Vince McMahon: The Unauthorized Biography of the WWE Chairman

By Michael Essany

"Vince McMahon: The Unauthorized Biography of the WWE Chairman" is a first of its kind comprehensive exploration of the life, controversies, and legacy of Vince McMahon from national bestselling author Michael Essany.

From McMahon's impoverished upbringing with an abusive stepfather to his Napoleon-like conquests as a brash young wrestling promoter, WWE fans can relive the remarkable and unlikely accomplishments, stunning failures, and extraordinary events that define the life and career of Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: michaelessany
• Release date: Mar 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301949397

Michael Essany

Michael Essany was the host of The Michael Essany Show from E! Entertainment Television. As a recent groom himself, Essany saw the need for an intelligent guide that would help the couple plan their wedding together.

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Vincent Kennedy McMahon: The Unauthorized Biography of the WWE Chairman

By Michael Essany

Disclaimer

Published by Michael Essany at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Michael Essany

All Rights Reserved worldwide. May not be copied or distributed without prior written permission from the author.

This eBook is not an official WWE publication nor is it associated, affiliated, or otherwise endorsed by WWE. To visit WWE.com, click here.

All information contained in this eBook has been obtained by exclusive interviews, online research, and information freely available in the public domain.

This eBook provides information that you read and use at your own risk.

Cover image is available (with attribution) royalty free and for commercial use by Justin Moody.

Chapter 1: A No Holds Barred Beginning

Violent. Dramatic. Controversial. Scandalous.

These descriptions could very easily apply to the world of professional wrestling. But perhaps more fittingly, they pertain to the childhood of Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

I grew up in an 8-foot wide trailer, McMahon admits. That's where I come from. And it’s a tremendous advantage, quite frankly. Because I am Americana. I'm middle class - actually, lower middle class.

As a youth, the future billionaire and head of sports entertainment's most powerful brand was tormented by physical cruelty, confined to a trailer park, and, by McMahon's own admission, subjected to some form of sexual abuse.

Born August 24, 1945, in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Vincent K. McMahon represents the third generation of a legendary professional wrestling family - a dynasty that includes his grandfather Jess McMahon - also a boxing and wrestling promoter - and his father, Vince McMahon, Sr., the proverbial founding father of contemporary sports entertainment.

Vince Jr., however, did not personally know his biological father for most of his early years. For the majority of his adolescence, Vincent Kennedy McMahon - as he is internationally recognized today - was known as Vince Lupton. Vince was given the surname of Lou Lupton, one of his five revolving stepfathers. But as McMahon would reveal years later, it was Lupton's violent outbursts that seemingly did more than anyone or anything else to spoil the innocence of his childhood.

I grew up in a very volatile environment, McMahon told Playboy magazine in 2001. My view was that if I took a beating and lived, I won. I still have that view. It gives me a tremendous advantage, because I'm not afraid of failure. Don't get me wrong--I hate falling. But I'm not afraid to take chances and fall on my ass, because if I live through it I'll be better off, and I'll win.

The Making of a Man

My parents got divorced and I went with my mom, Vickie, McMahon recalls. She was in the church choir. A real performer, a female Elmer Gantry. Very striking, with an excellent voice. Lived with her and my real asshole of a stepfather, a man who enjoyed kicking people around.

Despite living with an older brother, it was primarily Vincent who bore the brunt of Lupton's beatings.

I was the only one of the kids who would speak up, he says, and that's what provoked the attacks. You would think that after being on the receiving end of numerous attacks I would wise up, but I couldn't. I refused to. I felt I should say something, even though I knew what the result would be.

Lou Lupton, an electrician by trade, supposedly beat Vince violently, often using his trade's tools - including pipes and wrenches - to inflict punishment.

Sickeningly, the altercations had already begun taking place by the time McMahon was just six years old.

The slightest provocation would set him [Lupton] off, McMahon says, recalling how he would come to his mother's aid when Lou Lupton became violent with her, often striking Vickie physically.

It's unfortunate that he died before I could kill him, McMahon told Playboy. I would have enjoyed that.

When asked by ESPN why he wanted to kill his stepfather, McMahon simply replied: Because he needed it. And I would have happily been the person to have done that.

But, ultimately, it was his stepfather's horrific behavior that McMahon says illustrated how a man should, in fact, never behave.

I learned how not to be [a man], he admits. By the time I was 14 I was on my own. I was pretty much a man then. Physically, at least. In other ways I'm still becoming a man.

Although McMahon has refused to discuss in detail the nature of alleged sexual abuses that took place in his upbringing, the future WWE chairman did confess that a woman - not Lupton or another of his stepfathers - was responsible for the weird acts that have since been described by others as a form of sexual abuse.

Without explicitly revealing more facts of the matter, McMahon