Details on Vince McMahon stealing shoes during a plane ride

Former WWE photographer Tom Buchanan says Vince McMahon had a unique way of entertaining himself on plane journeys.

In 1987, Buchanan became a full-time WWE staff photographer after previously working for the company on a freelance basis. During a plane ride, someone placed a man's shoe on his lap without explaining why. Later in the journey, Vince McMahon did the same thing with a woman's shoe.

On the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Buchanan said he soon found out that McMahon liked stealing people's shoes if they fell asleep on planes:

"Vince had a thing. Everybody in the company had a thing for stealing shoes if you fell asleep, so that was just a known sort of thing. I was sitting back in coach, I didn't know about this little thing, and some person came by and dropped a shoe in my lap. It was a black man's shoe. I didn't know what this thing was about. Then, a short while later, Vince McMahon came up [from] first class and dropped a white lady's shoe in my lap." [12:50 – 13:17]

Buchanan was "perplexed" but knew he had to "somehow adjust to this weirdness" if he wanted to work for WWE. He threw the man's shoe in the lavatory but kept hold of the woman's shoe.

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What happened after Vince McMahon stole the shoe?

Laughter ensued when it was announced on the public address system that one shoe had been found, and the other was still missing. Following the flight, Buchanan witnessed a woman hobbling around the airport terminal wearing only one shoe.

Later that night, the former WWE photographer continued the joke by placing the woman's shoe on Vince McMahon's chair at the commentary table:

"We were doing a Saturday Night's Main Event at the Seattle arena that night, so I kept the shoe," Buchanan said. "When Vince came out to do his announce with Jesse Ventura, I left it on his chair. He saw it, laughed, [and] pushed it to the side. I picked it up later and carried that shoe with me in a production case for the rest of my time at WWF [WWE] just to kinda make it clear that this isn't a normal company!" [14:07 – 14:33]

Buchanan also spoke about the time that Andre the Giant picked him up by the throat in an unscripted moment during a match.

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Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.