Greatest of All Time – Vincent K. McMahon, Jr.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted my first blog to be about.  I thought that it was only fitting that it be about Vince McMahon.

Vincent K. McMahon, Jr. = Greatest of All Time?  When it comes to professional wrestling, none is his equal.  Many have tried to imitate, but they can never duplicate the same success as that of Vince McMahon’s WWE (formerly known as World Wrestling Entertainment which was previously known as World Wrestling Federation).  Born and raised in the age of professional wrestling where wrestlers belonged to territories, he learned the business under his father, Vincent J. McMahon, Sr., who owned Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which became World Wide Wrestling Federation and eventually just World Wrestling Federation and then World Wrestling Entertainment and finally WWE.  Now, I don’t dare to reiterate the history of the WWE, which would end up being a rehash of something on Wikipedia.  What I’m here to state is that Vincent K. McMahon is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME.

When people think of the Greatest of All Time in professional wrestling, they think of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair, Sting, etc.  But professional wrestling wouldn’t not be what it is today without Vince McMahon.  Before Vince McMahon, there were many wrestling promoters.  Even until now, there are still many wrestling promoters throughout the world, but none has reached the accomplishments of Vince McMahon.  Upon purchasing what is now known as the WWE from his father in 1982, he has taken this company to heights that have never been seen in the world of professional wrestling.  To the anger of many of the territorial promoters, he started to sign many of the best wrestlers from the various territories to wrestle for his company.  Because wrestling was always focused for the adult market as an alternative to boxing, he started to market wrestling to the youth making wrestling a family event.  He started giving wrestlers comic-book-like characters that appealed to children.  He started marketing these characters by creating action figures, stickers, posters, ice-cream bars, cartoons, etc. What other wrestling promoter at that time has been able to do this?  I know not one.

Though there were many wrestling events throughout the United States, it was his promoting prowess that he capitalized on the growing cable market and pay-per-views events.  In the 80’s, he realized that by airing wrestling programs on TV, he was able to get the awareness of the public on the wrestling characters, so when the formerly named World Wrestling Federation event (now WWE) came into town, the audience already knew who the wrestlers are and were already invested in their wrestling story line.  In 1985, he created the Super Bowl of wrestling known as Wrestlemania.  To bring this event to the mainstream media, he got celebrities like Mr. T., Cindy Lauper, and Muhammad Ali, to appear at his wrestling events.

As the 80’s kids grew older, Vince McMahon and the WWE continued to grow with that audience.  During the 90’s, the WWF/E started to move away from the comic-book-like-characters and started to make the wrestlers look more realistic.  With the change of the logo in 1994, the core group of main event wrestlers started to shift to younger, up-and-coming wrestlers.  Talents like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel (Kevin Nash), etc., were holding titles and were involved in many of the wrestling story lines.  

By the late 90’s, Ted Turner bought WCW and eventually, persuaded many of the main event wrestlers to leave the WWF/E (by offering a lot of money) and move over to WCW.  This was the start of is now known as the Monday Night Wars.  During this time, many people commented that Vince was getting a taste of his own medicine because in the 80’s, he did the same to the territorial promotions, but unlike the territorial promoters, Vince McMahon and WWF/E did not fold and close shop.  When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and that is what Vince did.  Being surrounded with younger talent and younger writers who were more in tune with pop culture, Vince and the WWF/E began to make more risqué moves with their story-line and look.  This time of the WWF/E is known as the Attitude Era.  Though this move irked a lot of people, it was loved by the 80’s kids who grew up on wrestling  These now young adults with jobs and careers, were in turn, the ones attending these events.  With such a bold move along with the great talent that eventually stepped up to the main event, WWF/E won the Monday Night Wars and they eventually bought WCW.

Now in the late 2000’s, the now named WWE has branched out beyond the wrestling arena.  With the creation of WWE Films, they have now ventured in the movies.  WWE is now publicly traded in the New York Stock exchange.  They have ventured in movies, music, and books.  Though wrestling is still at the core of their business, the WWE is more than just a wrestling promotion.  How was all of this able to be done?  The answer is through the visionary mind of Vincent K. McMahon.  He is one of a kind and the Greatest of All Time!