"I will legitimately kill you" - Shane McMahon allegedly threatened two top WWE executives because of Stephanie McMahon
Former WWE Executive Vice President of Global Media, Shane McMahon, allegedly threatened to kill two top executives, Michael Hayes and Bruce Prichard, because of his sister, Stephanie McMahon.
In 2001, former WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon started his football league, the XFL, aiming to compete with the NFL. However, the project failed and got shut down after a single season. During that season, nevertheless, Stephanie McMahon served as a sideline reporter.
In his book "There's Just One Problem...: True Tales from the Former, One-Time, 7th Most Powerful Person in WWE," former lead writer Brian Gewirtz disclosed that Hayes and Prichard prepared Stephanie for her new role. He also claimed that Shane McMahon threatened them ahead of his sister's first appearance as a sideline reporter among the XFL crowd.
"Before she did her first on camera in the stands, Shane pulled Michael and Bruce aside. 'I just want you two to know, I love you both like family, but if anyone lays a hand on my sister, I will legitimately kill you.' Just the type of thing you want to hear before leading a famous person into a drunken mob," Gewirtz wrote.
Gewirtz also addressed the rumor that a veteran wanted the Stamford-based company to fire The Undertaker. Check out his comments here.
Current WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon's experience in the XFL did not go well
Luckily for Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes, no one laid a hand on Stephanie McMahon as she reported from the stands. However, things seemingly did not go well for the current WWE co-CEO.
Brian Gewirtz stated in his book that fans only knew Stephanie as the heel character she portrayed on television. Hence, they met her with an insulting chant.
"An earnest Stephanie, thrust into an announcer role much like her Dad was on WWF television decades earlier, gave it her all reporting from the actual stands as a cascade of “sl*t” chants echoed down. This was something that was actually encouraged in this decidedly un-PG era of WWE but just added to the disaster that was the XFL in 2001."
Gewirtz further described the star's time in the football league:
"It was just surreal watching a smiling Stephanie McMahon telling the inspirational story on how a player overcame cancer as thousands in unison [men, women, and children] chanted “sl*t” while they high-fived behind her," Gewirtz wrote.
Brian Gewirtz thinks a WCW world title change should never have happened. Check out his comments here.