Former TNN/Spike TV executive recalls Vince McMahon shaking his hand right after urinating
In 2000, WWE RAW moved to TNN (which later became Spike TV) after nearly a decade on the USA Network. Former TNN executive Kevin Kay, who would become president of the network, was encouraged to meet with Vince McMahon after the deal was finalized.
While speaking with Ariel Helwani, Kay recalled his first meeting with McMahon…
“So, I’ll tell you a funny story about Vince. Jim Burns, who was our executive in charge of production of WWF at the time, said, ‘Now that you’re running this, you need to go meet Vince and pay your respects.’
And I said, ‘Sure. When’s the next show at Madison Square Garden?’
He’s like, ‘No, no, they just did that one. That’s not for another year. They do that once a year.’
And I said, ‘Where am I going?’
He said, ‘Louisville.’ So, we went to Louisville. That’s where their next venue was.
We went to Louisville, and it was an amazing show. I’d never been live to a WWF event. It was spectacular. And then they take me down into the bowels of the stadium to go meet Vince. And there’s a lineup of, you know, it’s in a men’s room, the stadium men’s room. There’s like 50 urinals. Vince is at the very end, urinating, and we’re standing there. I’m with a couple of the WWF guys and Jim.
And Vince is finished, and he, like, zippers up his pants and walks straight at me, and he puts out his hand. Total power move. I shook his hand. What are you going to do?
[You think he does that on purpose?] I think so. I think it was just like, yeah, you know, ‘I’m in charge.'”