The Wall Street Journal Vince McMahon Thread.

[dragonzombie]

Update:

Nick Khan and Brad Blum are the men identified as Corporate Officers No. 1 and No. 2 

https://frontofficesports.com/wwe-nick-khan-brad-blum-vince-mcmahon-sex-trafficking-suit/

[Matt D]

I gave that a quick read a few minutes ago and it puts Khan in a knowledgeable fixer sort of role, though with a lot of hedging. I'd have to reread the lawsuit again to get a real sense of it. I remember from the first pass that it certainly wasn't good thing to be "Corporate Officer No. 1" though.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

I can't get the screenshot I took to embed for whatever reason, so here's a transcript on the most auspicious appearance of Corporate Officer No. 1. On page 48, Paragraph 242 states the following:

"For instance, in or around March 2021, Ms. Grant introduced herself to WWE Corporate Officer No. 1 when they passed one another in the hallway. WWE Corporate Officer No. 1 responded by telling Ms. Grant that WWE Corporate Officer No. 1 knew exactly who she was."

So that's not good.

[Log]

Isn’t Rocky super buds with Nick?

[Cobra Commander]

in retrospect, maybe it was a bit "wrestling bubble" for some people to think/assume Triple H was one of the top unnamed officials in the lawsuit

[AxB]

So Stephanie, she knew. We know she knew, it's a matter of record. But Paul, he said he didn't know.

So are they still married, or what?

[Craig H]

3 hours ago, AxB said:

So Stephanie, she knew. We know she knew, it's a matter of record. But Paul, he said he didn't know.

So are they still married, or what?

HHH learned from watching Succession. Deny everything, attain power, sell out your spouse, take all the power.

[zendragon]

It’s all about the game and how you play it

[Just Dave]

Oh yeah, if Steph knew, Trips knew. 

It feels like Nick Khan's involvement might mean that there isn't the "house cleaning" I was anticipating...

[Technico Support]

4 minutes ago, Just Dave said:

Oh yeah, if Steph knew, Trips knew. 

It feels like Nick Khan's involvement might mean that there isn't the "house cleaning" I was anticipating...

Nope.  I posted it multiple pages ago.  Firing Vince lets them say “the bad man is gone, nothing to see here.”  I mean shit, the Netflix CEO said as much a day or so afterward.  I hope I’m wrong and maybe more will come out in discovery and trial (if it gets that far) or in the criminal investigation, but I’m cynical about it all.  The rich and powerful always seem to evade justice.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

40 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Nope.  I posted it multiple pages ago.  Firing Vince lets them say “the bad man is gone, nothing to see here.”  I mean shit, the Netflix CEO said as much a day or so afterward.  I hope I’m wrong and maybe more will come out in discovery and trial (if it gets that far) or in the criminal investigation, but I’m cynical about it all.  The rich and powerful always seem to evade justice.

Adding to this point: this aspect of the story being written about so long after the original story breaking kind of leaves "the bad man is gone" as kind of the lasting taste in the general public's mouth - I don't necessarily know if this addendum to the story is "sensational" enough to garner the same kind of coverage. I'd be willing to bet the Netflix position is what most average folks (who don't have a 44 page thread on it going) walk away with - whether that's by design, who knows?

[TheVileOne]

Nick Khan's comments basically cheerleading Vince McMahon coming back to the company early last year look even more embarrassing now. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

35 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Nick Khan's comments basically cheerleading Vince McMahon coming back to the company early last year look even more embarrassing now. 

Great point, about that - I do wonder if there was a situation where "executive 1 and 2" knew enough about this to where they thought: give Vince enough rope, and he'll just hang himself, leaving us to both reap the benefits of a sale AND be able to plausibly say "The bad man's gone." I could see a world where someone, without anticipating the Vince suit later, looks at that like a win/win.

Someone elsewhere made a great point too: it may behoove the plaintiff to involve current WWE management because they may have access to evidence that's no longer in Vince's possession, and wouldn't come out in discovery against him alone (as opposed to involving the company) - so it may be that there's a bit of legal strategy involved, in order to "widen access"

[Curt McGirt]

I know Rocky mentioned that Ari guy in his promo, but did he mention Khan too? Because that might not be a good idea, throwing around these corporate names as "my friends", under the circumstances. 

[Infinit]

I think the backlash from this new information will really depend if mainstream media sees this a story to aggressively pursue. 

[Log]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

I know Rocky mentioned that Ari guy in his promo, but did he mention Khan too? Because that might not be a good idea, throwing around these corporate names as "my friends", under the circumstances. 

Rocky has referred to Khan as a very close friend in multiple interviews.

[JLowe]

On 3/12/2024 at 4:05 PM, Infinit said:

I think the backlash from this new information will really depend if mainstream media sees this a story to aggressively pursue. 

Judging from Bluesky, people are mentioning it but without any real outrage or threats of boycott. 

[Ziggy]

On 3/12/2024 at 2:57 PM, Curt McGirt said:

I know Rocky mentioned that Ari guy in his promo, but did he mention Khan too? Because that might not be a good idea, throwing around these corporate names as "my friends", under the circumstances. 

It may have been right before everyone came out, Rock said he knew him from College or something about all the way back from the University of Hawaii or I think them both growing up in Hawaii in Rocks Grandparents territory. I remember Rock posting a pic with Khan an theorizing Rock would buy WWE in the middle of the Sale talks.

 

As far as Hunter, if there’s enough plausible deniability of the extent of his knowledge he’ll be fine. If there is any truth to Him and Steph being separated then that might work in his favor even though I’m sure they both would rather kayfabe it if they are separated but that wouldn’t be a big deal to anyone but people in the wrestling bubble. I find it weird how people feel so strongly about it coming out that he knows something. It’s weird to me people feel so strongly on either said of the argument of whether or not he know something. I think a lot is going to come out now in wrestlemania season and even after. I don’t think it will really die down till closer to Election season and I’m sure it’ll pick up again. This isn’t like all the other scandals where it’s talked about for weeks then it’s done. It’s a whole different dynamic with this new corporate structure.

 

 

[Curt McGirt]

I have a friend who posted on Facebook that we'd better be ready to watch TKO Raw or TKO Smackdown instead of WWE Raw or WWE Smackdown, but I told him since Nick Khan is Corporate Officer #1 or whatever, maybe don't count his chickens. 

[Godfrey]

Ronda had some thoughts about Vince and WWE in her book

https://411mania.com/wrestling/ronda-rousey-vince-mcmahon-new-book/

[zendragon]

Tell us how you really feel Rhonda….

[odessasteps]

We know she was not a fan of Bruce

[RazorbladeKiss87]

I'm curious if that's all she says because she really didn't say much at all 

[The Natural]

More Ronda Rousey:

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/ronda-rousey-wwe-is-an-absolute-sh-tshow-i-dont-intend-on-going-back-to

[The Natural]

Becky Lynch on Vince McMahon:

I don’t know that person, you know what I mean? That’s been hard for me. We didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but especially in my last run with him there, and when I told him I was pregnant, he was so good to me. Apart from the run-ins — but you have run-ins in every relationship, especially at that level — I only ever had a wonderful experience in WWE with Vince, for the most part.

So it’s very hard to reconcile that somebody else didn’t have that experience, and that other women didn’t have that experience. Especially when I had him to thank for my dream, for my husband [fellow WWE star Seth Rollins], for my daughter, for the life that I have now. It’s hard to see those two different people in my head, and trying to merge them as one becomes very difficult. You’re reading these horrific allegations, but about somebody that you look up to as very much almost like a father figure.

So you have to listen to these things and that becomes very difficult, because you’ve had no [negative] experience and you want everybody to have the experience that you’ve had, because I would always love my interactions with him. And that becomes very, very difficult, especially as a woman who has been so driven in changing the way that women are treated in wrestling and making sure that it is a safe space, that we are seen as athletes, that we are taken seriously, that we are appreciated for our minds, for our body of work, and for what we do in the ring.