I was going to do a long post on the "role" of others last night, but couldn't find the ambition to do it after reading the document. I decided to do it today, so its not really a response to your comment, but just my view on this aspect.
They documented a lot of horrible stuff done by Vince, but wide spread distribution of videos was not one of them. I'll address that aspect towards the bottom of the post. It's a long - I just started typing and it got longer and longer.
Regarding what others knew, this is summarily covered in Section IV of the Document on page 48 through 52. It's very unconvincing in terms of establishing knowledge of abuse. I'll talk more about it below. But as strong as the document was convincing us that Vince committed extreme physical and mental abuse , it lacked in this other regard. I would certainly read the document to form an opinion -- I wouldn't rely too heavily on tribalistic wrestling media to form any opinion in this specific regard.
This will be a long post. I tried to read the document with an open mind. I had a few specific thoughts in mind but I really focused on whether other individuals had / should have had a knowledge of the abuse Vince was doing to this poor woman.
1. Let's start with Vince - He deserves to rot in hell after reading this.
I tried to have an open mind on Vince before starting to read it. After all sharing perverse sex thoughts or texts are not generally a crime in itself if (IF) its with a consenting individual. Didn't want to let the "shock" cloud my judgement. Was it just a power relationship gone wrong but with no real abuse? And the legal team of the plaintiff will try to frame things in their favour. That is their job. So I did try to keep those in mind while reading this.
Well it became clear Vince was a diabolical man. The document was very convincing in showing how Vince turned this relationship that started with certain elements of consent into a predatorial, sick abusive power relationship, that eventually evolved a year later into alleged sexual assaults with other John Laurinitis.
Even considering there was some "he said / she said" elements in the document, Vince's texts ( not the shocking ones), pretty much did him in as a controlling abusive man. The texts and escalating behaviour throughout this showed at the very minimum horrifying sexual harassment to the point that was clear mental abuse, and he took this to take advantage of her physically, convincing her to do things that she was not comfortable with.
Here was my key takeaway from a human element from reading this, I think as humans when we encounter these old man, younger woman relationships (open or behind people's backs), we tend to think of the man as a creep taking advantage of things and the woman trying to benefit of in some way (and look down on that as well).
Add in the power element in a work environment and we think things are even more creepy. But we hardly envision that there is significant torment and torture in the background like this particular case - we think its wrong, creepy but still generally consenting. I still think majority of these relationships stay at the level of "wrong and creepy', but we do need to be open to the fact that perhaps more torment is happening when we confront these things.
2. Others Directly Involved in the Alleged Physical Abuse / Sexual Activities. They can all rot in hell
Two others participated with Vince in the sexual abuse per the document. The first was Vince's physical therapist friend. He then brought in John Laurinitis later. They were abusive, disgusting, and these individuals not only tormented her (or in the case of Laurinitis allegedly sexual assaulted her), but were also very aware of Vince's mental torment. They can all rot in hell.
But it is important to consider that the document showed that Vince was pretty careful who he brought into this sordid world, when considering "who should have known" He brought in an outside friend, and then a creep he could trust in John L.
3. Others Provided with Video and Pictures
I guess this goes back to Steve's original point as to whether videos and pictures were widespread through the organization. After reading the document, based on evidence provided they were not widely distributed across the organization. There was 3 instances of sharing noted.
a) Pictures were provided to the 2 individuals above (therapist and John L)
b) He showed some pictures to technical staff... this came directly from his text to her, and showing the pictures clearly turned that sick freak on. They were also not given the pictures. Unless Vince told them that she worked for WWE those technical staff would likely not even have known who she was as she was office staff tucked away in legal. It was probably seen as some rich entitled man showing pics of his "side piece" (apologies if this term is taken as derogatory, but for context its an appropriate term) - some guys probably loved it, and some probably thought it was cringy as heck.
c)
Brock Lesnar - Brock is the only one who had a video made for him per Ms Frank. I don't think (but I could be wrong) that Brock even knew that she worked for WWE office. It could have been Vince's "side piece", could have been a prostitute that Vince was offering up... but this trafficking of a compromised individual was disgusting by Vince especially. Brock played with fire, was an a - hole and got burnt -- don't feel sad.
But I guess my overall take on this is that there was really no evidence provided that Vince was widely distributing pictures or videos across the organization, much less to the people who knew she worked for WWE.
Is it possible more were distributed beyond the above, yes, but in a very detailed document nothing else was shown or conjectured,
4. Claim that others (Key Officers) in the Organization knew there was abuse while she was there in 2020 and 2021 (pre NDA news in 2022) and did nothing. Document was unconvincing in this regard.
This was ultimately the part I was most interested in when reading the case, because we knew Vince deserved to be cooked.
But going back to page 48 of the lawsuit which lays out the case for WWE Executives knowing there was abuse the case was basically the following:
a) A key officer knew that a younger staffer (Ms Grant) had been hired at the behest of Vince, and one key officer played a direct role in getting that younger staffer their job.
b) They should have known / or knew that Vince was having a sexual relationship with Ms Grant.
c) They knew Vince was a sexual predator based on prior allegations
d) Vince showed or shared some pictures or videos to others, none of which were corporate officers
e) Therefore, they knew this was an abusive relationship.
This is not convincing.
They actually never showed any evidence that others directly knew about the abuse as far as I can tell. One time they briefly mention that Mrs Grant talked to her boss (non Corp Officer) about feeling harassed (but no specifics about it) towards the end of her tenure.
In all of 1, 2 and 3, above you can see where my thoughts were forming on this topic. I then read the summary argument in page 48 and I was unconvinced on this point.
I'm sure people thought to themselves that she was a "Side Piece" for Vince (against term meant for context not to be derogatory to Ms. Grant). And they probably looked down upon Vince, and probably some to Ms. Grant as well, and thought it was creepy. But I don't think the assumption in these relationships is ever that there is severe torture, torment, physical and mental abuse involved. Nor should the expectation be that. I can only speak to only being aware of one such relationship at my workplace -- a 25-30 year old staffer was rumoured to being sex with a 60ish powerful partner of the firm. Most of us didn't think that highly of that guy abusing his position, but I don't think anybody ever though there was abusive torment either.
There is also no evidence that photos or videos were widespread throughout the org. Vince was pretty careful who he let into his sordid world. The document also points to many texts where Vince is telling her to "hide things" from others
Point 4 Summary - I'm not claiming that its 100% they didn't know how depraved this was. But the lawsuit is not convincing in this regard, nor do I assume that people even close to Vince, business or family, should anticipate this type of sordid behaviour.
5. Specifically what did HHH know
This is more perspective on my part than anything else.
I doubt HHH would have known anything specifically sordid in terms of the physical or mental abuse. Like others he probably knew Vince had a side piece and he is cheating on Linda again (sorry again for the derogatory term)
In terms of the purely sordid stuff, why would we expect HHH to no more. We have all probably had a few moments in our life that we are not proud of and did something "bad" (although about fractions of what Vince did)... did you run to your mom, dad, sister, brother in law, certain friends to tell them of the awful thing that you did?. It just makes little sense for me to expect HHH to no more.
6. Post NDA Investigations
If there is close to a gotcha moment for the WWE Executives, including HHH, it may have been towards end of 2022 when there was special committees and it does appear they didn't do a deep dive into this case.
But let's remember, even from the lawsuit itself, that the NDA lacked detail Someone like HHH and Steph probably also think that he might be covering up extra marital affairs.
If I was a key employee I would have been very conflicted what to do, when Vince came back at the end of 2022.
But what can you do, if you like / want to keep the job?
- Vince owns 80% of the company, you don't have the knowledge of anything to keep him out.
- There is zero basis for the SEC to take him down - the hit was financial reporting.
- There is zero basis for the Criminal Court to take him down based on the NDA.
It was easy for some board members to quit when Vince came back. They had no large affiliation with the company. It would be harder for employees with aspirations in the organization.
