When Vince McMahon stepped down from the WWE board of directors after they raked him over the coal for swindling the company out of $1% million dollars in hush money payments to his string of mistresses over the years, fans thought that wrestling’s ultimate heel had enjoyed his final turn. That said, when the man who once tore both quads trying to yell at Dave Bautista and John Cena was announced as returning, WWE stock shot through the roof.
NBC News confirmed McMahon’s return, the stock jump, and the whole nine yards of the affair to date including the subsequent upsetting of the entire company and McMahon’s plans to sell it all.
If anything is true in the world of professional wrestling it’s that a heel always comes back and Vince McMahon has done just that—with intentions of offloading the company, to boot. In a press release dropped Friday, the announcement was short and to the point: “Today, we announce that the founder of WWE, Vince McMahon, will be returning to the Board.” Whether or not fans of wrestling are excited by that news, Wall Street certainly was with WWE stock jumping 20% in the wake of McMahon’s controversial return.
It was a move out of a bad wrestling storyline. McMahon had recently announced that he was planning on returning to the franchise that currently saw Triple H at the top of the food chain. Following the press release, McMahon retook his seat and brought along former co-presidents Michelle Wilson and George Barrios as new board members. Three sitting board members, JoEllen Lyons Dillon, Jeffrey Speed, and Alan M. Wexler were tossed from the company, joining Ignace Lahoud and Mat Jit Singh who had resigned on their own.
Vince McMahon has always been a controversial figure in the world of wrestling. His blustery screaming manner, his face contorted in a goofy rictus of outrage, is known the world over to fans of the sport. His gimmickry includes everything from appearing with Donald Trump to getting more intimate with Rikishi’s backside than Rikishi’s proctologist and is recorded in the memories (and VCRs) of wrestling fans everywhere. Nevertheless, McMahon hung on even through his ousting and now he’s back despite previous rumors to the contrary. While all this has gone on, McMahon has been served by two additional women.
Source: NBC News