Illustrated by Jay Burdine

Vince McMahon getting kicked by a giant boot color

In January, a lightning bolt hit the professional wrestling world when Vince McMahon, the longtime chairman who helped build World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) into the biggest wrestling company in the world, was accused of sex trafficking and sexual assault.

These allegations emerged in a 67-page lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant that also implicated others within WWE — including former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis and, although not directly named, former WWE and UFC world champion Brock Lesnar.

Following the allegations, McMahon quickly resigned from the board of directors of WWE’s parent company, TKO. This is actually not the first time McMahon left WWE due to a sexual misconduct allegation, as he left the company in 2022 in the wake of allegations of sexual assault and misuse of company funds before forcing his way back onto the board of directors.

McMahon being accused of something so horrific and being ousted from WWE is certainly surprising. With that said, those who have followed WWE programming over the course of his reign over the company may be significantly less taken aback than others.

I have been a wrestling fan for most of my life, and the main thing that comes to mind when I think about McMahon’s reign in WWE is the extent to which his iron grip over creative control influenced the product, both for better and (mostly) for worse. He wrote himself into storylines, he had massive influence over everything that happened on television and he just generally was a totalitarian in every respect.

With this in mind, one particular aspect of WWE programming under McMahon’s supervision is quite chilling. Up until quite recently, women’s wrestlers in WWE were essentially treated as side shows to be gawked at by male audiences in between the matches and promos that actually mattered, particularly in the late 1990s through the early 2010s.

WWE did not have a shortage of talented women’s wrestlers during that time period, with names including Chyna, Lita, Trish Stratus and Gail Kim among others. Nonetheless, they were all relegated to an extremely demeaning status on WWE programming.

During this era, women were referred to not as wrestlers or “Superstars” like the men, but as “Divas.” Their matches were pitifully short, and their characters were one-dimensional. They largely weren’t allowed to participate in some of WWE’s most popular match types including Hell in a Cell, Royal Rumble or even basic no-disqualification matches.

Some “special” match types women could participate in, however, included “bra and panties matches” where the objective was to strip your opponent down to their underwear, pillow fights, mud wrestling and many other varieties of blatantly sexualizing and demeaning gimmick matches.

Everything I’ve mentioned thus far probably already sounds horrifying to non-wrestling fans, but don’t worry — it actually gets worse. Some of WWE’s demeaning treatment of women on television actually featured McMahon himself and his own family.

One segment from 2001 featured McMahon forcing Trish Stratus — one of the most talented women’s wrestlers in history — to get down on her knees and bark like a dog in the middle of the ring. Another example was McMahon humiliating and demeaning wrestler Ashley Massaro in a backstage segment (allegedly after she refused to sleep with him). McMahon also repeatedly wrote his own daughter Stephanie McMahon into sexualized storylines, at one point pitching an incest storyline with her involving himself and his son Shane.

While it’s true that — even with his history of booking decisions in mind — nobody could have known the full extent of McMahon’s depravity behind the scenes, it’s a testament to the deeply ingrained nature of sexism in our culture that it took so long for these allegations to come out. Bad behavior towards women should not be swept under the rug just because it can’t directly be called sexual misconduct.

McMahon’s history of poor treatment and exploitation of women is long and well-documented. Him being allowed to be in WWE for so long shows that many who are in a position to make necessary changes often won’t because it’s easier to let things slide. When those who indirectly enabled dangerous individuals, such as current WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, stick around, they allow more dangerous people to exist within the institutions they manage.

So to anyone who is in a position of power and manages someone who has exhibited alarming behavior, or someone who has the power to call attention to the bad behavior of someone you know, do not sweep it under the rug. Do not allow it to go unchecked, because you are overseeing a disaster waiting to happen. Sexism and sexual abuse are viruses that are integrated into every societal institution, and you have the power, no matter who you are, to help weed it out.