When one of the biggest stories in the history of the professional wrestling industry, the “retirement” of Vince McMahon, made headlines in July, many thought it’d be almost impossible for the emperor of sports entertainment to step away after he devoted seemingly every aspect of his life to his organization. The billionaire’s rocky exit from the company that he built from the north east territory that he bought from his father in 1983 to the publicly-traded global corporation that it is today came after a series of Wall Street Journal articles revealed previously undisclosed hush money payments that McMahon paid to keep his affairs quiet. Several payments were made to several women over the years, totaling almost $20 million from consensual affairs to an accusation of misconduct with claims that a female talent was told if she didn’t get sexual involved with him, it might put her job at risk.
As I wrote at the time, morally there’s an argument to be made against McMahon’s decisions to have affairs, but if it was consensual then his decision to pay those women not to sell their story to the press wasn’t necessarily anything that could jeopardize his standing within WWE. As long as it was a consensual affair then his personal life doesn’t impact his position as the CEO. The huge problem was the accusation that McMahon coerced a female performer into an encounter with him, which is not only wrong, but also a criminal act. The female reportedly accepted a $7.5 million settlement to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which would effectively keep it out of the legal system, but that incident gave the WWE Board of Directors legitimate reason to launch an investigation, which took place over the course of the months before his “retirement.”
The details of if that female was actually coerced or if McMahon’s actions were illegal are a moot point in some ways because the hush money was paid to avoid that. However, there were a few things that we know for sure based on the revelations from the Wall Street Journal stories. McMahon was accused of misconduct and paid to make it go away. Considering that we’ve seen McMahon go to court for lawsuits in the past, you could at least make the guess that there was some credibility to these claims because Vince paid up instead of letting the story go public. McMahon isn’t giving up his cash for a false story, this is a guy that fought in court to not have to pay royalties to talent from the 80s. He also paid to have consensual affairs stay quiet. It might not be illegal, but it’s definitely sleazy that another wealthy businessman used his power to have several affairs.
So, McMahon was out of the WWE and Triple H, his son-in-law that many thought would be the next person to take the sports entertainment throne before his health problems put WWE executive, Nick Khan in the lead for that spot, takeover the company. The product, the topic of criticism in recent years because of some of Vince’s decisions based on the usual WWE tropes, went in a different direction, bringing back several wrestlers that were released from the company during the pandemic. Still, it’s a WWE product and the premise will always remain the same, attempt to draw as many casual fans as possible. A side note, I think that the Triple H regime has yielded mixed results thus far, but overall there does finally seem to be some focus to build for the future, which is always a good decision.
Vince McMahon allegedly wants to make a WWE comeback, per WSJ pic.twitter.com/D54MIDLp5o
— WrestlingWorldCC (@WrestlingWCC) December 13, 2022
While I’m still waiting to hear back from Twitter support after my account was mistakenly flagged as being a robot two weeks ago, despite the fact that I’ve had the account for over ten years, I saw that Vince’s name was trending on social media. I assumed it was because Vice TV’s documentary about the scandal and his swift downfall premieres tonight, but was surprised to see that not only are there two new accusations against him, one from a former female referee in the 80s and a claim from a spa manager in 2011, but also that there are rumors that McMahon wants to make a comeback to the WWE.
The trailer for Vice TV’s The 9 Lives of Vince McMahon documentary. pic.twitter.com/32PVeYKI26
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) December 10, 2022
The rumor that Vince might to return to the WWE is probably the least surprising aspect to the entire story. binge-watching The Sopranos and The Wire can only occupy so much time. Vince’s life, legacy, and much of his existence are associated with the company. Many expected McMahon to “die in the chair” at his desk in Titan Tower at 102 before he would retire to play golf and drink ice tea.
If Vince makes the move to actually return would be surprising because it puts the WWE board and its shareholders, the group that ultimately allowed him to become a billionaire when they bought the stock, in the position to object to his presence in the organization. It would get very tricky because McMahon is still the majority shareholder in the corporation. Granted, the fans would cheer gleefully and bow to him if he showed up on television again, which is exactly what happened when he made an appearance on Smackdown right after the original Wall Street Journal reports were published, which didn’t exactly make pro wrestling look good.
However, the issue would become should Vince McMahon, someone with several allegations of misconduct against him, be allowed to return to the corporate environment.
On the surface, the answer is easy, no an executive that was accused of and paid to keep work place misconduct quiet shouldn’t be brought back less than six month after his exit. That said, the pro wrestling business isn’t known for it’s ethical standards. Believe it or not, the stock market and the politics that affect it are even shadier than anything that happens in pro wrestling. Still, unless Vince’s return would affect the stock price, and it might, there’s no reason the shareholders wouldn’t welcome him back onto the conference calls. The reason being is simple, the WWE is guaranteed to continue to tout record-setting profits based on its hefty TV deals and the Peacock deal so as long as the shareholders make money on their investment, they won’t object to his return to the company.
Many thought that it was impossible for Vince to stay away from the WWE, and it probably is, especially because a return to the company would allow him to attempt to reshape the narrative down the road to attempt to reclaim his legacy. These sayings might be cliches, but truth is stranger than fiction, and anything can happen in pro wrestling so it’s at least possible that Vince McMahon will return to the company.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram @jimlamotta89
