WWE Hall of Famer has given his thoughts on the Vince McMahon news that has left a dark cloud over wrestling.
On Thursday January 25th, the latest allegations directed at Vince McMahon were published. A deeply disturbing article was published in the Wall Street Journal that accused McMahon and a number of top-level employees of sexual assault, with McMahon also being accused of sex trafficking. The full 67-page lawsuit was also made public, describing the allegations in even more graphic detail.
Later that day, Vince McMahon’s team would release a public statement to deny the allegations and that he would defend himself. Pressure mounted the following day when major WWE sponsor Slim Jim paused their partnership. Hours after Slim Jim made the announcement, Vince McMahon released a statement announcing that he would be resigning with immediate effect, denying the allegations once again. Slim Jim would later resume their partnership with WWE.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff said the following:
“It’s evil and even that word doesn’t really do it justice. It’s just sick, and I mean mentally, emotionally sick, and evil. The victim, because I know all the haters are gonna say, ‘But he didn’t say enough about her.’ I can’t imagine what she’s going to go through for the rest of her life. I’ll pray for her that she finds the right spiritual guidance and mental health guidance because this is never going to leave her. She will be carrying this memory around for the rest of her life, and I can’t imagine that. I can’t even try to imagine it because self-preservation kicks in and I force myself to stop thinking about it.
I feel so bad for the people that are innocent because this is such a dark cloud over everything that’s WWE right now. I do believe that’s going to change, not sooner than later. It’s going to change, but it’s going to take time, but there are so many innocent people that are affected by this and at the epicenter, obviously friends and family members, like close friends, close family members of the victims as well as the McMahons.
I’m friends with Shane, I think of Stephanie in a very high regard right now and Linda McMahon. I mean, these are people that I’ve met and have worked with and I’ve seen how they’ve treated others. They’re having to bear this as well. The people that work there, there are so many people that we know that are working hard every day, that are good family people, honest people, contribute to society, help others, I mean really good people that I know there personally, and they’re affected by this.”
H/t to Wrestling News.co
Vince McMahon Will No Longer Exist In WWE
As has been seen in days following the fallout of the scandal, TKO Holdings and WWE have removed Vince McMahon from multiple corporate websites. Continuing his thoughts on the horrifying allegations, Bischoff believes that McMahon will be viewed in history in the same way as another name from wrestling history who has been erased:
The name McMahon I think, he’s gonna be right there with Chris Benoit in the minds of a lot of people as a name not to be mentioned the way things look at this point.
I fought with Vince, I battled with him, I did everything I could to undermine him. But at the end of it all, I respected the guy that beat my ass because that’s what fighters do. If somebody’s good enough to beat me in something you’ve got to respect their abilities. And even for me this is difficult, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for [McMahon’s] kids and the grandkids. It’s just disgusting.
You talk about the name, you go into Vince’s office and he’s got pictures of his father and his grandfather and newspaper articles of things his father accomplished and his grandfather accomplished. Gone, dark closet, stick it in a box and hide it. Nobody wants to be reminded anymore. It wasn’t just a name, they wiped Vince McMahon off the WWE and TKO corporate websites. He didn’t exist starting today and that’s not gonna change.
H/t to TJR Wrestling