Vince and Linda McMahon gave an interview just recently to CNN. During the interview they discussed a lot of things; from the amount of time performers have to stay on the road to how they feel about the Benoit situation. There are so many things that were said in the interview, and let me tell you this: Vince didn’t shut his mouth for one moment. The man answered (or half-answered) every question that the interviewer could throw at him.
I’ll give you some of the highlights, but I highly suggest that you take some time to read the entire interview, to be found here.
Here are a few of the things that caught my eye:
GRIFFIN: When you found out initially that he was dead, without knowing how, you decided to switch the show that night, and you came on, and this was going to be a tribute to Chris Benoit.
VINCE McMAHON: Right, and to his family.
GRIFFIN: Talk me through that decision. You guys with Mr. [Owen] Hart’s accidental death, you unfortunately had some experience in these kinds of things. But you made the decision right then to make it a tribute show.
VINCE McMAHON: Right, it was a last-minute split decision, obviously, to do that. We had footage, a lot of it, from Chris Benoit’s performances in the past, and again, everyone was in a state of shock. I don’t think any performers really felt like performing, because as far as we knew, someone had killed Chris and his entire family.
There was no thought that Chris could have done this, given, again, the fact that he was a mild-mannered person. So based upon that information we very quickly put together a tribute show.
GRIFFIN: Then you came on that next night and said, I’m going to be the last one that says Benoit’s name in this ring.
VINCE McMAHON: Well, again when after something like this is over and you find out, you know, the facts, regardless of whether or not we had been fooled, or whatever it may be, to put on a tribute show, the fact of the matter, that anyone who becomes a murderer, I mean, you want to disassociate yourself with that individual, there’s no question about that, from an emotional standpoint, a business standpoint, everything else.
Chris Benoit will not, and has not, defined WWE. You know, our job is to entertain people all over the world, and we do that. To me it’s the, the second greatest job you could possibly have, the first one being curing cancer or whatever it may be as a, as a research scientist or a doctor.
GRIFFIN: As a leader of an organization of wrestlers, guys who get hit in the head a lot, is that concerning?
VINCE McMAHON: Well, let me just say something about this report from a layman’s standpoint, and the report states that Mr. Benoit, Chris Benoit had a mind of an 85-year-old individual suffering from dementia, that was the quote.
So I would, as a layman certainly wonder whether or not that report has any credibility because if you’re an 85-year-old and you suffer from dementia, you can’t do what Chris Benoit did for a living. It’s impossible. You can’t function as a normal human being in terms of even getting to the airport to come to work.
So, I would question whether or not that information is accurate if they define what his problem was as an 85-year-old with dementia.
GRIFFIN: Right. Are you concerned, at all, of the pace or the lifestyle of your performers?
VINCE McMAHON: Let me just say this in terms of the pace. The average top talent in World Wrestling Entertainment wrestles approximately 120 days a year. Those that are under contact to us, and being paid, obviously, sums of money that are not top talent, wrestle an average of 70-some days a year.
I don’t know about you, but compared to the average person out there, that’s a pretty good gig. Hundred and twenty days a year, on average, if you’re a top talent.
I’m jumping in here to say that he says the talent WRESTLES 120 days a year - but doesn’t it take time to get to the matches? I vaguely remember, when Tough Enough began, the trainers saying that you had to be on the road over 270 days a year…anyone else remember that?
GRIFFIN: Do you think you’ll ever find out that it (the Benoit Tragedy) was connected in any way to his job?
LINDA McMAHON: I don’t think so.
VINCE McMAHON: Well, it might be connected to his job from the standpoint that, let’s face it, this job takes you away from home. You are away from home.
And if there were problems with that, problems with a marriage, of Chris Benoit leaving his home to have to go to work, on a weekly basis as many salesmen do year in and year out here in this country and other countries, then that could have been one of the marital problems. We’ll never know.
There is tons more to be found at the interview here. Seriously - take some time and read it - I guarantee you’ll walk away with some kind of view about Vince McMahon.
WWE CEO Linda McMahon was featured on CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer program. Mrs. McMahon joined Jim to discuss WWE’s international growth, WWE raising its dividend for public shareholders and the upcoming WrestleMania 24. To view the CNBC interview, please click 
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