Stephanie McMahon says Vince McMahon is probably his own ‘biggest nemesis’

Stephanie McMahon feels like her father Vince McMahon is probably his own biggest nemesis.

On her “What’s Your Story?” podcast this week, Stephanie had WWE President Nick Khan on as a guest. They discussed the concept of perseverance and whether it’s something you’re born with or something that can be learned. Stephanie related the discussion to her father, explaining how he survived an abusive environment as a child, including being beaten with a lead pipe by someone his mother was dating.

“His mindset was, if he could survive, he won,” Stephanie said. “So just surviving was winning and still is winning for him today. And I don’t know how you can ever beat someone at the end of the day if all they need to do is survive to win.”

Khan said there aren’t many people who could have survived what Vince went through when he was younger and gone on to create a universe like WWE.

“So all credit to him. I only have admiration for him,” Khan said. “As Paul said — Triple H said — at his Hall of Fame speech, family’s complicated. And, you know, obviously, we don’t need to get into any of that. But in terms of business, that guy’s an empire builder.”

Stephanie didn’t want to go deeper on the subject but agreed with Khan’s comments about Vince’s business success.

“Absolutely he is [an empire builder],” she responded. “And no one can take that away from him, no matter what, including himself, who is probably his biggest nemesis — is himself.”

Stephanie did not elaborate on what she meant by that or directly reference the sexual assault and trafficking allegations Vince is facing from former WWE employee Janel Grant. That lawsuit, which is still ongoing, led to Vince resigning from WWE in January 2024.

Amid the lawsuit, Vince is in the process of starting a new sports and entertainment investment firm called 14th & I.