10 WWE Wrestlers Vince McMahon Loved At First Sight

Vince McMahon is an odd fellow.

This isn't news, of course. But the older and odder he gets, the more it becomes so embedded in his product that it becomes the only storyline reason most things happen.

Pay-per-views are traditionally decent these days, moving along at far more palatable clip than your average three hour Raw. But then that doesn't explain how, after nearly a decade, three hour Raws are still typically such a slog? Why has NXT lost virtually all of its charm? Why is good form almost impossible to keep up, as evidenced by SmackDown failing to build on fairly generous takes about it's broader improvement? The answer to all these questions is simple - Vince McMahon is an odd fellow.

We have moved from the left hand not know what the right is doing to - as succinctly put by WhatCulture's own Adam Wilbourn - the little finger not knowing what the index one is. These theoretical fingers are on McMahon's hand, and he's still the only one to make any decisions. If only he could go back to liking who the rest of us liked.

The Chairman has a type, of this we know, and the recent announcement that relative newbie (and 7'3) star Omos would join AJ Styles in a tag team title match at WrestleMania 37 had fans racing to anoint him McMahon's next megastar. It may not be that easy this time, but it certainly used to be...

Without hyperbole or sales patter, Vince McMahon’s 1980s affection for Hulk Hogan is the reason North American pro wrestling as viewed today came to be. The blueprint, the benchmark and beta-tested model of a Sports Entertainment success story, the infatuation McMahon had with an AWA star his father had cast aside drove a countrywide takeover and worldwide revolution.

Hogan had been part of New York’s plans as a heel before his decision to accept the part as Thunderlips in Rocky III drew the ire of traditionalist Vince McMahon Sr. Unwelcome in the WWF following the cinematic sidestep, ‘The Hulkster’ ventures to Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association and honed many of the details that later became global shorthand for the industry.

In Hogan’s look, magnetic charisma and increasingly shrewd crowd control, McMahon saw his star upon seizing the reins of the organisation from his father. Believing heavily in his grand vision, he booked Hogan as an entirely different babyface figurehead to former WWE Champion Bob Backlund, transforming casual perceptions of the wrestling business in the process.

It was so successful, he tried it again for the rest of his professional career. McMahon can fake or even force enthusiasm for other body types, personality quirks or promo styles, but this package took him from the pro wrestling outhouse to the hoi polloi penthouse. He never forgot his first.