Ex-WWE Star Calls Vince McMahon “Highly Dangerous”
A former WWE Superstar has commented on the ongoing investigation into Vince McMahon and says the WWE boss’ conduct has been “highly dangerous.”
On the 15th of June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Vince McMahon’s own company board is investigating a $3 million payment said to have been made by him to a former employee of the company in return for them signing a non-disclosure agreement.
The employee was hired by the company as a paralegal in 2019 with the report saying an anonymous email was sent to WWE’s board on March 30th, 2022 by a friend of the employee in question which alleged that the employee’s salary was doubled from $100,000 to $200,000 after beginning an intimate relationship with the WWE Chairman.
This has led to McMahon stepping down as WWE Chairman and CEO for the time being, with Stephanie McMahon replacing her father in those positions on an interim basis.
Now former WWE Superstar Lance Storm, speaking on Figure Four Daily, has had his say on the allegations levelled at McMahon and believes if a relationship did take place between McMahon and the employee then it was “highly inappropriate”:
“You know the thing that surprised me the most. And it’s the one thing that nobody else seems to have talked about. I’m dumbfounded that this was so recent. Like, this isn’t like a 1994 thing that just came to light. Wasn’t it like 2019 when she was transferred to Johnny Ace’s department?”
“When ‘Me Too’ hit however many years ago…and so many people were coming forward and saying things and there was a lot of people in the business that were wondering how hard the wrestling business would be hit there were a lot of people in the wrestling business that were hit. How did you not learn from that? That this conduct is not acceptable, highly dangerous, and completely inappropriate.”
Lance Storm also took issue with the idea put forward by WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt that any relationship between McMahon and an employee could truly be consensual:
“I think it was [Jerry] McDevitt where he said the relationship was consensual. And I’m sorry, it’s not. And this is the whole thing that came with the Harvey Weinstein and all the other stuff that men in power can’t/shouldn’t be dating or asking out subordinates.”
“Here’s this woman who gets a job for $100,000. And it’s like, maybe it’s the best job she’s had or the highest paying job or again, if you’re living in Connecticut, New York, maybe it’s just enough to make her damn rent. And even if she [thinks] ‘man Vince is cute, I wouldn’t mind going out to dinner with him’ and he asked her for dinner it’s like as that person in power above your subordinate even asking her out for dinner is putting her in a position where she goes, ‘I should probably say, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to make him mad and get heat with the boss and risk my job.’”
“Even if Vince is completely going to be noble in this…she doesn’t know that. And it’s why writers shouldn’t date talent. People in creative shouldn’t date talent. Producers shouldn’t date talent, trainers shouldn’t date talent.”
“And again, trainers dating talent was a big thing in the ‘Me Too’ with a lot of the schools in the UK. Because you’re concerned that, well, if I make this person happy, my job will be safer. And it just puts the person in a position where they’re having to make decisions they shouldn’t have to make.”