Vince McMahon "retires" *Megathread*

Petermc83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121730221#Comment_121730221

For such a big star of the last 40years for the WWE… that’s a big step for them to make.

although Hogan was brought back after a few years hiatus after his racism storm died down.

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121730585#Comment_121730585

James Romero of WSI predicted recently that Brock would be back on one of the Saudi shows. Think that's a good shout.

They don't give an f about women over in Saudi, plus the sheikhs will throw some ridiculous amount of money at WWE to make it happen. I'm actually wondering if there's any real limit to what WWE would do for the price. Remember when they temporarily resurrected Yokozuna for The Greatest Royal Rumble? Shawn and Undertaker both did matches after their official retirement as well.

How many times do we say 'never say never' with regard to wrestling, yet there are still people who say 'never'? If there are people who want Chris Benoit included in the WWE Hall of Fame, it tells me that just about anyone could be at least partly rehabilitated, if only to separate their careers from heinous deeds in their personal lives. Brock will be back if the money is right. They may even wheel Vince out in a few years, after things have died down.

Gone are the days of "We'll let it blow over for a few months."

It's no longer Vince's carny wrestling show - the microscope is on them big time. It's not just the niche wrestling publications talking about them, they're in the mainstream big time.

No chance will TKO be as blasé about everything, even if they want to be. If Lesnar is brought back it won't just be Wrestling Observer talking about it, it'll be on CNN, Fox, etc.

And as we've seen, all it takes is one sponsor to pull the plug and things can fall asunder rapidly.

The court case(s) will rumble on for an age so that alone will keep them in the limelight.

Agent Coulson

A really good read here.

How Vince McMahon Got TKO’d

When a sex trafficking lawsuit aimed at the WWE founder was filed after the company inked a $5 billion deal with Netflix, executives went into damage control mode.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/vince-mcmahon-wwe-tko-exit-1235817722/

JP Liz V1

With Lesnar erased, who ended Taker's streak, Reigns?

Agent Coulson

Johnny Ace throwing everyone under the bus to save his own ass.

I hope Ashley's family take them for billions.

It lead to her taking her own life.

The late wrestler Ashley Massaro said WWE management was aware of and covered up her claim to have been raped in Kuwait; WWE denied it. Now a former top executive says he knew.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/88x7ex/ashley-massaro-vince-mcmahon-john-laurinaitis-rape-cover-up-wwe

Lord TSC

Oh, so Johnny Ace has decided to take everyone down with him? That will be juicy, cause he’s probably got secrets that have their own secrets.

JP Liz V1

The more that comes out the more disgusted I am

Steph was a woman in power and she did nothing, the ladies in WWE in all areas need a strong woman boss to protect them, Steph is even a mother

I cannot believe that HHH and others did not know nothing, anyone covering should face consequences and if possible criminal charges

Sickening the military and WWE covering up a rape

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121743002#Comment_121743002

It’s genuinely vile. Says it all that Wrestlers past and present are really staying so quiet. No hint of a strike etc. it’s a pity really.

J. Marston

They're not staying quiet, they're defending Vince if anything. Nash and Foley are taking his side. Fúckin' carnies, as OSW might say.

callaway92

Ya I was probably being generous saying they're being silent

Agent Coulson

Kevin Nash and Sean Oliver are complete s(umbags trying to make money out of this.

The White Wolf

That's idiotic of Nash saying the least, he's getting paid by WWE far more than whatever that T Shirt will sell, and I doubt it will go under the radar.

Agent Coulson

Pure Evil.

WWE Wrestler Ashley Massaro Accused Vince McMahon of Sexually Preying on Wrestlers in Previously Unreleased Statement​

In a statement obtained by VICE News, Massaro accused the WWE founder of predation and of retaliating against her for rejecting his advances.

In a previously unpublished statement given before her 2019 death by apparent suicide, Ashley Massaro, a former WWE wrestler, said company founder Vince McMahon sexually preyed on female wrestlers and that she was punished for rejecting his advances by being given bad scripts she believed were meant to destroy her reputation—behavior, she said, he was known for. The statement was given to her lawyers as they worked up a sworn affidavit, published shortly after her death, in which she said she was raped on a military base while in Kuwait on a WWE tour and that management covered it up. The attorneys ultimately left it out because it wasn’t relevant to central claims in the lawsuit in which they were representing her, which concerned concussions.

“I felt extraordinarily uncomfortable,” Massaro said, describing what she said were McMahon’s attempts to get her to come to his hotel room alone late at night. “He began calling the hotel room phone and my cell phone nonstop.

As VICE News has reported, WWE publicly denied that its upper management knew about the rape allegation, but that was untrue. A lawyer for former executive John Laurinaitis said that he and “most of upper management” were aware of it, a claim corroborated by previous statements from a former WWE doctor.

A spokesperson for TKO, WWE’s parent company, declined to comment when provided a detailed accounting of the allegations in the statement and questions raised by it, aside from confirming that a top backstage employee named in the statement, Michael Hayes, currently works for WWE and clarifying the nature of his job. A lawyer said to represent McMahon did not respond to a request for comment.

In the previously secret statement, Massaro—who joined WWE as a wrestler in 2005, represented the company as a Survivor contestant and Playboy model, and ultimately was released in 2008—asserts that she saw McMahon “making out” with female wrestlers in the locker room, and that he sexually harassed her. She also says that after she rejected his advances he wrote demeaning scripts for her to perform that she inferred were meant to end her career and destroy her reputation—something that, she said, had previously happened to another female wrestler before she left the company. (VICE News is withholding the name of this wrestler to protect her privacy; she could not be reached for comment.) She also details two of McMahon’s long-serving lieutenants counseling her on how to deal with his behavior.

Are you a current or former female WWE wrestler with a story to tell, or wondering if there’s a point to speaking out? Contact reporters covering sex trafficking at tim.marchman@vice.com or anna.merlan@vice.com. For extra security, download the Signal app to a non-work device and text us there at 267-713-9832. Confidentiality assured.

Rumors have long circulated about a WWE casting couch, in which women were put in position to either yield to the sexual demands of male managers or be humiliated on camera or fired—or both. They have been difficult to substantiate, in part because women believed to have been subject to such schemes have been hesitant to speak out for fear of retaliation from WWE, which until recently was controlled by McMahon and his family. Currently it is controlled by TKO, a conglomerate headed by Hollywood power player Ari Emanuel, whose Endeavor merged its own UFC with WWE last year. McMahon was brought in as chair of the newly-formed company after he had resigned from WWE following Wall Street Journal reporting on secret hush-money payments and allegations of sexual abuse of women who worked for WWE.........

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epv78z/ashley-massaro-wwe-vince-mcmahon-sexual-divas

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121744194#Comment_121744194

I think Ronda Rousey came out calling out Bruce as being as bad as Vince or same, something like that

I just posted in the Random Wrestling Thoughts thread but probably more appropriate here...

Has Cena ever explained his defence of Vince from last year when Vince faced those sexual misconduct accusations?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121744641#Comment_121744641

Nash has also been vermin but I think it's time to acknowledge that Mick Foley is a scumbag.

For all his happy chappy bollocks, he's just a prick.

JP Liz V1

Bret Hart on Vince

"It's like Jeffrey Dahmer, Harvey Weinstein, or Jeffrey Epstein: Vince will be a joke. He'll be used for humor, and you'll shake your head at the shock value of some joke about, 'What did Vince McMahon do?' He'll always be associated with this story, especially as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

"I always had a respect for him. Now it's tainted. I'm embarrassed that I thought so highly of him.

"I think, despite all of the issues I ever had with Vince, I know, deep down, I always respected him; but now, knowing what kind of a weirdo he became, I have absolutely zero respect for him. I do not think I could ever shake his hand if he extended it. Too creepy."

(Interview with Slate)

Headshot

Damn I love Bret

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121747926#Comment_121747926

No love loss from Bret

Id say Nash sticking up for Vince doesn't sit right too

Agent Coulson

Conrad saying Brother Love fell and tore his tricep of the bone and that’s why he isn’t doing the podcast at the moment and it has nothing to do with the Vince headlines.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121748207#Comment_121748207

Because triceps are essential to be able to sit down while talking.

martyos121

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121748207#Comment_121748207

Yeah not buying that for a second.

Nash tore both his quads just designing that t-shirt but you don’t see him shying away.

JP Liz V1

Bruce Prichard, on the allegations and lawsuit against Vince McMahon, WWE and John Laurinaitis:

"Well first of all, as far as lawsuits and things of that nature, I'm not at liberty to discuss any legal matters with the company whatsoever. So, to that, there's nothing that I can say and/or do. So, there can't be a response from a legal standpoint. And you can ask till you're blue in the face, and that's gonna be your answer.

"I'm not involved. Not being sued. I'm not accused of anything.

"It's a legal matter, and as I said to you (Conrad Thompson), sometimes it is as simple as - for those who believe, an explanation is needed, for those that don't, no explanation will do. And, that's kind of where we are, and let the rest of it sit in the hands of the fine legal system that we have here in the United States of America.

"No-one's telling me not to do anything on the podcast, other than the simple fact that I work for a company that is involved in a lawsuit right now, can't comment. Folks, if you work in a large company and your large company is being sued, then there's very little that you can say about it, and if you do, that's a good way for you to lose your job."

(Something To Wrestle)

Agent Coulson

Question thread he can answer however he and the WWE will refuse to answer..

https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1756520123027075161

Agent Coulson

I wonder will the Olympic hero Gable Steveson disapper and get quietly releasesd now with all the Vince crimes coming to light with his history of a rape allegation and the loophole that got him off I doubt the WWE want to be answering more question and someone else at the company.

Petermc83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755217#Comment_121755217

If the man was questioned and there isn’t a case to charge him with it, I don’t see it as a reason for them to release him.

they might release him as he’s just not an engaging character/hasn’t clicked with the audience and hasn’t done much since he first signed up 🤷🏻‍♂️

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755260#Comment_121755260

the only reason he wasnt charged is because the state he was in did not have laws saying that drunk women cannot consent. basically he screwed a woman that was too drunk to give consent and got away with it. if it had happened in the next state over he would have been prosecuted.

https://apnews.com/general-news-1221944d273eb2cdb0d285de3d665b3f

Sirsok

https://youtu.be/VXFwKBxvBSA?si=dX_bhOgLp83INmta

If anyone is interested we had a look at the controversies surrounding McMahon over the years.

Agent Coulson

The lastest being reported tonight.

Johnny Ace fired Charlie Hass and Jackie Gayda they day they returned from their honeymoon after Jackie had turned down Vince's advances.