A former WWE star is horrified by the details of the Vince McMahon lawsuit.
On January 25th, The Wall Street Journal published its latest article regarding accusations directed at McMahon. The disturbing contents of the article detail allegations of sex trafficking and multiple accounts of sexual assault by Vince McMahon and a number of top-level WWE employees. Although the article itself is horrifying, the full 67-page lawsuit goes into even more graphic detail about the alleged events that took place and is a very distressing read.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Live, former Intercontinental Champion Lance Storm has provided a follow-up to his initial points after reading the full lawsuit:
I read the entire 67-page filing and it is unbelievably stomach-churning, your jaw is hanging open with a no, just absolutely appalling, gross and it’s horrible. And then, Vince’s statement, the one that he made with the didn’t knowingly take part in wrongdoing or something. I’m assuming he’s going to claim it was consensual, thus, it’s fine. But we talked about it when [there was] just news that there was an NDA.
I pointed out with the power dynamic of him being the head of the company and her a very lowly employee. It’s hard to consider it consent when there is such a power dynamic involved that then I called BS on consent. I suppose there’s the possibility that she was gung ho. But with that power dynamic, there is that coercion element to it.
And then obviously, if you read the statement, and the woman is absolutely claiming to have been groomed, coerced and pressured and sounds very, very believable. And I think I mentioned on it, just a little bit that was read in Variety, it seemed almost textbook sexual predator. And, you know, everyone’s making the Weinstein analogy, but to me it’s more an Epstein analogy, assuming it’s true.
Storm continued, noting that the individual who introduced the former WWE employee to McMahon needs to be investigated and that this is one of the most disturbing things he has ever come across:
I hope there’s a criminal investigation. I hope that search warrant produced phone records that can fairly determine what was really going on. My biggest question is has anyone looked into this building manager that sent the woman to Vince? Maybe she was just someone that, hey, this guy’s rich, he’s hired people before maybe he can help you out. Or maybe she’s, you know, Ghislaine Maxwell, and recruited. Who knows? But it’s someone that has to be looked at, considering she was the one that sent the woman to Vince and confided in her. It’s like, that’s just a horrible part of the grooming process.
And the fact that any of these details were out there, and they should have been if they investigated, that TKO still put the guy in the position he did, it’s horrifying. To me, there’s way too many details for there not to have been some pretty horrific sexual conduct going on here. So it really comes down to consent, which again, there’s the issue of coercion, but even if, and again, I don’t believe this to be case, I’m not blaming her in any way, shape, or form.But let’s just for the sake of argument, say that she was gung ho and legitimately consented and was keen on this whole thing.
Even with that, Vince put his girlfriend, his sex toy, on the company payroll. And then according to text messages, not only pimped her out to himself but pimped her out to other employees on company time on the company’s dime in the office. To me that’s criminal. That sounds a lot like running prostitution out of the headquarters of the company. And then obviously, you look at the other way, if she was coerced, threatened, manipulated, groomed, then it’s like he’s running his sex slave through payroll and participating in, according to her claims, rape in the office.
The best-case scenario is horrible. The worst-case scenario is just f*cking horrifying. And I hope there is an independent criminal investigation in this. Because this is just one of the most appalling things I’ve ever read, heard about in a movie, read in a book.
Ending his thoughts, Storm stated that although the lawsuit is unbelievably graphic and disturbing, there is a belief that McMahon is capable of all of it:
It’s just unbelievably horrific. And I think I’ve debated on whether I would say this, but I’m going to. When I read it, and this gets into the next part, like never in a million years, because there’s so many people [who said] so many people had to have known you had to suspect it.
And that’s like, reading this thing. Never in a million years would have I ever expected Vince to have been involved in anything like this or be someone like this. But never once reading this 67-page filing did I have in the back of my mind no way, that didn’t happen. It just read believably. And I don’t know what that says about him, me or whoever. But it’s like, just never in my wildest nightmares did I ever think this would be possible.
WWE Deals With The Fallout Of Vince McMahon’s Exit
The day after the details of the allegations became public, Vince McMahon announced his resignation while continuing to deny all charges. TKO Holdings has begun the next steps by erasing Vince McMahon’s profile from the company website and from WWE. With multiple employees implicated in the lawsuit, reports have surfaced stating that Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will undertake a ruthless overhaul to deal with the fallout of the Vince McMahon controversy.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit the source and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.