Paul London is continuing to pull back the curtain on what it was like working in WWE during the Vince McMahon era, and his latest recollections paint a picture of confusion, tension, and moments that felt surreal even by wrestling standards.

During an appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, London reflected on several encounters with Vince McMahon, including the infamous limo explosion angle that aired in 2007. While the segment became one of the most talked about moments in WWE history, London says the atmosphere backstage leading up to it was chaotic and oddly specific, especially for talent who were not involved in active storylines at the time.

London explained that the segment was filmed in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and that wrestlers who were not booked elsewhere on the show were suddenly pulled aside with minimal context about what they were about to be part of.

“We were in Hershey, Pennsylvania,” London recalled. “They called everybody over that they didn’t have any plans for… ‘Okay, we have this segment going on the ring now. Vince is going to be acting very queer, okay, very odd, unusual, very, very queer.’ They kept saying queer, I don’t know why, okay, I think they mean odd… ‘He’s gonna come back here and we’re gonna line you all up, and he’s gonna just walk along acting very queer, very odd and just very bizarre and very queer.’ I was like, Okay, I get it. Now, if he looks at you, just play off of it.”

According to London, what should have been a quick background shot turned into a long and repetitive process. He noted that the segment was filmed nine separate times, and each time McMahon locked eyes with him, making it increasingly difficult to keep a straight face. That reaction ultimately led to a confrontation once filming wrapped.

London said that an official pointed out to McMahon that he appeared to be smiling during the segment, which immediately caught the boss’s attention.

“He power walked over to me. ‘Why were you smiling?!’ Because you’re like, acting bizarre, and I don’t know? Don’t kill the messenger. I don’t get that… It’s funny, it’s cute how sensitive millionaires are. If you think about it, the money, the power, the image, the persona, all of this becomes a big smoke screen… but extremely sensitive, like very easy to hurt their feelings.”

London suggested that moments like that revealed a side of power dynamics in WWE that many fans never saw. Despite the wealth and authority at the top, he felt there was often an underlying fragility when things did not go exactly as expected.

He also shared an earlier story from before he was officially part of the roster, when he worked as a plant in the crowd for a SmackDown taping. That brief interaction with McMahon left a lasting impression and made London think his chances of ever being hired were finished.

“Vince is walking, everyone is like ‘Oh, thank you sir… Thank you sir.’ I went in for an aggressive handshake, and this is what I did. I went in for an aggressive handshake on Vince McMahon. I caught these two [fingers], but I had committed to it. I was already committed. He wiped my handshake off and power walked off. I was like, I’m f*cked. Never working here.”