Vince McMahon retires from WWE amid allegations of sexual misconduct
July 23, 2022 10:44 AM Subscribe
Barely a month after the start of the latest round of allegations of bad behavior by Vince McMahon, majority shareholder in World Wrestling Entertainment, he has "decided" to "retire" from his roles as (suspended pending investigation) Chairman and CEO and (still in place pending investigation) head of creative.
The announcement happened to fall on the 28th anniversary of McMahon's acquittal on federal steroid charges (it is perhaps unsurprising that the one tatter of kayfabe that this guy let survive was the claim that WWE thinks PEDs are bad). McMahon leaves behind an indelible legacy, including at least one covered-up murder, many other premature deaths and otherwise broken bodies and minds, the destruction of the "territorial" system and near-monopolization of professional wrestling in the U.S., union-busting, and a laughable insistence that WWE "superstars" are "sports entertainers" and "independent contractors". His daughter, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, was already serving as interim Chairman and CEO; she will remain Chairman for the moment and share CEO duties with WWE President Nick Khan.
The announcement happened to fall on the 28th anniversary of McMahon's acquittal on federal steroid charges (it is perhaps unsurprising that the one tatter of kayfabe that this guy let survive was the claim that WWE thinks PEDs are bad). McMahon leaves behind an indelible legacy, including at least one covered-up murder, many other premature deaths and otherwise broken bodies and minds, the destruction of the "territorial" system and near-monopolization of professional wrestling in the U.S., union-busting, and a laughable insistence that WWE "superstars" are "sports entertainers" and "independent contractors". His daughter, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, was already serving as interim Chairman and CEO; she will remain Chairman for the moment and share CEO duties with WWE President Nick Khan.
Interesting:
“I leave our company in the capable hands of … both Chairwoman and Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and Co-CEO Nick Khan. As the majority shareholder, I will continue to support WWE in any way I can.”
Huh. Depending on what’s in daddy’s will, one may wonder how incentivized Ms. McMahon would feel to cooperate with any legal activities that could alter his majority-shareholder status.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 10:56 AM on July 23, 2022
“I leave our company in the capable hands of … both Chairwoman and Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and Co-CEO Nick Khan. As the majority shareholder, I will continue to support WWE in any way I can.”
Huh. Depending on what’s in daddy’s will, one may wonder how incentivized Ms. McMahon would feel to cooperate with any legal activities that could alter his majority-shareholder status.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 10:56 AM on July 23, 2022
Retirement is pretty meaningless when he’s the majority shareholder; the CEO works for the shareholders.
posted by skewed at 11:08 AM on July 23, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by skewed at 11:08 AM on July 23, 2022 [8 favorites]
I didn't want to minimize his offenses against other human beings, so I left out the fact -- apparent, but which still must be said -- that McMahon is, by any measure, the single most influential person in the history of professional wrestling. Today is the first day in a generation that he is not the most powerful and important person in the industry. The majority of English-speaking people the whole world 'round have never known professional wrestling to be anything but "WWE (and some other stuff)". Some older wrestling fans remember a brief spate when there was also WCW, but even then, if you said "wrestling", non-fans figured you meant the then-WWF; barely anyone still recalls the days when the NWA was the singular wrestling cartel and McMahon started creeping out of the NY-DC corridor. Even in countries with their own traditions of pro wrestling (lucha libre or puroresu or catch-as-catch-can that predate McMahon's ascent, WWE is still the top of the mountain -- Japanese and Mexican and European wrestlers move to the US at the height of their careers (generally to be misused, because untangling wrestling from racism is... difficult).
The pre-Vince world of wrestling didn't include pay-per-views (now known as "premium live events" in WWE's case, since he sold them all to Peacock) or the Internet. We fans have been mentally preparing ourselves for the post-Vince world of wrestling for years now, but it's still terra incognita.
Stephanie led a chant of "Thank you Vince" to open last night's Smackdown. You could tell the crowd wasn't nearly as into it as they would have been if he'd retired before the WSJ got him in their sights.
posted by Etrigan at 11:29 AM on July 23, 2022 [12 favorites]
The pre-Vince world of wrestling didn't include pay-per-views (now known as "premium live events" in WWE's case, since he sold them all to Peacock) or the Internet. We fans have been mentally preparing ourselves for the post-Vince world of wrestling for years now, but it's still terra incognita.
Stephanie led a chant of "Thank you Vince" to open last night's Smackdown. You could tell the crowd wasn't nearly as into it as they would have been if he'd retired before the WSJ got him in their sights.
posted by Etrigan at 11:29 AM on July 23, 2022 [12 favorites]
Disappointing. I expected better from such a pillar of our civil society.
posted by ocschwar at 11:51 AM on July 23, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 11:51 AM on July 23, 2022 [9 favorites]
"I'm being investigated for several sexual wrongdoings, I'm clinging to power, but then I retire abruptly late on a Friday afternoon right after the stock market closes" tells me many things.
Vince "retiring" without fanfare instead of dragging himself through a lengthy retirement angle and public spectacle, soaking up rabid affection from the fans in each city like so many Trump rallies, means that something even worse is about to drop. It might involve barnyard animals.
posted by delfin at 12:28 PM on July 23, 2022 [18 favorites]
Vince "retiring" without fanfare instead of dragging himself through a lengthy retirement angle and public spectacle, soaking up rabid affection from the fans in each city like so many Trump rallies, means that something even worse is about to drop. It might involve barnyard animals.
posted by delfin at 12:28 PM on July 23, 2022 [18 favorites]
It finally comes out that he was in the pocket of Big Folding Chair for years.
posted by dr_dank at 12:35 PM on July 23, 2022 [30 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 12:35 PM on July 23, 2022 [30 favorites]
John Oliver did a big segment on Vince a few years ago. He took glee in a clip where Vince's face was pressed into a wrestler's sweaty ass crack for some dramatic purpose. At least, McMahan should receive that treatment daily.
posted by Ber at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2022
posted by Ber at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2022
YUR FIIIHHEERRRED!!!
posted by riruro at 2:24 PM on July 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by riruro at 2:24 PM on July 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
WWE: fake wrestling, real crown heeled assholes
posted by clavdivs at 2:43 PM on July 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 2:43 PM on July 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Important to note: Vince McMahon has not just committed serial sexual misconduct, but he is also an accused rapist.
posted by minervous at 2:48 PM on July 23, 2022
posted by minervous at 2:48 PM on July 23, 2022
I guess I don't see the actual practical significance of this. As skewed noted above, he's still majority shareholder, so it's still his company whatever faces he chooses to occupy officer positions. He had already stepped down as CEO and Chairman last month, a move that even internal sources acknowledged was just for optics, so how is this any different?
Unless he faces serious consequences like actual jail time, he can just wait for this to fade from the public memory and announce his return any time he wants.
posted by star gentle uterus at 3:15 PM on July 23, 2022
Unless he faces serious consequences like actual jail time, he can just wait for this to fade from the public memory and announce his return any time he wants.
posted by star gentle uterus at 3:15 PM on July 23, 2022
I'm not even a wrestling fan, and even I know this man belongs in the lowest level of a maximum security prison built on the bottom of the ocean. I'm looking forward to Abraham Riesman's book about him.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:24 PM on July 23, 2022
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:24 PM on July 23, 2022
He had already stepped down as CEO and Chairman last month, a move that even internal sources acknowledged was just for optics, so how is this any different?
His stepping down last month explicitly affected only his corporate roles. His role as head of creative (which he retained throughout) meant that he was still affecting the day-to-day visible operations of the company: Who are the champions, who gets more TV time, who wins matches, etc. He is so identified with that role that anyone who's ever worked for WWE agrees that every frame of the product has an audience of one: Vincent Kennedy McMahon. To the point that it is often said that it is better for a wrestler to utterly fail in "getting their character over" than in getting over if Vince didn't want you to, or in a way that he hadn't decided was the way you were going to get over (e.g., if you are a big brawling tough guy and one day you use a funny little boy voice, and the crowd laughs, so you keep doing it, and they keep laughing and applauding more? Vince will yell at you for "getting over wrong", and may well just take you off of TV on the spot, or even fire you). Every match, every script, every beat was personally approved by Vince McMahon. Until last night. Will his influence continue to affect the company, directly or in-? Sure. But not to the extent that it always has from the date they took the second W out of the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
And as for the rest of it -- Stephanie being the "interim" Chairman and CEO might have been a polite temporary fiction, but long-term, the SEC is going to care if Vince is actually running the show. The investors are going to care if Vince is actually running the show. NBCUniversal Media and Fox Corporation -- who give the WWE literally billions of dollars in exchange for airing Raw and Smackdown and twelve "premium live events" per year -- are going to care if Vince is actually running the show. And how do we know that that matters?
Well, lemme tell you about another person whose legacy had both "Massively Influential" and "Utterly Evil" sections: Lillian Ellison, a.k.a. The Fabulous Moolah. She ran women's wrestling in the U.S. for decades, while simultaneously "holding" several acknowledged women's championships as long as she wanted to. She was accused by multiple people over the years of pimping out women, stealing money from them, and blackballing anyone who challenged her authority. She was lionized by WWE (to whom she had more or less sold out in the '80s) in her later years, and a decade after her death, WWE named a match after her -- specifically, the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, to take place as part of WrestleMania 34. And then people said "Hey, why is Snickers sponsoring parts of WrestleMania, including the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal? Do they know about any of the allegations against Ellison?" It took Mars, Inc., less than 48 hours to tell Vince McMahon under no uncertain terms, Like fuck are we sponsoring that, and it became the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal right quick.
This is different, even from his "temporarily" relinquishing his titles of Chairman and CEO last month.
posted by Etrigan at 4:42 PM on July 23, 2022 [11 favorites]
His stepping down last month explicitly affected only his corporate roles. His role as head of creative (which he retained throughout) meant that he was still affecting the day-to-day visible operations of the company: Who are the champions, who gets more TV time, who wins matches, etc. He is so identified with that role that anyone who's ever worked for WWE agrees that every frame of the product has an audience of one: Vincent Kennedy McMahon. To the point that it is often said that it is better for a wrestler to utterly fail in "getting their character over" than in getting over if Vince didn't want you to, or in a way that he hadn't decided was the way you were going to get over (e.g., if you are a big brawling tough guy and one day you use a funny little boy voice, and the crowd laughs, so you keep doing it, and they keep laughing and applauding more? Vince will yell at you for "getting over wrong", and may well just take you off of TV on the spot, or even fire you). Every match, every script, every beat was personally approved by Vince McMahon. Until last night. Will his influence continue to affect the company, directly or in-? Sure. But not to the extent that it always has from the date they took the second W out of the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
And as for the rest of it -- Stephanie being the "interim" Chairman and CEO might have been a polite temporary fiction, but long-term, the SEC is going to care if Vince is actually running the show. The investors are going to care if Vince is actually running the show. NBCUniversal Media and Fox Corporation -- who give the WWE literally billions of dollars in exchange for airing Raw and Smackdown and twelve "premium live events" per year -- are going to care if Vince is actually running the show. And how do we know that that matters?
Well, lemme tell you about another person whose legacy had both "Massively Influential" and "Utterly Evil" sections: Lillian Ellison, a.k.a. The Fabulous Moolah. She ran women's wrestling in the U.S. for decades, while simultaneously "holding" several acknowledged women's championships as long as she wanted to. She was accused by multiple people over the years of pimping out women, stealing money from them, and blackballing anyone who challenged her authority. She was lionized by WWE (to whom she had more or less sold out in the '80s) in her later years, and a decade after her death, WWE named a match after her -- specifically, the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, to take place as part of WrestleMania 34. And then people said "Hey, why is Snickers sponsoring parts of WrestleMania, including the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal? Do they know about any of the allegations against Ellison?" It took Mars, Inc., less than 48 hours to tell Vince McMahon under no uncertain terms, Like fuck are we sponsoring that, and it became the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal right quick.
This is different, even from his "temporarily" relinquishing his titles of Chairman and CEO last month.
posted by Etrigan at 4:42 PM on July 23, 2022 [11 favorites]
Does that mean they're going to stop playing footsie with Saudi Arabia?
posted by Selena777 at 4:45 PM on July 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Selena777 at 4:45 PM on July 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have a feeling that first Vince McMahon is simply getting old and senile, and that had a large motivating factor in all this. He's shown himself to be increasingly unhinged in interviews. As much as I'd like to think that his sexual misconduct was his downfall, or his mistreatment of wrestlers or any of the other horrible things he's done ... he's 76, has certainly abused PEDs and has worked in an incredibly physically abusive job.
I doubt he'll face any real punishment, and when people retire (forced or not) they tend to mentally and physically go downhill. He might be creative control on paper but I have a feeling he's probably been not running the show for awhile now.
posted by geoff. at 5:10 PM on July 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I doubt he'll face any real punishment, and when people retire (forced or not) they tend to mentally and physically go downhill. He might be creative control on paper but I have a feeling he's probably been not running the show for awhile now.
posted by geoff. at 5:10 PM on July 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
geoff, he has absolutely been running the show(s) in a very hands on way for most of the company’s lifespan. There are regular reports of McMahon tearing up the script for a show right before it goes on air, or demanding massive changes on the fly. He’s been less present this year, but when he’s been in gorilla, he’s demanded significant changes to scripts, and is widely known to be dictating what to say to announcers live on air during matches.
He’s been the driving force behind some of the most ridiculous things in WWE, based entirely on his personal ideas of what fans want, all based on incredibly cynical carnyisms. He believes fans are too dumb to remember two names, which is where all the wrestlers losing lasts names came from. Hes the one who screams at wrestlers for saying words like “wrestling” or “belt” on air, because it’s somehow cheapening things? He’s the one who will, on a whim, take a character who’s been promised and promised to be a badass, and turn them into a comedy act (almost entirely dooming their career) which is something that’s just happened again, seemingly, with Veer Mahaan, but has also happened throughout the years (Chad Gable, an amazing wrestler who McMahon dislikes because he’s not a towering Goliath, was given a “Shorty G” gimmick because Vince thought it was hilarious).
Vince has been incredibly involved with almost every aspect of the company for years, including this one. It will be interesting to see what happens with Triple H back in creative, and Laurinitis supposedly finally out (as he was named in some of the articles about McMahon and the coverups). I don’t expect massive changes from next week, but it will be pretty easy to spot if McMahon hasn’t actually stepped away.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:17 PM on July 23, 2022 [10 favorites]
He’s been the driving force behind some of the most ridiculous things in WWE, based entirely on his personal ideas of what fans want, all based on incredibly cynical carnyisms. He believes fans are too dumb to remember two names, which is where all the wrestlers losing lasts names came from. Hes the one who screams at wrestlers for saying words like “wrestling” or “belt” on air, because it’s somehow cheapening things? He’s the one who will, on a whim, take a character who’s been promised and promised to be a badass, and turn them into a comedy act (almost entirely dooming their career) which is something that’s just happened again, seemingly, with Veer Mahaan, but has also happened throughout the years (Chad Gable, an amazing wrestler who McMahon dislikes because he’s not a towering Goliath, was given a “Shorty G” gimmick because Vince thought it was hilarious).
Vince has been incredibly involved with almost every aspect of the company for years, including this one. It will be interesting to see what happens with Triple H back in creative, and Laurinitis supposedly finally out (as he was named in some of the articles about McMahon and the coverups). I don’t expect massive changes from next week, but it will be pretty easy to spot if McMahon hasn’t actually stepped away.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:17 PM on July 23, 2022 [10 favorites]
My friend who's a wrestling fans sees this as a power play by the daughter... A kind of palace intrigue thing.
posted by subdee at 8:20 AM on July 24, 2022
posted by subdee at 8:20 AM on July 24, 2022
subdee, there are so many palace intrigue theories out there. One of the main ones is about Nick Khan, who is the co-CEO with Stephanie McMahon, and that he was brought in to make the company look better for a future sale. Since Khan came aboard, an absolute ton of long term backstage employees have been let go, as well as an unbelievable amount of wrestlers. NXT2.0 was widely seen as Triple H having NXT taken away and remolded in what Vince wanted, while putting Triple H on the sideline, when, pre-Khan, the presumption was Stephanie would take over the business side, and HHH would take over creative.
When Stephanie stepped down as Chief Brand Officer back in May it was largely rumored that she was being forced out of the company, and there were "leaks" about her making it look like she wasn't up to the job, essentially to make her look bad. With her coming back so suddenly, one piece of the puzzle is that Laurinitis (and Kevin Dunn) might have been part of the faction trying to push her away.
More than anything, Stephanie coming back seems like the only way to keep the McMahon name on the product. It'll be really interesting to see what happens, and who gets future-endeavored in the next couple of months. Laurinitis is supposedly not with the company anymore, though he hasn't officially been fired. Dunn's ridiculous misogyny and ugly history of the storylines he wrote for Stephanie McMahon while she was still a teenager make me think that if she has any real control, he'll be gone soon, too, and good riddance.
I'm not about to get my hopes up, but damn, if the creative minds that built NXT into what it was can get their hands on the main roster, there could actually be some decent, long-term storytelling on Smackdown and Raw. That would be a nice little cherry on top of the sundae, the sundae being the whole damn company purged of sexual predators and the people who covered for them.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:07 PM on July 24, 2022
When Stephanie stepped down as Chief Brand Officer back in May it was largely rumored that she was being forced out of the company, and there were "leaks" about her making it look like she wasn't up to the job, essentially to make her look bad. With her coming back so suddenly, one piece of the puzzle is that Laurinitis (and Kevin Dunn) might have been part of the faction trying to push her away.
More than anything, Stephanie coming back seems like the only way to keep the McMahon name on the product. It'll be really interesting to see what happens, and who gets future-endeavored in the next couple of months. Laurinitis is supposedly not with the company anymore, though he hasn't officially been fired. Dunn's ridiculous misogyny and ugly history of the storylines he wrote for Stephanie McMahon while she was still a teenager make me think that if she has any real control, he'll be gone soon, too, and good riddance.
I'm not about to get my hopes up, but damn, if the creative minds that built NXT into what it was can get their hands on the main roster, there could actually be some decent, long-term storytelling on Smackdown and Raw. That would be a nice little cherry on top of the sundae, the sundae being the whole damn company purged of sexual predators and the people who covered for them.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:07 PM on July 24, 2022
Dunn has influence with Vince, but he doesn't write storylines. That creepy shit likely came from Vince. Also, she was in her 20's, not her teens.
posted by bootlegpop at 6:18 PM on July 24, 2022
posted by bootlegpop at 6:18 PM on July 24, 2022
bootleg pop, you’re right, she was at least in her early twenties when she debuted on screen. As far as Dunn not being directly involved with any of the ridiculously gross storylines they ran her through, that’s one of the benefits of being backstage, no one knows how much you were a part of things.
With Dunn, though, there have been a couple interesting leaks in the last couple of days (notably that he thought Becky Lynch was too ugly to be a champion, and tried to keep her off the mic as much as possible because he disliked her voice), that maybe, hopefully, will signal the end of his tenure there. It’d be nice if he fucks off and takes the shitty camera work and incessant cutting with him (again, supposedly his idea to make things look better).
posted by Ghidorah at 7:32 PM on July 24, 2022
With Dunn, though, there have been a couple interesting leaks in the last couple of days (notably that he thought Becky Lynch was too ugly to be a champion, and tried to keep her off the mic as much as possible because he disliked her voice), that maybe, hopefully, will signal the end of his tenure there. It’d be nice if he fucks off and takes the shitty camera work and incessant cutting with him (again, supposedly his idea to make things look better).
posted by Ghidorah at 7:32 PM on July 24, 2022
Vince wanted to have his daughters baby on screen. I do not think Kevin Dunn was suggesting it. I do not think anyone was. I recall hearing Vince had to be talked down from things like this. People in WWE suggest a lot of bullshit, but Vince was apparently on an island here. Nobody wants to say hey you should fuck your daughter in storyline, unfortunately nobody had to say it.
Kevin was bigger on suggesting real life stuff, he hates accents, has opinions on attraction, hates wrestling etc. But there are no stories out there of him suggesting stories that I have heard.
posted by ChumBuddie at 3:27 AM on July 25, 2022
Kevin was bigger on suggesting real life stuff, he hates accents, has opinions on attraction, hates wrestling etc. But there are no stories out there of him suggesting stories that I have heard.
posted by ChumBuddie at 3:27 AM on July 25, 2022
WWE shares are up 3% in pre-market trading, ahead of the first trading day since Vince McMahon announced his exit from the company.
posted by Etrigan at 4:50 AM on July 25, 2022
posted by Etrigan at 4:50 AM on July 25, 2022
Evidently Fightfull is reporting that HHH is now going to be in charge of creative as well.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:18 AM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ghidorah at 8:18 AM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
From WWE's form 8-K filed today:
The Company has made a preliminary determination that certain payments that Vince McMahon agreed to make during the period from 2006 through 2022 (including amounts paid and payable in the future), and that were not recorded in the WWE consolidated financial statements, should have been recorded as expenses in the quarters in which those agreements were made (the “Unrecorded Expenses”). As of the date hereof, the Company has identified Unrecorded Expenses totaling approximately $14.6 million.posted by Monday, stony Monday at 8:38 AM on July 25, 2022
I cracks me up how HHH went from the guy with the golden shovel, burying everyone, hated by so many, to the guy who's actually willing to give the new stars, undersized stars, indie darlings, etc, a chance.
I'm excited to see what happens. I suspect change will be slower and smaller than many people wish, but it is a publicly traded company with major contracts to major telecom companies and obligations both domestic and foreign to fulfill. Still, without absolutely everything having to pass by Vince the changes will be there, small or large, and they will build over time. And without him feeding lines directly to superstars and commentary the language of WWE might start to drift pretty quickly.
posted by jermsplan at 12:59 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm excited to see what happens. I suspect change will be slower and smaller than many people wish, but it is a publicly traded company with major contracts to major telecom companies and obligations both domestic and foreign to fulfill. Still, without absolutely everything having to pass by Vince the changes will be there, small or large, and they will build over time. And without him feeding lines directly to superstars and commentary the language of WWE might start to drift pretty quickly.
posted by jermsplan at 12:59 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
It cracks me up how HHH went from the guy with the golden shovel, burying everyone, hated by so many, to the guy who's actually willing to give the new stars, undersized stars, indie darlings, etc, a chance.
Well, at the time it wasn't rocket science. The magic formula in NXT's boom period was to staff the developmental fed with seasoned veterans -- Prince Devitt, PAC, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Kana, Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, Athena-- and to let them be the anchors of the uppercard, basically turning NXT into an indie fed of its own. It gave the younger set a place to be seen and to learn from more experienced workers while not being the draws in and of themselves until they were ready. A couple of ten-minute prelim matches with some rough edges seem much better when you cap the show off with, say, Zayn vs. Nakamura or Gargano vs. Ciampa tearing the house down.
The recent retooling of NXT into development-focused neon-painted NXT 2.0 has been a comparative disaster, putting some extremely green workers on TV long before they are ready. If changes are going to come, it will be re-retooling that first, I suspect.
I'm excited to see what happens. I suspect change will be slower and smaller than many people wish, but it is a publicly traded company with major contracts to major telecom companies and obligations both domestic and foreign to fulfill. Still, without absolutely everything having to pass by Vince the changes will be there, small or large, and they will build over time. And without him feeding lines directly to superstars and commentary the language of WWE might start to drift pretty quickly.
I will put caution on that with this. Vince didn't retire because they felt that creative was the problem, even though it's been on a noticeable downturn. Vince didn't retire because his peculiar tastes and insistances were hurting the business, in their view. They were #1 with Vince being Vince. He didn't even retire because he was known to be a sex pest; he retired because the sheer scale of his sex pesthood had become too large for the mainstream to ignore, and to where the SEC may have stern things to say about his spending habits at a minimum.
Reportedly, HHH met with the roster and emphasized that the lines of communication would be much more open going forward; a regular complaint of many who have left (like Jon Moxley, whose book zeroed in precisely on the insanities of life-under-Vince) was that edicts would come from above and they'd find themselves unable to voice concerns or complaints, much less suggest alternatives. The recent two-hour women's division meeting where they were told "time to sex up all your gear, ladies, and if you don't like it, tough" comes to mind. If the work culture changes going forward to where it's a more comfortable environment for the performers, that will be a welcome change even if the booking strategies take longer to shift.
posted by delfin at 8:18 PM on July 25, 2022
Well, at the time it wasn't rocket science. The magic formula in NXT's boom period was to staff the developmental fed with seasoned veterans -- Prince Devitt, PAC, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Kana, Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, Athena-- and to let them be the anchors of the uppercard, basically turning NXT into an indie fed of its own. It gave the younger set a place to be seen and to learn from more experienced workers while not being the draws in and of themselves until they were ready. A couple of ten-minute prelim matches with some rough edges seem much better when you cap the show off with, say, Zayn vs. Nakamura or Gargano vs. Ciampa tearing the house down.
The recent retooling of NXT into development-focused neon-painted NXT 2.0 has been a comparative disaster, putting some extremely green workers on TV long before they are ready. If changes are going to come, it will be re-retooling that first, I suspect.
I'm excited to see what happens. I suspect change will be slower and smaller than many people wish, but it is a publicly traded company with major contracts to major telecom companies and obligations both domestic and foreign to fulfill. Still, without absolutely everything having to pass by Vince the changes will be there, small or large, and they will build over time. And without him feeding lines directly to superstars and commentary the language of WWE might start to drift pretty quickly.
I will put caution on that with this. Vince didn't retire because they felt that creative was the problem, even though it's been on a noticeable downturn. Vince didn't retire because his peculiar tastes and insistances were hurting the business, in their view. They were #1 with Vince being Vince. He didn't even retire because he was known to be a sex pest; he retired because the sheer scale of his sex pesthood had become too large for the mainstream to ignore, and to where the SEC may have stern things to say about his spending habits at a minimum.
Reportedly, HHH met with the roster and emphasized that the lines of communication would be much more open going forward; a regular complaint of many who have left (like Jon Moxley, whose book zeroed in precisely on the insanities of life-under-Vince) was that edicts would come from above and they'd find themselves unable to voice concerns or complaints, much less suggest alternatives. The recent two-hour women's division meeting where they were told "time to sex up all your gear, ladies, and if you don't like it, tough" comes to mind. If the work culture changes going forward to where it's a more comfortable environment for the performers, that will be a welcome change even if the booking strategies take longer to shift.
posted by delfin at 8:18 PM on July 25, 2022
New feds just dropped. For those who noticed the tone of the goodbye was kinda off.
posted by Selena777 at 9:06 AM on July 26, 2022
posted by Selena777 at 9:06 AM on July 26, 2022
They found another $5M in unauthorized payments.
Wait for it.
Waaait for it.
To the Trump Foundation. In what was clearly a way to pay Trump for appearing at WrestleMania and as part of ongoing storylines but making it look like a charitable donation.
posted by Etrigan at 6:29 AM on August 18, 2022
Wait for it.
Waaait for it.
To the Trump Foundation. In what was clearly a way to pay Trump for appearing at WrestleMania and as part of ongoing storylines but making it look like a charitable donation.
posted by Etrigan at 6:29 AM on August 18, 2022
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posted by hippybear at 10:48 AM on July 23, 2022 [6 favorites]