The Wall Street Journal Vince McMahon Thread.

[zendragon]

28 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I bet they wish that Netflix news didn't come out the other day. Woo, boy.

I wonder if they released that to get ahead of this story.

But Wow, just wow

[John from Cincinnati]

2 minutes ago, zendragon said:

I wonder if they released that to get ahead of this story.

If they were getting ahead of this, we wouldn’t have seen Vince at the stock exchange this week or heard people offering the usual praise when they were making their subsequent media appearances. 

[Dog]

32 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I guess the whole "nondisclosure" thing doesn't matter since everything is, well, disclosed. 

I also hope that this finally is the expiration date of McMahon's ninth life and with the introduction of the details, including Lesnar, this finally goes wide in the news cycle.

The suit alleges that Vince didn't complete the agreed-upon payments, and argues therefore the NDA should be voided.

[John E. Dynamite]

Every top star, every person in a suit, anybody who claims to be buddy-buddy with Vince knew all about this. If Brock was in the loop then I'm assuming *everyone* else was. This is just one whistle being blown. The Ashley Massaro case needs to be re-examined. The company is built on filth.

I have spent decades trying to explain why WWE has always seemed wrong to me. Here you go.

[For Great Justice]

I imagine if you are a guy like Logan Paul or Bad Bunny with outside options and reputational risk considerations, you strongly consider disassociating right away. I certainly would. Agree with those saying it’s clear pervasive throughout the company. It’s impossible not to be.

[Greggulator]

17 minutes ago, zendragon said:

I wonder if they released that to get ahead of this story.

But Wow, just wow

Nah. Netflix released its quarterly financial report that day and had its phone call with the analysts who cover the company. Companies always release big news on those days, especially when they know they did well financially. I doubt that anyone at Netflix even knew this was coming. 

[S.K.o.S.]

56 minutes ago, hammerva said:

I look forward to someone on the Royal Rumble scrum asking for a comment on the situation. 

Oh that's right they won't because wrestling media are filled with cowardly marks with fake credentials

I'd suggest that anyone not prepared to ask that sort of question should just not attend. Either leave it to the adults, or if there are no adults, then have no one show up.

It doesn't even really matter if someone has the guts to hold their feet to the fire at their dumb Royal Rumble press conference, but come on. How could someone possibly show up and lob some ridiculous softball question after this.

[NikoBaltimore]

I hesitated to ask considering everything is likely set in stone but I can't help but wonder if Netflix could back out of the agreement if they wanted to.

[twiztor]

goodbye Vince. rot in piss.

[JLSigman]

17 minutes ago, Dog said:

The suit alleges that Vince didn't complete the agreed-upon payments, and argues therefore the NDA should be voided.

There's also the fact they leaked to someone (see tweet)

 

[hammerva]

That might be the least surprising thing in the last 4 hours.  What was WWFJunkie or that JDNY douche not available at the time

[Dolfan in NYC]

There's this tweet, that I'm sure is completely and totally unrelated...

 

[Infinit]

It also looks like WSJ published a picture of the victim, which seems odd.

[Greggulator]

13 minutes ago, Dog said:

The suit alleges that Vince didn't complete the agreed-upon payments, and argues therefore the NDA should be voided.

Here's the lawsuit itself. I read it -- it's even more fucked up than what the articles are writing. (Especially one part about Brock.) https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/WWE_complaint.pdf

So the legal stuff in the lawsuit the lady

1) There's a law called The Speak Out Act. According to the filing,  the Speak Out Act means NDAs are unenforceable if the sexual harrassment/etc. violates federal law. Essentially, the Speak Out Act makes and NDA null-and-void. (According to what her lawyer says. I have no idea.) The lawsuit also says the NDA itself was poorly constructed ("too broad") and wouldn't even allow her to tell anyone she even worked for the WWE.

2) She was under duress and unfairly pressured to sign the NDA.

3) Human trafficking is alleged because McMahon was traveling across the country when he was saying insane stuff to her and/or showing people her photos/etc. while traveling around and had others fly to Connecticut to "meet" her. Also, since McMahon and Laurinitis used fraud and coercion to lead her into what she's alleging. 

4) Human trafficking is also alleged because the company financially benefited because Vince offered her to Brock when he was negotiating a contract, and that a lot of WWE bigwigs knew about all of this and didn't do anything to stop it. 

(Note: I have no idea at all about what human trafficking laws actually say or not. Just explaining the complaint itself.)

5) Negligence (The WWE didn't do anything to stop this.)

6) Battery (According to the lawsuit, Vince hit her a few times during one of their encounters, along with a bunch of other awful things.)

Also: I said above things like "According to the lawsuit." That's drilled into me as a reporter. You'll notice that across anyone writing about this today (or any lawsuit.) That's because none of the allegations have been proven yet. So, the reporting on it is going to be completely objective and just report what's in it. 

But as a wrestling fan -- man, this is so gross, and I hate that I watch this stuff.


 

[Curt McGirt]

You gotta wonder what Vice and the Dark Side boys are thinking about all this right now. 

[Technico Support]

3 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

Human trafficking is also alleged because the company financially benefited because Vince offered her to Brock when he was negotiating a contract

Just when you thought it couldn't get more gross.

Also, at this rate, the Netflix documentary, which went back to the drawing board last year after the initial allegations, is never going to come out

[John from Cincinnati]

2 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

You gotta wonder what Vice and the Dark Side boys are thinking about all this right now. 

Gross irresponsible reenactments of stuff none of us want to see. 

[Curt McGirt]

Come on, I think they have more taste and consideration than that. But you know they're gonna have to discuss it in some form... I mean how can't they? 

[hammerva]

10 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

You gotta wonder what Vice and the Dark Side boys are thinking about all this right now. 

Given how awful the Nine Lives of Vince McMahon was, probably nothing

[John E. Dynamite]

4 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Come on, I think they have more taste and consideration than that. But you know they're gonna have to discuss it in some form... I mean how can't they? 

And all of the heinous transgressions against human decency get folded into the broader pro-wrestling narrative experience. We love the scandals. They make for the shows we enjoy consuming. This is content.

[Kevin Wilson]

Even going beyond the allegations, which of course are horrendous, my first thought was just how people that seem "good" to fans (mostly Cena and Rock in his case) had to know about it, but are always supporting and backing Vince. Going places with him, still working together, always being positive. I can't say how I'd respond if I knew my boss was doing those kind of things, especially in an environment where they were the biggest place to work, so I don't feel right judging EVERYONE that knew for not quitting and talking about it. But those two... those two don't need Vince or WWE. They don't need to say nice things about Vince and pal around with him. If they felt it wasn't their story to tell, that can be debated, but regardless they could have distanced themselves from him. And they didn't. It just makes you question things, its not a great feeling.

I am going off the assumption/hope that the women didn't know. I hope Becky, Charlotte, etc. didn't know about it as even if Vince bragged about it he was probably selective on who was around as to not offend the 'wrong' parties. But you'd be hard pressed to convince me that Cena, Rock, and Taker weren't aware.

[SirSmUgly]

2 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

And all of the heinous transgressions against human decency get folded into the broader pro-wrestling narrative experience. We love the scandals. They make for the shows we enjoy consuming. This is content.

That's not specific to pro wrestling. True crime is hugely popular and, of course, centered around content that comes from the suffering and abuse of others.

There's surely a discussion about when something moves from informative to entertainment that is probably beyond the scope of this discussion, but I think about our cultural (human?) propensity for deriving entertainment from suffering as well.

I think w/r/t popular discussion about this, Robert Evans did a six-part Behind the Bastards on Vince McMahon heavily based around Josie Riesmann's recent book as a source. He notes in the liners for the sixth part that they're done covering Vince...for now. I hope he swings back around and does a part seven on this guy. Am I entertained by it? I suppose. Mostly I listen to stuff like this to learn and to remind myself of the depths that humans can sink to. Anyway, I have more interest in whatever Evans does with this news than the DSotR folks. 

[Godfrey]

4 minutes ago, Kevin Wilson said:

But you'd be hard pressed to convince me that Cena, Rock, and Taker weren't aware.

I had the same thought about Kevin Dunn

[John E. Dynamite]

6 minutes ago, SirSmUgly said:

That's not specific to pro wrestling. True crime is hugely popular and, of course, centered around content that comes from the suffering and abuse of others.

There's surely a discussion about when something moves from informative to entertainment that is probably beyond the scope of this discussion, but I think about our cultural (human?) propensity for deriving entertainment from suffering as well.

I'd argue that the way pro-wrestling folds reality into itself is somewhat specific. I deeply believe that the response to the initial news regarding Vince's misconduct was muted by his presenting himself as a heel for decades prior. We'd seen him act like a power-mad, lecherous bastard on TV for years. People were used to it.

Edited January 25 by John E. Dynamite

[jaedmc]

Remember that Saudi trip when all the wrestlers were "held hostage", while Brock and Vince got to fly away on his private jet? Reads a little different now.