I’ve seen so many takes on the ongoing-but really just getting started-soap opera of Vince McMahon that I have to make a correction: apparently McMahon lived in the same building as Janel Grant’s parents. That goes completely off the rails from earlier reports of a house they lived in. It means that Janel was not unknown to McMahon at all, and the story of someone in the WWE telling him her story of loss didn’t happen. That would blow my theory of his grooming her as some vulnerable waif prime for exploitation out of the water.
But isn’t it strange that nobody making money off Patreon-fueled videos or websites for “entertainment news” has ever been in such a situation? More importantly, they have never been groomed by a cult leader before and certainly never made it to the status of cult member?
These people may mean well. But they’re making mistakes and actually could affect public opinion against Grant, which is already showing signs of being fanned. That’s bad. In a civil trial by jury against WWE/TKO, she would have some support in the court of public opinion, which by no means is a small thing.
Then, too, there’s the problem of a federal criminal investigation, which can halt the entire process as it must take precedence. This is a snowball rolling down a mountain, like an old cartoon.
At the core right now is a series of texts between Grant and McMahon. Hers reportedly showed lurid, long, and then graphic garbage alleged to have been sent by him to her, texts she responded to with equal amounts of astoundingly graphic content. She’s already being judged for it, too. Kevin Nash is defending McMahon and said that he had never known Vince to write like that. Well, Kevin, I’m sure glad for your two cents’ worth, and fuck you very much. You apparently came from a time before texting and were slow to get into it. Also apparent is that you’re not a woman and not an object of his lust and preferences. You know what I think, Kev? I think you’re being paid. That’s going to come back on you. It will. You should go back home and play video games.
I’m not going to attack or accuse Janel Grant of anything. It looks very much like the WWF and WWE under Vince McMahon was a bona-fide cult. Grant was given a job. One that could keep her off the streets. In exchange, she was unaware but still conditioned to be dependent. It’s the most common element of all cults: dependency and the unreasonable fear of being abandoned and ending up on the streets. All cults use it. Among mental illnesses, there are doctors who deem themselves gods and who want personality disorders removed from the “Bible of mental disorders.” But that’s because of two things: insurance companies, and learned behavior and how difficult it is to treat. For many, like myself, treatment has lasted decades, and I’m still dreadfully affected. Some things… just don’t go gently into that dark night. Some hurts never heal. Some things can’t be fixed.
With me, 20 years of being told I was nothing without him, that I would die on the streets without him, made me believe that I was stupid, and my father had me. I was nothing without him. And every time I got away from him, I failed. I had to go back.
Being back under his control but getting a steady paycheck, I’d follow his every command. It was normal to work 18-20 hour days. It was normal to have to do too much, and a lot of it was stuff nobody else would do. All because I was scared of being on my own. Scared of dying out there on the streets, a fate he’d been predicting since I was too young to consider that he was using abandonment as a threat, which to a kid means simply, death. They don’t understand death. But they know they’ll be alone, cold, hungry. Hated by their own family.
I submit that his reinforcement with religion further terrified both myself and siblings, rendering all of us fucked up. We’re largely estranged now, but I’ll still jump at the chance to see my nephews and nieces, two brothers, and one sister, all of whom I adore. The rest are not my enemies, though I’ve maligned them horribly in the past. I do love them, but a reunion with them is out of the question. Neither they nor I wish it. But after time, I just can’t hate anymore.
I further posit that men and women who have never been in Ms. Grant’s shoes don’t know what it’s like to be that victimized, dependent, and brainwashed. Therefore, they cannot presume to judge her. As an example, I’m going to use a few simple lines from the classic film “The Caine Mutiny,” starring Humphrey Bogart, Van Heflin, Fred McMurray and José Ferrer.
- Doctor Dickson: If I may speak, sir, I would like to protest the counsel’s twisting of words. There’s a big difference between real mental illness and minor mental disturbances.
- Barney Greenwald: Let me put it this way, doctor: could Captain Queeg have been disabled by the severe stain of command?
- Doctor Dickson: That’s absurdly hypothetical.
- Barney Greenwald: Is it? Have you ever had any sea duty, doctor?
- Doctor Dickson: No.
- Barney Greenwald: Have you ever been at sea?
- Doctor Dickson: No.
- Barney Greenwald: How long have you been in the Navy?
- Doctor Dickson: Five months.
- Barney Greenwald: Have you ever had any dealings with ship’s captains before this case?
- Doctor Dickson: No.
- Barney Greenwald: Then I suggest that you cannot set yourself up as an authority on the strain of command, and thus you may be completely wrong about Captain Queeg.
- [to the prosecutor]
- Barney Greenwald: Your witness
In other words, those who talk but don’t know should shut up.
This will play out however circumstances allow, and we can’t see that now. I’ve never been to a wrestling show, and I’ve never spoken with Vince McMahon. I have, however, been in very close proximity to him. I can only sense good folks by failing to sense extreme anger, jealousy, hatred, and other negative things. I knew who he was the second our eyes made contact. I also felt a steady sense of danger and shocking evil in the man, and his stare was withering. I know what he is because I grew up with a father just like him. I could sense his evil because I’d had to learn to do so while surviving every day with a violent, sociopathic man who was more concerned with power and image than he was for the normal growth and development of his own children. They were so much alike that it froze me. I can never forget it.
To prove just how concerned with image McMahon was, when Ashley returned from the WWE visit to the troops overseas and reported that she had been raped and sodomized, he told her it wouldn’t be good for the WWE if word of the incident were made public. He said to her, “Let’s not let one bad experience ruin the good that we’re doing,” and added that it would damage the relationship between the WWE and the US military.
One bad experience?
REALLY?
“One bad experience” is what he actually called it and this proves that he is a sociopath with no capacity for sympathy, no ability to act on right and wrong, even if he knew the difference. And Asley eventually took her own life. Neither McMahon nor the WWE’s board ever offered her counseling or any other kind of crisis intervention. They never do that. Wrestlers are private contractors who are ineligible for any healthcare benefits. Ashley was no different. Other ex-female “contractors” or, if you will, “Divas,” are already coming back from retirement to haunt McMahon. As well they should. Sometimes, it takes that one person to get up the courage to confront and square off against a monster before others also come forth, overcoming their fears to fight the beast. I don’t think they’re all about money, either, although Vince is definitely going to offer cash settlement monies to all of them. I think they want his hide.
Let’s let the facts be revealed in time and not do the victim shaming crap like Kevin Nash and others. That’s too easy and quite often wrong.
I trust victims. If they’re proved to be liars, that’s one thing. But that hasn’t happened yet. Give them all the benefit of the doubt. It’s the right thing to do. Because we all know that this world is ruled by men and they have a record of causing great harm to women.
One more item before I go. Stephanie McMahon has some kind of highly questionable relationship with her father, and she’s twisted. The question is, how much did The Rock know, and how deep did he get in the shit? His sudden move to the board of TKO is just too bizarre. It’s ill-timed and shows lack of vision. He’s made questionable decisions before and starred in some really bad movies, but he had it made. This, this is suspicious. I think he should bail. If he doesn’t, he’s there for damage control. Bad move, Rock. Bad move.
Memoirs of an American Asshole 