A former WWE star has hit out at Vince McMahon and his “highly dangerous” conduct that led to the ongoing investigation into WWE’s Board of Directors.
McMahon is alleged to have paid $3 million to a former employee that he is said to have had an affair with. The issue came to light when an apparent friend of the former employee e-mailed WWE’s Board to inform them of the arrangement which is said to have seen the ex-employee’s salary jump 100% when the relationship began.
Now speaking on Figure Four Daily former WWE Intercontinental Champion Lance Storm has addressed the accusations levelled at McMahon and says if true, McMahon’s conduct is not acceptable:
“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 then commented on remarks from long-time WWE counsel Jerry McDevitt when he described the affair as consensual. For Storm, and many others, it is the power imbalance in a relationship like this that makes it inappropriate:
“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.”
While the investigation is ongoing Vince McMahon has stepped back from his roles as WWE Chairman and CEO, being replaced on an interim basis by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon.