10 Parallels Between Vince McMahon And Antonio Inoki

6. Pushing Established Veterans Instead Of Rookies

If there€™s one problem that seems to manifest itself in every wrestling promotion on a regular basis, it€™s deciding between pushing a new wrestler to the moon in order to create a new star for the future, or playing it safe and pushing the same time-tested draws in order to maintain the status quo. Vince McMahon has been guilty of doing this on numerous occasions. Bringing back Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper as high-profile superstars in the early 2000s despite their ages and injuries is but one example. He hasn€™t created a new top star in many years, and he insists on having part-timers and older wrestlers main-event marquee shows instead of giving new wrestlers opportunities to try and main event. Inoki, meanwhile, did the same thing in New Japan, as Inoki was insistent on pushing the same wrestlers for well over a decade, as well as keeping himself as the top draw in the promotion throughout two decades. He rarely created new stars during the 1990s and relied on outsiders to be the big draws for his company. The result for Inoki was that NJPW was in shambles in the early 2000s following the disastrous €˜Inokism€™ phase, while Vince€™s WWE is in a sort of purgatory right now, where younger talents still take a backseat to veterans and former MMA fighters.