A “rare opportunity” for a night out provided a glimpse into the Vince McMahon we don’t always see.
Comedian Donnell Rawlings posted a photo of him and the WWE chairman and CEO backstage at the Dave Chappelle and Friends show at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut on June 28 that made the rounds on the internet. The perception around McMahon is that he’s a work-a-holic, so it was surprising to see him in that atmosphere. McMahon was there with his daughter Stephanie, who can be seen in the background of the photo, and son-in-law Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
The stars were perfectly aligned to make it work.
“We all find Dave Chappelle, much like the rest of the world, I think, as incredibly entertaining and funny and we’re big fans,” Levesque told The Post while promoting WWE’s return to New York City. “And there was a rare opportunity where he was going to be in town, we all had an opportunity to have a few moments where we weren’t going to be working for a minute and we could also go see him. It sort of kind of was one of those things where we all went to each other at the same time — ‘Hey, I saw Chappelle is going to be doing some shows.’”
In his mind it was no different than what anyone else would do, looking to get out of the house and have a good time during a rare night out on a Saturday. WWE usually films its shows on Monday and Friday. Levesque did say McMahon is a work-a-holic, but added the perception of his father-in-law that’s out there is far from the whole person.
“He’s a normal human being,” Levesque said. “The persona that people have placed upon him is funny, but he’s also very private, too. Often when he does do things, when he goes to a concert or he goes to things you don’t often see photos from it. In fact, we took pictures with a lot of people that night and that was the one photo that came out. I was kind of surprised myself.”
Wrestler JTG, who was a member of the Cryme Tyme tag team with Shad Gaspard, said on “The Bump” last year that McMahon was a big fan of “Chappelle’s Show” as it influenced some of the team’s promos and skits they were doing in Ohio Valley Wrestling before being brought up to the main roster.