10 WWE Mega-Pushes Fans Hated BEFORE Roman Reigns & John Cena

6. Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon ECW Champion
WWE.com

If Vince McMahon killed ECW by forcing the brand to link arms with WCW on television in 2001, he p*ssed on the corpse with his rebrand. December To Dismember 2006 was him f*cking the p*ss-filled eye-socket. Winning the ECW Championship in 2007 though? Reanimating the corpse just so he could do it all again, twice as hard and this time with more crushed leaves.

Both incredible patter and toxic trolling all housed under one du-rag, the visual of him wearing the prize he stole from Bobby Lashley along with son Shane and hired headhunting henchman Umaga had about the same novelty appeal of seeing his chrome dome once more after the WrestleMania head-shaving that had taken place a month or so earlier. Beyond that, it was death to the brand and it felt as though he liked it that way.

This was not the charming oppression of 1998 that always ended with a Stone Cold Stunner nor the downright evil megalomania from 2001 that facilitated Linda McMahon miraculously rising from her chair at WrestleMania X-Seven. This was money on a table he was happy to set fire to - ironically an act he wouldn't have permitted to try and preserve the initials he'd bastardised.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett