In case you hadn’t heard, WWE head honcho Vince McMahon is in a little hot water. And it could turn out to be an ocean sooner rather than later.
Along with his director of talent relations, McMahon was accused of paying hush money to a former WWE employee he had a sexual affair with. But this initial accusation may have broken the dam wide open, because a small river of other non disclosure agreements and possible hush payments flooded forward in the days following. While WWE is conducting the investigation internally (for now), McMahon has hopped out of the CEO chair, replaced by his daughter Stephanie (who left the company earlier in the year for some apparent family time).
While it’s possible the 76 year old McMahon won’t face any consequences (wrestling fans probably don’t care about extra-marital affairs and payoffs made out of a billionaire’s own pocket), there is also a chance he could lose control of the entertainment juggernaut he created.
Regardless of how this all shakes out, this is yet another blow to WWE’s public image and the promotion is going to have to repair its brand. And soon.
WWE has struggled with sliding television ratings for years, ticket sales aren’t causing anyone to do cartwheels (it recently had to move it’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view to a smaller venue because of lacklustre ticket sales), they’ve lost a number of high profile performers to long term injury (Cody Rhodes, Edge and Randy Orton) while their reigning champion Roman Reigns is likely heading for the door shortly as well. Compounding the talent problem is the fact that WWE has failed to build up any new names to replace their injured veterans while knocking more established talent further down the popularity ladder at the same time. Years of unforgiving cutbacks have dramatically thinned out WWE’s talent pool right when it needs new bodies the most.
While WWE has enjoyed record profits the last few years (and is still basking in the mega deal it signed to partner the WWE Network with Universal’s Peacock), it can only outrun this avalanche of bad publicity, bad luck and bad decisions for so long. Everything is eventually going to catch up and making life extra complicated for the WWE is the existence of genuine competition in All Elite Wrestling, which offers both talent and fans an alternative and is beginning to nip at WWE’s heels.
McMahon’s sex scandal could be the straw that finally staggers the wrestling camel.
WWE will almost definitely need a public relations lifeline. And the best move they could make outside of new leadership in the eyes of the public is to start by treating its wrestlers better.
Long time favourite and pro wrestling veteran Scott Hall died earlier this year, prompting the usual outpouring of heartfelt grief and well wishes. Including from WWE’s corporate bourgeoise. And as usual, everything from Titan tower was insincere hypocrisy.
Because once you’ve either left WWE or been shown the door, the promotion doesn’t care about you anymore. Once it’s wrung every last possible dollar out of your body and your career, you’re an afterthought to be cast aside.
When the legendary Bobby “The Brain” Heenan died from cancer in 2017, he was still appearing at conventions and making paid appearances. Heenan’s career provided him with a more than comfortable fortune, but would it have killed the largest wrestling company in the history of planet Earth to cover his medical expenses in return for decades of loyal service? And “The Brain” was one of the lucky ones financially.
When the WWE was facing a steroid scandal in the early to mid 90’s, it adopted a “head-in-the-sand” policy when it’s wrestlers abused performance enhancers to get bigger and return from injury faster. And while it was looking the other way, it also closed its eyes to unlimited abuse of other substances and alcohol. A parade of premature and high profile wrestler deaths lead the WWE to form the Talent Wellness program in 2006. While the program has assisted some performers, many others and plenty of observers have dismissed it as public relations joke.
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper, one of the most popular and beloved people in the business, once said he wasn’t going to make it to 65 because of his mile long list of injuries and health problems. He died in 2015 at the age of 61.
While the WWE isn’t the only organization that cares little about the people whose blood makes it a billion dollar company, it does have a condescendingly narrow approach to the talent that props it up.
Because WWE doesn’t have wrestling employees; it has independent contractors. That means wrestlers don’t get health benefits, pension plans or other perks and are responsible for the majority of their own expenses and their taxes. If you think filing your taxes sucks, imagine how complicated it is when you have to file for every state (and country) that you performed in for a global entertainment company over the course of an entire year. Steve Auston once said that it wasn’t uncommon for wrestlers to get calls from the IRS regarding their taxes, almost always informing them that they owed more than they paid. Sometimes a lot more.
And while the WWE reaps the benefits of having an army of “independent contractors” working on short term contracts, the wrestlers themselves don’t enjoy any of the benefits of being one. You can only participate in other promotions with the WWE’s permission and while WWE can terminate a wrestler’s contract with only a few days notice, said wrestler, said independent contractor, can’t leave until the contract is up or they’re released (WWE’s kinder word for fired). Wrestlers have even been released while they laid in hospital beds.
That’s why it isn’t uncommon to see wrestlers working the indie circuits well past their prime and turning up at comic book conventions years after they’ve hung up their boots. Bobby Heenan was turning up at places after his entire jaw had been removed and he was being treated for cancer.
One of the things that many wrestlers enjoy about AEW is that it treats its talent better. Long time WWE star Chris Jericho revealed some of the benefits he enjoys in AEW that he never had in WWE (despite being one of its biggest stars for years) to former U.S. presidential hopeful Andrew Yang during Yang’s podcast. (A big wrestling fan, Yang has been pushing for better regulation of labour practices in the wrestling industry for years).
Treating talent better could be more than a public relations exercise for the embattled WWE as well. What if AEW continues to offer its talent better conditions as it expands and grows? What if it improves working conditions for its wrestlers further? With all things being equal, who would ever want to sign with the WWE?
And does the WWE really want to be reactive in a battle of public relations wills? Wouldn’t it prefer to be progressive in a world that seems to be slowly shifting to favour workers over employers (for now at least)? WWE has always branded itself a leader in the sports entertainment industry, so does it really want to be the second one to such an important party?
When America’s Supreme Court overturned Roe V Wade last week, plenty of companies immediately announced measures to offer assistance to any employee that would have to travel outside their state of residence for reproductive care or abortions (with Disney, Netflix and Amazon among them). Could’t the WWE announce health compensation for its talent, at least while they work there? Isn’t that the kind of look they would benefit from, especially right now?
When news broke about McMahon’s scandal, many long time fans labelled the revelations karma. Fans couldn’t care less about how wrestlers were treated once upon a time. That time is done. While most wrestling fans are likely unconcerned about extra marital affairs, NDAs and hush money, things are drastically different today when it comes to how in ring performers are treated. And fans are far more educated about the inner workings of the industry than ever before. Many have been genuinely unhappy with the way WWE treats its talent and how it summarily dismisses popular names for petty reasons.
Or sometimes no reasons at all.
The WWE has used the same business model for over sixty years even though both the wrestling business and the entire world have changed dramatically over that time. That’s nearly an entire lifetime. Make no mistake, the reason the WWE uses this model is so it can pay its talent as little as possible (yes, there are some names that make an incredible amount of money, but they are the rare exceptions instead of the rule and many careers only last a few months at the WWE level). But it doesn’t matter what the WWE or McMahon thought or did in the past. What matters is what they think and do today. And today is a completely different ball game than the one McMahon is used to winning. One that continues to shift away from the way things were done in decades past. After tis latest scandal (and McMahon’s possible ouster),the WWE may have no choice but to make a bold business or public relations move to salvage its reputation.
Treating it’s talent isn’t just good business. It’s also the right thing to do.
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