Matt Hardy believes Vince McMahon liked to abuse people.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Former WWE broadcast personality Todd Grisham discussed how Mr. McMahon used him to play cruel pranks on Jim Ross multiple times. This has led to a renewed discussion in wrestling circles about how the former WWE chairman treated his employees.
The Attitude Era star, who worked under McMahon for a long time, recently gave his opinion on the matter as well. Speaking on his podcast, Matt Hardy claimed that Vince had a thing for putting people in uncomfortable positions:
“I mean, I felt like Vince had a thing for putting people in positions that made them feel uncomfortable, and he kind of got off on that, in all honesty. That was like one of his things. And I felt like he did that with JR quite a bit. That became a regular, common thing there."
I Think He Was Abusive: Matt Hardy
Matt Hardy said that Vince McMahon would make things harder for people who said no or showed signs of weakness in front of him. While the philosophy behind it might have been about growth, the former ECW Champion noted that it led to the wrestling promoter becoming abusive with many of his employees:
"I feel like anytime he put us in positions where—and I feel like sometimes he said—’if you don’t go into areas or positions where you feel uncomfortable, you will never grow.’ And in some ways, that is true. But in some ways too, I think he was abusive with it as well. And JR probably was one of the guys he was more abusive with in many, many ways."
Jim Ross himself had recently talked about his experiences with McMahon. The veteran commentator suggested that the issues between the two stemmed from jealousy. You can check out his remarks here.