10 Dumbest Decisions In Wrestling History

8. Vince McMahon Retires Randy Savage

RIC FLAIR SPARTACUS
WWE.com

Vince McMahon has this weird (and contradictory) thing about age.

Despite consistently enabling the 50 year-old Triple H to silence WrestleMania crowds in increasingly laborious parody-epics, and endangering his Legends in the draining heat of Saudi Arabia, he sends ageing onscreen personnel out to pasture if he deems them to "look" too old. The most obvious example, of course, being himself, unless he needs to pop a rating.

In 1993, Vince relegated 'Macho Man' Randy Savage to a commentary role. The legendary worker could still go, and was more than willing to go, but to Vince, he was too associated with a bygone era to present as a top star. There was a deep and layered hypocrisy to all of this. Savage, willing also to work with the emerging New Generation, commentated at WrestleMania IX, on which the older Bob Backlund appeared and Hulk Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship. Savage also commentated at King Of The Ring '94, headlined by '80s stars Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler.

Nonetheless, Vince happily allowed Savage to leave. Dumb in how contradictory it all was, it was also very dumb in ramification: Savage joined WCW, in which he drew and elevated Diamond Dallas Page to the main event in awesome, furious brawls.

Vince's inconsistent whims weaponised his competition, a decision that in no small part led to the most barren financial period his company ever endured.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!