FLASHBACK: VINCE MCMAHON ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT TANNING SALON (5 YRS AGO)
Feb 10, 2011 - 2:04:56 PM |
Bookmark us!
BY WADE KELLER
Sorry for not updating this blog more this week. I've been battling a really nasty cold the last week, so I've been more limited in my work hours as a result. I've kept up on everything but this blog. VIP members who have heard my voice this week on my Keller Hotlines can attest to what I disaster I sound like!
I do want to pull an article from a back issue we just posted online for PWTorch VIP members with my analysis of the sexual harassment allegations levied against McMahon ten years ago. Check out my "End Notes" commentary from PWTorch Newsletter #899 and then comment below...
WADE KELLER'S END NOTES
PWTORCH NEWSLETTER #899
COVER-DATED FEB. 11, 2006
Vince McMahon was the subject of newspaper reports that would be welcome if his on-air heel character were really him - except for the rejection part. Vince McMahon plays a philanderer on air, and WWE.com even played up his flaunting of his extramarital flings in a video last week before the news broke of a woman accusing him of sexual harassment.
Reported the South Florida Sun-Sentinal:
On Sunday, the 22-year-old Tanzabar employee told police that she led McMahon to tanning room No.3 and that McMahon asked if she could use his camera phone to take his picture.
She obliged and then gave the camera phone back to McMahon, who then showed her nude and semi-nude photos of himself on the camera phone, the police report shows.
According to the report, the woman asked McMahon to stop.
Once the 20-minute session was over, McMahon talked to her again, she told police. She walked over to the tanning suite and McMahon followed, closed the door, and tried kissing her, she told police. She pushed McMahon away as he tried to lift up her shirt, she said.
If McMahon had written the script, the woman would have said "yes" to him, only to later claim she didn't consent to anything - basically a parallel of the Batista-Melina storyline. The woman rejecting the man isn't part of any script he'd conjure up.
Newspaper reports say that after tanning session, he sat in his car for 20 or 30 minutes before leaving.
This whole situation is especially embarrassing to McMahon, and the timing couldn't be much worse.
For one, McMahon planned to play up the most exaggerated of his "drug, sex, and rock 'n' roll" persona in his feud with Shawn Michaels. For the sake of p.r. and not confusing the all-too-vulnerable mainstream reporters, he may have to tone down one of the primary storylines headed into WrestleMania.
The location was pretty bad - right in his vacation home backyard. The same community where he and Linda McMahon retreat for some R&R in their $6 million vacation home. How can Linda hang with the women with stories going around publicly of her husband acting in such a way?
McMahon also comes across as a hypocrite if he doesn't acknowledge this on the air as a ratings ploy. That the strategy utilized when Ric Flair's road rage accusation and embarrassing divorce papers were used as part of an ongoing storyline on Raw. How can McMahon, with any semblance of credibility, justify not doing the same thing now regarding his embarrassing situation? There was no hint of it being acknowledged on Raw this week.
Rejection. The worst part of all is that the 22 year old employee turned down his request. On TV, all of the women love the attention Vince gives them. They admire his power and his muscles and his money and his bravado and his handsome features. Oh, and his charm. Now, he's being painted as a perverted dirty old man, not a rich playboy and babe magnet.
Will McMahon, who takes pride in not settling out of court, decide to try to end this quietly?
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but what if this leads to Linda McMahon filing for divorce? What if for some reason Linda believes the allegations and decides she's had enough. We've already reported in these pages that Linda has indicated she's at a point where simplifying her life and being a grandmother who bakes cookies for the grandkids has more appeal to her than continuing to run a large corporation. Maybe she's ready to take her half, cut her ties, and live a different life in her golden years? What if, huh?
That could mean a battle over control of WWE, a takeover attempt where a large shareholder buys Linda's shares, or Shane and Stephanie having to take sides. It could end up being one of the biggest stories in pro wrestling history, all stemming from a 22 year old who reported to police that a muscular 60 year old harassed her. She apparentlyl didn't even know who he was at the time.
Please Recommend or Like This Article on Twitter or Facebook
CLICK HERE to return to Wade Keller Blog home page
CLICK HERE to jump to PWTorch.com's main page
MORE RECENT WK BLOG ARTICLES...
Comment on this Article Below
|