10 Most Insane Vince McMahon Lies WWE Fans Fell For

1. WWE's Origin Story

Marty Jannetty 123 Kid
WWE.com

This isn't just a Vince McMahon lie, though it's something oft-parroted by various talking heads when WWE re-told the history of pro wrestling, via the physical home video market and the Network, once it acquired the tape libraries of various fallen territories.

Triple H when talking to Logan Paul last year said that, before Vince McMahon took it mainstream through his expansion campaign, wrestling was a "tiny little thing happening in bars".

"A tiny little thing happening in bars."

The idea that Triple H took a lot from from Harley Race, watching on as the former NWA World Heavyweight champion worked matches in the Black Bull, is absolutely preposterous.

Vince launched this narrative to put WWE over as a mom n' pop underdog tale. It made the achievement of the company resonate that bit more. Vince - and a shocking amount of WWE stans actually believe this - made wrestling big and glamorous. The last part is correct, the first part is flagrantly untrue; if anything, looking at the median attendances of pro wrestling shows in the 1970s and 1980s, the opposite is true. WWE made itself bigger and made wrestling on a wider scale smaller. The WWE of 2023 would be ecstatic with the attendances drawn by World Class at the Texas stadium in the mid-80s.

Texas Stadium is a strange name for a boozer, isn't it?

The only time pro wrestling at a major level ever looked like this was in the WWF of the mid 1990s.

 
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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!