10 Times Vince McMahon Screwed His Own Talent
3. The Richter Scale
Few remember it today, but Wendi Richter was the other main event star of the first WrestleMania. The former WWF Women's Champion was the focus of the Rock 'n' Wrestling sideshow that was getting the company mainstream attention from MTV and was the one working with Cyndi Lauper on the night.
However, despite her 2010 Hall Of Fame induction, Richter's name has dropped out of history... and the manner of her exit from the company in November 1985 has a lot to do with that.
Richter's ongoing clashes with Vince McMahon over her risible pay for WrestleMania and beyond (she made five grand, ten times less than the other main eventers, and wasn't earning royalties at all) had made her persona non grata. When he retorted to her that he'd made her, she replied "Cyndi Lauper made me." Perhaps not a wise thing to say to a male chauvinist control freak...
In what's become known as the Original Screwjob, Richter faced the Spider Lady for the title at Madison Square Garden. Set to lose, the Spider Lady dropped the script and rolled her into a small package - and despite Richter's shoulder coming up at one, the referee called for the bell.
In dumbfounded fury, Richter unmasked the heel to reveal a ringer, the Fabulous Moolah - and then stalked out of the arena and out of the WWF. Unlike Hart a dozen years later, Richter had been two years into a five year contract. Vince just screwed her to get even.