The wrestling news headlines, fortuitous as they may be, have landed with a thud, like the Sunday paper, on the doorstep of Linda McMahon Campaign Headquarters in Connecticut. 
The co-founder of WWE, ex-wife of wrestling icon Vince McMahon, and candidate for the US Senate, McMahon has been questioned repeatedly along the campaign trail about the violence, injuries, drug use and exploitation of women that has been tied to the WWE. While that line of questioning was all in the generic theme of the wrestling industry, now McMahon finds herself having to answer specific questions about specific events that are the subject of current news reports, and her handling of these most recent incidents has raised new criticism of how she and her firm treat their employees..
There was never a question that McMahon’s involvement in WWE would be part of the narrative of the Connecticut Senate race in which McMahon is going up against Democratic opponent, attorney-general Richard Blumenthal. The McMahon-WWE link has already been raised as a campaign issue by Blumenthal, who has offered a number of arguments as to why McMahon should be held responsible for the actions of her company. The cagy prosecutor will leave it to the jury, in this case — the voting public — to connect the dots.
McMahon, to her credit, has been open and candid in answering questions about her role in WWE. The experienced entertainment company executive is betting that voters will tune-out talk of wrestling, WWE and simulated sex with corpses, because they’re more interested in issues that affect their lives. And the painting of McMahon as responsible for all the bad things that have happened in the lifetime of the WWF/WWE is a hard storyline to follow to its conclusion, because it always goes back to the fact that she is merely an executive in the company, and has never body-slammed anyone. She never was the one in the ring taking part in a misogynistic ritual, or breaking someone’s neck (literally), which is why videos depicting such antics, as disturbing as they may be, did not gain much traction for Democrats.
But now that Labor Day has passed, the real campaigning begins, and with all the battle cries for Democrats to get off the couch and lace-up the gloves, with stories about dead wrestlers and drug-addicted wrestlers sitting in jail, the WWE-McMahon link is ready to become a bit more heated in the weeks ahead. While it may be difficult to argue that McMahon is responsible for an injury resulting from someone lunging off a turnbuckle, she is responsible for corporate governance and policy. That means it’s fair game to investigate WWE’s business dealings, the treatment of its workers, its health care policies and the WWE’s overall philosophy concerning the wellness of its employees. World Wrestling Entertainment employees — specifically the WWE wrestlers — are the key asset to the company’s multi-million dollar success.
You can’t say Linda McMahon didn’t see this coming. While she had no crystal ball to forewarn her of an impending cluster of wrestler stories that would make headlines in August and September, there was no need to consult the Oracle to predict the obvious — that her record as an executive at the WWE would come front-and-center as a campaign issue. It had to — because there’s not much else for McMahon to talk about. She has no track record as an elected official and is running on her executive experience and the fact that she comes from the corporate world and is not a Washington insider. A candidate such as McMahon has to expect that the focus will ultimately be aimed questions about her days as a corporate executive, and with no elective experience — it’s almost an invitation for a microscopic look into your business dealings
Now locked in a tight race, McMahon is in the difficult position of running as a corporate executive who doesn’t have very much to talk about, except her days as a corporate executive. And it just turns out that the industry in which she works is widely regarded as “unsavory.” If all this wrestling talk is a turn-off to voters, that’ll work just fine for the Republican. But if voters find some interest in the gory details, and the specifics about working for WWE is about as scary as any horror film, McMahon is in for some tough days ahead as we approach the election.
The co-founder of WWE, ex-wife of wrestling icon Vince McMahon, and candidate for the US Senate, McMahon has been questioned repeatedly along the campaign trail about the violence, injuries, drug use and exploitation of women that has been tied to the WWE. While that line of questioning was all in the generic theme of the wrestling industry, now McMahon finds herself having to answer specific questions about specific events that are the subject of current news reports, and her handling of these most recent incidents has raised new criticism of how she and her firm treat their employees..There was never a question that McMahon’s involvement in WWE would be part of the narrative of the Connecticut Senate race in which McMahon is going up against Democratic opponent, attorney-general Richard Blumenthal. The McMahon-WWE link has already been raised as a campaign issue by Blumenthal, who has offered a number of arguments as to why McMahon should be held responsible for the actions of her company. The cagy prosecutor will leave it to the jury, in this case — the voting public — to connect the dots.
McMahon, to her credit, has been open and candid in answering questions about her role in WWE. The experienced entertainment company executive is betting that voters will tune-out talk of wrestling, WWE and simulated sex with corpses, because they’re more interested in issues that affect their lives. And the painting of McMahon as responsible for all the bad things that have happened in the lifetime of the WWF/WWE is a hard storyline to follow to its conclusion, because it always goes back to the fact that she is merely an executive in the company, and has never body-slammed anyone. She never was the one in the ring taking part in a misogynistic ritual, or breaking someone’s neck (literally), which is why videos depicting such antics, as disturbing as they may be, did not gain much traction for Democrats.
But now that Labor Day has passed, the real campaigning begins, and with all the battle cries for Democrats to get off the couch and lace-up the gloves, with stories about dead wrestlers and drug-addicted wrestlers sitting in jail, the WWE-McMahon link is ready to become a bit more heated in the weeks ahead. While it may be difficult to argue that McMahon is responsible for an injury resulting from someone lunging off a turnbuckle, she is responsible for corporate governance and policy. That means it’s fair game to investigate WWE’s business dealings, the treatment of its workers, its health care policies and the WWE’s overall philosophy concerning the wellness of its employees. World Wrestling Entertainment employees — specifically the WWE wrestlers — are the key asset to the company’s multi-million dollar success.
You can’t say Linda McMahon didn’t see this coming. While she had no crystal ball to forewarn her of an impending cluster of wrestler stories that would make headlines in August and September, there was no need to consult the Oracle to predict the obvious — that her record as an executive at the WWE would come front-and-center as a campaign issue. It had to — because there’s not much else for McMahon to talk about. She has no track record as an elected official and is running on her executive experience and the fact that she comes from the corporate world and is not a Washington insider. A candidate such as McMahon has to expect that the focus will ultimately be aimed questions about her days as a corporate executive, and with no elective experience — it’s almost an invitation for a microscopic look into your business dealings
Now locked in a tight race, McMahon is in the difficult position of running as a corporate executive who doesn’t have very much to talk about, except her days as a corporate executive. And it just turns out that the industry in which she works is widely regarded as “unsavory.” If all this wrestling talk is a turn-off to voters, that’ll work just fine for the Republican. But if voters find some interest in the gory details, and the specifics about working for WWE is about as scary as any horror film, McMahon is in for some tough days ahead as we approach the election.
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