Ranking Every WWE Smackdown General Manager - From Worst To Best
7. Vince McMahon
Technically, Vince McMahon wasn't the General Manager of SmackDown - he was the owner. After Survivor Series 2001, Ric Flair was unveiled as the co-owner of WWE. Flair and McMahon couldn't work together (they even had a match at Royal Rumble), and when the brand split was announced, both owners got a show.
McMahon shaped the show that SmackDown would become, drafting The Rock, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Edge. Those men would be major players on the blue brand in the early days, especially Angle, Benoit, and Edge, who became part of the 'SmackDown Six'.
Like Laurinaitis, though, McMahon didn't remain in control of SmackDown for long. When Steve Austin walked out of WWE, the company went into panic mode and restructured the booking. McMahon showed up on the 10 June 2002 episode of Raw to confront Flair and criticize him for doing a bad job, then challenged him to put his ownership on the line in a match.
Flair and McMahon went one-on-one in Raw's main event, and though Flair locked in the Figure Four, Brock Lesnar interfered and helped McMahon pick up the win. He became the sole owner of WWE and soon appointed a General Manager to each show.