Griffin Kaye
WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon’s return to the WWE after stepping down pending a sexual misconduct trial has won The Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s 2023 award for ‘Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic of the Year’.
The Incident
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2022, WWE head honcho Vince McMahon paid out $12 million in hush money payments to four women he had sexual relations with.
One wrestler was allegedly paid $7.5 million for giving McMahon oral sex, afterwards being demoted and allowing their contract to expire. Another harrowing case claims that McMahon was the perpetrator of sexual harassment, sending unsolicited nude photographs to an ex-WWE contractor.
In light of these allegations, an internal investigation took place as Vince McMahon stepped down temporarily from his roles of power.
In January 2023 however, Vince, as the majority shareholder, was able to make a comeback. Voted back unanimously by the board, it was seen as a part of efforts to sell the company to Endeavor in April of that year.
Once in power, McMahon went on to give himself unprecedented power. He removed several board members and replaced them with loyalists George Barrios and Michelle Wilson in what Sports Illustrated remarked was “not a minor change or two [but] an overhaul of the now eight-person board.”
Showing his authority, one amendment read: “No further approval of the stockholders of the Company is required to approve any of the actions taken by Mr McMahon pursuant to the January 16th Consent,” meaning Vince could sell the company without board approval.
There were reports that the on-screen product was also impacted despite WWE’s pleas that it was not. Several television scripts were repeatedly ripped up, even as the show was live.
Wrestling Observer Vote
WWE enabling Vince to return and TKO keeping him in a position of power won the fan results with 197 votes.
It beat the WWE’s continued partnership with Saudi Arabia, which came second with 140, and the infamous cocaine spot from NWA’s Samhain show.
This year’s winner is a continuation of the McMahon saga. In 2022, 704 fans voted Vince McMahon’s on-screen appearance for a cheap pop after the allegations as the most disgusting moment, beating, amongst other things, the Saudi Arabia deal and Ric Flair’s final match.
Other previous winners include firing wrestlers during a pandemic while making record profits (2020, 2021), the Saudi Arabia deal (2018, 2019), and using Reid Flair in a 2015 angle between Paige and Charlotte.
The WWE has won this award every year since 2017 and on all but three occasions in the 21st century.
