Images via: Vince-Clutch Points, Banks-National World
In the early nineties I was about 10 years old and I was all about action movies and pro wrestling. These superheroes of mammoth proportions like Stallone, Arnold and Van Damme; not to mention Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man, The British Bulldog and even the leaner Bret Hart were my idols.
They seemed larger than life like they could handle any foe and dispatch of them without much effort. To a kid like me, that was impressive. But it was also at the same time that the public started to get wind of steroid use in the world of professional wrestling…multiple allegations; even some of sexual misconduct by WWE officials.
via Firestorm Purify /YouTube
At the time I remember trying to get my hands on every piece of literature I could on the subject…mostly all writings by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. So yeah, I followed the case against Vince McMahon as best I could. I remember the weight of it and I remember through reading all that literature, understanding that if this went sour, it could mean the end to what I had grown to enjoy very much: The wrestling industry or at least WWE’s offering on the product.
I remember reading Dave Meltzer, being so enthralled by his writing that even back then, having already been published in a school board periodical, thinking that I could turn my writing talent into something very similar to what Dave Meltzer was doing, as I’m sure was similar to the experience of many in the pro wrestling journalism game today…Dave Meltzer was the trendsetter in that department, and still is today a respected voice in this industry of pro wrestling journalism. Some would say that without him there would be no pro wrestling journalism today to the extent that it exists and I would most definitely agree.
And now all these years later, we find ourselves at the cusp of yet another scandal for Vince and company, and it seems like this could be the big one ladies and gentlemen—the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s bad. There’s no sugarcoating this one, and it just may mean the end of Vince McMahon at the top of the pro wrestling industry and most certainly his own company. This may very well lead to the stepping down of Vincent Kennedy McMahon as chairman of WWE.
The Wall Street Journal has released a story claiming that the WWE Board is investigating a claim made that Vince McMahon has paid over $3 million to a woman as hush money and to cover up the transgression of an ongoing affair he had with the woman, a paralegal with the company hired in 2019. Apparently, according to TMZ, Vince has been aware of this issue since January of this year.
In addition to this allegations of rape (from the eighties) and an alleged increase in salary to a woman from $100 000 to $200 000 for the same reason as above, and then he passed her off “like a toy,” as has been reported, to John Laurinaitis.
These are all additional allegations now making headlines and news on social media. McMahon has obviously been trending since yesterday when the news broke.
What makes this even more awkward was the stepping away of Stephanie McMahon from the company, who was an active member of the WWE Board and was active day to day operations for the company.
Triple H, her husband, has recently returned to work after having a heart scare last year.
What can this mean for the future of the company? Well, that remains to be seen, but something definitely will be done now, and especially in these sensitive times, there are a lot of fans that will be turned away by this if something isn’t done, so the future of WWE may just be without the McMahons, which is very hard to imagine….
Unless of course, Stephanie stepped away when she did knowing that this was at hand only to replace her father once he steps down, thus keeping the company in the family.
But there are those that think Vince will get away unscathed even by this…a new version of the Teflon Don of old. Dave Meltzer had this to say on the matter:
“Major CEOs far more powerful than Vince McMahon have been brought down for less than this. I know people in the company who do believe Vince will survive this, not so sure about John Laurinaitis, but do believe Vince will survive this with the idea that as long as there’s no company funds used to pay this off.”
Time will tell and we’ll keep you posted on this issue as it develops.
Sasha Banks apparently quietly released by WWE
Sasha Banks and Naomi walked away from the WWE about a month ago now, and that was through frustration with creative. For weeks their future has been in question, but it seems we may have an answer as to what’s to come of this epic star—Banks.
Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc. tweeted that one of his sources has told him that Sasha Banks may have been released by WWE. Many other peers online have stated that it is a possibility although none of them have confirmation as of yet.
I'm hearing Sasha Banks has been released. I don't know if it's he requested it or if it was on WWE's end
This is still to be confirmed, but Raj Giri is a respected journalist in the field and his magazine is one of the better pro wrestling news sites out there right now, so if he said it, there’s gotta be something to it. He is a pro and a definite leader in the industry.
If she has been released, which of course makes total sense, she belongs on a platform, the only other massive pro wrestling platform, where she can do the things she so wanted to do in WWE but was blocked from doing by creative there. She has been frustrated since The Royal Rumble last January…in essence she had a horrible spot in the event, and one she didn’t at all deserve to be given; she deserved better after all she’s accomplished.
via WWE /YouTube
Fans have to understand that AEW provides that platform. It’s not all ex-WWE stars that go there, as so many others have been doing other things, going other places since their respective WWE releases, but if we look back to the Monday Night Wars of old, WCW back then presented another option for stars frustrated with WWE.
Today, AEW presents a younger generation of frustrated pro wrestlers with those same opportunities, but dare I say it, at a better run company than WCW was.
Just take a look at Athena (the former Ember Moon in WWE), and the frustrations she voiced about a push of sexuality in the NXT product she did not agree with. Now she can shine on a platform that has her showcased in an incarnation she can be comfortable with, which is absolutely everyone’s right…to be comfortable in the positions they hold….
Funny but that kind of ties both portions of this article nicely I think, which was not my intention this morning after being bombarded by all the news from my sources and online posts, but the piece kind of got here anyways, which of course is apropos, I guess.
To conclude, the one thing I didn’t expect as a kid, dreaming to someday release books featuring the fictional stories I conjured up and articles about the sport I was so enthralled with by a young age, and back then, I never could imagine that I’d have to write pieces that would shatter the opinions the young out there have about certain industries and the people that make them up…until I read about the steroid scandal of the early nineties.
And it happens every day…something Dave Meltzer knew very well getting into the industry and creating this line of journalism to a major extent, giving us all a way to provide for our families by writing about this crazy business that I still can’t help but love.
