Bruce Prichard Discusses Vince McMahon’s Attitude Backstage In 1994 When He Was Facing Steroid Trial, Lawsuits, and Hogan’s Jump to WCW

On the latest episode of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard talked about how Vince McMahon acted in the office in 1994 when he was under tremendous pressure due to his infamous steroid trial, several other major lawsuits that WWE was facing at the time, and Hulk Hogan signing with WCW that year. Prichard praised McMahon for maintaining his composure and pushing through the adversity.

On how Vince McMahon stayed positive and cared for his employees as his world was seemingly collapsing around him: “Everybody likes to say bad shit about Vince McMahon and I’m often painted as a Vince McMahon apologist, but when you look at the facts, and when you get down to the nitty gritty, I like to share the story that Jerry McDevitt shared with us, and Jerry McDevitt was Vince’s attorney throughout all of this, still is. And McDevitt tells a story of during this very time period, where everything was coming down, it seemed every day we were hit with what’s next, another bombshell, another bombshell, well this one’s coming down the pike, these guy’s suing you for this, these guy’s suing you for that, this one’s doing this, and McDevitt and Vince had been at the office all day long and it had been a late night, and they’re coming out of Vince’s office, and Nick the janitor was in the hallway. And all Vince wanted to do was get the hell out of the office, he and McDevitt were done, they wanted to get out, and when Vince saw Nick there, Vince sat there and talked to Nick for 20 minutes about his wife who was going through some hard times at home. And there was nothing more important to Vince at that point, than Nick and his family. All the shit that was raining down on him and Vince just sat there and put his briefcase down and sat down and bullshitted with Nick the janitor, who had been with the company a few years, great guy, and that’s the shit that, his world to some people is collapsing all around him, and he’s holding it all up, and still just worried about everybody else. And that’s the shit you don’t hear about, that’s the shit people go, ‘Ah, yeah, OK, wow, he did that,’ no, that’s the type of shit he does everyday, and does it, but you just don’t hear about. And that’s what pains me. You look at this, and they kept heaping all this, but Nick the janitor would never know that. All he knew was Vince McMahon, at 11:30, 12:00 at night, while he’s in cleaning the office, sat down and talked with him and made him feel better for that day.”

On Vince’s resilient attitude during this era: “So, yes, there was shit after shit after shit every day that came on us and I would probably say wore on us, I know it wore on Vince, but he was never going to let it show. He would always be the one to reassure us, ‘Just put your head down, let’s get through it. We know what the facts are, if we stay with the facts, we stay with what’s happening, we take care of our business, everything else is going to take care of itself. So let’s muster through and do what we have to do. If we have to pay our dues, we pay our dues, and we move the fuck on.’ And that’s what we did.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Something to Wrestle with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.