WWF Sex Scandal on Phil Donahue in 1992

Boy, the early 90's were a hell of a time for the WWF and Vince McMahon.



Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


This is all extremely heavy stuff here. If you've EVER wanted to see Vince at his lowest point, check this out.

Also Dave Meltzer's legendary mullet.

Speaking of the Metzle, here's what he had to say about being on this very show, from wrestleinc.com:

WrestlingINC: Then, business almost collapsed in the early-'90s. I remember you appeared on Donahue. That's one of the most memorable episodes I've ever seen. I've never seen Vince look some vulnerable and uncomfortable and I don't think you'll ever see that publicly again. What do you remember about that appearance and Vince's reaction on that show?

Meltzer: Yeah, that was a crazy period and I remember that day very well. There was a lot of stuff that happened that day. [Laughs.] I was not supposed to be sitting next to Vince. The focal point was supposed to be Vince and Bruno [Sammartino]. Vince was the big star and Bruno was the legend and they were supposed to be in the middle and I was supposed to be off to the side.

The ended up switching my chair with Bruno's because of fear of what would happen if Vince and Bruno were sitting together. Bruno was very mad at Vince at that time because a couple of days earlier, they were on Larry King. Things happened on Larry King, there was a lot of double-talk that made Bruno look bad.

Bruno brought up that the WBF announcer said so and so and so. Vince just goes, 'That guy was never the WBF announcer,' just to make Bruno look bad on TV. In fact, he was the WBF announcer. Or when the name Mel Philips came up, Vince goes, 'Mel Philips never worked a day in the WWE.'

It makes it look like Bruno is this out-of-touch guy talking about this Mel Philips, when Mel Philips was an independent contractor who had worked solely for WWF for years. Not only that, his home address for the athletic commissions was the WWF corporate offices.

Bruno was very, very upset that day at Vince and so it was for everyone's best concern that I sat next to Vince. So, I did. [Laughs.] The funny part was -- and I think a lot of people knows this -- I was talking to Vince during every commercial break. It was a long hour for him. I remember at the 45 minute mark, he said something to me like, 'This is the longest hour of my life.'

It was definitely a very different Vince from what you would see, I think, any other time. I don't think there's ever been a TV show where Vince was like that.

WrestlingINC: Yeah. The only time I can ever think of him looking vulnerable was in the Wrestling With Shadows documentary after he got punched out [by Bret Hart].

Meltzer: Yeah, that was also a very different situation.

You know, I kid about Meltzer... but he was ONE hell of a journalist here taking McMahon to task as well on some points.