10 Times Vince McMahon Cut Off His Nose To Spite His Face
7. The Kozlov Persistence
Vladimir Kozlov, one hopes, is thankfully a trope of the past.
The degree to and persistence with which Kozlov was booked was puzzling, even by Vince's inscrutable standards. He wasn't exceptionally tall or muscled. Lacking Vince's favourite traits, he was short in every other department as well. He couldn't wrestle his way out of a paper bag, he required a charisma transplant, and as a non-native speaker, he had no way of carrying the fifteen minute opening segments WWE was so fond of, even back in 2008. While the Ukrainian did have distinctive facial features, he undermined his naturally menacing resting face by hammily gurning away at every available opportunity.
Kozlov was dead on arrival, but he was a Vince McMahon pet project, so the push was forced upon us regardless. He even cleanly defeated The Undertaker en route to a WWE title showdown with Triple H - it was as if we were being punished for not reacting favourably to him.
Mercifully, their match at Survivor Series 2008 was an absolute bust, saved only by Edge's Money In The Bank cash-in. Even Vince acquiesced after this: the Kozlov experiment was over. He was slowly transitioned into a comedy role and quietly released a few years afterwards.
What's especially maddening is that if Vince had replicated this push with Cesaro, the Swiss Superstar would surely be an elite WWE main event talent by now.