Former WWE PR Rep Describes The McMahons' Backstage Demeanors

Dawn Pappas is a name professional wrestling fans may not be all too familiar with, but backstage, she served as one of the company's media relations managers for several years. Hired in February 2004, Pappas had an inside look at how the company was functioning during what was known as the "ruthless aggression" era of WWE. Vince McMahon was still reigning as the CEO of the company and would sometimes have direct interactions with Pappas.

"He's very calculating, he's very smart, he's very direct," Pappas told "The Chosen Life Podcast." "I didn't have a lot of direct interaction with Vince, but for example, there was one interview he was doing for either Sports Net or TSN, and there had been a lot of steroid controversy at the time ... I was in the green room with him before the interview and I said, 'Okay, I have the list of questions.' And he said, 'Put them away.' And I said, 'You sure? Bret – Steroids.' He said, 'Nope. Put it away.' And I had a lot of respect for somebody who was ready to go into a live interview on live TV and he knows his s—."

Pappas has spent another chunk of her career working in the world of music with artists like Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera. Doing so gave her a front-row seat to when music streaming began taking off with Napster. "[Vince] failed wrestling by not taking the threat of MMA seriously, [like how my industry] got hammered by Napster."

Moreover, Pappas believes WWE should've had a microscope on how MMA was conducting events since audiences were growing. But in "Vince's world, Vince is going to do what Vince is going to do and he doesn't want to know, or think, or see anything else that's going on outside," she said.

Currently, Vince's son-in-law Paul "Triple H" Levesque has taken over as Chief Content Officer which includes heading the creative department. "To hear that Hunter has been doing a great job with the company, I love that because I really love him," Pappas adds. "He's a super smart guy. I really liked him and had a lot of respect for him. And yeah, I'm not surprised that Vince can't take a seat."

But not all members of the McMahon family have the same demeanor. Pappas revealed that Vince's son, Shane, is the "complete opposite" and likes to have fun when he's backstage. "First time I ever saw Shane McMahon was backstage at a show and he was like tippy-toeing around because he was going to sneak up on somebody and scare the crap out of them. And he saw me watching him and he's laughing, you know, it was so cute. It was so cute, it was so friendly, it was so approachable." As for Linda and Stephanie, their attitudes aren't far off from what the McMahon men present. "Stephanie and her dad are very much alike, and Shane and his mom are very much alike."