10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Vince McMahon
9. He Is Deeply Unpleasant To Be Around
WWE wrestlers aren't just wary of Vince McMahon returning because they are fearful of getting booked to win one week and losing the next, or being forced to recite deeply lame scripted material.
Colliding with old, "funny" stories of Vince being one of "the boys" - he takes their finishers in bars and scraps with them on planes! - these wrestlers are probably wary of a full-time in-person return because he is an intimidating and unpleasant individual who rules by fear.
Sasha Banks by he own admission was reluctant, initially, to even speak to him, telling Sam Roberts as much in 2016. Per the account of Ricardo Rodriguez, Alberto Del Rio's onscreen personal ring announcer, Vince once stood on Curtis Axel's foot, over and over again, in a bid to get him to stand up for himself.
In a similar story, Mark Henry revealed to Chris Van Vliet that Vince once ribbed him by making him work a dark match with Sin Cara, only for his opponent not to show. When Henry grabbed a mic and demanded somebody else come out to face him, and his improvisation went nowhere, he marched backstage to let his feelings be known. Vince had already left. Henry wanted to quit on the spot. Vince thought it was funny, and when Henry said he felt useless and expendable, Vince showed him the tape of the dark non-match and asked Henry to replicate that emotion to drive his 'Hall of Pain' push.
Much is said and written about the Vince McMahon "Jedi mind trick". That is a euphemism for manipulation of an ugly stripe.
Vince had a habit of making his wrestlers feel worthless.
Those who watched the Kevin Owens 365 Network special saw a glimpse of the man and his vile attitude; after a middling effort against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 33, Owens asked Vince if they were "good" in gorilla. Vince cut him off with a disgusted "No"; Owens only began to regain his confidence, after a string of uncharacteristically poor performances subsequently, when Steve Austin put over his match with AJ Styles at SummerSlam later in 2017.