During a recent interview with Piers Morgan, former WWE backstage interviewer Charly Arnolt (you'll likely remember her best as Charly Caruso) opened up on her experiences in the company. Specifically, those regarding Vince McMahon's backstage conduct.
The billionaire is facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations and was recently the subject of Netflix's Mr. McMahon documentary.
Reflecting on her experiences as a woman in WWE, Caruso said, "What I've always said is, if you do not have a thick skin, you do not belong working in the WWE. Were there many instances where I probably could have gone to HR over something small or even something that probably had a little bit more oomph to it? Yes. Was I the person to do that? No."
"Now I'm not saying that I was, you know, mistreated in any certain sort of way, but there were definitely things that went on at WWE that if an outsider were to get a glimpse on the inside, they would say, 'What is going on here? How are people working in these specific conditions?'" she continued. "But it's just one of those things that you kind of went with when you were working with the WWE."
"I'm interviewing men who were wearing nothing but like tiny little Speedos on, so it's kind of like the job."
Asked for her thoughts on McMahon, Caruso admitted, "From my perspective, I didn't always get such a clear look at who Vince McMahon was, I didn't have to be in the writer meetings, like a lot of people did. I basically would show up to work, be given a script [and told to] say, 'This is what you're doing.' And I would generally communicate with other people on the writing staff, my bosses, which mainly included Michael Cole."
"But what I will say is that even in my position, where I wasn't interacting with Vince on a regular basis, I think, like everybody else, I always aspired to get validation from Vince McMahon."
"When you did cross paths with him in the back of, you know, the arena or in the hallway, if he would say something to you, it would mean something - even a simple 'hello' because Vince, a lot of times, wouldn't even address you," she added. "And if he would address you, it means he either found you were doing something correctly or he liked how you were going about things, and especially when you got a 'good job.'"
It's clear not everyone was subject to McMahon's supposed dark side, though Caruso is dropping a lot of very interesting hints here about what a difficult, toxic environment WWE was under his watch. We've heard things have changed significantly with Triple H calling the shots, though.
You can watch the full interview below...and it's worth a watch because things get seriously heated between Morgan's guests!