The 10 Most Memorable Vince McMahon Moments
The 10 Most Memorable Vince McMahon Moments
Vince McMahon has led a fascinating life, even before he started wrestling. From selling insurance to owning an arena, Vince has seen and done it all. In WWE, his on-screen character is bombastic, arrogant and theatrical; but away from the cameras, Vince is a very different man.
Despite being a billionaire many times over, he still drives himself to the office in a modest Ford Focus. He’s also known for being frugal – during one investor call in 2011, he revealed that he still reuses his old bags when flying so as not to spend unnecessary money on new luggage.
However you look at him, there’s no denying that Vince McMahon is one of a kind. So here are 10 of his most memorable moments…
When He Sent The Wrestling World Into A Tailspin
Vince has sent wrestling fans into a tailspin more than once – but one of his biggest blunders was in 1993. That year, he decided to change the name of the WWF to the WWF, a move which caused all manner of problems.
Firstly, a toy company called the World Wildlife Fund had the WWF name trademarked, so Vince’s company had to change its name to WWF. More importantly, the change meant that all the old wrestling magazines and videos had to be re-branded.
Vince was renowned for being cheap, so he decided not to buy new copies of the magazines but to just print “WWF” on the front; unfortunately, printing an “F” on magazines that had “WWF” on them meant that “WWF” looked like “WF”.
The “F” on the magazines was so close to the “E” that readers thought it was a typo and assumed that the magazine was about “Women’s Wrestling”. In the end, the magazines had to be reprinted with “WWF” on the front, but the damage had already been done – the mistake meant that Vince’s company lost a lot of readers and subscriptions, and a lot of readers were upset that they had been misled. This was a major screw-up that cost Vince a lot of money.
When He Bought ECW And Its Impact On WWE
During the Monday Night Wars, Vince bought out Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), a company that he had previously been feuding with.
The move was a strange one, as ECW and WWE were both competing for the ratings, and buying ECW meant that Vince lost one of his biggest rivals
– but the purchase was actually a smart decision. Extreme wrestling is very violent, and Vince toned it down a little when he bought ECW. The new, PG-16 version, gave Vince a new way to attract a younger audience, and it turned out to be a great investment. Despite taking on ECW’s massive debts in the process, Vince managed to turn the company around and make a profit with it.
Today, the ECW brand is still going strong, and ECW’s owner, Paul Heyman, is working as a creative consultant for WWE. Without even realizing it, Vince ended up saving his own company by buying ECW and changing it up a little.
When He Was Almost Slain During A Wrestling Scrimmage
Vince almost got killed in 2004 when he was almost slain in a wrestling scrimmage. The incident occurred when John Cena was making his WWE debut, and he and Vince were working out a move in which Cena would fall on top of a table. Unfortunately, things went wrong when Cena’s knee somehow got caught in the table, and he fell on top of Vince, who was standing behind the table.
The fall tore a ligament in Vince’s back, and he almost died from internal bleeding – he spent three days in hospital and was expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks. An injury like that is not uncommon for WWE stars, and many of them are seriously hurt in training sessions with other wrestlers. The training sessions are extremely dangerous, and most wrestlers have suffered an injury of some sort at some point in their career. Some injuries are so bad that wrestlers have had to retire, such as Daniel Bryan, who was forced to quit the ring because of a series of concussions.
When His Daughter Married The Rock
Vince McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, is one of the most powerful people in WWE. She started dating the Rock in 2001, and they married in 2003 – making Vince a Rock.
The marriage was a happy one, but there were some issues. One of them was that the couple’s families were very different, and Vince and the Rock’s mother didn’t get along at all.
In fact, the families’ relationship was so bad that the couple had to get married in secret, and the Rock’s mother didn’t find out about it until months after the wedding. The Rock and Stephanie divorced in 2007, although they’re still good friends and the relationship between their families is better than ever.
When He Made One Of WWE’s Biggest Mistakes
Vince made one of WWE’s biggest mistakes during the 1990s, when he tried to break into the world of movies. WWE released a couple of films during their “entertainment” era, which was a strange time when WWE tried to be more like a circus than a wrestling show.
The first movie, “No Holds Barred”, starred Hulk Hogan as an evil wrestling promoter and was released in 1989. Sadly, the movie was a flop, netting just $5.9 million from a $15 million budget. The second movie, “The Wrestling Classic”, was released in 1985 and featured a young Roddy Piper.
The movie was a success compared to “No Holds Barred”, pulling in $26 million from a $1.5 million budget, but the company planned to make even more movies. Unfortunately, none of the movies were a success, and both “Hollywood Hulk Hogan” and “Twist of Fate” flopped at the box office, costing WWE millions of dollars. In the end, WWE abandoned the movie business.
When Ryback Almost Broke His Back Trying To Dropkick Him
Ryback and Vince almost got injured during a 2011 taping of WWE’s show, “RAW”. Vince and Ryback were working out a move in which the wrestler would dropkick Vince, but the move went wrong when Vince jumped too soon and almost broke his back.
Although the incident was just a mistake, it was a scary one that could have ended badly, especially given Vince’s age at the time. Fortunately, neither Vince nor Ryback was seriously hurt, but it was a reminder that wrestling is a dangerous sport where accidents can happen at any time. Vince has been lucky throughout his career, as he has managed to avoid serious injury despite wrestling in hundreds of matches. As for Ryback, he moved on from WWE in 2017 and now works as a bodybuilder and an actor.
When Kane Choked Him Out In Front Of 50,000 People
In 2010, the Undertaker and Kane decided to try something different to end their match at WrestleMania XXVI. As they were fighting each other, they decided to turn the match into a tag team match by bringing out Vince and choking him out in front of 50,000 people. Although the move was planned, Vince was genuinely shocked when Kane came over and choked him out.
Later on in the show, Vince got his own back when he interrupted the Undertaker’s match and chokeslammed him. This incident isn’t the only time that Vince has been choked out by someone at WrestleMania. Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog once choked him out at WrestleMania 10, and the Fabulous Moolah once attacked him at WrestleMania 17. Vince seems to get himself into trouble every year at WrestleMania!
Conclusion
Vince McMahon is for many people an icon or a hero. He has achieved so much in his life. He has created a billion dollar company out of nothing, has been married multiple times, has three children, and has been in the public eye for decades.
The 10 Most Memorable Vince McMahon Moments
