— WWE Chief Executive Officer Linda McMahon stepped down Wednesday in conjunction with plans to run for United States Senate.
McMahon, from Connecticut, would seek the Republican nomination for incumbent Christopher Dodd’s seat. Rob Simmons, Sam Caligiuri and Tom Foley are also in the race on the republican side.
“I never do anything half-heartedly,” said McMahon to the Associated Press. “I am 100 percent serious about this race.”
Vince McMahon will accept CEO duties.
— According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, while the situation with Rey Mysterio and WWE management was pleasant for Mysterio’s final pre-suspension taping on 9/1, heat quickly returned the next day.
Sources say that Vince McMahon’s inner circle sold the WWE Chairman on the “he would be nothing without us” mindset; as a consequence, McMahon remained upset about Mysterio’s decision to take frustration with the WWE Wellness Policy public in a Mexican media interview. Memory of the conflict Mysterio and WWE officials shared over pay this past summer only exacerbated Mysterio’s heat with WWE officials in the present.
Mysterio’s claim that the drug for which he tested positive was sanctioned by valid prescription has not been disproven, although there is still some skepticism that WWE would have suspended a top talent over what boils down to a clerical error. But as nothing to the contrary has come out, it is not unreasonable to accept Mysterio’s story.
In terms of Mysterio’s lockerroom standing, while wrestlers have not expressed a strong opinion on the suspension issue, few are willing to sympathize on the money issue with a wrestler making in excess of $1 million each year.