Jerry McDevitt Keeps Telling Vince McMahon He Wants To Retire

Longtime WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt recently spoke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and he discussed a variety of topics, including how he got his start with WWE in 1987, his current status with the company, and much more. Here are some highlights:

Jerry McDevitt on how he got his start with WWE in 1987: “That night, I got a call from the lawyer who was then representing the WWE — I assume he probably regrets making the call since I ended up stealing the client. But he asks me if I would represent Neidhart. I said I would, and that was the start of the whole relationship. I didn’t know much about wrestling at the time. What I recall was that Jim Neidhart was about 6-foot-1 and a 280-pound solid block of granite. His nickname “The Anvil” came from the fact that held the world record for throwing an anvil farther than any other human being. He had a ZZ Top-type of goatee, butch haircut and wrap-around shades.

“He was one of the scariest looking people I had ever seen in my life. And when he came into my office he was petrified of the fact that he had to call this guy named Vince. He was scared to death of calling Vince. And I thought to myself if this guy is scared of Vince. I wonder who Vince is. One of the things “The Anvil” was concerned about then was that him being charged with this crime might prevent him from appearing at this thing called Wrestlemania. I said what the heck is Wrestlemania? He said, “Well, we’re having it this year in the Pontiac Silver Dome. It’s going to feature Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant as the main event match, and it’s already sold out 90,000 tickets.” I said, “What? 90,000 tickets to see a wrestling show!” That was when I first started to get some idea of the magnitude of this thing.”

On his current status with WWE and telling Vince McMahon he wants to retire: “WWE is a major client, but I have other clients. I also represented Dr. Cyril Wecht. I’ll be 72 in January, so I’ve been trying to turn it down a little bit as I’m headed into retirement. But because of my longstanding relationship with WWE, I continue to represent them, although I keep telling Vince I do want to retire. Most relationships nowadays with lawyers and publicly traded companies are at the general counsel level. Outside lawyers work with the general counsel of the company and never with the CEO or chairman of the board. But my contact and my relationship is directly with and to Vince. It always has been. It always will be. That’s kind of a unique relationship in the landscape of the law these days for the outside counsel to have that sort of direct relationship.”