An open letter to Vince McMahon
The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Dear Vince McMahon,
You just couldn’t stay away, could you? But we shouldn’t be surprised by that, should we?
WWE is your life, your passion, your obsession. A five-plus-month retirement — even while forced in the midst of a sexual harassment scandal and SEC investigation after you didn’t report around $15 million in hush money to former female employees who signed non-disclosure agreements — wasn’t going to cut it, huh? You just couldn’t find a hobby or a beach, didn’t want to spend more time with the grandkids and let your daughter Stephanie, son-in-law Paul Levesque (Triple H) and co-CEO Nick Khan just run WWE after seeing how well they’ve done so far?
Instead, being the ruthless businessman that you are — just like the Mr. McMahon television character himself — you held WWE hostage last week and pulled a coup to get yourself back on the board of directors in hope of assuming the role of Executive Chairman. And it wasn’t even a WWE storyline!
You even brought a few friends whom you previously fired in Michelle Wilson and George Berrios along with you after the previous board unanimously told you in a letter that your “return to the Company at this time, while government investigations into your conduct by the U.S. Attorney’s office and SEC are still pending, would not be prudent.”
To hell with that, right? I have to say Vince, telling the board in your most recent letter that as the largest shareholder of voting stock you will “not be able to support or approve any media rights deals or strategic transitions” unless you had “direct input as Executive Chairman” was heartlessly played. That is knowing full well with the company’s media rights deals with Fox and NBC Universal up in 2024, a holdup in new deals could be crippling to the company as the television contracts are WWE’s largest form of income. The current deals will net WWE around $2.35 billion combined over their five years.
At least you have stated your full support for the management team — but after all this, especially if the company is sold to the right buyer, it’s hard to not see you trying to get your hands back into creative again if all goes well. Please don’t.
On the one hand, from purely a money perspective, as the person with the most to gain or lose financially and status-wise in any sale as the largest shareholder, I can understand wanting to have a more direct and hands-on role. If it isn’t bought directly from you, it might be easier from a potential buyer to get rid of you and not allow you to go out on your own terms. But you should understand that by returning you only bring back black clouds and plenty of uncertainty about your intentions and the company’s future.
So far, you have not denied the uncovered allegation against you by the female employees who signed NDA’s, including a woman who claims you forced her into oral sex and fired her after she refused your subsequent advances as well as another woman who claims you sexually harassed her and sent unsolicited nude photos. Then there is the “non-public information” the board stated in its letter to you that it has become aware of and “the risks to the company and its shareholders” your return could pose. So there are still potentially more negative things you’ve done that have not become public yet.
Now let’s be real here. After going through all this trouble to get back on the board of directors and regain some power in WWE, I’m having a hard time believing you would actually sell WWE outright to a major media company. That, unless you got written assurance, would dissolve a lot, if not all of your control over WWE. Because what potential buyer — maybe Comcast because of your decades-long relationship — would want to deal with the baggage you now bring knowing Stephanie, Paul and Nick have run the company just fine without you, with the new creative direction lauded? It’s not like you need the money, and if you were happy in retirement and wanted to stay there, you would have.
It’s why I felt it was important that according to a transcript of a meeting with WWE employees on Friday obtained by Wrestlenomics, CFO Frank Riddick noted that the company could work in combination with another company or be taken private again. An outright sale isn’t the only thing being considered here, and if the company is taken private again and you maintain control then you will no longer need to answer to public stockholders and not have to make disclosures — which is partly what of got you in this mess in the first place. So this may make more sense under the circumstances.
So welcome back, I guess. Best of luck with the potential sale, but please do us all a favor when it’s over. Either go back to retirement or leave Stephanie, Nick and Triple H alone if you chose to remain Executive Chairman. They were doing just fine without you.
Sincerely,
Joe
The Mone’ Business
Sasha Banks’ return to wrestling fell somewhere in the middle, a B at best. Though as important as first impressions are, it is what comes next that will truly define this chapter of her career.
Mercedes Vernado, now Mercedes Mone’, fulfilled a dream by appearing at Wrestle Kingdom in the Tokyo Dome last Wednesday and joining New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Stardom. By doing so she will also raise the profile of the new IWGP women’s championship held by Kairi. So right now, that’s all that matters because everyone should be allowed to chase their dreams.
Her rumored appearance reportedly brought tens of thousands more subscriptions to New Japan World and the Battle in the Valley event on Feb. 18, where she will face Kairi for the belt, is sold out. If they go out and tear the house down or if Mone’ — despite Toni Storm being the announced teammate — ends up being Saraya’s partner or appearing at the Forum on “AEW Dynamite” this week, the tepid reaction in Japan won’t matter because the place will go “banana” as Pat Patterson liked to say.
Lastly and minorly, I know she is likely trying to play off off the word money with Mone’, but I probably would have gone in a different direction since NXT recently had Taya Valkyrie use the name Franky Monet. But that’s just me.
Iron Men
If Wednesday’s long exchange between Bryan Danielson and MJF is just a taste of things to come in this feud we are in for some ride. It was also a reminder of how good a motivated version of Danielson is. He was funny, endearing and ruthless all in the same promo. An hour-long Iron Man match at Revolution between these two will be a fantastic way to push MJF, but let’s just hope AEW adjusts the card so this isn’t a five-hour show. Also, just think how insufferable Max will be when he wins this and solidifies his wrestling chops.
The 10 Count
Wrestling Kingdom, as always, was a fantastic show with Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay putting on an all-time classic for the IWGP United State championship. As good as Jay White and Kazuchika Okada was for the IWGP world heavyweight title it wasn’t topping that. The match that exceed expectations was Toma Tonga defeating Karl Anderson for the NEVER Openweight championship because of the story they told around their Gun Stun finishers.
Charlotte Flair never looked more comfortable giving a babyface promo as she did on SmackDown, it just felt a lot more natural then stuff she’s done before. She will still, however, need to get used to not snatching the belt away from referees – which turned into a fun moment with Jessika Carr.
Roxanne Perez needs a long and fruitful NXT women’s championship reign. It is why one of the members of Toxic Attraction needs to win the 20-women battle royal to crown the No. 1 contender this week. Personally, I’d go Jacy Jayne as it feels like she’s come into her own on the mic. Finish telling that story and then let Perez move on.
Roman Reigns as a character is starting to crack a little bit under the pressure and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are the catalyst. How far will WWE lean into that now, especially when it comes to the Honorary Uce?
The new Dynamite set and increased production value certainly give off more of a big-time company vibe, but – especially because of the red and blue (Raw and SmackDown) colors and the heavy reliance on LED screens on the stage it was hard not to get a WWE vibe. I few tweaks might be needed up still a positive step.
AEW sure knows how to make the most of being in performers’ hometowns. Darby Allin got a heck of a moment beating Samoa Joe for the TNT title in Seattle and then defended the belt against Mike Bennett on Rampage. Allin’s off-air promo to the fans with Nick Wayne was excellent. Seattle native referee Aubrey Edwards also got a nice pop when she ensured The Acclaimed weren’t cheated out of the tag championships.
WWE hosting Money in the Bank will be at the O2 in London this year is a smart move considering the energy and money made around Clash at the Castle. Also after the venue debacle last year, WWE need to make the event feel special in a way again. Lastly, the time difference will allow the winners to get into the new cycle a little earlier back in the U.S.
Dominik Mysterio has become a scene-stealing heel and one the more entertaining things on WWE TV right now. Dressing like his godfather Konnan and his “Martha Stewart” line were a highlight on Raw this week. The Judgment Day earning a tag team title shot was a nice notch for the group.
The move Jade Cargill pulled off to beat Skye Blue on Battle of the Belts is why you continue to invest in her because we’ve only scratched the surface of her star power.
Credit WWE for trying different ways to tell stories and add some mystery to things, but let’s hope the WWE Anonymous payoffs goes better than Scrypts.
Extra: Chris Jericho making his PWG debut at the Battle of Los Angeles (won by “Speedball” Mike Bailey) felt pretty darn cool.
Extra, Extra: Kevin Owens was all of us listening to a JBL, Baron Corbin promo,
Wrestler of the Week
Kenny Omega, New Japan, AEW
There were a number of worthy candidates this week, but Omega stood above all the rest. After missing a large portion of 2022 with an injury, Omega looked back to the form that made him a star in his first big-time singles match since returning. He beat Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States championship in an absolute classic and physical war in his old stomping ground of Wrestle Kingdom — getting oodles of stars in the process. By winning it also means this was just the first match of this story between him and Ospreay, setting up what could be a huge year for Omega.
Match to Watch
Jordynne Grace (c.) vs. Mickie James, Impact Knockouts World Championship (Friday, 8 p.m., FITE)
The legendary James has been on her “Last Rodeo” tour since May, during which she said she’ll call it a career if she lost a match up to and including her championship shot. So in theory, this could either be the last time we see James wrestle and a huge notch for the budding career of Grace, or the veteran will get to hold gold one more time. Impact put out a terrific video about James. She and Grace have never had a singles match together and Grace just won the belt at Slammiversary in June.
Around the Ring
- A&E announced its next round of WWE Biography shows. They will be on Dusty Rhodes, Chyna, Kane, the nWo, Iron Sheik and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
- WrestleMania 39 has already broken the company’s all-time gate record for any WrestleMania, despite having yet to announce a single match. The previous record announced was $17.3 million in 2016 at AT&T Stadium. Ariel Helwani reported this year’s gate in Los Angeles has surpassed $18 million.
- MLW debuted its first wave of action figures from Boss Fight Studio.
