‘I broke the rules’ – WWE star was hit with $20k fine for illegal incident after being caught by Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon made no secret of the fact money was no object during his time with WWE.

McMahon has long since departed the family business he helped transform into a global superpower in the 1990s.

He was at the top of WWE as its Chairman and Owner for decades, ushering in the first WrestleMania in the mid-1980s and steering the entity through the famed Attitude Era a decade or so later.

Come 2024, though, his ties to the company were severed after sexual trafficking allegations – which he denies – were levied at him by a former employee.

He left behind a raft of wild backstage tales of distasteful storylines, enraged tantrums and, of course, cash.

The head honcho was seemingly happy to dole out the dosh in WWE, once giving a wrestler a six-figure pay rise just for one in-ring interaction with Brock Lesnar that impressed him.

McMahon commissioned the creation of a prop, now worth $200,000, that only a handful of stars ever used on screen, and hurled millions in the direction of Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather for memorable WWE cameos.

Another star well aware of the billionaire’s willingness to use money to make a point or create a moment is R-Truth.

The veteran wrestler has been with the company in his second stint since 2008 and continues to make headlines after featuring in a high-profile storyline with John Cena at Backlash earlier this month.

Back in 2011, he was feuding with John Morrison when WWE brough its flagship Raw programme to London.

Truth explained to Chris Van Vliet that he had fallen foul of McMahon after being caught smoking backstage at a WWE event.

The former company chief is known to detest smoking and having caught his wrestler in the act, decided to punish him in the most unique of ways – by having him do it on screen.

“Vince had caught me smoking for real,” the grappler admitted. “So, he’s like: ‘I’m gonna get you… you’re gonna smoke in front of the whole [arena!]”

The unsightly act was a little cringeworthy. Truth lit a cigarette in front of the huge crowd before blowing smoke over Morrison who was lay on the ground.

Brits on hand, typically, took it in good humour by chanting ‘that’s illegal!’, but unwisely – and possibly intentionally – McMahon had stitched Truth up big time.

At that time, England had already been smoke free in indoor public places such as arenas for four years.

TV show or otherwise, then, there were consequences to the act, with Truth revealing the eye-watering fine that came WWE’s way as a result.

He added: “It was illegal. You can’t do that over there, you can’t do that.

“It wasn’t [PG] – I broke the rules, $20,000 fine, legit for a shoot (a wrestling term for something real).”

Quite whether the fine was issued to the performer direct or to WWE wasn’t made clear but, in any event, the former United States Champion was adamant he wasn’t left with the bill.

Asked whether he paid it, he insisted: “Hell no! I had paying potential, but no.”

Life with R-Truth in WWE is, if nothing else, far from dull.

Having made Brock Lesnar break character with his hilarious antics on screen, he did similar to Cena on Saturday night in the midst of a serious storyline.