Beginning in the late 1980s, my father was friends with former wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano. They lived fairly close to each other, did some business together, and had a mutual respect. My dad was also something of a wrestling fan, so it was a cool friendship that he speaks fondly of today.
With the ongoing controversies surrounding the now-former CEO of the WWE, Vince McMahon, I decided to write this article about him. The most recent controversy, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, involves McMahon allegedly participating in a form of sex trafficking.
When I told my dad who I was writing about, he mentioned that Lou Albano once said to him that Vince McMahon’s father was a great man but that Vince himself was crazy. Albano said it’s partly why he originally retired in 1986 despite having just managed the British Bulldogs to the title. He thought Vince was untrustworthy.
It turns out that he was right.
Since then, Vince McMahon has been involved in numerous cover-ups and controversies, most of it in the name of greed. He has made the WWE the biggest wrestling organization in the world but it has come at a tremendous cost to others. Perhaps now, if justice still breathes, it will come at a cost to himself.
Vince bought the WWE from his father in 1982 and the troubles began almost right away. Here’s a list of just some of those troubles, concluding with details of the new allegations against him.
Death of Nancy Argentino
In May 1983, Nancy Argentino, girlfriend of WWE superstar Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, died of traumatic brain injuries. Her body had significant signs of physical abuse and it was recommended by the pathologist who performed the autopsy that it be investigated as a homicide. The coroner agreed.
Snuka, and only Snuka, had been with her and claimed that she fell. His story later changed. He also had been arrested a few months earlier for assault because two police deputies, who arrived on the scene of a call of domestic violence, witnessed Snuka “forcibly dragging the naked Ms. Argentino down the hallway by her hair as she was draped in a blanket.” Snuka pled guilty and was fined.
According to police records, one month after Argentino’s death, Vince McMahon and Jimmy Snuka had a meeting with the Assistant District Attorney and three detectives. There is no information, however, on what was said at the meeting. In his 2012 book, Jimmy Snuka states about the meeting, “All I remember is Vince had a briefcase with him. I don’t know what happened.”
Charges were not pressed.
Snuka continued his career and had what is now a famous steel cage match in Madison Square Garden just a few months later. He was a hot commodity. He made Vince money. He was even a part of the main event at the first-ever Wrestlemania in 1985.
Over three decades later, Snuka was charged with the third-degree murder of Argentino. However, in January 2017, he was deemed not mentally fit to stand trial and died two weeks later, at age 73, after a battle with stomach cancer.
The abuse allegations against the Fabulous Moolah
The Fabulous Moolah was the Women’s Wrestling Champion for 28 years. She also trained female wrestlers independently but also reportedly abused many of them and she would even leave them with powerful men in the business, some of whom would allegedly abuse them further.
She managed to also take advantage of those whom she sent to Vince to wrestle by making sure that her wrestlers only received payments through her, taking as much as 50% before paying them. This was made possible because Vince made certain to always pay Moolah for the matches that her wrestlers were involved in, regardless if Moolah was wrestling or not.
In the years following Moolah’s death, many have been coming forward to share their story of abuse, forcing the WWE to change certain honors they gave Moolah and bringing the organization itself — as well as Vince McMahon — into question for enabling her for decades.
Sexual molestation allegations against employees
In 1992, wrestler Terry Garvin and former wrestler Pat Patterson were accused of sexual abuse. Many witnesses have come forward and said that they were fired shortly after they refused the sexual advances of Garvin or Patterson. However, it gets worse. Garvin had allegedly made sexual advances to ring boys and Vince McMahon seemed intent on defending Garvin and Patterson. He had reason to. After all, Patterson was a major contributor to the company’s success. He was the first-ever Intercontinental Champion and the hugely successful annual Royal Rumble was Patterson’s idea.
Yet, it gets even worse. Ring announcer Mel Phillips was also in charge of overseeing the ring boys, who were mostly just local kids who would volunteer for what was a single event after Phillips would entice them with the opportunity to see wrestling for free. During his career, he was accused of molesting countless kids.
The Phillips scandal caused Linda McMahon, Vince’s wife, to fire Phillips in 1988 but she eventually re-hired him on the premise that he stop chasing kids, as revealed and reported by Business Insider.
Then the public scandal about sexual molestation within the WWE broke in 1992, putting Garvin, Patterson, and Phillips back in the spotlight. Vince reacted by releasing all three before he showed up for a one-hour interview with Phil Donahue who brought along multiple former WWE employees who were let go after telling Vince that Garvin and/or Patterson made sexual advances toward them.
McMahon denied knowledge of any wrongdoing, claimed the employees were fired because they were incompetent, and defended himself and his company vigorously, as one would expect from him to do. However, even the wrestlers that McMahon trusted, like Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham, had something to say to him about his poor handling of the situation.
After the public scandal calmed, McMahon re-hired Patterson.
The Mel Phillips scandal resurfaced in 2021 when it was reported in detail that one of the kids who Phillips molested was Tom Cole. Shortly after the story was made popular again, Cole committed suicide and his brother took to Twitter to blame the McMahons for covering up for child molesters.
The steroids scandal
In 1991, Dr. George Zahorian was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for selling steroids to WWE wrestlers. Vince even admitted he bought some from Zahorian.
In 1994, Vince was now the one on trial and many WWE stars testified during the trial, including Hulk Hogan who admitted using steroids and getting them at WWE events and even, at times, at the WWE headquarters in Connecticut. Though Hogan claimed McMahon was not involved, at least one wrestler said that not only was McMahon involved but he pressured him to take steroids.
Facing a million-dollar fine and over a decade in prison, Vince McMahon was acquitted of the charges and escaped it all.
Allegations of hush money payouts and admission of affairs
In July of 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that Vince McMahon paid four different women, all former employees, hush money over allegations of sexual misconduct. For 16 years, the Journal claims, Vince paid out at least $12 million. The report pushed him out of the door of the WWE.
Two more women have come forth since and made similar claims.
It’s worth noting that back in 2002, during a Playboy Magazine interview, Vince McMahon admitted to numerous affairs. When asked if he has always been faithful to his wife, McMahon responded, “Not necessarily,” yet claimed he was always loyal to her.
He then stated, “I probably lied to myself, thinking she knew who I was when we got married.”
Later in the interview, he explained that his wife confronted him and finally asked him directly if he was having an affair, to which Vince responded yes and said, “It crushed her. Then she asked, ‘What about such and such?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ It went on. More names. I said, ‘yes and yes.’”
In explaining his actions he told Playboy, “It’s not something I’m proud of. I just didn’t realize the impact of messing with other people’s lives. I hurt a lot of people. The sex was terrific but from an emotional standpoint, I regret it.”
I’m sure that Vince adding that the “sex was terrific” made his wife feel even more special.
Sex trafficking allegations
In Jan. 2024, former WWE employee — Janel Grant — filed a complaint in Connecticut federal court alleging that she was trafficked to WWE executives by Vince McMahon, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Text messages were revealed that appear to show McMahon texting Grant in obscene detail. After texting her in May of 2020 that he “controls” her, McMahon allegedly forced himself on her, including one incident at the WWE headquarters, after which McMahon sent her $15,000 in gift cards later that same day.
McMahon is also accused of sharing nude photos of her and sexual videos of her with some of his employees. In an apparent attempt to re-sign former WWE champion Brock Lesnar, McMahon ordered Grant to send him sexualized photos and videos. Lesnar allegedly asked her to send him videos of her urinating. McMahon was able to convince Lesnar to temporarily rejoin the WWE.
The lawsuit also claims that McMahon wanted her to have sex with others and that this desire of his was ultimately fulfilled by other WWE executives, including — as the lawsuit alleges — former WWE head of talent relations, John Laurinaitis. McMahon would order Grant to visit Laurenaitis in hotel rooms, she claims. On at least one occasion, they would take turns holding her down while the other would rape her, states Grant.
The sexually themed text messages are disturbing. In them, if they are proven to be sent by Vince McMahon, the former WWE boss describes what he wants Grant to do. The lawsuit claims that the acts he describes did happen.
Additionally, McMahon named sex toys after other wrestlers and used them on her, she alleges. Grant also claims that during a forcible threesome in 2020 McMahon defecated on her head.
Grant alleges that McMahon used his authoritative power over her to weaken her and to control her. Ultimately, she left the WWE and claims that McMahon paid her a million dollars to keep quiet.
Needless to say, Vince McMahon will likely never honestly be admired for who he is as a man. It’s doubtful that he will be admired at all. At one time, people did admire him for his success but how he achieved such success is greatly in question and, furthermore, what he allegedly did with that success is truly abhorrent.
He has been involved in many other controversies — too many to name here — but the ones listed above are the ones that define him. At least, the ones we know about.
