PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

IT’S OK TO BREATHE, VINCE MCMAHON IS GONE FROM WWE

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone.”
Johnny Nash

Well, it’s been quite the week, hasn’t it?

On Tuesday, WWE announced that not only had they signed a deal to take their product into the world of streaming with the biggest outlet there is in Netflix but also that the prodigal son, Dwayne Johnson, returned home to the fold.  For a few days, WWE and TKO were on top of the world, with incredible momentum and goodwill.

In addition to those announcements, they had previously gotten great new deals for Smackdown and NXT.  The product itself is on fire and I would argue that from a quality standpoint it has never, ever been better.  Endeavor’s takeover of the company was opening the doors for WWE that I had expected and taking it to places I don’t think it ever would have gotten to if the sale hadn’t happened.  Things seemed to be going perfectly, and it was easy at times to forget that there was a black cloud hanging over the company, even if it wasn’t always visible.  Just because we didn’t see it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

That cloud led to a proverbial torrential downpour on Thursday when Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and, by his own text messages, showed a level of depravity in the former WWE owner that even his harshest critics probably never envisioned.  WWE’s amazing week turned into a natural disaster, just as they were heading into their biggest time of the year.  It seemed like all of the hard-earned goodwill was lost and instead WWE was heading into a bleak period where the company’s former owner, notoriously stubborn at best, may very well dig in his heels, fight the lawsuit and drag WWE down into the muck with him.  

It’s possible that his Chairman’s role could have been taken away if a morals clause was inserted into his deal.  Given that Endeavor was well aware of the accusations against McMahon and the NDAs that he had women sign, even if they didn’t know the level of depravity that would come to light when Vince’s own text messages were shared, it’s almost impossible for me to believe that they would not have included a morals clause in any deal that they did with McMahon.  To not include one would be akin to hiring a junkie to be a pharmacist.

But even if the clause did exist we all know that Vince McMahon doesn’t like to admit guilt, doesn’t ever want to quit and loves to put up a fight.  That scenario could have made a bad situation even worse for WWE/TKO.  While Vince would be fighting Grant’s lawsuit, he would be fighting his own company to keep his spot.  Does anyone with a working brain think THAT scenario is appealing to any of WWE’s partners or potential sponsors?  Does anyone else wonder if The Rock would have said he doesn’t want his image marred by association with McMahon and asked out of his new TKO deal?  You get the idea here.

As I wrote yesterday, I had hoped to see a news item dump after the Stock Market closed saying that McMahon had left the company.  That did not happen, at least not right away.  But, what did happen after the market closed showed WWE/TKO and McMahon what their future was going to look like when my new favorite company, Slim Jim, fired the first of what I expected to be many salvos from WWE’s partners, in essence saying:

Hey guys, as long as the guy whose texts we read in that lawsuit is part of your company, we will not be.

Three hours or so later, Vince was gone from WWE.

Much like I am not altogether sure what the process is to turn whatever the substance is before it’s a Slim Jim into a Slim Jim, I don’t know how the sausage was made here either.  I am not sure that we will ever know, and that’s fine with me.  There’s an old saying that I love, “Don’t go away mad, just go away.”

That’s how I feel here.  I don’t ever need to know why Vince McMahon chose or agreed to resigned from WWE, with no foreseeable path to ever return in any way, shape or form or form.  I am just happy that he is gone and the stink he puts on something that I really enjoy is gone with him.

For years, a lot of fans couldn’t stomach supporting WWE because of Vince, for various reasons.  I always understood their position.  For at least a decade now, he was someone I found to be personally reprehensible, and that was before I saw the texts that were in Grant’s lawsuit.  As the product got better and better, I heard from many of those people who now felt conflicted, they wanted to watch but they didn’t want to support McMahon in any way.  I understood that.  The sale of the company made it a bit better.  Endeavor’s braintrust realized that Paul Levesque, not Vince McMahon, was responsible for the great creative that was fueling the company’s growth.  Vince was pushed to, as Mike Johnson called it, “The Stan Lee role”.  But, unlike Lee, Vince was never the likable creator of the universe that was sold to the bigger company, so fans still could feel antsy about him being a part of WWE.

Well now folks, those days are over.  Ding Dong The Dingle’s Dead!  Vince is gone.  Any guilt you felt about supporting or enjoying the product has gone with him.  

Any new potential sordid chapter in his lurid story?  Not WWE or our problem, it’s all his.

So as you sit down to watch the Rumble tonight, do it in clear conscience and have a great time.  The cloud has lifted.

To quote the end of Nash’s song, now that Vince is gone I feel like…

“It's gonna be a bright (bright), Bright (bright) sunshiny day!”

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet