% of the voting power in the company, making a forced removal seem unlikely.

posted by andreaazure (41 comments total)

If only Ed were still with us to keep the family in line.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:47 AM on June 17, 2022 [9 favorites]

Heel turn, huh?
posted by lalochezia at 6:03 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Heel turn, huh?

Only works if they started as a Face.
posted by zamboni at 6:12 AM on June 17, 2022 [27 favorites]

This has been a rough few weeks for wresting, with each thing larger than the last. First, a smattering of unfortunate injuries (Cody Rhodes, CM Punk), Sasha Banks trying to get out of her WWE contract so she can leave (one of the most talented wrestlers out there, period), Jeff Hardy getting *another * DUI. And now this.

I don't think anyone who follows wrestling thinks that Vincent Kennedy McMahon is a man particularly beholden to an ethical code. WWE has a particularly ugly past when it comes to the treatment of women off camera and on camera. What is surprising is that Vince has always seemed like Teflon, and now he's stepping back at a particularly unsteady time. However while he's leaving the CEO chair for now, he's still in charge of the day to day creative. Not much is likely to change in the product.

Anyway, I look forward to the Dark Side of the Ring episode.
posted by Alison at 6:27 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

This seems...ill advised?

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1537786958533079043
posted by griffey at 6:32 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Vince has always been (to borrow a phrase the main competition has popularized over the past year) a carny piece of shit and it is remarkable to be able to say I’m not convinced he’s even the worst person in his marriage.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 6:34 AM on June 17, 2022 [6 favorites]

> Anyway, I look forward to the Dark Side of the Ring episode.

About that... there might not be any more "real" Dark Side of the Ring as they are allegedly partnering with WWE and not making a season 4.
posted by andreaazure at 6:34 AM on June 17, 2022

There is a better than even chance (IMO) that the fallout from this results in the McMahon family relinquishing/losing day-to-day control of the WWE to WWE President Nick Khan*, who was hired back in 2020 specifically to help position the WWE for a sale to a media conglomerate.

*No relation to rival wrestling promotion AEW's CEO/President Tony Khan
posted by KingEdRa at 6:37 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

This seems...ill advised?

He'll come out to do some winking slander under the aegis of "Mr. McMahon" being a character separate from Vincent K. McMahon. Vince's carny shit has no bottom and knows no shame.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:39 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

If you had told me this was the new season of Succession I'd believe it. Ever since Nick Khan was brought on board, he's been manifestly and obviously preparing to sell WWE to a bigger company while steadfastly denying that's what he's doing: laying off performers right before quarterly financial reports, pushing out every manager and booker who was brought on by Triple H, and booking short-term rating pops at the expense of long-term storytelling. I'm actually a little surprised that he wasn't made interim CEO himself, although having Steph be brought back in is a great way to undercut her at every opportunity to erode corporate trust in the McMahons.

The unnamed employee allegedly had an affair with McMahon and (WWE Manager of Talent Relations) John Laurinaitis.

I don't know if that's a direct quote from the articles, but that phrasing neatly shifts the blame onto the nameless woman in the story and away from the two older men who outranked her in the company and could have her fired for any reason if she had failed to obey them.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:43 AM on June 17, 2022 [10 favorites]

This seems...ill advised?

He'll come out to do some winking slander under the aegis of "Mr. McMahon" being a character separate from Vincent K. McMahon. Vince's carny shit has no bottom and knows no shame.

What uncleozzy said... he will use this opportunity to further humiliate his wife and family to generate even more publicity. He knows nothing of a capacity for shame. A certain former President based his "winning" TV persona on Vince.
posted by gestalt saloon at 6:47 AM on June 17, 2022

I can't say I admire or condone it, but having such a despicable public persona was one of the most clever things Vince McMahon ever did.

People have known for decades that he's an awful piece of shit, but so much of it got swept under the rug because fans legitimately could not tell if any particular personal or labor dispute was real or not.

What does surprise me is that he has lived this long. If ever there was a person to die under "mysterious circumstances" where "no one saw anything", it'd be Vince.
posted by explosion at 7:04 AM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

now he's stepping back at a particularly unsteady time

Yeah this is kind of crazy because all of his presumed heirs were out - Shane some time ago, Paul/HHH with serious health issues, Stephanie nominally because of her husband’s health issues, but there was also speculation that somebody in the company didn’t really want her there.
posted by atoxyl at 7:05 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

It has been a long time since I have followed the WWE. What happened with Shane?
posted by all about eevee at 7:08 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

The initial allegation that I read was that the affair was with McMahon, and that McMahon "lent her out" to Laurinaitis "like a toy." As previously noted, the woman in question is not without agency in this, but is holding down the very, very small end of a huge power imbalance here.

Laurinaitis is also controversial amongst woman wrestlers and their fans, in that he is known to favor sexualizing women's wrestling over athleticizing it. (Think bikini models prancing around rather than well-trained athletes.) One wrestler who departed on bad terms (Athena, known as Ember Moon there) spoke up about a recent two-hour meeting where the women's locker room was told that they'd all have to sex their wardrobes up, 'coming from the top.'

What does surprise me is that he has lived this long. If ever there was a person to die under "mysterious circumstances" where "no one saw anything", it'd be Vince.

Or in an exploding limo incident, perhaps.
posted by delfin at 7:12 AM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

I hope someone gets hit with a chair while their back is turned at the next board meeting.
posted by snofoam at 7:14 AM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]

Delfin beat me to it. Calling this an "affair" frames it as a relationship between equals.

The famous and unfathomably wealthy CEO of the company demands sexual favors of you when you're a paralegal, at the opposite end of the power curve. He could probably make sure you never work again if you piss him off. That's not an affair, that's rape by coercion, or damn close to it.
posted by JDHarper at 7:20 AM on June 17, 2022 [8 favorites]

C'mon, @WWESubway, I know you have the perfect GIF for this...
posted by xedrik at 7:22 AM on June 17, 2022

> I don't know if that's a direct quote from the articles, but that phrasing neatly shifts the blame onto the nameless woman in the story and away from the two older men who outranked her in the company and could have her fired for any reason if she had failed to obey them.

Absolutely not my intent at all. From reports, the relationship was consentual. Power imbalance is a thing, certainly.
posted by andreaazure at 7:23 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

John Oliver had an entertaining and enlightening segment on Vince and the WWE.
posted by Ber at 7:44 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I sunset my lifelong WWE fandom around the time they started doing the Saudi Arabia shows but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the delicious (hopefull) fall of Vince, who should have stepped down and let Triple H take the reins YEARS ago.
posted by kimberussell at 7:58 AM on June 17, 2022

What is surprising is that Vince has always seemed like Teflon, and now he's stepping back at a particularly unsteady time.

Guy is almost 77 years old and from the accounts I've heard has lived without a functioning conscience for most of those 77 years. Maybe being a shithead for that long eventually tires a person out.
posted by cubeb at 8:03 AM on June 17, 2022

What are the odds that this is all a tremendous work to distract the internet wrestling smarks from AEW's Forbidden Door PPV?

I mean, the odds are low, but definitely non-zero.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:47 AM on June 17, 2022

I'm shocked to find out there is real drama going on in here.
posted by srboisvert at 9:23 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Zero point zero.

The people who care about AEW vs. NJPW aren't even watching WWE right now. The casuals have no idea who Hiroshi Tanahashi even is, but "Vince McMahon passed a woman around like a chewtoy in real life" will last a lot longer in their minds than one PPV will.
posted by delfin at 9:24 AM on June 17, 2022

In the “slowly, then all at once” category, rumors now are that the elder McMahons’ marriage has been effectively over for years now. This is all definitely seeming like a way to ungently escort Vince out the door, by more than one faction simultaneously.
posted by Etrigan at 9:33 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

It has been a long time since I have followed the WWE. What happened with Shane?

Left over a decade ago to pursue his own… business stuff (in his telling because he saw that Stephanie and HHH were the real heirs apparent). Came back a couple years ago and then got fired, supposedly, for using his role as the producer of the Royal Rumble to insert himself as a major participant in the Royal Rumble. Really, that’s the story.
posted by atoxyl at 10:05 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

The only thing about which I am certain in this situation is that I will be delighted by how Max Caster uses it.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:33 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

her husband (and former long-time WWE talent and executive) Paul "Triple H" Levesque underwent a procedure to repair damage to his heart caused by a genetic heart issue.

Didn't know anabolic–androgenic steroids were genetic. TIL
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 11:02 AM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

> Didn't know anabolic–androgenic steroids were genetic.

Genetic and Hereditary are not the same thing. You can acquire genetic damage by being exposed to radiation, for example.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 11:06 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

If only Ed were still with us to keep the family in line.

I had to look up to see if they were related.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:07 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

Genetic and Hereditary are not the same thing. You can acquire genetic damage by being exposed to radiation, for example.

“Genetic” in the statement was clearly meant to imply hereditary or congenital. The “you sure it wasn’t the years of PEDs?” angle is kind of obvious but there’s no reason it can’t be some of both.
posted by atoxyl at 11:27 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

And besides, are you really gonna tut-tut these guys for taking steroids? It’s a little funny when they still try to maintain some plausible deniability because we know, but we also know it was basically part of the job in their era.
posted by atoxyl at 11:32 AM on June 17, 2022

Now that you mention it, it's more than a little bit funny that the only piece of kayfabe left seems to be PEDs.
posted by box at 12:01 PM on June 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

It's a work, right? I'm thinking we should expect it's a work, you know.
posted by k3ninho at 12:52 PM on June 17, 2022

"What are the odds that this is all a tremendous work to distract the internet wrestling smarks from AEW's Forbidden Door PPV?"

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is a publicly traded company and the SEC ain't kayfabe.
posted by MrJM at 6:52 PM on June 17, 2022 [4 favorites]

I’ve been following this on wrestling sites and Twitter, since I can’t honestly be bothered to even torrent ppv anymore. It’s amazing to see all theorizing about Nick Khan and the idea that, through his connection to Dwayne Johnson, this is essentially the Rock’s long term revenge against HHH and the McMahon’s in general.

There is indeed deep ugliness about the “leaked” reports about people being unhappy with Stephanie McMahon behind the seems (almost certainly laurinitis and Dunn), and the fact that Vince is still in charge of day-to-day and creative means this is all for show, and, I wouldn’t be surprised, just another way to make Stephanie (his own goddamn daughter) look like shit.

It’s pretty damning that there isn’t a single “shocked” person with even a slight passing knowledge of WWE. If you know Vince McMahon by name, even just barely, this seems like something where you’d hear it and say, “that’s it? Surely there’s more, right?”

There isn’t a single saint in that company, but damn, it seemed like everything was so close to having a company where storytelling and craft were the central focus, with having HHH and Heyman running the creative side of the company. Now? If Khan’s whole thing is tidying up behind the curtain for selling off, I can’t really see WWE lasting as anything more than an intellectual property once the highest bidding conglomerate gets it. Punk was absolutely correct that (at the time) Vince was a “millionaire who should be a billionaire” but the point is, he was still a millionaire on the back of running a wrestling promotion, which, it’s become clear, is literally the only thing he’s ever given a shit about. Meanwhile, anyone with anything approaching that carny based knowledge and passion for the business has been shown the door with great fervor (hell, they aren’t even resigning Paige, and letting her contract expire now that they’ve gotten Fighting with my Family out of the deal is remarkably shitty, yet lost in all of this, and she would have been a fantastic trainer). What suit could parachute in to something like WWE and have even a smidge of understanding of the history involved?

Could it have been run better? Absolutely. Hell, look at NXT (1.0) for what wrestling can be, for what WWE could have become when it’s run by someone who has passion and understanding for the business. Let’s say, I guess, Disney buys WWE. Who the hell at Disney understands even a tenth of the carny-ness at the heart of the business? Who has the passion that comes from wrestling in half empty bingo halls? Who knows, maybe a Stephanie-run board, with HHH running creative would have falling to shit, but now we’ll never know, simply because yet another billionaire couldn’t be satisfied with enough and demanded more, while also turning out to be (gasp) and absolute garbage fire of a human being.

Goddamn, this world is exhausting, we can’t even have fucking wrestling to distract us from how shitty everything else is, and that’s largely because wrestling has gotten so shitty it’s impossible to ignore the reprehensible shit that’s always been at the heart of it.

Also, I have no doubt that WWE partnering with the makers of DSotR is just to keep them from making anything more that makes WWE look bad. See also, partnering with ESPN and the Ringer.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:50 PM on June 17, 2022 [7 favorites]

Unfortunately the whole story has gotten worse, or more accurately revealed the "worse" that was already present:

The summary:
Ex-WWE wrestler corroborates Rita Chatterton rape allegation against Vince McMahon

The article:
New York Magazine
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 5:37 AM on June 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

And then there were four. (archive link)
posted by Etrigan at 10:57 AM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

The previously unreported settlements include a $7.5 million pact with a former wrestler who alleged that Mr. McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex and then demoted her and, ultimately, declined to renew her contract in 2005 after she resisted further sexual encounters

This detail narrows the list enough that I'd be worried if I were one of the women whose contract expired in 2005.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:27 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think it narrows it down enough that Meltzer will have a name by tomorrow.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:21 PM on July 8, 2022