A new report has given a disturbing insight into the WWE writer’s room and the way things were allegedly run by Vince McMahon.
It has been previously acknowledged by former employees that the creative process can be extremely hectic at times with sudden rewrites or even the entire script being torn up just moments before the live show was due to go on air. However, according to a new report, bullying and sexism became part of the process and some rumoured “McMahonisms” appear to be the truth.
Krystie Lee Yandoli of Rolling Stone recently published a new exposé on what things were like for the writers and producers when McMahon was in charge. While 5 out of 6 members of the team remained anonymous to protect their identities, former writer Michael Leonardi is the only one to be officially identified. Leonardi was terminated after 10 months in the company and recalled a particular moment where he was shouted at by the former Chairman for making a change to a script to make it less racially insensitive:
“He turned to me and he said, ‘So you didn’t give me what I wanted?’ I said, ‘I understand, I’m sorry. We all went over it and felt good about it, we just made the small tweak.’ And then he started just yelling at me. It was such an intense moment. I walked out with my tail between my legs.”
Leonardi’s change was due to the original script stating that Neville, a white wrestler, would say he has a dream to win the Royal Rumble, referencing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. With Neville being uncomfortable about delivering the line, the segment was tweaked so that R-Truth, who is black, would say the line instead. The tweak caused the aforementioned issues with McMahon.
Fear and intimidation remain constant factors throughout WWE according to one of the anonymous writers, who sees it as the main driving force:
“WWE is a kingdom ruled by fear. It is the motivating factor everywhere: fear.”
The article continues, noting that the writers saw 2 camps in staff, those who were used to McMahon’s ways and others who had come in from outside entertainment and had never experienced anything like it in their professional careers. As one writer recounts, if an employee was on the receiving end of a verbal berating then they were helpless as no one dared to speak up:
“Everybody was getting yelled at all the time in the room. It was more saying shit that was humiliating or mean [that was then] couched as a joke, but it’s a nasty joke.” The writer adds, “If you’re being targeted in the room, nobody stands up for you, but that’s because if they do, they will get the bullet in the head, too. You don’t stick your head up out of the foxhole for anybody, because nobody wants to take a bullet.”
In interviews with former executives, weird tropes such as McMahon hating sneezing and not allowing others to sit until he did were brought up to the bemusement of fans. According to the Rolling Stone interview, these tropes were true along with a strict formal dress code that included the clause “all employees were instructed to keep their shoes shined at all times.”
The article also touches on the last minute rewrites and lack of trust in the writers, with McMahon having the final say in the scripts and often tearing them all up, which one former writer believes to be McMahon’s mind games for his own amusement:
“It doesn’t really matter what he said in that creative room or if he loved it [at an earlier point], it was still going to get torn up before the show. By the time Monday rolled around and we were all in the production meeting, something else was gonna happen. It almost felt like a joke, like we were just there to satisfy Vince’s whims. We were all Vince McMahon transcribers.”“I think Vince enjoyed the manipulation. He liked changing things. He liked keeping people on their toes. I genuinely felt like, this isn’t to benefit the show or the storyline, Vince really just enjoys making people squirm.”
“They would touch me where they would have me come closer [to them],” she claims. “They would pull me by my waist to come somewhere or move closer to them. I’m just super aware that it’s kind of close to my butt and most people don’t touch me by the waist ever. I thought, ‘This is strange.’”
“There are a lot of people complicit in continuing this culture,” one former writer says. “I am highly doubtful it’s changed, even with Triple H in charge. I just don’t think it really can.”
Spokesperson For Vince McMahon Responds
Although WWE representatives did not respond when asked for a request for comment, McMahon’s team did contact Rolling Stone and claimed the comments to be nothing more than disgruntled employees who were in the majority:
“Scores of writers could share tales of what an enjoyable, creative and freewheeling environment the WWE writers rooms were. This handful of (obviously disgruntled) individuals aren’t representative in any way of the consensus — or of the truth.”
In reference to the segment involving Neville, this has been denied:
“[McMahon had] an extremely hands-on approach [with WWE scripts]. That’s why the idea of him suggesting or approving the use of a famous Martin Luther King, Jr. quote for a punchline to be used by a white British character is so ridiculous. It simply didn’t happen.”
Featured image: WWE
