10 Indisputable Reasons Why Vince McMahon Is Not A Genius
4. He Stole Talent To Build His Company
Dont believe the myth that Vince McMahon is the only promoter capable of building stars. Go back to the very first Starrcade event that was aired on closed circuit television (which actually preceded WrestleMania). It took place in 1983, one year after Vince took over the WWF from his father. The show was loaded with a lot of great Jim Crockett Promotion talent...who would then soon all depart to Vinces company en masse. Bob Orton Jr., Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine and Ricky Steamboat would all be under his control by the time the first WrestleMania came around less than a year-and-a-half later.
Well at least McMahon created Hulkamania right? Nope. Hogan was already a star in the AWA, and had his gimmick perfected there. All Vince did was choose him as his top babyface, market him better, and let him win the title. Besides taking the most popular wrestler in the country, he also signed Wendi Richter, Adrian Adonis, David Schultz, Jim Brunzell and Jesse Ventura away as well. Oh, but he didnt stop there! He also took the AWAs announcer in Gene Okerlund and their top manager in Bobby Heenan.
Fast forward years later when Eric Bischoff was signing over talent from the WWF, and Vince had the gall to say that Ted Turner was stealing his talent. Having Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, a virtually retired Randy Savage, and an out of the game Hulk Hogan joining WCW seems like petty theft at best compared to what Vince did to every other territory at the time. Now, theres no doubt that Vince has created some stars during his run (though fans have been waiting for almost a decade now for someone to rival John Cena) but theres also no doubt that he wouldnt be where he is today if it werent for his dads wallet.