25 Things You Didn't Know About Vince McMahon
21. He Went Bankrupt Before WrestleMania
McMahon has often told the story of gambling everything on the breakout success of the inaugural WrestleMania, but the 1985 spectacle came after his first financial collapse.
Speaking in 2001, he spoke of squandering money and tax-related endeavours that skinted him before turning things back around. He said; "It was visions of sugarplums. It was, 'Look how successful I am! I guess I really am somebody.' I got involved with people who weren't that bright and let them tell me that I needed tax shelters. There was a construction company, a horse farm, a cement plant, and it all went belly-up. I felt bad about the bankruptcy. I wanted to pay what I owed, but there were other people involved, and finally the banks wrote it all off."