For many years the quintessentially Trumpian phenomenon of pro wrestling has been either not worth the time of respectable commentators or too big to fail — I forget which. Today it’s a lurid series of revelations about Vince McMahon, erstwhile boss of WWE, in the Wall Street Journal, newspaper of record of the financial class.
On the heels of the Journal’s 2022 report that McMahon and his publicly traded company had paid out nearly $15 million in hush money to former employees who alleged a longtime pattern of sexual harassment and abuse, he momentarily stepped down. Then, because he still retained majority control through ownership in the class of preferred voting stock, McMahon staged a comeback. Last year he sold WWE to Endeavor Group Holdings, the Hollywood powerhouse run by former superagent Ari Emanuel. Endeavor combined WWE and mixed martial arts troupe UFC into a new entity, TKO Group.
