Hey everyone. Today I have a list of times Vince made us ask questions of the Mr. McMahon character, and his business decisions which affected WWE and the fans.
1. Calls Shane A Son Of A B**** On PG Show.
It just seemed so out-of-place. On a PG-rated show, you don’t often hear anyone using any form of cursing, and if you do it’s only in extreme circumstances. Talents have been fired for way less, so it feels like a double standard that the chairman can swear when he’s on TV and no one else can. How is he allowed to do that when little kids are watching? And it’s not just about the cursing .. it was the choice of words. Calling your own son a “son of a b****” is basically calling your own wife a b**** too. What was he thinking?
2. Cesaro Does Not Have The It Factor.
You know something’s not right when Stone Cold Steve Austin is visually perplexed by Vince’s lack of support for Cesaro. There was a time when Cesaro was getting major pops almost every week, especially when he started making The Big Swing routine. Vince didn’t like that he was getting over .. so Vince had Cesaro turn heel, paired him with Heyman, and purposely wrecked any momentum he had. He stated the reason behind it was because “he’s not got the IT factor”, and when Austin asked Vince what he planned to do with Cesaro going forward .. he could only reply with “no idea”.
3. Triple H Is Not His Son.
Yeah I still remember this travesty. It became known that Vince had an illegitimate son and wanted the big reveal on an episode of Raw. He invited all the talent in the ring .. and they did this funny “Guess Who?” style game where you had to leave the ring if you have bald hair, are too extreme (etc.). Sandman had no idea what was going on (he had concussion) so he just stayed in the ring.
It got a bit uneasy when it was suggested Triple H could be his son .. which poked at the uneasy possibility of incest between HHH & Stephanie. Eventually it was announced Hornswoggle was his son and the world let out a groan. No .. just no. It was stupid, it still is stupid, and it led to Vince feuding with Finlay (Hornswoggle’s real dad, apparently) and having a cage match against Hornswoggle. I wanted this story to die the second it started, and if I could Men In Black myself just to forget it I probably would.
4. Death-Dyfing.
There’s a couple of interesting tidbits about this angle. Firstly, if you watch out for Paul London’s MASSIVE grin as Vince McMahon walks by .. he got fired for that. No I’m not kidding, London was meant to be taking it seriously and Vince didn’t take his light attitude too kindly.
Secondly (and this one isn’t funny at all) .. the angle was scrapped almost immediately as it came out that Chris Benoit and family had died. Vince showed up on the next Raw and admitted he hadn’t really died and they would pay tribute to Chris Benoit. Of course .. as the show continued, facts about the tragedy came to light and the tribute show was not allowed to be shown again. Just poor timing from Vince .. but in a way I’m glad the angle never got going as it was stupid anyways.
5. He Wasn’t Going To Stand For It.
Not much Vince could’ve done about this one, aside from perhaps realizing he’s not as young as he used to be. Apparently Cena and Batista botched the finish so they were eliminated together, forcing Vince McMahon to come out with furious anger to clean it up. And when he got in the ring .. he did a Kevin Nash and blew both his quads, so he just kinda sat there in the ring with an angry face as Cena, Batista, and the referees tried to take him seriously. You have to ask why he felt compelled to get out there when he could’ve barked orders from the Gorilla position and got the same effect.
6. Interview With Melanie Pillman.
I’ve featured this video in a previous list article, but it’s SO bad that I couldn’t exclude it. Interviewing a widow literally a day after her husband’s death is pretty low. But he didn’t just stop there .. no, they plugged the interview throughout the night like a main event match. It was live .. and Vince asked the questions with little remorse. I always felt like it was done to try and shift any blame away from the WWF (not that it was to blame, but Vince wanted to be certain no one would imply it), but it was very tough to watch. You can tell Melanie’s not really there .. she’s just saying stuff. She’s grieving, she’s still in shock. Vince didn’t seem upset by any of it; not even for a second. It was low .. and it’s stuff like this which makes you question Vince’s outlook on life & death.
7. Introduces God.
I could understand his feud with HBK Shawn Michaels and wanting to bring his religious views in to it. I mean .. HBK used to be a little devil, but by this point in his career he’d turned to God and done away with his controversial ways. Just to prove he’s better than God .. Vince called him out to the ring and cut an epic promo (sarcasm) where he stated this was his ring and he was bigger than God. I’m not religious, I was christened when I was a baby but I ended up an atheist. But even so .. I found the God angle to be in bad taste and unnecessary in a feud with HBK. Could he not find any other material to make Michaels look bad?
8. Kiss My Ass Club.
I hated this so much when I was younger. Like .. I didn’t hate the Mr. McMahon character more than I already did, instead it made me question WWE and why they let Vince get away with having the talent literally kiss his arse on live television. And as an English fan I was a big fan of William Regal, and we all know he was the first to do it. I felt it was a gross abuse of power. You wouldn’t find this kind of thing anywhere else in the world (on TV) .. it was so bizarre and it kept coming back. Even when Vince finally got a taste of his own medicine, it still didn’t sit well with me. I’m not sure who he was trying to impress with the special club. I guess he wanted to show he could do anything he likes and the talent would literally kiss his backside to be in the spotlight for a moment.
9. Makes Trish Bark Like A Dog.
I’m not going to explain this too much as the guy from WrestleTalk manages it pretty well. I’m not saying it should never have happened (in fact it helped Trish’s career), I’m just saying that you can understand why some would use it against Linda McMahon. Funny how they only ever focus on the dog barking bit .. and not the part where Vince made her strip. The worst thing about the segment is Vince was looking for the opposite reaction .. but it’s Trish Stratus. She’s damn fine, and if you have a penis (or you’re a woman who swings that way) you’re not going to object to her stripping. Not for a single millisecond.
10. Mocking JR.
With the Be A Star poster in the background, Vince showed Hornswoggle how you mock Jim Ross (‘swoggle did it earlier in the night) and his bells palsy. Apparently this has been a continuous thing backstage, as some feel the need to rib JR as he’s so damn good and is as hard-working as Vince. I guess it’s one of those things you can’t understand unless you work(ed) there. I still have no idea why they had to do this.
11. Suspends Titus O’Neil.
While Titus is a class act in this video, he was suspended for grabbing Vince’s arm as he tried to walk out at the end of Raw. Many questioned whether his suspension was down to Vince being racist. Some questioned whether it was because he wasn’t an important player (like would Vince suspend Cena for the same thing?) and Vince wanted to make an example out of him. I can understand why Vince was upset, but the suspension meant O’Neil was not allowed to work Wrestlemania so he lost out on the biggest paycheck of the year. It was originally only 30 days, but for some unknown reason it was increased to 60. Titus took it on the chin .. admitted he was at fault, and promptly moved on ASAP.
12. Tell Me You Did Not Just Say That!
Depending on who you ask, this was either really funny or really racist. Personally I used to hear people calling other people “Mah Nigga!” all the time; whether they were black or not. It came out of nowhere though .. it didn’t make a lot of sense for Vince to be so happy to see Cena that he would blurt out such a comment. It only became clearer when the camera panned over to Booker T, who couldn’t help but utter his catchphrase. It might have been a slight dig at Booker for his “We’re comin’ for you nigga!” line back in the WCW days. Either way, it still makes fans ask questions of Vince’s character.
13. Versus Stephanie.
He’s had so many feuds it’s hard to remember them all, but one of the most disastrous and nonsensical programs was against Smackdown GM and own daughter Stephanie McMahon. He didn’t appreciate that she was “too nice” and not following in his own footsteps, so he wanted to teach a lesson by pitting her against the likes of A-Train and Brock Lesnar. This led to an uneasy I Quit match which saw Linda support her daughter.
I still don’t know what Vince was trying to do .. he could’ve feuded with anyone, yet he wanted an I Quit match with Stephanie? Why? What was the point? The only saving grace was Stephanie’s voluptuous cleavage which was way too revealing to take her seriously .. they were there all the time, making it super difficult to sympathize with her character as she tried her best to garner fan support.
14. Who’s The Daddy?
Just to make things even creepier, it’s common knowledge that Vince once wanted to do an angle where it would be revealed he was the father of Stephanie’s child. When Stephanie vehemently said no .. he didn’t stop there, as he suggested perhaps Shane could be the father. Again Stephanie disapproved. So when anyone says a promo is controversial .. just remember that we could have ended up with an incest angle if it wasn’t for Stephanie’s firm stance. Thanks Steph .. someone needs to put Vince in his place as he doesn’t appear to have any limits.
15. Wins ECW Title For No Reason.
Before you cry “But he won the Royal Rumble and WWE title too!” .. I know that! I am fully aware that Mr. McMahon won them in The Attitude Era at the height of his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. That’s the difference though .. Vince claimed those accolades and used them to great effect, unlike his ECW title win. The one thing WWE did with their ECW brand was build Lashley as the poster boy. So what do you get when Umaga and Shane O Mac help Vince claim the ECW title in a handicap match? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The hardcore ECW fans weren’t watching anyways .. no one was. It was a desperate attempt to make the ECW title seem important.
Lashley won it back a month later in a Street Fight .. yet vacated a week later as he was drafted to Raw. Luckily Johnny Nitro and CM Punk made it feel worthy again, but it was short-lived as Chavo Guerrero beat Punk in early 2008 and it was all downhill from there (unless you enjoyed Christian’s reign).
Conclusion
And there you have it folks, just some of Vince McMahon’s questionable moments. I’m sure there’s more, but I didn’t want to overload it. I appreciate what he’s done for WWE and its fans, yet at the same time I can’t help but feel like he’s a human being with morals that wouldn’t be accepted if he wasn’t rich and powerful. He’s someone who loves to rib others, and sometimes it will spill over on to live TV and leave a bad taste. Even so, I wouldn’t want any of these moments to be erased from history (except perhaps his feuds with Swoggle/Steph).
I can’t imagine WWE without Vince, but at the same time I wonder if WWE would be better off without the “senile old man” steering the ship. He’s a genius .. but he’s shown he can also be rude, idiotic, racist, sexist, egotistical, and downright creepy. And I’m not just talking about his character .. I’m talking about the man behind the character. Will he be remembered fondly? Or are there some sinister stories which may come to light after he’s gone? How many times have we seen celebrities pass away only to find they’ve kept some nasty secrets hidden away in the closet? Of course I have no proof of any of this, but it wouldn’t be surprising at all. Thanks for reading, and see you soon.
