PROFILE
BIOGRAPHY
Linda Marie Edwards-McMahon was born October 4, 1948 in New Bern, North Carolina, the only child of Henry and Evelyn Edwards.
She is the wife of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Chairman Vincent Kennedy McMahon and resides with him in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is currently the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a position she has held since 1994.
Linda has served on the Board of Directors since 1980 and was largely responsible for the growth of WWE merchandising. In addition, she is widely involved with the charitable work of WWE. Linda graduated from East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science degree in education.
Unlike her husband and children, Linda's on screen character is normally presented as neutral, rational, and selfless. When she makes an appearance, she will often use her "power" to thwart the plans of her family or to punish a heel (although as of October 10, 2005, she has in fact "turned" heel and joined up with her "evil" family members).
Linda feuded with Vince throughout early 1999. At one point, she and Stephanie supposedly gave their WWF stock to Stone Cold Steve Austin, granting him a great deal of power. Austin lost these powers to Vince and Shane in a handicap ladder match.
In 2000, Linda forced Triple H to defend the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 2000 in a "Fatal Four Way Elimination Match." She also reinstated Mick Foley (whom Triple H had forced to retire) and acted as his manager at WrestleMania. Throughout 2000, she was the only McMahon not to support Triple H and was slapped by Stephanie at one point, as a result. At Backlash 2000, she led referee Earl Hebner to ringside during a match between Triple H and the Rock, with Shane as the guest referee, after Stone Cold Steve Austin had come to the ring and knocked out Triple H and Shane. Hebner counted three, costing Triple H the WWF Championship.
Mick Foley returned to WWF as Commissioner with the blessing of Linda McMahon. At the same time, Vince McMahon went on hiatus, claiming that he had realized why Linda was opposing him - she wanted another baby. Dubbing himself the "genetic jackhammer," Vince left for several months.
Vince returned to WWF and began campaigning to have an upcoming six way Hell in a Cell match cancelled because he feared that his "investments" (the participants) would be injured. On December 7, 2000, he asked Commissioner Mick Foley to cancel the match, but Foley refused. Linda McMahon then backed Foley, and an outraged Vince demanded a divorce. The following week, Vince was informed that Linda had been rushed to the hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. He initially appeared grief stricken but then revealed that he was actually laughing. With Linda in a sanitarium, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as CEO on December 18, allowing him to fire Mick Foley.
With Linda apparently comatose as a result of her breakdown and the sedatives that Vince ordered to be administered, Vince began having a very public affair with Trish Stratus. This led to Shane returning to defend his mother's honor and challenging Vince to a street fight at WrestleMania X-Seven. Before the event, Mick Foley returned with a pile of contracts which Linda had signed before her breakdown, one of which entitled him to referee any match of his choosing. Foley decided to referee the WrestleMania street fight. At WrestleMania, with Linda at ringside in a wheelchair, Vince appeared to be winning after Shane injured himself by executing a flying elbow drop on Vince while Vince was unconscious on the announcer's table, which Stephanie dragged Vince out of the way of. As Vince prepared to finish Shane off by hitting him with a trash can, Linda stood up, apparently no longer sedated, and kicked Vince in the groin. The distraction allowed Shane to defeat Vince.
On April 9, 2001, Linda resumed her duties as CEO and asked Vince for a divorce. She harassed Vince over the next few months, forcing Vince's chosen champion Steve Austin to defend the WWF Championship and supporting Shane McMahon and World Championship Wrestling, which he had purchased. However, Vince and Linda would reconcile in July 2001 when they realized that The Alliance of WCW and ECW (purchased by Stephanie McMahon) was going to attempt to destroy the WWF.
On March 18, 2002, Linda announced that WWE would be divided into two brands RAW and SmackDown!, as a result of the rivalry between Vince and Ric Flair, who had bought Shane's and Stephanie's shares in WWE and so had equal power as Vince.
On April 28, 2003, Linda McMahon confronted RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff after he booked Trish Stratus in a match with himself, with Stratus being forced to sleep with Bischoff if she lost. To balance the presence of Bischoff, Linda appointed Steve Austin as the co-General Manager of RAW.
After Austin had allowed Kane to burn Jim Ross, Linda returned to WWE on July 21 and told Austin that he could not attack anyone unless "physically provoked." Kane tombstoned Linda at the end of RAW, injuring her neck and infuriating Shane. While Linda was giving an interview from her home on August 18, 2003, Bischoff appeared, seemingly with amorous intentions, but was removed by security guards.
Linda accompanied her daughter Stephanie to ringside for her October 19, 2003 "I Quit" match at No Mercy. When Stephanie was choked by Vince with a pipe, Linda threw a towel into the ring, conceding defeat.
On December 1, 2003, Linda once again reinstated Mick Foley, this time appointing him as an "Outside Consultant" to RAW in order to monitor Eric Bischoff. Foley eventually resigned from his post during a heated feud with Randy Orton.
On October 10, 2005, her character took a surprise heel turn, as she "fired" Jim Ross and low-blowed him. Apparently, a Stone Cold Stunner that she had suffered a week earlier on RAW (by Austin, during RAW's "Homecoming" broadcast on the USA Network) set her on edge. Linda's heel turn was hinted at on the "Homecoming" show, when she asked Austin to apologize for having just given other members of her family stunners. Austin complied but then, after inviting her to drink a beer with him, gave her a Stone Cold Stunner.
On the October 10 broadcast, Vince McMahon called each of the RAW announcers - Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Jonathan Coachman - to the ring to reprimand them for their lack of action during Austin's rampage against the McMahon family a week earlier. McMahon accepted apologies from Coachman and Lawler but would not accept Ross'. After Vince demanded Ross apologize to Stephanie, Linda came to the ring, seemingly to admonish Vince and Stephanie for their treatment of Jim. It appeared that Linda had the matter settled professionally until - to the surprise of fans - she told Jim that he was fired. She then kicked him between the legs, and all three McMahons in the ring gleefully celebrated as Ross writhed in pain on the mat.
On the October 17 RAW, during the "Carlito's Cabana" segment (which featured Mick Foley), Linda appeared in pre-taped footage. While professional in demeanor in explaining Ross' termination, she evoked a sinister snicker and wicked smile – not unlike J.R Ewing from the TV series Dallas – when telling Foley to "Have a nice day!"
Linda returned to WWE tapings at Wrestlemania 22 in which she was seen with the rest of the McMahons, and joined Vince in a "prayer" (where they hoped Vince would defeat Shawn Michaels).
Linda married Vince McMahon on August 6, 1966. The two met in church when Linda was 13 and Vince was 16. They were introduced by Vince's mother.
She is the mother of WWE executives Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and the mother-in-law of their respective spouses Marissa Mazzola-McMahon and Paul Levesque ("Triple H"). She has two grandsons and a granddaughter - Shane and Marissa's sons Declan James McMahon, who was born on February 13, 2004 and Kennedy Jesse McMahon, who was born on March 26, 2006, and daughter Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and son-in-law Paul Levesque had daughter Aurora Rose Levesque on July 24, 2006.
Linda is a major supporter of many organizations including the USO, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, the Starlight Foundation, and Community Mayors. Linda was named to the Board of Trustees of Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, Connecticut) in November 2004.
In 2005, she was appointed to The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America National Advisory Council and was presented the Arthur M. Sackler Award from the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra for WWE's support of its arts education program. Linda is also responsible for the creation of WWE's Get R.E.A.L. educational and literacy programs and WWE's Smackdown Your Vote! campaign.