Linda McMahon
Linda Marie Edwards-McMahon was born
October 4,
1949 in
New Bern, North Carolina, the only child of Henry and Evelyn Edwards.
She is the wife of
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Chairman Vincent Kennedy McMahon and resides with him in
Greenwich, Connecticut. She is currently the
CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a position she has held since 1994.
Linda has served on the
Board of Directors since
1980 and was largely responsible for the growth of WWE merchandising. In addition, she is widely involved with the charitable work of the WWE. Linda graduated from
East Carolina University with a
Bachelor of Science degree in
education.
Unlike her husband and children, Linda's on screen character is normally presented as neutral, rational, and selfless. When she makes an appearance, she will often use her "power" to thwart the plans of her family or to punish a
heel (although as of
October 10,
2005, she has in fact "turned"
heel and joined up with her "evil" family members). Though the McMahons often squabble on screen, they get along normally in reality.
Linda
feuded with Vince throughout early
1999. At one point, she and Stephanie supposedly gave their WWF stock to
Stone Cold Steve Austin, granting him a great deal of power. Austin lost these powers to Vince and Shane in a handicap
ladder match.
In
2000, Linda forced Triple H to defend the
WWE Championship at
WrestleMania 2000 in a "Fatal Four Way Elimination Match." She also reinstated
Mick Foley (whom Triple H had forced to retire) and acted as his
manager at
WrestleMania. Throughout 2000, she was the only McMahon not to support Triple H and was slapped by Stephanie at one point, as a result. At
Backlash 2000, she led referee
Earl Hebner to ringside during a match between Triple H and
the Rock, with Shane as the guest referee, after Stone Cold Steve Austin had come to the ring and knocked out Triple H and Shane. Hebner counted three, costing Triple H the world title.
Mick Foley returned to the WWE as Commissioner with the blessing of Linda McMahon. At the same time, Vince McMahon went on hiatus, claiming that he had realized why Linda was opposing him - she wanted another baby. Dubbing himself the "genetic jackhammer," Vince left for several months.
Vince returned to the WWE and began campaigning to have an upcoming six way
Hell in a Cell match cancelled because he feared that his "investments" (the participants) would be injured. On
December 7, 2000, he asked Commissioner Mick Foley to cancel the match, but Foley refused. Linda McMahon then backed Foley, and an outraged Vince demanded a divorce. The following week, Vince was informed that Linda had been rushed to the hospital after suffering a
nervous breakdown. He initially appeared grief stricken but then revealed that he was actually laughing. With Linda in a sanitarium, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as
CEO on
December 18, allowing him to fire Mick Foley.
With Linda apparently
comatose as a result of her breakdown and the sedatives that Vince ordered to be administered, Vince began having a very public affair with
Trish Stratus. This led to Shane returning to defend his mother's honor and challenging Vince to a
street fight at
WrestleMania X-Seven. Before the event, Mick Foley returned with a pile of contracts which Linda had signed before her breakdown, one of which entitled him to referee any match of his choosing. Foley decided to referee the
WrestleMania street fight. At
WrestleMania, with Linda at ringside in a wheelchair, Vince appeared to be winning after Shane injured himself by executing a
flying elbow drop on Vince while Vince was unconscious on the announcer's table, which Stephanie dragged Vince out of the way of. As Vince prepared to finish Shane off by hitting him with a
trash can, Linda stood up, apparently no longer sedated, and kicked Vince in the groin. The distraction allowed Shane to defeat Vince.
On
April 9,
2001, Linda resumed her duties as CEO and asked Vince for a divorce. She harassed Vince over the next few months, forcing Vince's chosen champion Steve Austin to defend the WWE Championship and supporting Shane McMahon and
World Championship Wrestling, which he had purchased. However, Vince and Linda would reconcile in July
2001 when they realized that
The Alliance of WCW and ECW (purchased by Stephanie McMahon) was going to attempt to destroy the WWE.
On
March 18,
2002, Linda announced that the WWE would be divided into two brands
RAW and
SmackDown!, as a result of the rivalry between Vince and
Ric Flair, who had bought Shane's and Stephanie's shares in the WWE and so had equal power as Vince.
On
April 28,
2003, Linda McMahon confronted RAW General Manager
Eric Bischoff after he
booked Trish Stratus in a match with himself, with Stratus being forced to sleep with Bischoff if she lost. To balance the presence of Bischoff, Linda appointed Steve Austin as the co-General Manager of RAW.
After Austin had allowed
Kane to burn
Jim Ross, Linda returned to the WWE on
July 21 and told Austin that he could not attack anyone unless "physically provoked." Kane tombstoned Linda at the end of
RAW, injuring her neck and infuriating
Shane. While Linda was giving an interview from her home on
August 18, 2003, Bischoff appeared, seemingly with amorous intentions, but was removed by security guards.
Linda accompanied her daughter Stephanie to ringside for her
October 19, 2003
"I Quit" match at
No Mercy. When Stephanie was choked by Vince with a pipe, Linda threw a towel into the ring, conceding defeat.
On
December 1, 2003, Linda once again reinstated Mick Foley, this time appointing him as an "Outside Consultant" to RAW in order to monitor Eric Bischoff. Foley eventually resigned from his post during a heated feud with
Randy Orton.
Heel turn
On
October 10, 2005, her character took a surprise heel turn, as she "fired" Jim Ross and low-blowed him. Apparently, a
Stone Cold Stunner that she had suffered a week earlier on
RAW (by Austin, during RAW's "Homecoming" broadcast on the
USA Network) set her on edge. Linda's heel turn was hinted at on the "Homecoming" show, when she asked Austin to apologize for having just given other members of her family stunners. Austin complied but then, after inviting her to drink a beer with him, gave her a "stunner."
On the
October 10 broadcast, Vince McMahon called each of the
RAW announcers -
Jim Ross,
Jerry "The King" Lawler, and
Jonathan Coachman - to the ring to reprimand them for their lack of action during Austin's rampage against the McMahon family a week earlier. McMahon accepted apologies from Coachman and Lawler but would not accept Ross'. After Vince demanded Ross apologize to Stephanie, Linda came to the ring, seemingly to admonish Vince and Stephanie for their treatment of Jim. It appeared that Linda had the matter settled professionally until - to the surprise of fans - she told Jim that he was
fired. She then kicked him between the legs, and all three McMahons in the ring gleefully celebrated as Ross writhed in pain on the mat.
On the
October 17 RAW, during the "Carlito's Cabana" segment (which featured
Mick Foley), Linda appeared in pre-taped footage. While professional in demeanor in explaining Ross' termination, she evoked a sinister snicker and wicked smile â€" not unlike
J.R Ewing from the TV series
Dallas â€" when telling Foley to "Have a nice day!"
Linda returned to WWE tapings at
Wrestlemania 22 in which she was seen with the rest of the McMahons, and joined Vince in a "prayer" (where they hoped Vince would defeat
Shawn Michaels).
It is unknown whether Linda will remain a heel or turn
face in the near future due to Vince's kayfabe affair with RAW diva
Candice Michelle.
There are rumors Linda will become involved in the
D-Generation X storyline.
Linda married Vince McMahon on
August 6,
1966. The two met in church when Linda was 13 and Vince was 16. They were introduced by Vince's mother.
She is the mother of WWE executives
Shane McMahon and
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and the mother-in-law of their spouses
Marissa Mazzola-McMahon and
Paul "Triple H" Levesque. She has two grandsons and a granddaughter- Shane and Marissa's sons Declan James McMahon, who was born on February 13, 2004 and Kennedy Jesse McMahon, who was born in late March 2006, and daughter Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and son-in-law Paul Levesque (
Triple H) had daughter Aurora Rose Levesque on July 24, 2006.
Linda is a major supporter of many organizations including the USO, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, the Starlight Foundation, and Community Mayors. Linda was named to the Board of Trustees of
Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, Connecticut) in
November 2004. In 2005, she was appointed to The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America National Advisory Council and was presented the Arthur M. Sackler Award from the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra for WWE's support of its arts education program. Linda is also responsible for the creation of WWE's Get R.E.A.L. educational and literacy programs and WWE's Smackdown Your Vote! campaign.
