Ex-WWE Star Explains Why Vince McMahon Pulled Him From Faction
The winds of change are always blowing in WWE as one former star found out directly from Vince McMahon.
Ahmed Johnson burst onto the scene in WWE in 1995 going on to win the Intercontinental Championship with many expecting bigger prizes to come for the star. Johnson formed a union with Shawn Michaels on TV, with the two men part of the short-lived People’s Posse along with Sycho Sid that lost to Camp Cornette in the main event of In Your House 9: International Incident.
Johnson’s time in WWE is perhaps best remembered, however, for his long-running feud with Faarooq and The Nation of Domination. In a twist to the tale, Johnson ended up joining The Nation but his time in that group was also very brief thanks to Vince McMahon.
Speaking to Steve Fall for WrestlingNews.co, Ahmed Johnson revealed the conversation Vince McMahon had with the group that brought his time in The Nation to an end:
“What happened was, once I joined The Nation, Vince said he looked at the videotape of us coming down the ramp, me, Kama, Faarooq, D’Lo which was a waste, coming down the ramp. He called us to the office and he said, ‘I want you all to look at something’ and he played the video of us coming down the ramp.
“He said, ‘Who am I gonna get to believe that y’all can be beat by anybody. so he said, ‘Ahmed, I’m gonna have to take you back out of the Nation. It’s just too powerful. I’ll have to take you back out of The Nation.’”
Ahmed Johnson’s time in WWE came to an end in early 1998 and he says he believes racism had a part to play in him leaving the company and that he refused to do a lynching angle in the company.
When Did Vince McMahon Retire From WWE?
Vince McMahon announced his retirement from WWE in July 2022 amid a scandal involving allegations of sexual misconduct and hush money payments paid to former company employees.
McMahon used his position as majority shareholder to force his way back onto WWE’s Board of Directors in early 2023 before being nominated as Executive Chairman. That is the position he will hold in the TKO Group which will oversee both WWE and UFC when the company’s takeover by Endeavor is completed.