Former WWE co-President George Barrios has detailed his return to the company and the Vince McMahon allegations that first emerged in 2022.
Barrios spoke with POST Wrestling’s John Pollock to discuss his book, Sometimes Wrong but Never in Doubt: How a Cuban Kid from Queens Transformed WWE. Part of the interview focused on Barrios making his return to the board of directors in 2022.
Barrios’ return occurred after Vince McMahon resigned from WWE for the first time in July 2022. McMahon resigned following an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, claiming that there were undisclosed hush money payments. Even though McMahon announced his retirement in the summer of 2022, he would return in early 2023 to facilitate a sale of WWE to the Endeavor group.
In January 2024, the initial Wall Street Journal report evolved into the Janel Grant case. Grant, a former WWE employee, alleged she was the victim of sexual assault and trafficking, with McMahon and WWE among the defendants.
In the interview with John Pollock, Barrios stated what he knew about the McMahon allegations and his conversation with McMahon to bring him and Michelle Wilson back to the board of directors:
“I’ll be honest, I knew about it. I wasn’t spending my time pouring over things because everything that was being alleged either happened long before we got there, and I think there was one that happened after. My recollection was it wasn’t anything while we were there that anybody was alleging, so I wasn’t paying that much attention. And a lot of the stuff, as you know John, had already been out there, so it wasn’t new. There was some elements of non-disclosure stuff and payments, things like that, but some of the stuff, like the fact that he had an affair, was not new.
So, in any event, when he does call me and says, “Hey, look, I want to do one other big thing. I need the A-team. The current folks are great, but they’re not up to something that big. Would you and Michelle come back?” This part I’ll keep private. We did have a conversation about it. Number one, I was with the guy for 12 years, and I saw the character he displayed around me. That’s what I have to go on. When he said what he said to me on that call, the combination of my experience with him and what I saw and what I knew, I said, “Yeah, I’m comfortable.”
Barrios was also asked if he had read the details of Grant’s lawsuit against McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis, who was later dropped from the lawsuit:
“I read a lot of stuff. I’m not a lawyer. I did talk to one. Part of me said, some of this stuff doesn’t seem to make sense. Explain it to me, even the chronology and so on. Ultimately, did I read it? Yes. Did I get comfortable with it? Yeah. I don’t want to comment on anyone’s particular perspective, but I got comfortable with it.”
George Barrios Addresses Loyalty To Vince McMahon
When Barrios made his return to WWE, there was speculation that he was a loyalist to McMahon. Barrios responded that while he and McMahon had a great business relationship, he did not describe himself as one of McMahon’s “buddies”:
“No. I’m not a loyalist to anybody. In fact, I’m somewhat of a disagreeable person. I do what I think is right, and if somebody doesn’t like it, I’m very comfortable if somebody doesn’t like the decisions I make. For better or worse, that’s the way I’m built. I always say Vince and I had an amazing business relationship. It was like high-performing teammates. We weren’t buddies. We weren’t chit-chatting, and part of it is I think there was a modicum of respect. I wasn’t in there trying to kiss his ass. He had been surrounded by that for a long time. That’s not me, for better or for worse. A loyalist? No. I’m loyal, but I’m not a loyalist. I don’t do sh*t because somebody said, “Hey, I need you to do this, come in.” That’s not me. I do it because I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Featured image: WWE
