Former WWE co-president George Barrios recently opened up about reconnecting with Vince McMahon in 2022.
Barrios sat down with POST Wrestling’s John Pollock to discuss his book, “Sometimes Wrong but Never in Doubt: How a Cuban Kid from Queens Transformed WWE.” Part of their long-ranging conversation included Barrios’ return to the WWE board in 2022 before the company merged with Endeavor to form TKO Group Holdings.
This happened after Vince McMahon resigned from WWE in July 2022, following a Wall Street Journal report that would later emerge into Janel Grant’s lawsuit that included graphic allegations of sex trafficking and sexual abuse.
Barrios revealed what he knew of McMahon’s allegations and his initial conversation with McMahon to bring him and Michelle Wilson back to the board.
I’ll be honest, I knew about it. I wasn’t spending my time pouring over things because everything that was being alleged either happened long before we got there, and I think there was one that happened after. My recollection was it wasn’t anything while we were there that anybody was alleging, so I wasn’t paying that much attention. And a lot of the stuff, as you know John, had already been out there, so it wasn’t new. There was some elements of non-disclosure stuff and payments, things like that, but some of the stuff, like the fact that he had an affair, was not new.
So, in any event, when he does call me and says, “Hey, look, I want to do one other big thing. I need the A-team. The current folks are great, but they’re not up to something that big. Would you and Michelle come back?” This part I’ll keep private. We did have a conversation about it. Number one, I was with the guy for 12 years, and I saw the character he displayed around me. That’s what I have to go on. When he said what he said to me on that call, the combination of my experience with him and what I saw and what I knew, I said, “Yeah, I’m comfortable.”
Barrios then recalled a performance review in which he was praised as a leader you would walk into a burning building for, but the downside was that he was always walking into burning buildings. He admitted that it was part of his personality not to walk away when the going gets tough.
Pollock later asked if he had read the details of Grant’s lawsuit against McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis, who was later dropped from the lawsuit.
I read a lot of stuff. I’m not a lawyer. I did talk to one. Part of me said, some of this stuff doesn’t seem to make sense. Explain it to me, even the chronology and so on. Ultimately, did I read it? Yes. Did I get comfortable with it? Yeah. I don’t want to comment on anyone’s particular perspective, but I got comfortable with it.
Barrios clarified that he did not speak to lawyers out of fear of litigation against him, but primarily to gain a better understanding of the details and chronology of events.
There was outside speculation that Barrios returned because he was a loyalist to McMahon, an idea that he addressed.
No. I’m not a loyalist to anybody. In fact, I’m somewhat of a disagreeable person. I do what I think is right, and if somebody doesn’t like it, I’m very comfortable if somebody doesn’t like the decisions I make. For better or worse, that’s the way I’m built. I always say Vince and I had an amazing business relationship. It was like high-performing teammates. We weren’t buddies. We weren’t chit-chatting, and part of it is I think there was a modicum of respect. I wasn’t in there trying to kiss his ass. He had been surrounded by that for a long time. That’s not me, for better or for worse. A loyalist? No. I’m loyal, but I’m not a loyalist. I don’t do shit because somebody said, “Hey, I need you to do this, come in.” That’s not me. I do it because I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Barrios later revealed that McMahon did not call him to discuss ways to sell WWE, but to find the best plan of action for the business. He speculated that the allegations against him did not influence his business decisions but might have been more to do with his age and desire to build a legacy.
