Vince McMahon may be a genius, but that's not mutually exclusive to being a jerk, a bad boss, and a bully. We've certainly seen that with other geniuses, including, but most certainly not limited to, Tesla's Elon Musk and Apple founder Steve Jobs.
Being able to think of things that make money and execute those ideas well, does not have to (and often doesn't) correlate to compassion, empathy, or even basic decency. When he ran World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) McMahon backstage bullying was common and the company's culture encouraged embarrassing people on air while allowing bullies to set the tone in the locker room.
McMahon might be excused for his workplace as "being from another era," but "boys will be boys" stopped being a business mantra a long time ago. And while McMahon famously worked hard, he also pushed his employees beyond any normal expectations or reasonable standards while continuing the questionable practice of classifying his wrestlers as "independent contractors," even while he controlled their every work action.
All of these things make McMahon a bad boss, maybe a bad person, and a relic of a bygone era. Success can cover up any of those problems, however, but even someone who made a lot of money for a lot of people can't escape multiple sexual assault and misconduct allegations.
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Vince McMahon Plans his Comeback
McMahon "retired" from WWE after it became public that he paid off multiple women who made varying sexual harassment complaints against him.
"The Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors have launched inquiries into payments that McMahon supposedly made to settle allegations of sexual misconduct, WWE disclosed the inquiries in a recent securities filing that also said the company was still conducting an ongoing internal investigation which uncovered agreements by McMahon to make payments totaling $14.6 million from 2006 through 2022," SI.com reported.
Those claims were fully explored by the Wall Street Journal.
Now, as McMahon faces new allegations that he "has been accused of assaulting a former spa manager at a Southern California resort in 2011," the former WWE boss is planning his comeback.
McMahon “has told people that he intends to make a comeback at WWE” and “has said that he received bad advice from people close to him to step down and that he now believes the allegations and investigations would have blown over had he stayed,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
WWE Is Better off Without Vince McMahon
Even without the very troubling allegations made against McMahon, it has become clear that his departure was a net positive for WWE. The former CEO was replaced as CEO by his daughter Stephanie McMahon and former WWE President Nick Khan, who had already largely led the company's business operations.
Most importantly, McMahon's son-in-law, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, took over the company's creative direction. The former wrestler, and husband of co-CEO Stephanie McMahon, modernized the backstage environment and gave the brand a major refresh. That has paid off with higher ratings and more wrestlers wanting to work for WWE rather than trying to leave for rival All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which has emerged as WWE's first major competitor since Ted Turner's WCW in the late '90s.
And, while Vince McMahon kept the company successful for decades, his departure has been good for business. Sometimes even the most creative minds run out of ideas, and "Mr. McMahon," as Vince went by on-air, seemed to have had his well run dry years ago.
Of course, McMahon believes allegations will blow over (they always have for him), but this time deserves to be different. Advertisers, fans, and executives at Comcast (CMCSA) and Fox (FOXA) --the company's two biggest television partners--need to get together and tell McMahon that his comeback has "no chance, no chance in hell," as his entrance music used to tell his opposition.
