The Wild career of Vince McMahon

The Wild career of Vince McMahon

When you mention wrestling, the first person you think of is Vincent Kennedy McMahon! McMahon is a controversial figure, but his impact on the industry is undeniable! The man changed everything, from turning the then WWF from a regional show to a global powerhouse that the entire world would remember. At the age of 12, Vince was around the business because his father, Vince McMahon Sr, was the promoter of WWE. Vince always wanted to be a part of the business. He even told his father he wanted to be a wrestler, but his dad turned him down and said how promoters don't appear on the show and that they should be kept separate from their wrestlers. Years later, after Vince graduated college, Vince took on a massive role with his father's promotion. In 1969 the fans were introduced to Vince McMahon as he debuted on television for the then WWF as a ring announcer. Over the years, Vince worked hard and helped his father's promotion. Eventually, pushing for change started with changing the name of the promotion to World Wrestling Federation; on February 21, 1980, Vince founded Titan sports and placed its headquarters in Massachusetts. By 1982 Vince had acquired his father's promotion. Vince became the chairman, and his wife Linda became the co-chief executive. When Vince took over WWE, the wrestling world was run by various regional promotions. During that time, there was an understanding that other promotions would never invade each other's territories for years that was never disturbed. Still, Vince McMahon had a very different view on where the industry should be going.

In 1983 McMahon changed the wrestling world by leaving the National Wrestling Alliance, which was at the time the governing body of independent wrestling. When McMahon decided to go, it was a bombshell that would change the foundation; of professional wrestling! McMahon began to extend his promotion roots by promoting his show in other regions. He even began to sign other promotion stars like in 1984 when he signed Hulk Hogan away from The American Wrestling Association! The charismatic superstar became the face of McMahon promotions and helped usher in a new era of professional wrestling. Vince's next big move was the iconic formation of The Rock' N' Wrestling connection which was a working relationship with WWE and the stars of MTV and Hollywood! The stars brought a whole new audience to wrestling as actors like Mr. T would start appearing on WWE programming leading to the iconic Mr. T versus Rowdy Roddy Piper. Still, Mr. T wasn't the only celebrity Pipper feuded against in the era. He found Cyndi Lauper and kickstarted the Rock' N' Wrestling. with Lauper's iconic confrontation with Rowdy Roddy Piper, culminating with Pipper smashing Lauper's award. Over Lou Albano's head! The conflict would reach media outlets worldwide, and the eyes of the world were locked on the promotion McMahon built.

Having all the momentum, he could want Vince to make the play of the century. He put all the money he could get into one star-studded event. People called it "the Super Bowl of professional wrestling" at Madison Square Garden, and we saw the birth of wrestling's most iconic pay-per-view, Wrestlemania. Stars like Mr. T Cyndi Lauper, Muhammed Ali, Liberace, The Rockettes, and Billy Martin appeared on the grandest stage. They played a part in making this pay-per-view a smashing success. The main event culminated with Mr. T and Hulk Hogan coming out with a massive win! The image of Hulk Hogan celebrating the victory was illustrated on covers around the world. This iconic night helped push WWE and Vince into the world's spotlight and showed off his genius. By the late 1980s, Vince managed to carve his niche in sports entertainment with his astounding super cards and storylines designed to pull in casual fans and diehard fans. By Wrestlemania III, WWE had reported "the biggest crowd in sports-entertainment history" with a crowd of 93,173 packed into the Pontiac Silverdome, with all those fans in attendance for the famous matchup of Hulk Hogan versus "The eighth wonder of the world" Andre, The Giant! Andre was never pinned, causing fans to label it "The unstoppable force meets the immovable object." the two former friends colluded and led to the iconic slam heard worldwide when Hulk Hogan lifted the massive 520-pound Andre and slammed him to the mat! Hogan got the win as it pushed him further into stardom and added more momentum to Vince's company. This boom in wrestling through the 80s was labeled "The Golden Age Era" stars like Hogan, Piper, Andre, Randy Savage, and many others helped mold this era for Vince.

In the early 90s, The New Era kicked in for Vince and the WWE. He cut ties with all his older stars like Hulk Hogan and began investing in future stars. Shawn Michaels, The Rock, and many others, but it was a failure at first. The business was changing, and nobody wanted to see his squeaky clean product, coupled with the rise of WCW and their edgy product. WWE was in a sharp decline and desperately needed something to change the tides of this war between them and WCW. That was when Vince's mind went to work. Instead of keeping his product the same, he ushered in a new era, an exciting new era filled with edgy content that was the introduction of the Attitude Era!

The era started at Survivor Series when the world witnessed the shocking Montreal Screwjob, where we saw Vince screw Bret Hart out of his title. Vince did it because Hart refused to drop the title to hated rival Shawn Michaels in Hart's home town Montreal! Vince fearing Hart would take the title to WCW and trash it on live TV, caused Vince to do the unthinkable he told the referee to ring the bell, and they changed the finish on the spot! Shawn was crowned champion, and Brett left for WCW with a deep hated for Vince. This controversy was massive because Vince was known as an announcer up to this point. So Vince's ownership of WWE was never mentioned until that day. The public outcry was loud and nasty, fans turned on Vince and demanded answers, and Vince went onto TV and had the famous interview proclaiming. "I didn't screw Bret… Bret screwed Brett." After that interview, Vince decided to take the hate and embrace it. The evil character of Vince McMahon was born; the character was a sleazy millionaire who took advantage of his employees and stacked the deck against anyone who dared to oppose him. He ruled over Monday Night Raw with an iron fist.

All while that was happening, WWE had new stars hitting their stride. Shawn Michaels became the company's workhorse, Mick Foley, and his "Three Faces of Foley" characters, Undertaker, Kane, Triple H, Chyna, The Rock, and Chris Jericho. Many more found their roles in the company and proved Vince to be a genius for building for the new era. No star was more important to the attitude eras than Vince McMahon. Still, for every successful villain, the world needs the foil of a hero to combat that villain, and that hero came in place of Stone Cold Steve Austin! The feud carried WWE into this new era. Fans watched Raw weekly as Vince fought to keep order. Stone Cold did everything he could to cause chaos and destroy what McMahon built. Vince later had the idea to bring iconic boxer Mike Tyson, into the fray. Tyson was everything this WWE stood for! Attitude, badass fights, and standing up to authority. It was a match made in heaven. Tyson brought even more eyeballs to the product helping Vince grow his empire. That success led Vince to open WWE on the stock exchange in October 1999. This moment was a massive moment for Vince and the WWE. It brought sponsors and huge network deals to the table. On March 23, 2001, we witnessed the end of the Monday Night Wars as Vince McMahon bought WCW. Shortly after, on April 1, 2001, ECW filed for bankruptcy, leaving WWE as the only major wrestling promotion.

On June 24, 2002, Vince continued to evolve his company by unleashing a new era. In the Ruthless Aggression Era, Vince helped create the next generation stars in John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesner, JBL, and dozens more stars. What made this different from the attitude era was that we saw WWE focus more on the in-ring aspect of wrestling than on the Attitude era's anarchy. As the years went on, Vince continued to hitch his wagon to the company workhorse John Cena. Cena helped Vince usher in another era in 2008 as he decided to take the WWE to a PG-TV rating. Vince did this because it was his way of cutting the excess leftovers of the attitude era. He wanted to "usher in a new era of refined and compelling storytelling." Vince continued to evolve as the business grew. Fans wanted breathtaking in-ring action, and Vince brought it to them with fantastic matches.

The iconic chairman was not controversy-free. In November of 1993, Vince was indicted in federal court after a steroid controversy brought him and the WWE into the light. Vince had been accused of distributing steroids to his wrestlers. One witness, a wrestler of the WWE, testified that McMahon had ordered him to use steroids. Still, it came to light that he was fired after a violent confrontation with Vince backstage and that he clearly hated Vince. In July of 1994, A jury acquitted Vince of these charges. Various sexual misconduct allegations followed Vince over the years. On April 3, 1992, Rita Chatterton, a former referee for WWE, went on Geraldo Rivera's show. She claimed that on July 16, 1986, Vince McMahon tried to force her to perform oral sex on him in his limo, and, when she refused, he raped her. A former wrestler corroborated Rita Chatterton's story. On February 1, 2006, McMahon was accused of sexual harassment by a worker at a tanning bar in Boca Raton, Florida. At first, the charge appeared discredited because McMahon was Miami for the Royal Rumble. It was soon clarified that the alleged incident was reported to police on the day of the Rumble but took place the day before. On March 25, the allegation was reported that no charges would be filed against McMahon due to the investigation. In April 2022, the WWE board began investigating a $3 million hush-money settlement McMahon paid over an alleged affair with a company's former employee. The investigation also revealed other nondisclosure agreements tied to misconduct claims by other women in the company against McMahon and executive John Laurinaitis. They totaled 12 million dollars as more details came out over Vince and his 2022 allegations. Such as him sending nude photos to an employee and rumored to have fired another employee for not having sexual relations with him. The headlines were getting worse for Vince as more details came out. On July 22, 2022, Vince McMahon announced his retirement. He stepped away from WWE, putting Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon in charge as Co-CEOs of the company ushering in a new era.

McMahon had controversial views over the years, like not believing Cesaro could reach that "brass ring" to succeed. Not pushing talent cause he had no interest and telling Maleki Black that he "didn't understand" his choice in music for his entrance. Vince allowed many stars over the years to escape his grasp, but every time Vince dropped the ball, Vince worked his way around it and always managed to stay on top. He's a madman who somehow always has a plan, he may be out of touch at times, but McMahon will be damned if he falls behind and lets someone else take his company's top spot. That's why Vince reached the heights he did; he never gave up and constantly changed the game. Vince was a controversial figure in wrestling, but McMahon inspired change and brought on a new world of sports entertainment. He is far from perfect. Still, the man revolutionized the sport we all love to this day. Most likely, if it weren't for Vince McMahon, the sport of Professional wrestling would be completely different. So with Vince riding off into his sunset lets, all wish him the best in his future endeavors.