Vince McMahon

Vincent Kennedy McMahon (born August 24, 1945 in Pinehurst, North Carolina) is an American wrestling promoter, on-screen personality, and former play-by-play announcer. He is currently the chairman and majority shareholder of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

Early life

Vincent Kennedy McMahon was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina. He attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he became the first cadet in the school's history to be court-martialed. He was not convicted, however. He graduated from East Carolina University in 1968 with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing. He had married Linda Edwards (also an ECU graduate) in his junior year in 1966. His son Shane Brandon McMahon was born in 1970.

Vince was raised as Vinnie Lupton. His mother Victoria 'Vicki' Lupton remarried after her first marriage to famed wrestling promoter Vincent James McMahon failed during World War II. Vince also has a slightly older half-brother Rodney McMahon, who is understood to work in the steel industry in Texas.

Vince didn't meet his biological father Vincent J. McMahon until he was twelve. Living in a trailer park in Havelock, North Carolina, he had only known a string of abusive stepfathers until his mother revealed that his father was Vincent J. McMahon. McMahon's company the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) and its parent company the Capitol Wrestling Corporation had dominated pro wrestling in the northeastern United States during the mid-twentieth century when the wrestling industry was divided into strictly regional enterprises.

Father and son quickly bonded. The elder McMahon was willing to give his son, then a struggling traveling salesman, a shot in Bangor, Maine. In 1971, he promoted his first wrestling card there. In 1972, in addition to promoting, McMahon provided play-by-play TV commentary for the WWWF, but promotion was his real interest.

Career

Throughout the 1970s, McMahon became a prominent force in his father's company, tripling the WWWF's TV syndication and pushing for the renaming of the company to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The young McMahon was also behind the famous Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match of 1976, the year that his daughter Stephanie was born. In 1979, the WWWF became the WWF, and Vincent K. purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum, which held both hockey and wrestling events. In 1980, he incorporated Titan Sports, Inc., which would purchase the Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father in 1982.

Against his father's expressed wishes, McMahon began a national expansion process that would fundamentally change the business. By 1983, Vince had full control and ownership of the WWF and its future direction, having bought out all of his father's former partners, including the legendary Gorilla Monsoon. As part of the deal, Vince promised Monsoon lifetime employment, and Monsoon did in fact remain affiliated with the WWF until his death. Vince's father died in 1984, leaving his son behind to carry on his pro wrestling legacy. The first thing that he did as full owner of the WWF was to break away from the National Wrestling Alliance, as his vision of a new, national wrestling promotion was incompatible with their old-school promoting philosophy.

In Rocky III, Hulk Hogan began to expand on his new-found celebrity and returned to Vince McMahon's all-new WWF. Hogan won the WWF Championship on January 23, 1984—just weeks after his return—and McMahon helped engineer Hogan's immersion into the mainstream entertainment media, in which Hogan was portrayed as the ultimate all-American good guy. McMahon did not stop there, however, inviting rock and pop stars such as Alice Cooper and Cyndi Lauper to participate in WWF storylines in what would come to be called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection." The popularity of the WWF increased exponentially as MTV often featured wrestling in its programming to follow the exploits of music stars and other celebrities in the wrestling world. McMahon called the incorporation of pro wrestling among other types of entertainment such as music and movies Sports Entertainment. With Hulk Hogan as the performer and McMahon as the promoter, the two worked to take the pro wrestling business to places that no one ever deemed imaginable.

Around the same time, McMahon publicly admitted the secret behind kayfabe in pro wrestling: that its outcomes were predetermined, moves planned and rehearsed, and that wrestlers played character roles much like Hollywood actors do. While general knowledge to most wrestling fans, this admission broke the final taboo of the old ways of wrestling and earned McMahon much ire among old-school fans, wrestlers, and promoters, who were already incensed at McMahon for his invasion into long-held NWA territories. Then-NWA Champion Harley Race was very vocal of his frustrations toward McMahon and the WWF; when promoting a show in his hometown of Kansas City, Race supposedly attempted to burn down a WWF ring. Interestingly, Race jumped ship to the WWF just two years later and became "King" Harley Race.

The culmination of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection was the first-ever WrestleMania event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. McMahon promoted the event across the country on closed-circuit TV (Pay-per-view technology was not yet sufficiently developed.), pouring all of his and his company's resources into what was widely seen in the business as a long shot The investment paid off, and the inaugural WrestleMania was a resounding financial success. The show became an annual event, held every March or April. McMahon followed the success of the event by launching a series of other yearly pay-per-view events including Survivor Series, held roughly every Thanksgiving, SummerSlam in 1988 and the Royal Rumble in 1989.

McMahon ventured outside of wrestling by founding a bodybuilding company called the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF). At roughly the same time, some die-hard NWA territories run by Jim Crockett, Jr., badly bruised by McMahon's tactics of attempting to undermine Crockett's shows by threatening PPV carriers of withholding his WrestleMania if they showed Crockett's shows and placing his shows directly opposite of Crockett's (a tactic that Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff would later employ on McMahon), as well as WWF's garish comic book heroes, sold up to Ted Turner, thus creating World Championship Wrestling (WCW). WCW never really troubled the WWF at this juncture when it came to TV ratings or attendances.

However, around 1992, things began to change. The WBF went out of business as alleged steroid abuse among both McMahon's wrestlers and bodybuilders came under scrutiny. By 1994, things were slowly turning in WCW's favor, especially when they signed Hulk Hogan.

McMahon was put on trial in 1994, accused of distributing steroids to his wrestlers. As a legal move, his wife Linda was made CEO of the WWF during the trial. He was acquitted of all charges but later admitted to taking steroids himself in the '80s. The prosecution made Hulk Hogan its star witness, and his testimony in the trial severely damaged the two's friendship even though Hogan's testimony defended McMahon. After Hogan's testimony, McMahon would go before the media declaring that he wished that Hogan had not lied about him on the witness stand. McMahon's rationale for stating such a comment was later revealed to be his attempt at vilifying Hogan before he entered WCW. Despite not being convicted, McMahon and the WWF took a major public relations hit. The WWF's popularity sharply declined from that point, mainly in part to even more poor ideas and matches being served up in Vince's enforced absence.

Mr. McMahon

In 1997, the WWF and its flagship show on the USA Network Monday Night RAW were consistently losing the ratings war with WCW and its new show WCW Monday Nitro, which premiered in September 1995. Despite the fans loud yearning for less over-the-top gimmicks unlike the Patriot and Doink the Clown, the returning McMahon resisted, and the WWF's product quality continued to sink. WWF fans now witnessed McMahon – who to many was known more for being an enthusiastic announcer rather than the WWF owner, although despite being lesser known as owner of the WWF, no secret was made of it – "screw" Bret Hart out of the WWF Title "for real." This also made Vince turn heel for the very first time.

After the 1997 Survivor Series and his participation in the Montreal Screwjob, McMahon inserted himself into the WWF show as an the hot tempered evil owner character "Mr. McMahon, who conspired and meddled in the affairs of other fan favorite wrestlers. He eventually led various heel stars in the Corporation stable, which complemented the Austin vs. McMahon feud that saw popular beer-guzzling anti-hero "Stone Cold" Steve Austin challenge McMahon's authority every week on RAW and business really picked up again. In the spring of 1998, the WWF solidified itself as the wrestling ratings king and never looked back. As both a face and a heel, the Mr. McMahon character would play a prominent on camera role, feuding with top stars such as The Undertaker, The Rock and Triple H. One storyline even involved him becoming WWE Champion. Storylines would also involve the character feuding with members of his own immediate family - Stephanie, Shane and Linda.

The new millennium and the birth of WWE

In 1999, McMahon took the WWF public; the McMahon family retained the vast majority of voting shares, however. Forbes placed his net worth at States dollar|$" target="_blank" >^*700 million.

In 2001, his company created a joint venture with NBC for a new professional football league called the XFL. The league folded after one season and is widely regarded as a colossal failure. He and NBC lost over 30 million dollars that year.

Also in 2001, the North American wrestling landscape changed forever when the WWF purchased its failing rival WCW. AOL Time Warner, then WCW's parent company, was looking to cut costs dramatically in the wake of its merger. McMahon eventually purchased the rights to ECW's video library and trademarks. With these purchases, McMahon created the biggest and practically only major pro wrestling organization in North America.

In May 2002 (as noted by the interchangeable usage of different acronyms for the company in this article), McMahon changed the WWF's name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the midst of an ongoing lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the use of and trading using the WWF initials. Eventually McMahon hired his heated rival, former WCW President Eric Bischoff to play an on-camera, kayfabe role as RAW general manager, effectively signaling the end of the WCW/WWF rivalry.

On-camera return

After feuds with Ric Flair, a returning Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker, McMahon's on-camera character would become less prominent for two years. However, the character resumed a more regular role after WWE Homecoming. This time he allied himself with Shane, Linda and Stephanie McMahon. His on-camera persona resumed a feud with Steve Austin. Shortly after, he started a feud with Shawn Michaels and Triple H, which led to the return of D-Generation X. During this fued he claimed that Michaels was saved from destruction at WrestleMania 22 by God and formed his own religion (McMahonism). His on-camera storylines involved him firing Jim Ross and on-camera RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff. Mr. McMahon began serving as the interim General Manager of RAW, although he gave the primary duties to "Executive Assistant" Jonathan Coachman. During D-X's reunion the audiance has most commonly chanted "You love cocks".

Gimmicks

The "Mr. McMahon" character has several gimmicks that have become integral parts of McMahon's on-camera persona.

"Firings"

In wrestling storylines, one of McMahon's more notable gimmicks is his ability to terminate whomever he feels from either a position or the company. This is a list of those whom he has "fired."

Kane (Kane was quickly rehired for that one night.)
Mick Foley (as Commissioner, twice)
Paul Heyman (as an announcer for Raw)
Hulk Hogan (after it was proven that Hogan was indeed "Mr. America", coinciding with the end of his contract at that time)
Kurt Angle (as SmackDown! General Manager and forced back as wrestler)
Eric Bischoff (since the RAW brand lost to SmackDown! at Survivor Series 2005, plus for failing to accomplish "his goals")
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin (numerous times)
Jim Ross (blamed for being Stone Cold's friend, representative of an off-screen decision to replace Ross, partially due to Ross having major colon surgery. Joey Styles replaced Ross as play-by-play commentator however, Ross did commentary for Saturday Night's Main Event, WrestleMania 22 and Backlash 2006 since then returned to RAW due to the kayfabe "quitting" of Joey Styles.) Jim Ross is now back on the RAW announce team replacing Joey Styles who is working the ECW shows.
Shawn Michaels (as Commissioner, although Shawn notified Vince that he couldn't be fired as per his contract)
The Undertaker (though Linda McMahon signed him to a new contract just eight months later)
Dude Love (for not being able to defeat Steve Austin at In Your House: Over the Edge in 1998. However, Mankind came back later in the night.)
Every WWE fan - One night in the ring Vince claimed to hire every person watching, for the sole purpose of firing them a few seconds later

Kiss My Ass Club

McMahon's other trademark gimmick is "Mr. McMahon's Kiss My Ass Club." It refers to those people who have literally kissed Mr. McMahon's backside, often involuntarily, in order to either get or keep a job, or secure future championship opportunities within the company.

It is a trademark gimmick that is well popular with the fans, despite the character status (face or heel) Vince McMahon may be playing. It is mainly used for comic relief. However, some fans find this gimmick to be disrespectful to those involved, particularly to the long-time WWE alumni Jim Ross and Shawn Michaels.

William Regal was the first member of the club, and to date is the only member to voluntarily join. WWE RAW announcer Jim Ross, the second member, was forced to join when McMahon spotted him laughing; the Undertaker seemed to come to Ross' rescue, but made his last heel turn to date when he shoved "Good Ol' JR's" face into McMahon's rear.

During McMahon's feud with Shawn Michaels, the "Heartbreak Kid" was forced to join the club after being knocked out with a steel chair saving Marty Janetty from joining the club at the hands of Chris Masters. Shane McMahon shoved the unconscious Michaels' face into his rear. The elder McMahon tried to force Michaels to kiss his ass a second time at WrestleMania 22, but this time, Michaels got the upper hand and it was Shane who suffered the indignity of kissing his unknowing father's rear.

Several attempts to have others join the "Kiss My Ass Club" have failed, including Zach Gowen, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Trish Stratus, Marty Janetty, and most recently Triple H. Stratus was saved by The Rock, Gowen and Austin low-blowed McMahon, while Triple H gave him a Pedigree. In addition, Eric Bischoff was offered a chance to join the Kiss My Ass club in 2003, but when he refused, McMahon told Bischoff that he would be the first member of the "Vince McMahon Kick Your Ass Club" when he ordered Bischoff to face "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at the 2003 WWE No Way Out PPV.

Controversy

On February 1, 2006, McMahon was accused of sexual harassment by a worker at a Boca Raton tanning barThe worker said that he "groped her and harassed her." The charge was thought to have been discredited as McMahon was at the post-Royal Rumble company meeting in Miami during the alleged event. However, Dave Meltzer reported that confusion about the alleged day occurred due to a Florida newspaper reporting that the accuser had stated that the incident took place on Sunday when it in fact is reported to have taken place Saturday. Meltzer reported that "The confusion is because the alleged victim told police the story on Sunday, but apparently not that it happened on Sunday." The Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that police reports say that the reported incident took place Saturday (See [http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=15391.). On 3/27/2006, a Television station in Florida reported that no charges would be filed against Vince McMahon as a result of the investigation into allegations that he groped a tanning salon attendant.

McMahon has also come under fire for constantly placing himself into sexual angles with the WWE Divas. He has done so in the past with Sable/Rena Mero in 1998 as well as in 2003 when she returned, Trish Stratus in early 2001, Stacy Keibler in 2002 and Candice Michelle in 2006. He also had a flirtation with Torrie Wilson in the summer of 2001 and Melina at the 2006 Royal Rumble.

Other media

In 2001, Vince McMahon was interviewed by Playboy for the second issue of Playboy Magazine in the year.

In March 2006 (at age sixty) McMahon was featured on the cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine, displaying a well-chiseled physique. In the months after its publication, it could be seen in McMahon's office during backstage segments. A large version of the cover was used as a weapon during McMahon's match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 22 and was defaced by D-Generation X upon their reunification during an episode of RAW.

McMahon DVD

On August 22, 2006, a two-disc DVD set showcasing McMahon's career is scheduled to be released. The DVD will simply be titled McMahon.

Personal life

Vince married Linda Edwards (Linda McMahon) on August 6, 1966. The two met in church when Linda was 13 and Vince was 16. They were introduced by Vince's mother. They have two children: Stephanie and Shane, both of whom work for WWE. A third child was falsely rumored, but the rumor stemmed from a picture featuring Shane, Vince, Stephanie, Linda and Marissa Mazzola-McMahon, Shane's wife. They have two grandsons from Shane name Declan and Kennedy, and are expecting another from Stephanie and her husband, current WWE wrestler Triple H.

Finishing and signature moves

The MacElbow / The Corporate Elbow / Vince's Elbow (Feint leg drop to elbow drop)
The MacStunner / The Corporate Stunner (Stunner)
Atomic Leg drop
Ankle lock
The MacWonder (Low blow)
DDT
Kneeling low blow (from behind)
Turnbuckle Thrusts

Championships and accomplishments

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

1-time WWF Champion
Royal Rumble Winner (1999)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated

1997 Feud of the Year (vs. Eric Bischoff)
1998 Feud of the Year (vs. Steve Austin)
1999 Feud of the Year (vs. Steve Austin)
2001 Feud of the Year (vs. Shane McMahon)
2006 Feud of the Year (vs. Shawn Michaels)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter

1987 Best Booker
1988 Best Promoter
1998 Best Booker
1998 Best Promoter
1999 Best Booker
1999 Best Promoter
2000 Best Promoter
1998 Feud of the Year (vs. Steve Austin)
1999 Feud of the Year (vs. Steve Austin)
1999 Best Non-Wrestler
2000 Best Non-Wrestler
- Gerweck.net

2005 Promoter of the year
2006 Feud of the Year (vs.Shawn Michaels)

References

External links

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