Multiple Former WWE Writers Detail Hostile, Bullying Environment Created By Vince McMahon

-- Six former WWE creative writers spoke to "Rolling Stone" online and described bullying and sexism behind the scenes between 2016 and 2022 while former CEO Vince McMahon was in charge. One of them, Michael Leonardi, went on record to detail his experiences while the other five remained off the record "out of a fear of retribution from the WWE, their former colleagues, and rabid wrestling fans."

-- Leonardi cliams he was fired from his role as writer for WWE in 2016 with an HR rep giving the reason that he was "not fit for the role" despite getting a raise, a promotion and positive feedback during his nearly year-long stint with the company. Leonardi claims that just a week before his termination, he was "dressed down" by then-CEO Vince McMahon for making a last minute and minor change to a script that he and others felt was racially insensitive.

-- During Raw that aired on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016, Leonardi says he was on the road with wrestlers R-Truth, Titus O'Neil and Mark Henry as well as Neville. The script called for Neville to speak up and tell everyone else that he's "got a dream too and that dream is to win the Royal Rumble" in reference too Luther King Jr.'s historic speech. Neville was uncomfortable delivering hte line and so Leonardi had R-Truth say the line instead, which he says his boss at the time - Dave Kapoor - approved. However, Vince wasn't as easy to convince:

"He turned to me and he said, 'So you didn't give me what I wanted?' I said, 'I understand, I'm sorry. We all went over it and felt good about it, we just made the small tweak.' And then he started just yelling at me. It was such an intense moment. I walked out with my tail between my legs."

-- A spokesman for McMahon denied the account. While admitting that McMahon had a very hands-on approach to creative, they stated that "the idea of him suggesting or approving the use of a famous Martin Luther King, Jr. quote for a punchline to be used by a white British character is so ridiculous. It simply didn't happen."

-- Another unnamed writer stated "WWE is a kingdom ruled by fear. It is the motivating factor everywhere: fear" while Leonardi added "There was a very heavy layer of fear and tension and that was directly from Vince. And that culture that he created obviously created a lot of problems."

-- All six writers told the outlet that they regularly witnessed or themselves were on the receiving end of verbal abuse and that the hostile conditions didn't involve just the writers but the company in general - both at company headquarters in Stamford and on the road when WWE was touring.

"Everybody was getting yelled at all the time in the room. It was more saying shit that was humiliating or mean [that was then] couched as a joke, but it's a nasty joke. If you're being targeted in the room, nobody stands up for you, but that's because if they do, they will get the bullet in the head, too. You don't stick your head up out of the foxhole for anybody, because nobody wants to take a bullet."

-- While WWE has not commented on the working environment, the McMahon spokesman released the following statement:

"Scores of writers could share tales of what an enjoyable, creative and freewheeling environment the WWE writers rooms were. This handful of (obviously disgruntled) individuals aren't representative in any way of the consensus — or of the truth."

-- The writers also touched on McMahon's reputations of making last minute script changes to WWE Raw and Smackdown and that he "destroyed everything by the time we got to air" just to assert his dominance.

"It doesn't really matter what he said in that creative room or if he loved it [at an earlier point], it was still going to get torn up before the show. By the time Monday rolled around and we were all in the production meeting, something else was gonna happen. It almost felt like a joke, like we were just there to satisfy Vince's whims. We were all Vince McMahon transcribers." The writer adds that there was something about McMahon's changing directives that felt almost sadistic: "I think Vince enjoyed the manipulation. He liked changing things. He liked keeping people on their toes. I genuinely felt like, this isn't to benefit the show or the storyline, Vince really just enjoys making people squirm."

-- To read the entire story, which is lengthy and has many more details, click here.