Linda McMahon, a co-founder of Titan Sports, Inc. and a key architect in the global expansion of WWE, recently opened up about one of the most difficult periods in her and her husband Vince McMahon’s life: the time they went into bankruptcy.
While many might assume their financial struggles were related to the inherent risks of the wrestling business, Linda clarified that the bankruptcy was the result of a failed outside investment. Her story provides a candid look at the challenges they faced in the early 1980s, just as they were beginning to transform WWE from a regional territory into a national powerhouse.
Speaking in a recent interview with Sage Steele, Linda McMahon was asked if she ever worried that their ambitious plans for WWE wouldn’t work out. She explained that the company’s financial ruin came from a different venture entirely.
“No, because we were building as we went. However, during that time, we did have an accountant who suggested that we were putting all of our eggs in one basket, and we should diversify a little bit. He made some suggestions that we should invest in a construction company. We knew absolutely nothing about it. We put money into some construction accounts, co-signed on some loans. That went belly up, which eventually put us into bankruptcy. It wasn’t the wrestling side of what we were doing, but it was the other side that we invested in, outside of what we were doing with wrestling. We lost everything. My house was auctioned off. My car was repossessed in the driveway. I was pregnant with Stephanie. I know what it’s like to lose everything.”
Linda McMahon later went on to have a successful career in public service, most notably serving as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019.