10 Best WWE Gimmicks Vince McMahon Had Nothing To Do With

Under the boss's nose, but away from his watchful gaze...

Brian Pillman Vince McMahon
WWE.com

At his swaggering best, Vince McMahon is a micro-manager extraordinaire who loves to "make movies".

He's responsible for grand ideas like 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase, bold characters like The Undertaker and millions upon millions of dollars worth of profit for his WWE empire. In his creative prime, McMahon was able to seize control of the industry by way of 'Hulkamania' and then smartly cede some jurisdiction of company creativity over to Vince Russo's team in the late-90s.

Both those eras were fruitful thanks to fan buzz, larger-than-life gimmicks and all the pomp and ceremony that comes along with WWE's glitzy approach to wrestling. There's another side though. McMahon, for all his imagination, has lucked out with characters he either didn't invent at all or didn't see value in at first.

The best of those are included here, and they include blood-sucking vampires, unicorn-loving funsters, hard-edged antihero bad asses and meta-style gimmicks that feed on hardcore affection for company lore. Every single one of these characters hatched away from or in spite of McMahon's microscopic creative lens or initial willingness to promote them...

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.