The Unexpected Way Ex-AEW Star Sarah Stock Got Pulled Into the Vince McMahon Drama

Vince McMahon is the last person you want to quote if you’re trying to win a wrestling argument online right now, but that’s exactly what Sarah Stock did — and it blew up fast.

What set this off

On Oct 21, 2025, former WWE producer and TNA alum Sarah Stock jumped on X to slam a spot from AEW WrestleDream where Jon Moxley tried to drown Darby Allin in an aquarium. She called one fan ignorant and dumb, then told everyone they got worked and that the whole point was to show that attempted murder in wrestling is dumb. She capped it with a line credited to Vince McMahon: '# 1 rule of communication: know your audience.'

Fans did not take the VKM quote well

The McMahon shout-out hit a raw nerve. Since the Janel Grant lawsuit, McMahon’s name is radioactive with a big chunk of the fanbase. Stock’s reply thread filled up with people accusing her of pandering and of giving cover to someone they called an abuser. A few examples:

• @Oz111822Ty said quoting a known abuser was digging the hole deeper.
• @JakeyMcJake read it as trying to appeal to a very specific anti-AEW crowd.
• @mookyblast noted wrestling has always pushed boundaries — from Lawler getting legit hit by a car to wild ECW angles — and questioned why an aquarium spot was her line.
• @hemocado flat-out called McMahon a sex offender.
• @Kev_OC66 said Stock was chasing relevance by quoting a rapist.

Stock doubles down, defends McMahon

On Oct 22, Stock stopped entertaining hypotheticals and got blunt. When one user called McMahon her ex-boss and accused him of assault, she shot back that he never raped her and was cool to her. In another reply, she went further, saying McMahon taught her more than anyone about the business, that she is still living off paychecks from that run five years after leaving, and that she won’t abandon loyalty out of fear of being cancelled. She also tossed in a barb about having bigger balls than a critic and not being a coward.

'The dude taught me more than anyone ever will about the business and I’m still living off his paychecks 5 years after I left there. He was good to me. It’s a sad state of affairs when loyalty disappears over fear of being "cancelled".'

Fans then brought up her own past on-screen violence — one reply resurfaced her TNA angle where she choked Velvet Sky with a belt — and accused her of hypocrisy for drawing the line at the aquarium spot. She stayed in the fight anyway, standing by both her read of the AEW angle and her defense of McMahon.

Why the VKM quote blew up the way it did

McMahon’s reputation has only gotten more toxic since the Janel Grant lawsuit put him back in the headlines. Beyond decades of controversial on-screen segments and how women were presented during his run, there have been long-circulating allegations around him that fans have not forgotten or forgiven.

McMahon’s own response to an older allegation

In the docuseries Mr. McMahon (as reported by SI), he addressed former referee Rita Chatterton’s accusation from the 1980s — which could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out — and denied it happened.

His framing was blunt: once you’re accused of rape, you’re labeled a rapist, and he insisted the encounter was consensual while claiming people were digging for dirt on him. Whether you buy that or not, the point is clear: quoting McMahon in 2025 is going to set people off, and Stock knew exactly whose name she was invoking when she dropped VKM into the discourse.

Where it stands

Stock isn’t backing down, her mentions are a war zone, and fans are split between calling out double standards and agreeing that attempted murder spots are a bridge too far. The only lock here: invoking McMahon’s playbook is still the fastest way to turn a wrestling debate into a five-alarm fire.

So where do you draw the line on how far wrestling can go — and was the aquarium spot clever storytelling or just dumb shock value?