10 Reasons Why Vince McMahon Will NEVER Shake Off The WWE ‘Stigma’
Chairman Of The Broad
The hype and buzz around January 4th's Wrestle Kingdom 12 was unlike anything in the industry since a miniature earthquake caused by TNA exactly eight years earlier.
On that famous 2010 night, the Orlando outfit launched an ill-advised assault on a stale WWE product, flooding their talented roster with stars of old ostensibly employed to raise the company's profile underneath Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's headline arrivals with the group. If the strategy didn't already mirror 'Easy E's Monday Nitro philosophy over a decade earlier, the company also went on air in direct competition with Monday Night Raw and kicked off an hour earlier to convince fans to stay put with a dynamic alternative.
Two things undermined the whole exercise. Perhaps most crucially, the product wasn't a dynamic alternative. It was a tired retread, offering little difference to the nostalgia WWE would often pepper into their broadcasts on birthdays or anniversaries. Problematic for the group was that McMahon bucked the usual trend of completely ignoring them to instead deliver the seismic return of Bret Hart on his show as a counter.
It highlighted how quickly Vince's default setting was still so sound. WWE is so often a frustrating beast, but few promotors have overseen as many globally recognised creative success stories as McMahon himself. If only those moments of audience satisfaction were scant succour for the man himself.
10. The Content Of His Own Network
Vince McMahon's entire creative legacy sits within his own over-the-top streaming service, but his decision to exorcise some of his most perverse demons on-screen over the years has resulted in something of a conundrum for his future efforts beyond his wild world.
Keen during the persona's late-1990's peak to blur the lines between the 'Mr McMahon' visage and the slightly-less-bonkers real version of himself, Vince now pays for his gimmicked sins with legitimate penance.
With the world looking upon the industry he stands atop of as little more than a jumped-up circus, his struggle to be thought of as more than just a ringmaster is undermined by the character he so expertly portrayed. In WWE lore, he's an evil genius pushed to psychopathic lengths, exhibiting unabashed cruelty and bizarre comedy in equal measure.
No matter what he tries to sell, the man will always be the cartoon promotor. It's an inescapable dilemma he's created all by himself.