During a recent appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show”, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon commented on enjoying competition in the pro wrestling business and not considering his work as actual “work”, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his enjoyment of competition: “I’m probably one of the few people in the world that enjoys confrontation. I enjoy confrontation. it’s one of those things that revs you up and puts you on your toes to say, ‘What am I going to do in this split second.’ I enjoy confrontation, physical confrontation, I enjoy that. With a background like that, and a further background when I was a kid — we don’t want to hear another ‘bad kid’ story or anything — my philosophy is, I learned a long time when I was a kid, I lived through that beating. If you live through the beating, and I won, what can you do to me?
“In terms of competition and confrontation, I’m not afraid of it. I relish it. I’m just wired differently than most people. Heredity plays a part in it. It’s just who you are and you accept that and accept your weakness and strengths and use them in the best appropriate way. I wanted to be everything I could be. I grew up in an eight-foot-wide trailer in a trailer park, which is great. I didn’t know any different, it was awesome. A step up from where I lived before with no running water. It’s not one of those things where ‘one day I’m going to have a ton of money.’ You want to be successful, there’s a better life than where you are, you want to reach beyond that. People bullshit and say they would do what they do without the money. I would. I know I would. I don’t know what’s in the bank and I don’t care.”
On if there was a period when he felt untouchable: “There was a period of time, probably after WrestleMania 4 or 5, I thought I was somebody and had an ego that way. Not that I don’t have an ego, but had an ego in that way. That lasted for about six months. Just like everybody else, you put your pants on the same way. You have to be very fortunate because you’re doing what you love to do.
“The odds of me sitting here and even being alive are astronomical due to my background. I’m not working. You think this is work? None of this is work. None of what I do is work. I love it. I love the people I do business with, in the organization, and out. It’s not work at all, none of it is. It’s probably one of the reasons why I put in so many hours is because it’s not work.”
