Upamanyu Biswas
In Netflix’s ‘Mr. McMahon,’ a spotlight is shone on the exploits of former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, whose efforts helped grow the wrestling business while contending with the highs and lows of his career. The docuseries peels back the layers of McMahon’s life, not just in a professional capacity but also his personal side. As such, the complex family dynamics of the McMahon family are probed upon, providing an insight into the interpersonal relationships that define his personality and the company. In that regard, perhaps no one played a bigger role in influencing him and the WWE than his longtime partner and wife, Linda McMahon.
Linda McMahon Was a Key Business Partner to Vince
Linda McMahon was born on October 4, 1948, in New Bern, North Carolina. She met Vince when she was 13 and he was 16. They dated each other throughout their high school years before getting married on August 26, 1966. After her high school graduation, Linda went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in French and certification to teach from East Carolina University in 1966. In 1970, she and Vince welcomed their eldest son, Shane, into the world, while Stephanie was born in 1976. The couple was struggling financially during this period and filed for bankruptcy while she was still pregnant with Stephanie.
In 1980, Linda co-founded Titan Sports, Inc. with her husband, Vince. After the company later expanded its business through the WWE (then known as WWF), she became its president in 1993. Four years later, she was its CEO. She was responsible for negotiating several product merchandising deals for the WWE, helping boost its popularity among younger demographics. Linda also made a few on-screen appearances during the shows and events, playing a part in the McMahon family’s storylines. Although primarily involved in the management side of the business, Linda deferred to her husband on the creative aspects.
Linda’s Transition From the CEO of WWE to Administrator of the SBA
After spending many years overseeing the operations of the WWE through its different eras and evolution into a mainstream attraction, Linda McMahon resigned from her position as CEO of WWE in 2009. She moved into the domain of politics by running as a Republican for a seat in the United States Senate from Connecticut on September 16, 2009. In 2010, Linda ran against Richard Blumenthal in the general elections after having defeated all her opponents but came up short of a victory. After receiving the endorsement of the Republican Party yet again, she faced another defeat in 2012 against Democratic US Representative Chris Murphy in the general election.
On December 7, 2016, Donald Trump, who was the President-elect at the time, declared his decision to nominate Linda McMahon as the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Her nomination was confirmed on February 14, 2017, by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. She was sworn into her role on the same day, becoming the 25th administrator in history. A few months later, in an interview with CNBC, she detailed her plans to bring a new marketing campaign out to seed awareness in the general public about the SBA’s work.
“Learning how to develop business plans, how to grow, how to pitch your business when you’re trying to get investors, or to move into a different market and those are aspects of SBA that are not as well known,” she said. “We try to encourage or at least guide entrepreneurs who may have services or products that could be bought by the federal government. The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world. What we have done is look inside SBA, and what I have found is there are some duplicative programs that we are going to be merging.” On April 12, 2019, Linda resigned from the SBA.
Linda is Still Actively Involved in Politics Today
During the 2020 presidential elections, Linda McMahon chaired America First Action, a Super PAC geared towards Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. The committee raised nearly $83 million for the former president’s cause. Since then, Linda has remained a staunch Republican supporter and attended the Republican National Convention of 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She also spoke during the event. In August, Trump announced that Linda would be part of the transition team tasked with overseeing key personnel choices and preparing his policy playbook if he returns back to the White House.
She joined Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, as co-chairperson of the team. She is an active presence through her social media channels and regularly posts about political topics, mainly relating to her Republican sympathies. Her range of messages covers topics like the Bill of Rights, constitutional freedoms, and her criticism of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies and regime. She also regularly posts about empowering young women either through politics or outside it. Today, she still serves as the chairwoman of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI).
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