10 Wrestlers You Won't Believe Got The Better Of Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon is the ultimate alpha male - but Tay Conti, Jeff Jarrett and others went over him...

cm punk vince mcmahon
WWE.com

Vince McMahon cuts such a detached and terrifying figure of madness that it is said the independent contractors of WWE are too scared to even knock on his door.

They are instead made to wait, often weeks on end, for the privilege of pitching an idea to a man who in all likelihood isn't aware of their name, credentials, skills, anything. The man who finances a multi-million dollar training facility - with the express purpose of developing talent - doesn't read reports, watch tape nor use the knowledge they have acquired to gain "promotion" to the main roster.

As was the case with Shayna Baszler, he makes a snap judgment within seconds and orders them to calm the f*ck down - "It's only RAW, pal!" - before enlightening them in the WWE ways of the "headlock, takeover," thus creating yet more homogenised, soul-destroying content churn.

The man is notoriously bad-tempered. You could show him the next Stone Cold Steve Austin, and he'd be uninterested if not sufficiently full of ketchup-smothered feed. Well, he was uninterested when he saw the first Steve Austin, but you get the idea.

Vince McMahon is a daunting individual, and everybody - even the yacht he sails on the blood of so many workers - is his bitch.

Only real ones (and that d*ckhead the Ultimate Warrior) make him theirs...

10. Mercedes Martinez

cm punk vince mcmahon
WWE.com

In an era in which women are deemed worthless, having had the temerity to age - and are subsequently fired with a trash bag bestowed as a parting gift - Mercedes Martinez played the system.

Somehow.

Martinez, a great 40 year-old talent, debuted on the main roster as part of the atrocious RETRIBUTION stable as 'Retaliation'.

RETRIBUTION were formed when some WWE middle management pig looked at his telly in the soul-destroying summer of 2020 and wondered just who the f*ck those little f*ckers were runnin' around. He hated them, and in one of the dumbest lightbulb moments in wrestling history, thought it made for good heat.

'Retaliation'.

'Retaliation' carries a very similar definition to 'Retribution'. This was a bit like calling a member of the Four Horsemen 'Horse Man'. The entire bullsh*t ordeal - the group stopped destroying property the very second the expensive ThunderDome was introduced, WWE signed these insurgents to a deal, Reckoning won a match via night terrors - was dumb on top of dumb.

Martinez knew it, and requested to go back to NXT. Miraculously, the pitch was accepted. She wasn't punishment booked. She wasn't given a bin.

She simply went back down to the Capitol Wrestling Center and killed it in a featured upper midcard role.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!