Linda McMahon

Former Pro Wrestler Slams Linda McMahon's Senate Campaign

Eric Kleefeld | November 19, 2009, 1:13PM

Wrestler "Superstar Billy Graham", CT-Sen candidate Linda McMahon (R)

Former Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, a candidate for the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), is now facing some strong attacks from a Mr. Eldridge Wayne Coleman -- a.k.a. "Superstar Billy Graham," a former pro-wrestler who worked for McMahon.

"She may look like a Sunday school teacher," said Graham, who described himself a conservative, and who supports one of McMahon's GOP rivals, former Rep. Rob Simmons. "Linda McMahon's hands are as bloody as her husband's [Vince McMahon] because she is aware of every move in the ring."

Graham said that the McMahons condoned steroid use that damaged wrestlers' health (including himself), didn't provide health care or pensions to those same wrestlers, and have quickly shifted from all manner of inappropriate TV programming -- ranging from wrestlers being told to cut themselves with razors in order to bleed on stage, to "bra and panty" wrestling matches between scantily-clad female performers -- to cleaner content in the run-up to her campaign.

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Linda McMahon

Linda McMahon: We Need To Focus On Real Issues, Not 'Fictitious Content' Of Pro-Wrestling

Eric Kleefeld | November 17, 2009, 5:10PM

Former Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon (R-CT)

Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, a candidate for the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), denounced Democratic attacks on her for the racy moments in pro-wrestling.

Connecticut Democrats have gone after McMahon for some of the WWE's content, including depictions of public sex, rape and necrophilia.

McMahon was asked about it in an online chat hosted by The Day:

WWE is a company that produces fiction. It's a soap opera that runs 52 weeks a year. I think instead of focusing on fictitious content, we need to focus on the issues that are real: unemployment, job creation, healthcare, education and the direction our country is taking in terms of fiscal issues. Those are the serious issues of the day, not the fiction that WWE creates for its entertainment product.

I will also say that the people I have spoken to around this state smile when I give the analogy that I don't believe the voters who elected Arnold Schwarzenegger expected him to show up in one of his outfits from the movie "Terminator" in Sacramento.

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CT-SEN

CT Dems Charge WWE Violated Campaign Finance Law By Removing Necrophilia Video

Christina Bellantoni | November 2, 2009, 11:19AM

Connecticut Democrats filed a Federal Elections Commission complaint today against Linda McMahon, her campaign and World Wrestling Entertainment, charging they violated the law by removing racy WWE videos last month.

McMahon (R-CT) is one of several candidates hoping to challenge Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) next year. She is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and wife of WWE principal Vince McMahon.

After TPMDC and others posted videos of WWE scenes depicting simulated rape and a wrestler pretending to have sex with a corpse, they were taken down from YouTube.

We spoke at the time to WWE's VP of PR and corporate communications, who said accusations the removal had anything to do with politics are false, but Democrats charge the move is equivalent to a campaign contribution from a corporation.

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