Former WWE personalities/employees Jonathan Coachman, Charly Arnolt (Charly Caruso), Vince Russo, Maven Huffman, and NY Post columnist Phil Mushnick appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored to discuss the Vince McMahon allegations and their impressions of Vince from their time at WWE.
Jonathan Coachman talking about the Vince McMahon documentary:
“I spent a total of 13 years in the WWE and also my character on camera was Vince’s assistant. I think the term softball came to mind. I know Vince was very upset that it was a hit piece. I didn’t find that at all. I think it was fairly accurate when you talk about the time we spent on the road, the things he made us do, and I think the overriding sentiment that came out of that was the fact that none of us, at least not with me, did I ever feel like I could say no. I only said no one time in my entire 13 years with Vince. When I look back on it now, that’s one of the things I regret the most, but as far as accuracy, I think it was accurate, but I certainly don’t think they went far enough as far as all the things that he made a lot of us do.”
“He was a very nice man and he would do things very quietly to take care of a lot of guys that were getting older that couldn’t make a living on their own. You can’t walk into a bank after you’ve been a WWE Superstar and ask for a job. The other part of Vince, though, is he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about you. He didn’t care about your family. There was one time that I was home on Christmas Eve and I got a call to fly back to Connecticut from Kansas because Vince wanted to shoot a skit to be in the show on Monday so that he could spend time with his family. You talk about the regrets. That’s the Vince that I think I remember the most is as long as it was good for him and good for the company, he didn’t care about the fact that if we were with our parents or with our kids or with our families, and I think you’ll get that sentiment across the board. So I think it’s somewhere in the middle. But certainly as I look back, a guy that I used to respect and I was incredibly loyal for, I would never be that guy today for him. No chance.”
Vince Russo on Vince McMahon skits with the female talent:
“When I was writing the Attitude Era, and what the Attitude Era was all about was blue collar versus white collar. That’s what it was all about. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon. Austin was telling McMahon every single thing a blue collar worker would want to tell his boss. Well, when I left, all of a sudden there was a shift, and that shift was, all of a sudden, Vince is on camera with all these beautiful women making out with them, kissing them, groping them. They’re groping him. As a writer, I could have never written any of our female characters in that position because they couldn’t have said no. They would have had to say yes because it was with Vince McMahon, and they would have thought if they didn’t do this, they were going to be fired. So when I saw this type of behavior after I left, it never sat well with me. Now, I don’t know if that came from Vince or the writers, but like I said, he put all those females in a situation where they could not say no because they may have felt like their job was on the line.”
Charly Arnolt (formerly Charly Caruso) talking about working with Vince McMahon:
“So from my perspective, I didn’t always get such a clear look at who Vince McMahon was. I didn’t have to be in the writers meetings like a lot of people did. I basically would show up to work, be given a script, say this is what you’re doing, and I would generally communicate with other people on the writing staff. My bosses, which mainly included Michael Cole, he was the main one. If I had an issue, I would talk to him rather than directly talking to Vince. But what I will say is that even in my position where I wasn’t interacting with Vince on a regular basis, I think like everybody else, I always aspired to get validation from Vince McMahon because when you did cross paths with him in the back of the arena or in the hallway, if he would say something to you, it would mean something. Even a simple hello because Vince, a lot of times wouldn’t even address you, and if he would address you, it means he either found you were doing something correctly or he liked how you were going about things, and especially when you did a good job. That was like, ‘Oh my goodness. Vince just told me, good job. What did I just do that I need to now replicate each time moving forward?’ So I would say there was a lot of pressure there. Even though I didn’t talk to him a lot, when he did speak to me, it definitely resonated. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I definitely think that’s what happened with a lot of the people in the company, and especially these people that were put in situations that were maybe more uncomfortable than others. If they were getting this validation from Vince in those situations, they probably put their own self respect on the back burner because ultimately, that’s what you want to hear from the bosses of all bosses at WWE.”
Maven Huffman on Vince McMahon:
“I never knew saying no was an option. When Vince said something, it was pretty much law. I got on his bad side one time and it was right before we were getting ready to go on an extended break. An extended break for wrestlers might be an additional two or three days at home, but it was right before one of these breaks. I had an average match. Wasn’t a stinker, wasn’t a horrible match, but just wasn’t great. As soon as I came through the curtain, he was there, and he was there to let me know just how mad he was at me. He told me, ‘During your time off, you need to decide if this is the place you want to be.” Now, there’s that side of Vince, but there’s also the side of Vince where after a three year battle with cancer, the night my mom passed, I didn’t get a call from his secretary, I didn’t get a call from his wife, I got a call from Vince telling me exactly how just how sorry he was for my loss. So it’s good and bad with the man.”
Jonathan Coachman talking about Phil Mushnick:
“In my entire 13 years of being in the WWE, I never saw Phil Mushnick even try to come backstage to see what the atmosphere was like. I never saw him ask to have a sit down with any of us. I think that sometimes when you’re a journalist, and you’re trying to sell newspapers, and you’re trying to sell your column, and you know that people need to read it for you to keep that, I think that’s where Phil has always fallen on. I love a good back and forth and I would never sit up here and completely defend Vince, but I will say that Mr. Mushnick in particular, because we used to talk about him all the time, because it seemed like every other article that he would write was something about Vince, something about the WWE. There are a lot of good things that I got out of the WWE. I have two beautiful children that without the WWE, I wouldn’t have today. I had the talent that I have, the way that I do my job I got by learning in the WWE. So every article, I don’t remember anything that Phil ever wrote that had one positive thing to say about the WWE or Vince, and if you’re that kind of a writer, I don’t have a lot of respect for it.”
Vince Russo talking about Phil Mushnick:
“In 1991 when the steroid trial was going down and Vince McMahon was facing jail time, after he was found innocent of all charges, Vince and the WWE had a steroid symposium where they were going to change policies. The media was invited, including Phil Mushnick. I went to that steroid symposium because I was media at the time. I recorded the entire symposium. Phil Mushnick, who made a living out of burying Vince McMahon, was invited and did not attend. Not only did he not attend, he wrote a story in The New York Post the following day filled with untruths. How do I remember that? Because I got on the phone with Phil Mushnick. I was not working for the WWE. I was a journalist. I said, ‘Bro, you are full of crap. I have every word that was said on this tape recorder. He didn’t say some of the things that you said.’ So again, as a journalist, I asked the question, ‘What kind of a journalist are you if you’re not going to go to a symposium you’re invited to and then you’re going to report on it with false information. From that point on, Phil Mushnick had zero credibility with me.”
Charly Arnolt on Phil Mushnick:
“Well, I was not a part of WWE when Phil Mushnick was really doing most of his dirty work, but what I will say is, just by garnering a lot of knowledge throughout the course of the documentary, it seems like he was the type of guy that he definitely had it out for Vince. He would throw whatever he could at the wall to see what stuck because ultimately, there were going to be certain things that stuck. I’m sure there were certain people who would side with a guy like Phil and say, ‘Yes, I can back up your story’, but then there’s other people who would have the complete opposite to say. So Phil just seems kind of like one of those dirty journalists who no matter what, his goal was to bring down Vince McMahon. I believe that, yeah, Vince, he definitely played the bad guy well. He said in the documentary, we all heard, ‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for this business. I regret nothing in my life.’ So when you say things like that, it makes Phil’s job a whole lot easier, but judging by what Phil said, I mean, there were definitely upsides to Vince McMahon and I think a lot of people have explained it well. I do think that ultimately it was about Vince and his bottom line, but there are lots of stories about Vince really taking care of his people, and I also got to know that side of Vince as well, not personally, necessarily. I wasn’t ever looking for personal favors from Vince, but from people that I was close with in the WWE, I heard those things.”
Jonathan Coachman said Vince McMahon never told anybody to take steroids:
“I started in 1999. I was physically next to Vince more than anybody during that time from 1999 through 2008, through my character work on the show, and also because I hosted a lot of press conferences. We were on his jet together. We were flying all over the place, and not one time, Phil, not once, have I ever heard a conversation about steroid use or you need to use steroids.”
Vince Russo added, “I sat next to Vince McMahon in a room writing TV one on one, hundreds of days I’ve spent. Never once did Vince McMahon say, ‘Oh, we’re not going to push so and so because of his body, and he’s not on steroids.’ This guy’s delusional. This is what I said at the beginning of the show. Everything out of his mouth is negative about Vince.”
Charly Arnolt was asked if there are comparisons between Vince McMahon and Donald Trump’s characters:
“Yes, but I also say that in a positive sense, because I think there is a lot of showmanship involved with both of them. I think they are both what you would consider to be the ultimate types of businessmen, right? They know what sells. They know how to entertain. They know how to engage, and I think they also recognize talent in other people that then they’re able to uplift those around them to also be larger than life. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of similarities. I think that Trump, probably when you look at him now,and how he addresses people, and how he runs his rallies, I probably think he did pick up a couple of those skills from Vince McMahon in the WWE and I definitely don’t see that as a bad thing. Donald got a fan base from being in the WWE as well.”
Phil Mushnick on the work he did speaking out against Vince McMahon and the WWE:
“I made my journalistic bed here and it’s followed me. I’m proud of what I’ve done. Very proud. For another newspaper, not a tabloid, I would have won a Pulitzer for this.”
Phil Mushnick on if he believes Vince McMahon still has a part in WWE:
“I don’t think he has to wear a title on a piece of stationery. I think he’ll always be, if not omnipresent, certainly present. People like that don’t go away.”
Jonathan Coachman, Maven Huffman, Vince Russo, and Charly Arnoldt all stated that they believe Vince McMahon is not and will never be a part of the WWE again.
You can watch the full show below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
