Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network. Ready,
Speaker 1: let's get it all. How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez
Speaker 1: here on or Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every
Speaker 1: day Monday through Friday. NOO Sivic three Stern Sunday, three Pacific,
Speaker 1: sixth Eastern. Well, it's Friday here on this show. We
Speaker 1: got a lot to talk about. SmackDown is tonight, We've
Speaker 1: got some a W ratings, and there's an n x
Speaker 1: T two point oh coming up next week. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have some matches and ros Monday. I think Triple Mania's
Speaker 1: coming up. Jeff Hardy he oh yeah. Vince is stepped
Speaker 1: down as the chairman and CEO of w w E,
Speaker 1: to be replaced by Stephanie McMann. I can't even say
Speaker 1: it with a straight face. Oh my god, bro, if
Speaker 1: this guy could write storylines like the real life storylines
Speaker 1: going on right now, Holy smokes. So you guys I
Speaker 1: haven't heard, which I'm sure you have allegations against Vince McMahon.
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon stepping down, Stephanie McMahon took a leave of absence,
Speaker 1: and then, as we've been talking about, in a totally
Speaker 1: bizarre turn of events, she stepped down. They started hiring
Speaker 1: people to do her job. And then the first they
Speaker 1: went privately, We're telling people that Stephanie sucked at her job.
Speaker 1: They buried her privately, and then they actually there was
Speaker 1: a public story where they talked about how Stephanie wasn't
Speaker 1: good at her job. They buried her. And now she
Speaker 1: is back as the new chairman and CEO of w
Speaker 1: w E, and Vince McMahon and his canna continue doing
Speaker 1: his job. The exception of his chairman and ceo. Dude,
Speaker 1: he's still he's still writing all the shows and everything,
Speaker 1: still tearing up scripts, brother, and he's going to appear
Speaker 1: on SmackDown tonight. And there's a lot that's been said
Speaker 1: about this, but we'll tell you about it and more
Speaker 1: after the break. Dave Meltzer joins us in the second segment,
Speaker 1: simp for vv coming up next Observer Live. Back in
Speaker 1: the show, bright Over is here Wrestling Observer Live. Mike
Speaker 1: simp for VIV also Wrestling Observer dot Com. I missed
Speaker 1: the Eagles for this today, Well I'm back, good Paul
Speaker 1: for today. In the latest development and one of wrestling's
Speaker 1: biggest stories. I'll say Vince McMahon has voluntarily stepped down
Speaker 1: as w w E chairman and CEO while the company's
Speaker 1: Special Committee of the board investigates alleged misconduct. Stephanie McMahon
Speaker 1: was named interim CEO and chairwoman until the investigation concludes. However,
Speaker 1: Vince mcman quote will retain his role and responsibilities related
Speaker 1: to w w e's creative content during this period and
Speaker 1: remains committed to cooperating with the review under way. Stephanie
Speaker 1: tweeted she will be returning from her leave of absence
Speaker 1: assuming the role of interim chairman and CEO. I love
Speaker 1: our company, Excited to work with Nick kN Etcetera. On Wednesday,
Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal revealed the board was investigating Vince
Speaker 1: mcmanon every three million dollar hushpack with the former employee
Speaker 1: from which he allegedly had a relationship with, in addition
Speaker 1: to other potential nondisclosure agreements. They announced they were a
Speaker 1: special committee had been created to investigate these allegations into
Speaker 1: alleged misconduct by Vince and John Laura, nita's head of
Speaker 1: talent relations. By the way, as of today, nothing on
Speaker 1: on John Laura Nitis nothing zero ziltra, meaning he hasn't
Speaker 1: been fired. Trying to forget what that means. The Special
Speaker 1: Committee's appointed Stephanie to serve his interim CEO and interim
Speaker 1: chair woman. So then we find out today that Vince
Speaker 1: is going to be on SmackDown tonight. Now a lot
Speaker 1: a lot has been said about Vince McMahon appearing on
Speaker 1: SmackDown tonight. The release from w w E referred to
Speaker 1: him as Mr McMahon, which of course is his character.
Speaker 1: I believe it might have been MSNBC or something had
Speaker 1: reported that he would be doing a quote in character
Speaker 1: interview on the show tonight. Obviously everybody is expecting he's
Speaker 1: going to come out in front of the crowd. I
Speaker 1: think you would be much wiser for him to do
Speaker 1: a pre tape because I've seen live Vince McMahon and
Speaker 1: it would be a much better idea for him to
Speaker 1: do a pre tape. But listen, when SmackDown airs will
Speaker 1: find out what happened. Until then, it's Vince, dude, he
Speaker 1: can change his mind. It's it is the idea of
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon coming out in character to do a segment
Speaker 1: live on SmackDown tonight is a level of madness that
Speaker 1: I cannot even begin to comprehend. I would presume, and
Speaker 1: I shouldn't presume this because the guy is like he's nuts,
Speaker 1: but I would presume that you should just do a
Speaker 1: pre tape deal and say, basically what they said in
Speaker 1: the press release, I am stepping down. You know, I
Speaker 1: respect the board. Whatever they determine is whatever they determined.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the show tonight, him coming out live doing his strut,
Speaker 1: having all of the fans at some of the other
Speaker 1: day go oh, no, matter what happens, Vince can never
Speaker 1: appear in front of the fans again. I was like,
Speaker 1: what planet do you live on? This dude comes out
Speaker 1: Strutton tonight, They're all gonna go like this, They're all
Speaker 1: gonna cheer. You all know this. So we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens here tonight. But as far as like what all
Speaker 1: of this means, I mean, Vince, He's he's stepping down,
Speaker 1: but still doing everything that he was doing on a
Speaker 1: daily basis. He's still writing the shows, he's still tearing
Speaker 1: up scripts. It is beyond fascinating that Stephanie McMahon took
Speaker 1: her quote leave of absence. They buried her first privately
Speaker 1: and then later publicly, and now here she is back
Speaker 1: as the new chairwoman and CEO of w w E.
Speaker 1: You can't write stuff this good, and why they buried her,
Speaker 1: How all of this ties? And I know everyone has
Speaker 1: a thousand theories and we don't know anything. Okay, we
Speaker 1: don't know anything. You can come up with any conspiracy
Speaker 1: theory that you want. The only other thing that I
Speaker 1: will say, the only other thing that I will say,
Speaker 1: is that they have made it clear that there have
Speaker 1: been other non disclosure agreements. And they mentioned Vince McMahon
Speaker 1: and they mentioned John Laurainitis. Okay, the investigation is ongoing.
Speaker 1: The big question and the next hammer that could fall
Speaker 1: is if there are other non disclosure agreements involving other people.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that there are, but I am
Speaker 1: saying that I wouldn't be surprised nor honestly, is this
Speaker 1: like something that anybody listening to this will probably be
Speaker 1: surprised by. But this investigation is ongoing, and I expect
Speaker 1: that there will be more that will come out, and
Speaker 1: I think that when that happens and we can talk
Speaker 1: about it. But until then, there's a lot of speculation.
Speaker 1: You know, fans have been asking a lot of questions.
Speaker 1: I apologize for the other night on Observer Radio when
Speaker 1: I got very angry because some one of the questions was,
Speaker 1: where will everything be in a year? Bro, Dude, Wednesday night,
Speaker 1: Where will everything be in a year? Dude? Nobody, nobody
Speaker 1: would have predicted in two days Stephanie McMahon was going
Speaker 1: to be the chairwoman and the CEO of w w
Speaker 1: E nobody. So I can sit here and I could say, well,
Speaker 1: maybe this and maybe that and that and that. Bro,
Speaker 1: we don't know nothing other than what has come out.
Speaker 1: If you want to ask, like, you know what, what
Speaker 1: if the wrestler has been told The wrestler have been
Speaker 1: told virtually nothing. The wrestlers know what you know right now.
Speaker 1: They haven't given him any other whatever. Pat McAfee, I
Speaker 1: think did a thing today. He's totally in the dark.
Speaker 1: It's a shoot. Everybody's in the dark. Nobody knows anything.
Speaker 1: So uh yeah, that's that the update as of right now.
Speaker 1: For those guys who want to breaking news audio, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's nothing to break except what's out. Everything else is speculation.
Speaker 1: You know, why was Stephanie buried? I don't know. There's
Speaker 1: a lot we don't know, So I think a better
Speaker 1: question is kind of who you know? And because Claudine
Speaker 1: Lillian was leaving around the same time, and they were
Speaker 1: very unhappy obviously with her perform and she had only
Speaker 1: been there what a year, and she kind of fell
Speaker 1: into some of the things that Stephanie was doing as
Speaker 1: far as merchandizing and branding and content pushing and all
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. So probably something I'll last Dave
Speaker 1: because that's interesting to me. Was it somebody from the board? Obviously?
Speaker 1: Because who sent this email? No? Not, no, not who
Speaker 1: sent the email? Who actually was doing the bearing of
Speaker 1: Stephanie McMahon, Because I mean, I know, but I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not like, well, who is it? It's not somebody
Speaker 1: that I mean, I know everyone's gonna be really mad
Speaker 1: at me, but it's not my thing. It's my place
Speaker 1: to say this. Is it somebody on the board? Is
Speaker 1: it somebody? I don't believe it was somebody on the board,
Speaker 1: but that's and listen, that's only the one that I
Speaker 1: heard about. I don't know who they had. I know
Speaker 1: that they were getting the word out privately first that
Speaker 1: she sucked at her job. Well, then the story came
Speaker 1: out where they publicly said that she sucked at her job,
Speaker 1: but I don't know they said it was. They said
Speaker 1: it a lot softer than that. And that's why be
Speaker 1: in the fact that Vince or nobody pushed back at
Speaker 1: all once that business insider thing came out at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the month. You know, That's why I was
Speaker 1: curious as to to who it was, because obviously it
Speaker 1: feels like it was Rubbert stamped, obviously by Vince, but
Speaker 1: I was wondering if it came from the board, if
Speaker 1: it came from who it actually came from, and how
Speaker 1: heavy was that burial behind the scenes, because obviously see
Speaker 1: where she's at today. You could you could ask Andrew
Speaker 1: Zerra and he's talked about it a lot, and he
Speaker 1: he was was directly told, and uh, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure, and I think it's pretty clear actually with
Speaker 1: Stephanie in charge right now, I don't think that one
Speaker 1: had anything to do with the other. These are two
Speaker 1: separate stories that are now connected in a completely bizarre way.
Speaker 1: The best theory that I've heard, which you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's nuts, but the best theory that i've heard
Speaker 1: is Stephanie was going to step away, and they were
Speaker 1: concerned that news of her departure would cause like this
Speaker 1: big you know, stock stock or stock crash, and so
Speaker 1: so the the idea was, well, if we bury her
Speaker 1: and say she sucked and that we're replacing her with
Speaker 1: people who are better than the stock, won't take. And honestly,
Speaker 1: that's like the best theory that I've heard. But even that,
Speaker 1: it's like, well, then you'd have to like clear this
Speaker 1: with Stephanie. Stephanie, listen, we're concerned about the stock falling,
Speaker 1: and so we want to publicly tell everyone that you suck.
Speaker 1: Are you okay with that? Which, you know, given how
Speaker 1: much money she has tied up in stock, she might
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, save my stock, but it just seems ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But but that's why I was wondering who actually said it,
Speaker 1: because then we have a situation where now she's also
Speaker 1: now back as the figurehead face of the company right
Speaker 1: now while Vince quote unquote steps aside here And it
Speaker 1: was amazing at seven o'clock Eastern time this morning to
Speaker 1: start getting text about w W E his released press release,
Speaker 1: and then they follow it up with Vince going to
Speaker 1: be on TV tonight. Amazing. Well, let's talk to Dave
Speaker 1: about it after the break. Observer Live by the show
Speaker 1: by Newber is here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike Zimber, Viv
Speaker 1: Dave Meltzer, who will be on CNN to Pacific five
Speaker 1: Eastern today talking about this story. And if you're a
Speaker 1: subscriber to Wrestling Observer at dot com, David Getter are
Speaker 1: gonna be up tonight with tons more. So we obviously
Speaker 1: can't cover everything here, but subscribers can check that out
Speaker 1: later on tonight and Dave. Vince is stepped down as
Speaker 1: chairman and CEO, replaced by Stephanie McMahon and Vince appearing
Speaker 1: on SmackDown tonight in some form or fashion. What do
Speaker 1: we know? What do you know? Well? I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's I think it's a cosmetic change. I mean,
Speaker 1: the fact that he's still running creative. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: this is this is just a repeat of what happened
Speaker 1: when he was in trouble decades ago and when all
Speaker 1: of a sudden was president and uh, you know, so
Speaker 1: it's like that's kind of how he does things when
Speaker 1: this type of stuff happened. So I don't really I
Speaker 1: mean It's gotten a lot of headlines, but I don't
Speaker 1: know that it's significant. The fact that it's Stephanie tells
Speaker 1: me also that it's a cosmetic change, because you know,
Speaker 1: she was gone. It is surprised though they went from
Speaker 1: burying her two weeks ago or a week and a
Speaker 1: half ago to making her CEO. It's a crazy world
Speaker 1: that we live in. It sure is a crazy world
Speaker 1: do we live in? So? Uh? Um? Yes, Stephanie McMahon,
Speaker 1: who was privately and publicly buried as being bad at
Speaker 1: her job, I mean, what how do you do you
Speaker 1: just if people ask explained that, well, she was bad
Speaker 1: at that job, but she'll do excellent at this job. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone you know, again, Vince is running
Speaker 1: the company. I don't think that, um, and Stephanie is.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like it's like, uh, when you know,
Speaker 1: if somebody else was put in the interim CEO position,
Speaker 1: I would take it seriously. And it's not that I
Speaker 1: don't take Stephanie seriously, because obviously I do. But I
Speaker 1: think this is very clearly, Um, you know, it's very
Speaker 1: clearly Vince is still running the company. But they're looking
Speaker 1: like they're trying to make changes. But you know, I
Speaker 1: mean the interesting thing is is that going forward, Um,
Speaker 1: you know how this story you know, eventually turns out.
Speaker 1: That's the really interesting one, you know. And again Stephanie
Speaker 1: has made interim CEO. That's very you know, that wording
Speaker 1: alone kind of tells you that it's like the idea
Speaker 1: is is that it's just because there is an investigation
Speaker 1: going on. They um, you know with the Board of
Speaker 1: directors that Vince probably shouldn't be the head of the
Speaker 1: Board of directors while an investigation by the Board of
Speaker 1: Directors is going on. So I think that's the thing.
Speaker 1: And the fact that Stephanie got it tells you that
Speaker 1: Vince is still in control. Now. The other the other
Speaker 1: question is that this story comes out, Vince steps down
Speaker 1: today and I've heard nothing about John Laura Nitas. Is
Speaker 1: he just showing up and SmackDown and doing his job?
Speaker 1: And I mean, I don't know if he's in Minneapolis
Speaker 1: or not. Um, that is was the big question like
Speaker 1: this morning that everybody had was Okay, we know Vince's coming,
Speaker 1: is John Laura Nita is coming and um, I have
Speaker 1: not heard yet if he's there. So there's Vince. This
Speaker 1: Evince appearance tonight. We've heard a lot of different things. Uh,
Speaker 1: the w w E their own announcement said that he
Speaker 1: would be there live, which of course sounds like he
Speaker 1: will be in front of the crowd. I think he
Speaker 1: would be a horrible idea. I think MSNBC was claiming
Speaker 1: it would be quote in character that would be horrible
Speaker 1: idea sounds even worse. So, I mean, we're not gonna
Speaker 1: know until the show goes in the air exactly what
Speaker 1: he's going to do. But you know, I personally when
Speaker 1: I heard he was gonna be on the show was
Speaker 1: and I'm anticipating, Like the show opens with a short
Speaker 1: video statement basically saying what they said in the press release,
Speaker 1: he can't possibly be thinking of doing something, but they
Speaker 1: announced him as Mr McMahon. That was He made very
Speaker 1: certain to say that, including a strong picture of him
Speaker 1: up there. So, yeah, it's a it's amazing. I mean
Speaker 1: it feels it feels to me like it's a ratings
Speaker 1: ploy as opposed to yeah, as opposed to like some explanation,
Speaker 1: So as a ratings ploy, they're going to do something
Speaker 1: to try and build you know, ratings and and stuff
Speaker 1: off of this. In some way. Uh so that makes it. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean, I I don't want to say I give
Speaker 1: him credit, but it is something to show. I mean,
Speaker 1: it does show how desperate they are for ratings. And
Speaker 1: they've always been that that they would take a situation
Speaker 1: like this and and try to twist it for ratings.
Speaker 1: I mean, because that is there, that is totally Vince's wheelhouse.
Speaker 1: Well look, we've seen examples of that for decades too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course it's not a surprise now this. I mean,
Speaker 1: we again will not know until SmackDown is over. But
Speaker 1: you know, there's been a lot of talk about we
Speaker 1: do have a Riddle match with Roman reigns tonight. Randy
Speaker 1: Orton maybe out for a while, so he may be
Speaker 1: off the books for the summer. Obviously, they're gonna want
Speaker 1: to have people talking about something else. I mean, it
Speaker 1: seems like a nothing part of the story. But is
Speaker 1: it possible Riddle actually wins that title tonight to try
Speaker 1: to shift you know? I mean it was it was
Speaker 1: like I'd say no yesterday, but today, sure, I mean
Speaker 1: I could I could see that. Um. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: sure all plans that they had before are out the window. Um.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm sure I I, you know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but it would it be possible. Yeah, I could see
Speaker 1: it being possible, you know, trying to especially with the
Speaker 1: mentality that we will probably have more people watching this
Speaker 1: show than ever before. They were going to do a
Speaker 1: big angle tonight anyway, so they may do a different
Speaker 1: big angle tonight. Tell everybody the history of the last
Speaker 1: time Vince uh quote is stepped down, but actually I
Speaker 1: mean he was replaced, but it meant nothing. Well, Linda
Speaker 1: McMahon was president of the company when uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Vince Vince was indicted, you know, on charges that he
Speaker 1: doesn't even remember anymore, and um, you know, went to
Speaker 1: trial and everything like that. So um, but eventually, of course,
Speaker 1: you know, I was back running things and had all
Speaker 1: the same title. Actually took years. Linda was on paper
Speaker 1: president for many many years, you know, even after Vince
Speaker 1: was acquitted in the trial in the steroid distribution trial.
Speaker 1: Um steroid conspiracy trial is actually the better term for it.
Speaker 1: But so yeah, I mean that's it's again the m O.
Speaker 1: I mean, Linda is not coming back to be CEO,
Speaker 1: So Stephanie's the one. So there you go. It's it's
Speaker 1: the It's basically a repeat, you know. The the the
Speaker 1: crux of this, this issue seems to be the amount
Speaker 1: of money that this person was paid originally, which was
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars a year, and then being bumped
Speaker 1: to two hundred thousand dollars a year allegedly as a
Speaker 1: result of this, uh, this affair with Vince. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that that's a that's a that's a real smoking gun.
Speaker 1: That's you know, like that's the one if something's gonna
Speaker 1: get him, that's the one that's going to get him. Now,
Speaker 1: the impression that I was was given is that the
Speaker 1: job that she was doing, uh, it is rare to
Speaker 1: make a hundred thousand dollars a year, and it is
Speaker 1: exceedingly rare to make two hundred thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the the structure of
Speaker 1: of w w E and what other people are making.
Speaker 1: I mean, would this be unusual in w w E
Speaker 1: to pay someone even a hundred thousand dollars for the
Speaker 1: hundred is not unusual at all. The hundred's probably about right.
Speaker 1: The two hundreds unusual, yes, okay, so, but it wouldn't
Speaker 1: be out of the ordinary for uh, someone who somewhere
Speaker 1: else might only make sixty thousand a year in w
Speaker 1: w E to do that job. It would not be
Speaker 1: unusual to perhaps and make hunter thou dollars a year,
Speaker 1: you know, the hundred thousands not unusual at all for
Speaker 1: the for the position she was hired in. The two
Speaker 1: hundred um would be on the high end for sure. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: which it was different position. She was John Moore Knight's assistant,
Speaker 1: but two d will be pretty high for that for
Speaker 1: that position. Yeah, what have you heard? Matter? Yes? Would
Speaker 1: it matter if she got that raise while she was
Speaker 1: being moved to johnny AS's position, because obviously there's a
Speaker 1: claim coming from that email that she was quote passed
Speaker 1: like a toy, which, again, depending on how sinister that
Speaker 1: line really is. You know, what is that line that that?
Speaker 1: What does that mean? And it's like, we know, were
Speaker 1: you transferred with a raise with the expectation of something
Speaker 1: where you you know, that's the timing of the raise? Well,
Speaker 1: that actually matter. I think the timing of the raise
Speaker 1: matters a whole hell lot. Yes, especially since it was
Speaker 1: in in um I believe it was in April one,
Speaker 1: which was at the same time they were cutting cost
Speaker 1: left and right. UM. Not that, you know, not that
Speaker 1: somebody doesn't get it raised. But then again, didn't they
Speaker 1: didn't they go through that period where all races were
Speaker 1: frozen and that, but that they did have Yeah, they
Speaker 1: didn't have that that period, but yeah, and I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's April or not. I have to remember
Speaker 1: my my my concern with the whole thing is that,
Speaker 1: you know, it's basically going to come down to you,
Speaker 1: can you prove that the raise was given because of
Speaker 1: the sexual relationship, because you know, if it's if they argue,
Speaker 1: we just gave her a raise. We give people raises
Speaker 1: all the time, wondering, yeah, but if there is a
Speaker 1: sexual relationship and she had the raise, even if you
Speaker 1: try to justify it and saying she was got the
Speaker 1: raise anyway, there's no way that that's a terrible, terrible look.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's the one. When I read it, it's like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and then look, they're gonna do everything they
Speaker 1: can to try to do exactly what you said, but
Speaker 1: that's just a terrible look. And has there been anything
Speaker 1: from mcdivott over the last couple of days, because usually
Speaker 1: he's on top of things. I have not heard from
Speaker 1: Jay mcdivott since this thing started, which would be in
Speaker 1: a situation like this highly unusual. Yes, not people, but unusual.
Speaker 1: A lot of people have you know, speculated on you know,
Speaker 1: lots of different things in fantasy book the McMahon's out
Speaker 1: of the picture, Evince, what if they taken over from
Speaker 1: all that stuff? I mean, have you actually had what
Speaker 1: what does happen though? If that's what I'm wondering, Have
Speaker 1: you even had time to think about the fact that
Speaker 1: there's been a McMahon promoting in Rings sports since like
Speaker 1: nineteen fift and what actually then happens after that? You know,
Speaker 1: when it comes to if Stephanie is gone, you know,
Speaker 1: then that might end? Yeah, you know that, because here's
Speaker 1: the thing. If they if if Vince gets forced out,
Speaker 1: at what point do other people on that board who
Speaker 1: don't have as much of an interest in this and
Speaker 1: looking at it from a financial they go, I want
Speaker 1: to push all these McMahon's out. We've got to move
Speaker 1: this thing forward. And then again, I know they have
Speaker 1: all that voting stock and there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: that would need to drop and happen. But if they're
Speaker 1: able to actually then physically force out of Vince out
Speaker 1: of that picture that would eventually force everybody out, would
Speaker 1: it not? Um? It could it could? Um, But I mean,
Speaker 1: like the only one we're talking about, Stephanie. It's like
Speaker 1: um and the Factor and the Hunter. He's never gonna
Speaker 1: be like when he's still on the board too. But
Speaker 1: on the board, yeah, at least for now his position,
Speaker 1: his position becomes interesting too. You know, I don't consider him.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess he's a member of the McMahon family. Um,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the last name mcmanh. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I you know, he's he's lost a lot of power
Speaker 1: in the last year, and he's got a health issue.
Speaker 1: I don't you know, um yet, Well, Dave, Actually I
Speaker 1: hate to say this. We gotta we gotta go. We
Speaker 1: gotta head to break back in a moment. Everybody will
Speaker 1: plug the Observer after the break Observer Live back in
Speaker 1: the show. Bran Elber is here Wrestling Observer Live. Mike
Speaker 1: ximbur Bby also Wrestling Observer dot com. If you have questions,
Speaker 1: text me four to five seven eight zero seven five
Speaker 1: six six and there's four to five seven eight zero
Speaker 1: seven five six six think before texting. And two things
Speaker 1: I want to uh mentioned because it had been brought
Speaker 1: up in the chat number one, that Kevin Dunne insider
Speaker 1: trading thing. That story whatever it was, was already retracted.
Speaker 1: And even before it was retracted, you know, people were saying, oh, man,
Speaker 1: Kevin Dune sold a lot of stock, like right before
Speaker 1: this broke, Like could listen if you follow the stock
Speaker 1: Uh you know who sells and etcetera. W W because
Speaker 1: that stuff is all public. Kevin Dunne sells all the time,
Speaker 1: all the time. So nothing to that story. And then
Speaker 1: the other thing I want to mention was I think
Speaker 1: you were asking Dave about like what happens if Vince's ousted?
Speaker 1: And uh, I'm not saying that Vince will not be ousted.
Speaker 1: I don't know, because I think I would not have
Speaker 1: said Wednesday, Stephanie was going to be in charge. But
Speaker 1: I will say this that that press release and this
Speaker 1: decision and the way that it was worded in the
Speaker 1: press release. You know, and I know and all of
Speaker 1: our wonderful listeners here who are who are a wrestling fans?
Speaker 1: Who have you know you've watched w W E and
Speaker 1: we have a very intelligent fan base. You guys have
Speaker 1: seen wrestling all over the world. You've seen different promotions,
Speaker 1: you have seen promotions in different eras, and I think
Speaker 1: we all know that you can run pro wrestling and
Speaker 1: you can run a successful pro wresting organization without Vince
Speaker 1: McMahon in charge. Okay, but but the people that don't
Speaker 1: follow wrestling very closely, the people that don't follow history,
Speaker 1: don't know about you know a lot about a w
Speaker 1: New Japan whatever. They are very it's like it's Vince
Speaker 1: or nothing like Vince. If Vince has gone this, this
Speaker 1: stock is just gonna fall off a cliff because nobody
Speaker 1: can do wrestling except Vince McMahon. There is very much
Speaker 1: that that feeling amongst people that you know, don't really
Speaker 1: follow this closely. And so when they sent out that
Speaker 1: press release and they were like, he's stepping down as
Speaker 1: chairman and CEO, but don't worry, he's still gonna be
Speaker 1: doing creative. He's still gonna be the guy. It's very
Speaker 1: clear that they felt that they needed to do something,
Speaker 1: but they want you to know Vince McMahon is still
Speaker 1: gonna be the brains behind this old w w E
Speaker 1: thing right here. So that tells me that like they
Speaker 1: are gonna they are gonna do anything that they can
Speaker 1: to make sure that Vince is not ousted, at least
Speaker 1: as the head of creative because I think they feel
Speaker 1: that it's not going to affect the stock in a
Speaker 1: hugely negative way to have him stepped down from that
Speaker 1: role and put another mcamahon in the role. And he's
Speaker 1: still doing everything he was doing before. But I think
Speaker 1: they are very concerned about the idea of Vince McMahon
Speaker 1: is no longer involved in this company in any way,
Speaker 1: and I think they're gonna do everything they can to
Speaker 1: avoid having to say that, Yeah, well, you know, as
Speaker 1: the pendulum swings and Vince gets older and we look
Speaker 1: at what Nick con has done for this company, and
Speaker 1: that maybe starts to become a talking point with those
Speaker 1: in w w E who obviously, look, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that Nick Con is like trying to push Vince out
Speaker 1: or anything, but when you look at the deals that
Speaker 1: ww has, it's because of what n't it con negotiated
Speaker 1: for him and he can be in charge now. And
Speaker 1: I as as time goes on again, as time goes on,
Speaker 1: it is becoming a lot of people, it's becoming a
Speaker 1: lot easier to believe that that company, you know, and
Speaker 1: you start looking at it's like, can it go on
Speaker 1: without a McMahon there, And it's like it's going to
Speaker 1: at some point it's probably going to have to. And
Speaker 1: from a corporate point of view, you know, with the
Speaker 1: Nick cons with people like that, it's it's interesting to
Speaker 1: see the way things are going to go and if
Speaker 1: this accelerates anything at all, you know, internally, and and
Speaker 1: there's a long way to go when it comes to
Speaker 1: this whole case anyway, And I'm sure the Wall Street
Speaker 1: Journal is gonna have more about it, and we'll have
Speaker 1: to see what the independent investigation isn't everything. And you know,
Speaker 1: I said yesterday, I think Vince, the way things look
Speaker 1: on the surface, is going to probably beat this out.
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about Johnny Ace, who you know,
Speaker 1: from the time he got back there there were feelings
Speaker 1: and you know, we'll see how many of those feelings
Speaker 1: have to do with past relationships once these NDAs come out,
Speaker 1: and that's you know, they're u fourinately, what's getting forgotten
Speaker 1: about in this too? Are people trying to now docks
Speaker 1: this woman you know who is has signed this nd
Speaker 1: A and who again you know, how she feels about
Speaker 1: this and and all that and anybody else that's now
Speaker 1: going to have to suffer with this as news of
Speaker 1: these nd as Again, if things worst things start leaking
Speaker 1: out from this board investigation, you know, people are going
Speaker 1: to take it upon themselves to try to find out
Speaker 1: who these people were. And it's just it's unfortunate for
Speaker 1: them the person. He says, I just wanted to remind
Speaker 1: you of my text from yesterday about Jeff Jarrett potentially
Speaker 1: taking over Creative Evince really had to go away, and hey, listen,
Speaker 1: I mean Bruce Pritchard is, Uh, he's had a lot
Speaker 1: of health issues and I think they said he just
Speaker 1: underwent emergency surgery and I don't know if that's related
Speaker 1: because he had a shoulder issue as well, and uh,
Speaker 1: he was gonna have surgery for that. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if this is the same or different. I would think
Speaker 1: that if you if you knew that you had a
Speaker 1: shoulder problem and you knew that you were gonna have
Speaker 1: surgery for it, you wouldn't have any emergency surgery. So
Speaker 1: it could be something different, but one way the other.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think it's gonna be him, you know,
Speaker 1: Triple H. I don't think it's gonna be him, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know you are starting to fall down towards uh,
Speaker 1: towards the Jeff Jarrett. I would obviously, you know, choose
Speaker 1: Paul Hayman before Jeff Jared, but I don't know what
Speaker 1: depends that this would break down and happen. And you know,
Speaker 1: I want to mention something else because this also was
Speaker 1: mentioned a lot on the board about about Hunter and uh, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you know he can't wrestle anymore, but somebody actually used
Speaker 1: the term like, you know, he could do normal person stuff,
Speaker 1: and it's like, wait, what w w E is normal
Speaker 1: person stuff? Are you where have you been? Dude? There's
Speaker 1: not one person. I bet you anything. I bet you
Speaker 1: couldn't find one person of the five hundred employees and
Speaker 1: two hundred wrestlers or whatever. You couldn't find one person
Speaker 1: working for w w E who would say I live
Speaker 1: a normal life. This is a normal job. So no,
Speaker 1: this is not a normal person thing for Triple H
Speaker 1: to do creative for w W I do not think
Speaker 1: wait a second, it also comes from the top down though,
Speaker 1: And you know that Vince doesn't sleep and that's how
Speaker 1: he hasn't lived his life and you know, maybe Hunter
Speaker 1: has been thinking, Okay, well that's true, but you're still
Speaker 1: want to stay in this business. I'm in this position
Speaker 1: right now. How can I temper this thing? You're you're
Speaker 1: correct that Vince is runs in insane crazy ship, But
Speaker 1: there are there's five hours of life TV every week.
Speaker 1: I mean, a normal person is gonna be easy. But
Speaker 1: I'm saying, but like Tony kan does four hours of
Speaker 1: TV every week to con spokes, if that guy had
Speaker 1: a hard issue, oh it would be bad. That guy
Speaker 1: runs around like a chicken with his head cut off. Ryan.
Speaker 1: I mean to be fair, though, like Dusty Rhodes had
Speaker 1: six hours in like seven, Like, I mean, that's your
Speaker 1: Rhodes didn't have a severe heart issue. That's my point.
Speaker 1: Nobody had. Yes, he had Bell's palsy, which is brought
Speaker 1: on by stress, as we saw with Jim Ross who
Speaker 1: ended up getting it twice. So actually he was going
Speaker 1: through that at the time he was doing these things.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that not a job for Triple H
Speaker 1: with a bad heart. It's not you're You're right, You're
Speaker 1: right about that. Maybe maybe, but like you can also
Speaker 1: do things without stressing yourself to the point of insanity,
Speaker 1: and god knows, we don't know what his real medical
Speaker 1: condition is right now, we don't know how healthy he is,
Speaker 1: and frankly, we also don't know what he really wants.
Speaker 1: He's obviously still involved there in a stressful position, because
Speaker 1: just doing anything in w W is stressful. Although that's
Speaker 1: that's completely and here's a completely other left turn on
Speaker 1: that is w W E for Right and for Wrong
Speaker 1: has been able to function in the way that it
Speaker 1: has and achieved the successes that it's had because they
Speaker 1: have such an iron claw insane person at the top
Speaker 1: of it. Once Vince actually goes, it is going to
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how people react, how the company reacts,
Speaker 1: you know, and just in general, what the feeling is
Speaker 1: going to be, because you know, once you have that
Speaker 1: demon out, who's got holding everything down, who in some
Speaker 1: ways that's a real negative, but in some ways, to
Speaker 1: run a successful business, it can be a positive. That
Speaker 1: change from Vince to anyone, anyone is really actually going
Speaker 1: to be whenever it happens, however it happens, is going
Speaker 1: to be fascinating. And he updates on Sasha and her
Speaker 1: possibly being released. No update, I presume if it's in
Speaker 1: the works. When it happens, it will happen, and until
Speaker 1: then there is no update. Quick look at the other
Speaker 1: stories here today. As I mentioned on the Brian and
Speaker 1: Viney show last night, So here is the story involving uh,
Speaker 1: the ladder match on Wednesday. So I was told that
Speaker 1: the at Ease originally we're going to win this ladder
Speaker 1: match and become the a W Tag Team champions. And
Speaker 1: this idea dated back a while. Okay, then when they
Speaker 1: had the match with the Young Bucks at the pay
Speaker 1: per view, Jeff had a bad day and when when
Speaker 1: the match was over, ah, it was kind of determined. Dude,
Speaker 1: these guys ain't gonna take team title run. Jeff is
Speaker 1: a is a total mess. And so when Jeff got
Speaker 1: pulled over with his point to eight or whatever it was,
Speaker 1: and he explained that he was on his way to
Speaker 1: a brain scan, he was on his way to a
Speaker 1: brain scan, because they examined Jeff Hardy afterwards, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Jeff later claimed he didn't remember any of
Speaker 1: the match, and then I believe it came out that
Speaker 1: he had he had had double vision, and apparently he'd
Speaker 1: had it for a while and he didn't tell anybody
Speaker 1: and this is dating back before a w this like
Speaker 1: issues he was having in w W E. So when
Speaker 1: they heard that, they were like, this guy's got to
Speaker 1: get a brain scan. And so once they determined that
Speaker 1: he was going to get a brain scan, he was
Speaker 1: no longer going to even be in the ladder match,
Speaker 1: much less win the titles. And so one of the
Speaker 1: ideas they discussed was, you know, the heart ease during
Speaker 1: their entrance, they get jumped and uh, and they're taken
Speaker 1: out of the match, and it's going to be the
Speaker 1: uh Jurassic Express versus the Young Bucks, and the Young
Speaker 1: Bucks end up winning the tag team titles. So that
Speaker 1: obviously didn't happen either because Jeff got a d u
Speaker 1: I and then he was off the show. Now I
Speaker 1: had a bunch of people going, so you're telling me
Speaker 1: they were gonna false advertise, they were gonna advertise them
Speaker 1: for the match, and then they wouldn't be in the match. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying. And in fact, in fact, if
Speaker 1: you don't go on on social media, they actually I
Speaker 1: mean they didn't false advertise because they did announce it
Speaker 1: on social media. But if you only watch the television show,
Speaker 1: they on Friday, We're uh, I think it was Friday,
Speaker 1: for sure, it was Wednesday. They had advertised a three
Speaker 1: way ladder match, and on Wednesday on TV they just
Speaker 1: did a tag team ladder match. They never told you
Speaker 1: why the Hardies were not in the match. They never
Speaker 1: told you what happened to Jeff Hardy. They didn't explain
Speaker 1: why they were no longer in the match. So I
Speaker 1: can't say they false advertised, because they did release it
Speaker 1: on social media. But I mean the idea that they
Speaker 1: didn't mention anything on television about why it was no
Speaker 1: longer a three way, I mean, I think that should
Speaker 1: tell you that they probably would have done this idea
Speaker 1: of beating them up. And listen, my impression was that
Speaker 1: after the d U Y it was only going to
Speaker 1: be a tag team match. But I after the the injury,
Speaker 1: when they decided to pull them from the match, I
Speaker 1: guess it's possible that Jeff would have been carted out
Speaker 1: and maybe Matt would have run back for a spot
Speaker 1: at the end, so they still technically did a three way,
Speaker 1: but regardless, that's what happened. And now, I mean, we
Speaker 1: know what happened with Jeff and uh Man. You know,
Speaker 1: it's crazy enough that he decided to do all of
Speaker 1: that drinking and then drive, Like on top of that,
Speaker 1: he decided to do all that drinking and then he
Speaker 1: was gonna drive to his brain scan. So we are
Speaker 1: we sure that his brain scan was actually Monday or
Speaker 1: did he actually just pull out, like, you know, where
Speaker 1: are you going? Like brain scan? I mean, honestly, like
Speaker 1: I'm not saying, I was given that appression that he
Speaker 1: actually was on the way to the brain scan. That's
Speaker 1: the impression I was given. You actually was on the way.
Speaker 1: And when he said, that's what happened, that's what happened.
Speaker 1: He was at that convention that the day before. You
Speaker 1: can imagine what that dude tonight was like, because I
Speaker 1: can't believe he woke up and decided I'm gonna pound
Speaker 1: literally pound a fifth the fireball, put it down and
Speaker 1: say I'm gonna go drive. It's just it's bizarre. Thank
Speaker 1: god nobody got her at a moment. Observerer Live all
Speaker 1: right the show. Brian Elbare is here wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: Mike sumbur BB also wrestling Observer dot com. So the
Speaker 1: production meeting for SmackDown is ongoing as we speak. And
Speaker 1: UH has of ten minutes ago, Vince was nowhere to
Speaker 1: be seen, so which is not entirely unusual, but you
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen as soon as he shows up,
Speaker 1: tear everything up production meeting for not But anyway, he's
Speaker 1: not there yet, but he's scheduled to be on the
Speaker 1: show tonight and Dave Meltzer scheduled to be on CNN
Speaker 1: at two Pacific five Eastern, which was a pre tape
Speaker 1: by the way, so they've already got that in the
Speaker 1: can talking about this, and then David Garrett later on
Speaker 1: tonight subscribers to Wrestling Observer dot com and they'll have
Speaker 1: the latest on that show as well. David I talked
Speaker 1: a lot about it on Wednesday. If you want to
Speaker 1: go up and listen to that show because as a
Speaker 1: subscriber to Wrestling Observer dot com, you get all the shows,
Speaker 1: thirteen thousand archived shows, so you can go up there
Speaker 1: and listen to anything that you have missed for the
Speaker 1: low low price of twelve per month. So anyway, that's that,
Speaker 1: and then UH also appearing today on Cameo me f
Speaker 1: f W online because it is Father's Day weekend and
Speaker 1: what better gift for the father in your life than
Speaker 1: a cameo from me, So check it out f W
Speaker 1: online on cameo and uh yeah, lots of great stuff.
Speaker 1: Will be back later on this weekend. Dave and I
Speaker 1: will also be up for subscribers Wrestling Observer dot Com
Speaker 1: tomorrow night maybe Sunday kind of will depend. And uh then, Mike,
Speaker 1: I missed. I missed out on so much to come
Speaker 1: back to do this show today, so I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not show and up Monday. The show is in your hands.
Speaker 1: I need a day off because I want to I
Speaker 1: want to live like a normal person doing this job.
Speaker 1: Normal people don't work all the time, so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a normal person. I'm gonna take Monday off and
Speaker 1: you're in charge, so I have fun with this guy. Everybody,
Speaker 1: you want to pull a power play on Wednesday, I'm
Speaker 1: pulling a power play today. Your show Monday, Take it
Speaker 1: or leave it. We'll talk to you next time. Everybody,
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network