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The following biography
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Free Encyclopedia.”
Vincent Kennedy McMahon (born August 24, 1945) is
an American wrestling promoter, on-screen personality, and former play-by-play
announcer. He is the chairman, Owner, Founder and majority shareholder of World
Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE).
****
Ring name(s) Vince McMahon
Mr. McMahon
Vincent Kennedy McMahon
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 248 lb (112 kg)
Born August 24, 1945
Pinehurst, North Carolina
Resides Greenwich, Connecticut
Billed from Greenwich, Connecticut
Debut 1982
****
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 the hot
tempered, selfish 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 $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 the assets of its long-ailing
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, WWE became
virtually the only pro wrestling organization in North America. McMahon ruled
North American wrestling virtually unchallenged until 2002, when veteran
wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett and his son, former WWF and WCW star Jeff,
created Total Nonstop Action (TNA).
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 feud 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 audience 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 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 bar. The 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. 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.
It should be noted that Vince McMahon's World
Wrestling Entertainment as a whole has been the center of controversy in the
past, especially in the "Attitude Era" of what was the World Wrestling
Federation. The sexual references and the ever popular and also controversial
group of D-Generation X has been the center of this as well as "Stone Cold"
Steve Austin for his trademark drinking of beer (sometimes the beer was labeled
as "Steveweiser") and gesturing his middle finger quite often. Recently their
has been controversy over WWE's handling of the death of Eddie Guerrero by using
it in the storylines. There was also controversy in 1999 regarding the death of
Owen Hart.
Some controversy directed toward WWE and
professional wrestling as a whole is simply the violence that it represents.
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 named Declan
and Kennedy, and are expecting a third grandchild [gender unknown] 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)
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
References
Assael, Shaun and Mooneyham, Mike (2004). Sex,
Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling
Entertainment. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 1-4000-5143-6.
* *
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