10 WWE Wrestlers Vince McMahon Loved At First Sight
9. Tom Magee
As laboured over in wonderful, wonderful detail when the tape of the match was finally unearthed, Vince McMahon was more than ready to move on from Hulk Hogan as early as 1986 thanks to the minor miracle Bret Hart performed with inexperienced muscleman Tom Magee during an October television taping.
With a backfilp, bodybuilder physique and luxurious mullet, Magee had the lot as far as The Chairman was concerned, not least after he'd shown enough fire in this extended squash to be moulded into a souped-up version of the super-successful 'Hulkster'. He was half-right, though he'd been bamboozled by the magic of his own industry.
There was indeed a man in the ring that could be trusted with carrying an entire organisation on his back, but Magee wasn't that hero-in-waiting. Then a tag team heel and about a third of the size of the type of Champion McMahon desired, 'The Hitman' was the 'Excellence Of Execution' some six years before he was given the WWE Championship to anoint him as such.
Magee couldn't really have that level of match with anybody, whilst Bret managed it with just about everybody. There was an inherent tragedy to this match and their future dynamic - McMahon's heart was never truly with Hart, even when it inadvertently was.