Vince McMahon's 10 Biggest Successes
8. Owning Character Names
You
know why The Undertaker never jumped to WCW? Sure, he was loyal to McMahon, but
he also couldn’t. Mark Calaway could, but the grim reaper character that fans
had grown to adore could never leave McMahonland.
Unlike
promoters who came before him, Vince Jr. realized the importance of
trademarking his company’s characters and intellectual property. It’s why so
many wrestlers have had their names changed upon joining the main roster, and
why they have to alter their names or create entirely new characters on the
indy scene.
In
his autobiography, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper claimed that McMahon would always call
him HotRod because he owned the name. “It was also part of the brainwashing
that he used on all his wrestlers to try and show he was in control.”