10 Best Stories Of First Time Wrestlers Met Vince McMahon

1. Kota Ibushi Didn't Know Who Vince Was

Vince McMahon Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

It must comes as quite the dent to McMahon's monstrous ego, but it's pretty damn funny to hear that Kota Ibushi had zero idea who Vince McMahon was when he first met the WWE Chairman.

This all came about when the Golden Star was in attendance for NXT TakeOver: Dallas in 2016. Reports at the time claimed that Ibushi was high-fiving some people when he was backstage, and one "big man" who got a palm slap was none other than VKM.

Ibushi didn't know who Vince was, which in turn upset certain WWE officials - although not enough to stop the company offering Kota a spot in the upcoming Cruiserweight Classic tournament.

To think that a professional wrestler wouldn't recognise the most powerful person in modern-day wrestling history is somewhat unbelievable, but this story has been backed up by, amongst others, Dave Meltzer and current AEW World Champion Kenny Omega.

If anything, this only adds further charm to the brilliant Kota Ibushi, as most wrestlers would not only be well aware of who Vince was, but they'd be absolutely bricking themselves around the ominous, hair-trigger-tempered presence of McMahon.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.