All Elite Wresting’s Kenny Omega has chimed in on a recent story revolving around his former NJPW tag team partner, Kota Ibushi, and WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.
The 2016 story by Rob Wolkenbrod was recently re-shared on Twitter. The article recounted a meeting between Ibushi and Vince McMahon backstage at NXT TakeOver: Dallas.
According to the article, Ibushi went backstage during the show and “gave a ‘high-five’ to a ‘big man’.” As it turns out, that ‘big man’ was none other than Vince McMahon. Apparently, Ibushi had no clue who Vince McMahon was which caused several staff members to allegedly become “upset.”
Ibushi competed in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic back in 2016. He would later decline a WWE contract. Last year, Ibushi signed a full-time deal with NJPW.
Kenny Omega’s Thoughts
Kenny Omega shared his thoughts on the matter having seen the story once again enter the public eye.
Taking to Twitter, he stated:
“Hard to believe, but yeah, some of the most talented wrestlers in the world aren’t constantly walking on eggshells and scared shitless of their boss.”
Kenny Omega is scheduled for action tonight at AEW Fyter Fest Night Two. He looks to defend the AEW Tag Team Champions with his partner Hangman Page. The duo will face off against Private Party, who will be accompanied by Matt Hardy.
Hard to believe, but yeah, some of the most talented wrestlers in the world aren’t constantly walking on eggshells and scared shitless of their boss.
Last week, it was revealed that WWE came up with a mask policy for those who will be working TV tapings. This was the latest addition to WWE’s precautionary measures that have been implemented since the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off in March.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reports that WWE had made several moves over recent weeks such as splitting the RAW and SmackDown tapings to separate days in order to have fewer people around at the shows. The move was said to help ease the mind of some on the roster that raised concerns.
Regarding the mask policy, apparently, it all started when a returning RAW star was said to have approached Vince McMahon shortly after his arrival last week for the TV tapings.
Per the report, the wrestler was said to have expressed his concerns about proper measures not being taken seriously enough to the WWE Chairman and CEO. These concerns included mask utilization and social distancing.
Sapp wrote, “This led to McMahon adding the rule that masks are mandatory and failure to comply will result in a fine.”
As to why McMahon hadn’t already instituted the changes, a wrestler told him that McMahon is usually in his office at the Performance Center during the majority of the taping days.
Thus, he doesn’t typically see whether or not the practices are put in play. It was added that McMahon does appear at Gorilla Position, as well.
It appears as though former UFC Champion Conor McGregor wants to face Vince McMahon in the squared circle. The Mac Life, which is a brand owned by McGregor, posted an image of the fighter. In it, McGregor is adorned with a UFC and WWE championship belt over each shoulder. It was accompanied by the caption:
“All of the belts” Do you think we’ll ever see the McGregor billi strut in the WWE?”
The Instagram post would be later re-shared via Instagram Stories, where it tagged WWE’s Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie McMahon. In addition to the tag, it included the caption “McMahon Vs McGregor CEO Flashmatch.” It’s worth noting that McGregor announced his retirement from MMA last month.
Current WWE Champion Drew McIntyre saw McGregor’s challenge to Vince McMahon. He challenged McGregor’s decision, sarcastically calling him a “Big man” for trying to pick a fight with “ANOTHER 70 year old.”
McIntyre added, “[…] you couldn’t drop a guy in a pub, you have no chance against Vince. You’re just the latest guy thinking he can have his PR team stick my title on his shoulder & walk into our world. Stick to whiskey McTapper”
Rumors have previously circulated WWE’s reported interest in bringing Conor McGregor into the squared circle. Triple H has previously praised McGregor. He once shared how a match between McGregor and Vince McMahon would be a “match made in heaven.”
WWE Hall of Famer, co-host of Grilling Jr and AEW Commentator Jim Ross recently discussed the signing of Brock Lesnar to WWE back in the year 2000.
This week’s episode of Grilling Jr centered on the King of The Ring 2000 PPV, with JR answering questions surrounding the then WWF at the time. One of WWE’s biggest ever acquisitions came that year, with NCAA Division 1 Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Brock Lesnar signing with the company and heading to WWE.
Jim Ross on Brock Lesnar
Conrad Thompson asked Jim Ross if there was a chance that Lesnar could’ve signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling or even WCW before joining the WWF. “Absolutely not, we had him” Ross confirmed. “And for that we could always thank J Robinson, the wrestling coach at Minnesota, for his support on that deal.”
Jim Ross elaborated further, saying “as I’ve told the story before, we could’ve signed Brock after his junior year.”
In previous podcasts JR has confirmed that Robinson wanted Lesnar to stay and finish out his senior year of college before signing with WWF. “With his [Robinson’s] old teammate Gerry Brisco and with my blessing? We made a deal that we would not sign him.”
Vince McMahon
JR then revealed a very interesting tidbit from the time. Jim Ross was the Head of Talent Relations in WWF/WWE, and he noted that he didn’t even tell Vince McMahon about why Brock wasn’t going to sign for the company until he finished his senior year of college. “I didn’t even tell Vince this story because he would’ve wanted me to go sign Brock right away.”
Jim Ross finished by mentioning how Brock Lesnar got the biggest rookie contract (at the time at least) in WWF/WWE history. “I remember he [Brock] got the biggest rookie contract, to that point. I can’t imagine anybody getting more than the 200-250k that we gave to Brock to start out with.”
Matt Riddle has reflected on his first meeting with his new boss.
The newest addition to the SmackDown roster did so when he was a guest on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show recently. During the chat, he discussed his position on not wearing boots or anything for that matter while wrestling inside of the squared circle.
Riddle told a story about wearing a full suit and flip flops for a meeting with WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon at WWE headquarters in Stamford, CT months before WrestleMania 36 in April.
“Still wrestling barefoot,” Riddle said. “Before all of this I had a meeting with Vince months ago before Mania, and I went to his headquarters with a full suit and flip flops and he saw that and he saw that that’s my thing. I haven’t worn shoes in years. “I don’t think anybody wants to change me. I think they know what they’ve got and I bring something unique and original.”
The interview was done before allegations surfaced against Riddle. A woman accused Riddle of sexual assault, a charge which WWE says they are investigating. However, Riddle has stated that he’s not guilty of this accusation.
The former NXT star made his SmackDown debut on the June 19th episode of the show when he interrupted AJ Styles’ Intercontinental Title celebration in the opening segment.
This led to Riddle beating Styles in a non-title match.
Former WWE Superstar Ryback recently commented on the creative direction of the company on his Conversation With The Big Guy podcast. During the show Ryback would make some huge statements regarding WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, saying that he needs to sell the company as soon as possible.
“He tapped out, he’s not hungry anymore” Ryback began on the podcast. “From the level of a creative aspect of things? He hasn’t been. Because he’s got too much money. It’s [WWE] too big for his own good.”
Ryback on Vince McMahon
The Big Guy would elaborate further, saying “he’s being pulled in too many different directions. He has too many people working for him. The business is not…he’s not doing much wrong from a financial standpoint of creating revenue. That is what he cares about. That’s all he is, he goes ‘Ryan I am a business man;’ that’s all he’s looking at is the numbers. Vince McMahon is no longer interested in the details of creating compelling long term storylines and mega stars.”
Ryback would finish by referring to the Paul Heyman situation; with the former Executive Director of RAW being removed from his position. “We see it with the writers, like the Paul Heyman stuff, and they are crucial. He’s [McMahon] not…he doesn’t want to relinquish any control. He needs to sell the company and they need to get people that are hungry in these positions and the product. They have the stars there, they just need to get the right people that have a vision that want to prove themselves.”
Do you agree with Ryback’s assessment? Let us know in the comments
WWE continues to make plans in order to have fans attend their shows again.
Earlier this week we noted how WWE officials are preparing to host fans at events again by the end of this summer. There are several people in the company who are hoping to start in August.
Fast forward to Monday, WWE allowed friends and family to attend television tapings. There was also reports that local fans were allowed to be in attendance, but those reports were dismissed.
In an update, it was reported by Wrestling Inc that having limited fans is just the “beginning” phase of having full crowds again.
The next phase would see NXT recruits be removed from being used as fans in order to use just family, friends, and a select group of fans who knew someone to be able to attend. NXT recruits would still have to be available for tapings if they needed more people.
The third phase would be to have only fans in the audience with likely at least 50% capacity to show people watching at home that things are returning to normal and it’s okay to attend live events again when the company holds shows.
Finally, the last stage in the phase would be a return to touring for at least TV and pay-per-view events in the fall.
Rusev told a great story in a recent video that was posted on his Youtube channel involving Vince McMahon and The Undertaker.
The former WWE star took on the legendary pro wrestler in a Casket Match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in 2018.
Originally, WWE had wanted Rusev to face Taker at this show. However, plans changed with Chris Jericho being Taker’s opponent and then a third change was made with Rusev finally being booked against “The Deadman.”
After putting over Taker and stating that not only was it great to wrestle Taker, but it was a dream come true, he recalled Vince McMahon telling him about the match.
“I thought it was a rib. I got called in the office by Vince. He said ‘Miro, I got you working with The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia’. I’m like (laughs) and ‘I’m winning right?’ That’s exactly what I said, that’s what exactly my reaction was. Because I thought he was joking.”
Rusev noted that he knew at that time he was nowhere near the level of being able to work with such a legendary star. While he had his Rusev Day gimmick going on at the time, he never thought he would wrestle Taker in Saudi Arabia in such a large crowd.
“So I said and ‘I’m going over, right?’ He was like ‘hahaha.’ He looked at me kind of weird. I’m like ‘Alright sir, I’ll see you next time'”
“Then I went out and Road Dogg goes, ‘why did you act like this?’ I’m like ‘what do you mean?’ He’s like ‘why would you say that?’ I’m like ‘well, he’s joking with me, I would joke back with him, I’m not gonna just sit there.’ He’s like ‘no that’s not a joke, you are actually working Taker.’ I was like, ‘no freaking way! I’m such an a**hole’ Yeah, it was a funny story.”
Rusev then brought up why he was pulled from the match. WWE wanted to turn him babyface and not have him drop a loss to Taker.
Thus, he was pulled, but when the Crown Prince asked why Rusev wasn’t wrestling Taker, McMahon changed the plans for the third time.
Vince McMahon is reportedly a huge fan of RAW’s Angel Garza—so much so that he has allegedly compared the Superstar to a “young Eddie Guerrero.” According to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Vince McMahon sees a lot of potential in the rising Superstar. Angel Garza is, at the time of writing, only 27-years-old.
He has already had several standout moments in WWE. Garza was a top contender for the Cruiserweight Championship in NXT. Since coming to the red brand, Garza has aligned himself with Zelina Vega and Andrade.
Paul Heyman Project: Angel Garza
Angel Garza joined several Superstars rumored to have been a Paul Heyman project. Since Heyman’s removal as RAW’s Executive Director, it remains to be seen how those passion projects will be affected.
Angel Garza joined Andrade, Rey Mysterio, Austin Theory, Viking Raiders, The Street Profits, Murphy, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Asuka, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, and Apollo Crews as reported Heyman projects.
WWE has issued a statement about reports that they allowed friends and family to attend Monday’s television tapings at the WWE Performance Center to serve as fans.
This came just weeks after WWE decided to have developmental talent play the role of fans in the crowd behind plexiglass in order to make noise.
There were reports that WWE also invited local diehard fans to join the crew in the crowd and those in attendance to serve as fans were not allowed to wear masks during the taping.
WWE’s Statement
However, after various media outlets reached out to the company regarding the diehard fans attending, WWE issued a statement that noted this wasn’t the case. WWE issued the following statement:
“Fans have not been in attendance at WWE events since March 13. Yesterday, a select number of friends and family were permitted to attend WWE’s TV production. These individuals were required to participate in medical screenings prior to entering the closed set at our training facility and were kept apart from in-ring performers and production personnel.
Attendance was below 20% capacity and social distancing guidelines were adhered to with at least six feet between parties, thus face masks were not required.”
Late Monday night, the reveal that a WWE developmental talent had tested positive for COVID-19 after working last Tuesday’s TV taping.
Despite the unknown of the coronavirus, WWE still has plans to do house shows in addition to having fans in attendance for all events in the near future.
Pwinsider.com reported on Monday that WWE officials are preparing to host fans at events again by the end of this summer.
Per the report, there are several people in the company who are hoping to start in August. However, those same people did admit that the timeframe could be later due to the unknowns that come with the virus.
With the recovery from the pandemic changing, WWE’s plans are constantly changing and those in charge have come up with several different plans. It should be noted that several people who were in charge of handling live events or house shows are still on furlough after a mass talent and staff releases due to budget cuts.
It was noted that WWE is currently advertising dates for September but nothing is guaranteed at this stage.
This comes in line with what’s been reported about this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event as WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is said to be determined to hold the show with fans in attendance. Whether that will be in Boston as planned remains to be seen.
WWE made some major changes to its creative team earlier yesterday when the company decided to merge the creative teams for its premier shows Raw and SmackDown.
This change was a result of the declining ratings of the Red Branded Show which has seen over 20% decline in year over year audience in the past couple of months.
PWInsider provided some more update on the changes recently and the site notes that the boss Vince McMahon has been “very upset” and openly “frustrated” with Raw of late.
The TV audience has been on a decline across the board for all wrestling shows since the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to halt their regular production and produce shows without a real audience.
However, the Red Brand of WWE has been hit hardest among the shows and 5 out of the last 6 Raw episodes have been the least-watched episodes in the show’s history.
In their response, the officials have decided to relive Paul Heyman of his duties as the Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, a position he took over in June last year.
The company has also decided to merge the creative teams of Raw and SmackDown which will be led by Bruce Prichard to ‘streamline’ their writing process.
Zack Ryder was recently a guest on “Keepin it 100” with Konnan and Disco Inferno. Ryder talked about how he got over with some fans on YouTube, social media, and being “the Internet Champion” in WWE. He was asked if he thought Vince McMahon resented him for getting over outside of the company.
“I wasn’t the first guy to have a YouTube show, I wasn’t the first guy to have social media. I think I was the first guy to use it to accelerate my career,” Ryder said. “There was clearly nothing going on for me. Yes, I was in WWE, I was on RAW but I was doing nothing.”
Ryder then talked about how despite getting over with some fans, he never knocked on Vince’s door and asked why he was being used the way he was.
“I could have easily knocked on his door and said ‘hey, Vince, what’s going on here?'” Ryder said.
“I at the time was a couple of things, I was naive, I wasn’t mature enough, I wasn’t man enough to knock on his door and ask, so we’ll never know.”
Ryder continued to say he’s not bitter. He also reiterated that he could have asked Vince why he was being used the way he was.
“I blame myself for that. I never want to regret things or hold grudges or blame other people because then you are just bitter and I just don’t want to live that life,” he continued.
WWE and AEW may have gotten one step closer to having fans attend their shows in the state of Florida.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in March, WWE has been holding TV tapings in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center and Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. The same goes for AEW from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida for Dynamite shows.
On Wednesday during a press conference, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that bars, movie theaters, and other entertainment venues are re-opening. They’ll do so in 64 counties beginning this Friday.
The reason for this is due to the state moving into Phase Two of DeSantis’ three-step plan to re-start the economy. Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach are not included in this plan as they’ve been some of the hardest-hit counties in Florida.
DeSantis will allow businesses such as movie theaters, bowling alleys, and concert halls to run at 50% capacity with his new Executive Order. Of course, they’ll have to do social distancing.
Bars are allowed to open at 50% capacity indoors, and at full capacity outside with proper social distancing of 6 feet between tables. This is the same as restaurants and retail spaces.
These new guidelines could let pro wrestling promotions be allowed to have fans attend their shows in the near future as the state is allowing the re-opening of venues such as concert halls.
It appears that some stars who were released by WWE in April could make a return but there’s a catch.
Due to the financial hit of the coronavirus and WWE needing to keep profits up, the company decided to do mass talent and staff cuts.
Bryan Alvarez noted on Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Live that several stars were contacted by WWE and offered new deals to return to the company. However, they wouldn’t be making the same amount of money that they had been before.
Alvarez stated that the money offered is a fraction of what they were making. This came after the interesting video package that aired on Tuesday’s episode of Impact Wrestling to promote Slammiversary.
Alvarez noted that the offers that he’s seen make him think there will be a fair number of people showing up in Impact rather than return to WWE. He added that there are definitely people that would definitely go to Impact Wrestling.
A biography focusing on the life of Vince McMahon is in the works. Author Abraham Riesman noted on Instagram that he is hoping to publish the book in 2022. Riesman is the author of a similar book, a biography on comic book legend, Stan Lee.
Simon and Schuster’s Atrium Publishing group will be publishing the book.
Riesman made his announced on Instagram, “I come bearing good news: I’m writing another book! This one’s a biography of Vince McMahon, the emperor of professional wrestling. It’s for @simonandschuster’s @atriabooks imprint. Release date TBD, but I’d guess 2022. Many thanks to my amazing agent, @rossharris1, and my tremendous editor, @amardeol. Wish me luck!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAxyTOdj9RJ/
Books About Vince McMahon
An unofficial Vince McMahon biography was written by Michael Essany and is available Amazon here.
Much of McMahon’s life is covered in the novel “Sex, Lies, and Headlocks” as well.
“Sex, Lies, andHeadlocks is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at the backstabbing, scandals, and high-stakes gambles that have made wrestling an enduring television phenomenon. The man behind it all is Vince McMahon, a ruthless and entertaining visionary whose professional antics make some of the flamboyant characters in the ring look tame by comparison,” reads a description of the book.
WWE Superstar Mandy Rose recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast. The SmackDown Superstar would discuss a number of topics from her recent career with the company. These would include the red-hot storyline involving her and Otis, Becky Lynch now leaving the company and what it is like pitching directly to Vince McMahon.
One of the points raised to Mandy Rose was just how involved Vince McMahon is in terms of storylines in the company. With the likes of the XFL and other ventures potentially taking time away from the WWE Chairman; Vince McMahon is still extremely involved in the minutia of the company’s narrative aspects.
Mandy Rose on McMahon’s Involvement
“He’s very involved” Mandy Rose began. “He’s involved in everything, Vince’s a huge fan of it and he takes a lot of pride in it. He really wants it [WWE] to continue to grow and become the best it can be.”
Mandy Rose would then talk specifically about her ongoing storyline with Otis. It has been reported recently that McMahon has been heavily involved in the SmackDown storyline in particular. The Chairman of WWE apparently sees a lot of potential in Otis especially, and is keen to capitalise on that.
“That makes us feel great” Rose stated, talking about McMahon’s ongoing involvement. “Obviously we take so much pride in it as well. So as a team? We’re all willing to put our opinions in and kind of develop the story the best way we can come up with. Bring the best ideas for our fans to enjoy.”
It’s highly likely that Vince McMahon will continue to be heavily involved in the company’s presentation and storylines going forward. Pre-pandemic, there were constant reports of McMahon demanding re-writes of the RAW and SmackDown scripts just hours/minutes before the shows were due to begin.
Do you think that Vince McMahon will step down any time soon?
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WWE Superstar Mandy Rose recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast. The SmackDown Superstar would discuss a number of topics from her recent career with the company. These would include the red-hot storyline involving her and Otis, Becky Lynch now leaving the company and what it is like pitching directly to Vince McMahon.
It was recently revealed that Mandy Rose pitched the idea of the Otis storyline directly to the WWE Chairman. Since the beginning of that feud Otis has gone on to have a featured WrestleMania match and win Money In The Bank; so it’s fair to say that the pitch worked out well.
Pitching to Vince
“You want to make sure that he likes it, hopefully!” Mandy Rose began talking about pitching storylines to the WWE Chairman. “And if he doesn’t? Whatever you know? At least you tried. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Rose would then say how difficult it can be getting the time to speak to McMahon, due to his busy schedule. “He’s [McMahon] a very important man, he’s so busy it’s hard sometimes trying to get a word in with him. Sometimes? If it’s a good time, and it was a good time, I just went with it. I just gave him quick bullet points of what I think it would be, how it would be cool involving Otis and he loved it.”
Mandy Rose and Otis Storyline Resonating
Mandy Rose finished by pinpointing the time that she felt the storyline was going to be a hit with the crowd. “The time where it resonated with me so well? That this would be a great story? Was the time before Thanksgiving when we did like the ham thing and I gave him a kiss backstage on the cheek and we heard the crowd erupt. I was like ‘wow this is going to be something good’ and I think everyone [backstage] felt that.”
With Mandy and Otis seemingly getting big pushes going forward on WWE television we may see both edge closer to the main event scene before the year is finished.
There are a lot of stories about how Vince McMahon is in real life but if there is one person who knows the Boss up close and personal, then it’s the Undertaker. The Dead Man has been with WWE for 3 decades now and in the time he has developed a relationship with the boss which only a few stars have developed in the history of the company.
During a recent interview with The Bill Simmons podcast, Taker talked about the Boss and revealed how Mr McMahon is in real life. He was talking about his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 where Undertaker suffered a concussion. The Last Outlaw was taken to the hospital after the bout and he revealed that Vince left the show to go with him:
“I don’t remember doing any of this but I cut a promo on him like ‘Don’t you have a show to run? Why are you here? Most people think he’s this tyrant, but you really only get to see it if you’re close to him, he’s just such a giving person. He’s a really kind giving person, he knows how to run business obviously, but for years all the charities we worked with there was no publicity about any of it.
“We worked with Make A Wish for years and you never heard a word about it because that’s not what he was about.” said Undertaker. “Tribute to the Troops, every year whether it was Iraq or Afghanistan, he was on that plane with us. I don’t think people realize what a big heart he has and how much he cares about the people around him.”
The Undertaker also talked about a potential retirement for the chairman saying that McMahon loves the product and he loves working out. Taker mentioned how Mr. McMahon’s mother is 99 years old and she played tennis when she was 97. He then said that he hopes that nobody is waiting to take over Vince’s position because he will be there for long and the Dead Man claimed that McMahon will outlive him.
AEW on-screen talent and former WWE agent Arn Anderson recently discussed WWE’s Over The Limit 2010 PPV on the ARN podcast. As is usual with the show format, Anderson would also discuss issues from the time of the show with co-host Conrad Thompson.
One of the topics raised was that of Jim Ross, who stated in his new autobiography Under The Black Hat how he was mistreated by WWE and Vince McMahon on a number of occasions. JR would also state that despite this he loved working for the company and still holds Vince McMahon in high regard to this day.
Arn Anderson on WWE
Conrad Thompson would ask Arn Anderson on the podcast “Most would agree WWE mistreated JR. It felt like as as an outsider that Vince [McMahon] occasionally used JR as a bit of a public punching bag. Would you agree with that?”
Anderson would not only agree but he elaborated on how WWE would sometimes treat the most loyal of employees. “Imagine that, kick the most loyal in the nuts” Anderson began.
“It just seems like sometimes. and it happens in every occupation out there, that the most loyal employees? The ones that that work the hardest and try the best to be a model employee? It seems like squeaky wheel always gets the grease, you know?”
Anderson would finish by saying that “these guys get abused and used. And the guys that give them [WWE] all the sh*t? They are the ones that get the grease, so I think this is just another huge case of that.”
Arn wouldn’t confirm who he was referring to with regards to people who give the company “sh*t,” but with the amount of stories out there about certain individuals it is fairly easy to get an idea of who ‘The Enforcer’ was referring to.
This podcast episode as well as a ton of other content is available now on AdFreeShows.com. AdFreeShows has exclusive content from Grilling Jr, What Happened When (w/ Tony Schiavone), 83 Weeks (w/ Eric Bischoff), ARN and Something To Wrestle with Bruce Prichard.
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There is currently the belief amongst some that the XFL’s second death is still not the final nail in the coffin for the league. Vince McMahon’s twice ill-fated football league filed bankruptcy earlier this year after the global pandemic hit.
According to a report from the Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, some XFL creditors believe Vince McMahon’s plan is to wait out the pandemic before buying the league back at a “fire sale” price.
It is also being reported that XFL President Jeffrey Pollack has contacted stadiums in St. Louis and Seattle about reinstating lease agreements.
Creditors have also been led to this conclusion based on a plan to repay $3.5 million to season ticket holders. The XFL’s creditors believe this is a goodwill gesture to ticket holders in the attempt to win them back when McMahon buys back the league.
McMahon would then have to completely rebuild the league from scratch in order to start over again. This would also involve hiring a new league commissioner after McMahon fired Oliver Luck shortly before filing for bankruptcy. Luck has since filed suit against McMahon for money he says he is owed on the remainder of his contract.
Luck’s team contends that his contract states he is owed the remainder of his contract if he is terminated without just cause. McMahon’s team is arguing that Luck was terminated with cause.
The unfortunate incident with former WWE star Shad Gaspard has been the point of discussion among wrestling fans but so far WWE had not commented on the matter.
Now the company has finally released an official statement on the incident through their official twitter account, telling people to keep his family in their prayers.
The WWE chairman Vince McMahon has also come forward and on behalf of the company, he said that that the thoughts of everyone at WWE are with Gaspard’s family:
“WWE’s thoughts are with the family of Shad Gaspard. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts during this difficult time.”
The thoughts of everyone at WWE are with Shad Gaspard’s family during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/dLRnF6oElX
Shad Gaspard went missing after getting caught in a riptide at Venice Beach in California on Sunday. The lifeguards had reached out to him for help but he asked the rescuers to help his 10-year-old son first.
The former WWE star was unfortunately crushed by a large wave before the guards could reach back to him and this was the last time he was seen.
The search operations ran through Sunday and Monday but the US Coast Guard have confirmed that they have suspended the operations now.
Shad’s family has issued a statement on the matter expressing their gratitude towards the first responders and hoping for the former WWE star’s safe return.
Vince McMahon has fired back in a lawful manner at former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck, who is using the owner of the sporting league.
In April it was revealed that Luck is suing for money that he was guaranteed upon accepting the position to run the league in May of 2018. His XFL contract was believed to be worth $20-25 million over 5 years.
On Wednesday, the Sports Business Journal provided some more details on the situation. The firing took place four days before it shut down operations.
McMahon’s legal team noted in the pre-trial filings that the reasons of Luck’s firing were due to the “gross neglect of his job during the COVID-19 pandemic”, “personal use of a league-assisted cellphone”, and the signing of a former NFL receiver with previous legal issues despite McMahon previously telling him that he was against the signing.
McMahon also claimed in the filings that Luck left the XFL’s Connecticut headquarters for his home in Indiana and “disengaged” from the league’s operations.
The lawsuit also noted, “Put simply, at the very moment when his leadership as CEO was needed most, Luck did not devote substantially all of his business time to the XFL, as required by his contract.”
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has decided to shake things up again with his weekly television shows – Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown.
According to a report by POST Wrestling, McMahon plans to move away from the full brand split in order to allow some stars from each show to make appearances on the rival show. This would allow some stars to crossover, which is similar to the Wild Car Rule.
It was noted in the report that the introduction of the new rule will be made during Monday’s episode of RAW.
However, it was noted that the new ruling for the brands is expected to keep talent crossovers to a minimum, which is why it’s supposed to be different from the Wild Card Rule.
With ratings for Monday Night RAW hitting an all-time low and Smackdown seeing week over week declines, the crossover came at the request of FOX and the USA Network.
The company came up with the idea for the Wild Card Rule last year. This is a rule where members of RAW and SmackDown can appear on the other brand.
As time went on, WWE made changes to it by the week regarding how many stars are allowed to appear on the two weekly television shows.
WWE would later drop it and as they did another brand extension once SmackDown went to FOX.
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon is a big fan of one character on SmackDown to the point that he’s backing a current storyline involving him.
That star is Otis. The storyline features Otis, Mandy Rose, Dolph Ziggler, and Sonya Deville.
While former WWE creative writer Andrea Listenberger has been credited with the storyline, it was noted by Dave Melzer in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that a lot of the Otis material, perhaps most of it, is from Vince as he likes the character.
It was noted that while the role of Listenerger, who was released by the company last month as part of the talent and staff cuts due to the coronavirus outbreak, was to come up with material for promos used by Rose and Otis.
It turns out that she was not the driving force of the storyline. This includes Ziggler and Deville.
It was noted in the report that she was a good writer. Melzer added that regarding her release from the company, there were people on the SmackDown creative team that could have gone to bat for her when the cuts were made but didn’t.
