Jerry McDevitt opens up about how he met Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
Through the years, Jerry McDevitt has rarely offered interviews but has been the loyal representative of Vince McMahon and the WWE. This is a relationship that dates back to just before WrestleMania 3, an event that is widely considered to be the biggest in early WWE history.
Jerry, in a new interview with Hannibal TV, reveals that his relationship with Vince McMahon began in 1987 when he was suddenly asked to represent Jim Neidhart following an incident on an airplane. McDevitt goes on to explain how he not only helped The Anvil” be found innocent of all charges but would help secure Jim hundreds of thousands of dollars in a countersuit.
"My first time was WWE came in 1987. Back then, Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart and Bret Hart were the Tag Team Champions, as I would learn, and they were flying in the Pittsburgh one night to perform up at the Civic Arena in January of 1987. At the end of the flight, the FBI went on the plane and arrested Jim and charged him with a federal felony of interference with a flight group. The allegation being that he had supposedly punched the flight attendant in a dispute over drinks. At that time, I had been working on a case out in Colorado, with a fellow who was then representative Vince and Linda in the early days of the WWE by the name of Ted Dinsmore. So when Jim got arrested, Vince and Linda called Ted, Ted in turn called me and asked me if I would be willing to represent the guy.
"I knew absolutely nothing really about WWE at the time, I guess I probably had heard of it, but I really wasn't a fan, hadn't watched it, whatnot. And so I said, No, Tom, come see me in the morning. So again, keeping in mind my law firm was sort of white-shoe dress-down corporate people. Jim shows up the next day with these wraparound shades, a ZZ Top beard, I'm sure you guys know who he is. He was one of the scariest-looking people you'll ever meet in your life, but he turned out to be a hell of a nice guy. What I remember most about it was the day he came in, he was in abject terror that he was gonna have to call this guy named 'Vince.' I kept thinking to myself, Christ almighty, what's this Vince guy like if this guy scared of him for Christ's sake?'
Jerry continued, "So he did, he had to call Vince and tell him about the trouble he was in and all the rest of that, got his butt chewed out and all the rest of that. In any event, though, I went on to represent Jim, and he was acquitted of all those charges. The next day, I brought a malicious prosecution case against US Air and three flight attendants who had caused him to be arrested for charges that turn out to be categorically false. He didn't do anything like what they said he did and ended up getting him a couple of $100,000 for the troubles over that. I think that kind of got Vince's attention a little bit, because I don't think he had a great love affair for lawyers at that point still doesn't, as a matter of fact."
When asked about why they've gotten along all these years, Jerry McDevitt said he and Vince have similar personalities, and that has kept the friendship afloat.
"Probably because we're both you know, A-Type personalities. I think Vince is kind of like -- I have this view: if you haven't done anything wrong, then face up and defend yourself. A lot of these people nowadays, if you're sued and somebody accuses you of something, then that the natural tendency is to deny, hunker down, and pay somebody to go away, but we just don't do that. We've never done that. If something has been gone wrong, it's going to be done wrong in error, not by intent, usually. If you've done something wrong, then you try to fix it, but if you haven't done anything wrong, then you defend yourself."
Recently, Jerry was featured on an episode of Dark Side of the Ring about the 1994 steroid trial that nearly sent Vince McMahon to jail. You can see viewership information for that episode of Dark Side of the Ring at this link.
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