Vince McMahon may be crazy, but perhaps craziness is what it takes to reach the heights he has reached, according to one former Superstar.
McMahon re-signed from TKO and WWE last week, following a lawsuit filed by ex-employee Janel Grant. Miss Grant claims that McMahon was sexually abusive to her and that he trafficked her to others in the company, including John Lauriniaits and a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. McMahon has denied the allegations against him and, via a spokesperson, has claimed the lawsuit is rife with “obscene made-up instances that never occurred.”
Justin Gabriel on Vince McMahon
One person who worked under McMahon for years as a WWE Superstar was PJ Black, better known as Justin Gabriel. On a recent edition of the Cafe de Rene podcast, Black was asked by Rene Dupree for when he realized McMahon was “bats**t crazy.”
“From day one. I mean all billionaires, I work with a lot of billionaires and I know a lot of billionaires so you have to be crazy to think on that level, you know? But I mean there’s a fine line between crazy and genius. And at the end of the day he is a genius. Say what you want about him, he’s a genius. He’s a self-made billionaire. Anyone who’s a self-made billionaire is crazy and a genius and comes with a lot of different labels.
“I’ve always had good interactions with him he’s he’s definitely a strange character, yeah. Bats**t crazy is the way to describe him. But you know like I there’s a good way to describe that and a bad way right I only saw the good sides of that so [I was]very fortunate. Very fortunate.”
Justin Gabriel on John Lauriniaitis
Former McMahon confidante John Lauriniaitis is also named in the litigation, though has claimed that he’s a victim in this situation, not a predator. On the show, Black recalled his relationship with ‘Johnny Ace’ and how his brothers once worked for the promotion run by Black’s father.
“He loved me. Because he’s the guy that signed me. He kind of knew who my dad was because his two younger brothers worked for my dad back in the day… they were big stars in South Africa. They looked great and my dad had them come to the ring with motorcycles and they had the badass metal music. They were just so over in South Africa and little did I know I was gonna get signed by their older brother one day.”
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