Biggest mistake Vince Mcmahon ever made

[Hazardous]

"If this is what Eddie had to put up with no wonder why he drank and did drugs"

kinda a low blow there.. if you REALLY think she's like that in real life, then im sorry to burst your bubble there.. but no. Vicky is one of the high points of Smackdown actually, she gets a bigger reaction than any of the actual superstars, and what Vince has done for her and her family kinda proves he's not the huge asshole he's made out to be.

and to the Owen's death people, it was one of, if not THE worst accident in WWE/F history, everyone knows that, but even Bret Heart himself doesnt blame vince. yes martha Heart may, but that bitch is loco. she's been pretty much cut out from the rest of the family. so if the Hearts can come together and say it aint Vince Mcmahon's fault, well.. then it really aint. in the end it Was owens final call. yes he was nervous as hell, but who wouldnt be? you have to remember, it wasnt the fall that did the most damage, it was how he landed. if he landed right in the middle of the ring? wouldnt have died probably, now that can not be proven of course.. and to all those saying Vince screwed WCW? yes! you are absolutly correct, Vince did indeed screw WCW, but i aint talking Mcmahon, only one Vince could be poison enough to do that, and thats Russo. vince took what was dead, and gave it a bit more life, yes it wasnt much of a life, but it was still something, it gave us WCW'rs a chance to see some of our favorite mid-carders, which IMO, had some better matches than the top guys! i dont blame him one bit for holding back on some of the guys like Flair, Nash, Hall, 'Pac, Hogan. those are all guys who had screwed him in the past, instead we got to see the re-birth of guys like Booker-T, Lance Storm, and DDP. really, they TRIED to do WCW right, do you remember the one match they gave them on RAW? was Booker vs Buff Bagwell, and the fans boo'd the shit outta it. the original plan was to have the WCW guys as faces, attacking the Heel WWF guys.

 

[The Brain]

The worse move Vince ever made was not giving Piper the title heading into WrestleMania I. Having Piper as the defending champ taking on the former champ in Hulk Hogan would have been HUGE! More than HUGE! Throwing in Orndorff, Orton, Mr. T., Sunka, Patterson, Ali, and everyone else invloved with it completely made the event seem like they were trying to "protect" Hogan by not allowing him to either defend the title or wrestle for the title on March 31, 1985. WM damn near failed and if it had, THAT tag match would have been the exact reason why (among other things all around, like Alfred Hayes' completely rediculous and hedious commentary). I wish Piper had been champion because he would have been the most entertaining champion before a man named Stone Cold Steve Austin. Six years later he gives the title (in a match where Hogan did the job no less) to The Ultimate Warrior. Really? The Warrior? I understand the reasoning behind it now as I believe people were kinda getting tired of Hogan's crap, but how is it that Jim Helwig can make claim that he indeed held a world title & Roddy Piper can't? Bad, Bad, Bad move...

Just because you wanted something different for WrestleMania does not mean what actually happened was a mistake. If mania failed you could argue that point, but it was a huge success. We’ve had 25 more since. The reason there was such a buzz around the first WrestleMania was because of the celebrity involvement. If the main event was just Piper vs. Hogan it would have been just another wrestling show. We as wrestling fans may have loved it, but mania needed the media to pick up on it in order to be the success it was. Mr. T and Cindy Lauper got that attention. I don’t think it looked like Hogan was being “protected” at all. It looked like the most popular wrestler in the world was fighting side by side with one of the most popular tv stars in the world and pro wrestling was now a major form of entertainment.

 

[The Brain]

And one more big mistake Vince made......Vickie Guerrero.....'nuff said.

Ok I understand he probably felt sorry for her after Eddies untimely death, but did he have to jam her in our faces week after miserable week. Sometimes I look at her and think "If this is what Eddie had to put up with no wonder why he drank and did drugs"

I don't think that's "'nuff said." How is Vickie Guerrero a mistake? A mistake has consequences. What consequences has Vince suffered because of Vickie? I am so tired of that line "If this is what Eddie had to put up with no wonder he drank and did drugs." How disrespectful to bot Vickie and Eddie. Do you really think she is the same person off camera? It's called playing a role, or a gimmick. Ever heard of it? It's pretty common in pro wrestling.

A lot of people can't seem to grasp what a big mistake is. Just because you disagree with Vince about a particular gimmick or angle does not make it a mistake. Certainly not his biggest mistake. I'm not saying my example from earlier is the only right opinion, but it is a far better example than some of the other stuff I'm reading. The WBF was an idea Vince had that he put a lot of money into that was a complete failure. That's a mistake.

 

[ToughGuy]

And for some who said, kept WCW and ECW alive and make seperate brands?? r u friggin kidding me???

Car companies do this all the time and make big bucks doing it.

Ford Motor Company owns and operates Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Mazda, Volvo, and I'm not sure but at one time Land Rover and Jaguar as well.

GM has GMC, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Holden, and Cadillac.

Why couldn't Vince do the same thing with WWE, WCW, and ECW with all profits going into one pocket. Different brands for different tastes means a larger share of the audience. There were lots of fans that gave up on wrestling because they were WCW or ECW fans and didn't care for WWF's business. And those were fanbases that were already built in when he bought the brands and now he is continuously fighting to bring back the numbers he had during the attitude era.

 

[Wullief23]

Making wwe go pg. Sure i know he done it for the tv network, and to attract the kids. But it certainly isnt entertaining for the fans who have been with them for years. I myself have been watching for 22 years and whilst i know i have the option not to watch, i will continue to. Although it certainly isnt as interesting for me personally as it used to be.

 

[harrythem]

To me Vince's biggest mistake is not setting up a substantial developmental network. With the money the WWE brings in they could easily set up 5 or 6 across America, maybe even one in Japan (or come to an agreement with AJPW or something) and Mexico, England, etc. The fact is that since ECW and WCW closed it's become harder and harder to get talent with the level of experience to be able to cut it on national tv and not wrestle in the cookie cutter fashion. That to me is his biggest, most short sighted mistake.

 

[SickJames]

marrying linda mcmahon. there would be no senate campaign, therefore, their would (presumably) be no pg era.

That's awful

I'll say that going PG was the worse decision simply because it's entertainment and I havent been as entertained as I was during The Attitude Era and that Era brought about the biggest ratings they ever had. Wrestling wasnt pulling in ratings like that consistently before that time.

But back to Marrying Linda being a bad thing to put in here, let's not forget she gave birth to Shane who gave us great moments and hardcore spots and Stephanie, the VERY HOT AND SEXY, Stephanie who also gave us great moments and dont forget The McMahon-Helmsley Era. There are so many great things we got from Steph & Shane and if Vince didnt marry her we wouldve have seen any of those things.

I for one am very happy Stephanie & Shane-O are alive

Just saying

 

[SickJames]

well i agree with what everyone has said (besides buying out WCW and ECW, smart moves, just used badly) i think the WORST one, was the one that never made it to air because it was THAT bad, far beyond faking his own death, worse than having sex with dead girls, or "killing" torri wilsons dad from too much sex, and that was his idea to have an insest story where steph's baby was his. that is by far the sickest and worst idea ever, they would had SO many complaints about that one, and i think thats the reason why it was something that even in the height of risky shit goin on (edge/Lita sex show anyone? she was actually naked under there) that it was too horrible even for WWE to do. just the face that Vince wanted to do it, is in my opinion the worst thing he has ever said/done.

I dont think that qualifies as a mistake simply because it didnt happen and an idea that didnt happen doesnt quite cut it in my opinion.

But personally, though I'm a person with no set morals, I find nothing wrong with that storyline at all even if it was real. There's nothing wrong with incest, I'm being very serious. Infact the very Creation Story that some believe in foreshadows that incest had to take place

But I'm sure I'll get heat from this. I personally think it's wrong to say you cant love anyone like that or have sex with anyone you want

It's just another person at the end of the day and if it feels good, do it!

 

[d_henderson1810]

One of the biggest mistakes Vince made was to allow the whole "Katie Vick" storyline to happen. It was disgusting to start with (you people may like a lot of the non-PG stuff, but you can't surely like rape and necrophilia storylines). Also, it destroyed Kane's character. Kane was suppoused to have spent his childhood locked in a mental institution after being accussed of burning down his parent's house (it turned out the Undertaker did it). But in this storyline, Kane was a party animal who DUI'd and killed Katie in a car crash. He then made out with her (or so Triple H claims). That, and unmasking Kane, destroyed one of the better wrestling character over the years. Kane is now just another monster, whereas, with the mask and the backstory, he was awesome.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Another mistake is still happening today. That is, continuing the brand extension nonsense.

I never liked the brand extension. I like to think that anyone could face anyone at any time. It was done well for a while (when Bischoff and Stephanie tried to one-up each other by stealing talent, and have "better" main events than the other show). But it has gone stale.

The first problem is that the sides are uneven. Look at Raw. It has Cena, Orton, Triple H, Jericho and Edge. Smackdown has Undertaker, Rey Mysterio and er....Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre and Christian. Not exactly even, is it. They make it obvious that Raw is the No.1 show, so unless the shows have an even spread of talent (e.g. main-eventers, mid-carders, divas, tag-teams etc) then it is a farce.

The second problem is that you get more matches between the same two people. Because there is seperate brands, instead of John Cena, for example, fighting a Christian, Jack Swagger or Drew McIntyre (which would be a fresh feud and has never been done), he fights Randy Orton, Edge or Chris Jericho, which have been done a hundred times before. More variety creates more chance of fresh feuds, and thus, more interest in the product. I tell you, put together a PPV of "never-done-before" matches, and it will have interest, even to see how they work together. Also, they are precluded from doing some feuds, if the two superstars are on different brands.

The third problem is that they don't enforce it anyway. Once, it was a big deal if a "Smackdown" superstar showed up on Raw (and was built up like an "invasion"). But now, anyone can show up on any show, yet they act like the brand extension still exists. It just insults the intelligence of the fans.

Finally, there is no "life or death" struggle between the brands anyway. It's not like WWE v WCW. No matter who wins, the WWE get the benefit, so it is a "phoney" war, anyway.

My suggestion. Scrap Smackdown, move everyone to Raw, and make Raw 3-hours every week. This gives the talent at the upcoming PPV plenty of time to build for the PPV, and the unused talent can be used on the new-revamped "Superstars" (which will be like "Heat" used to be), where new talent is nutured, and current talent await the call to be promoted to "Raw". I would also have one WWE World Champion, one woman's title, one tag-team, and merge the U.S. and IC Titles.

 

[The Insano Shiekh]

I think it was making John Cena's title belt permanent. The Undisputed Title image was a very good image for the WWE, kind of looked prestigious, but now it just looks like a bunch of people stole the title from a rich person in the projects.

I mean, it really only has use when Cena is the champion, spinning the WWE logo. Otherwise, it just looks stupid on people (ex: Sheamus). Most people won't look at this as the biggest mistake, but when you think deeper into it, it makes the WWE look like a form of a joke fan-fiction wrestling federation with people walking around with a stupid spinner-belt as their Flagship World Title. I just think the whole concept is honestly stupid and should be changed for the sake of the company's appeal as far as professionalism goes.

 

[dman1373]

stephanie..,..Did I actually write that. seriously I would have to say pushing brock to the stars. I mean, he was talented, but he was almost made the face of the company, won the wwe championship from the rock, won the main event of wrestlemania within a year of being with the company, and basicly beat all legends in the locker room. He then left to become an nfl player. Someone else could have used those opportunties and the wwe would have one more main eventer today.

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Another mistake is still happening today. That is, continuing the brand extension nonsense.

I never liked the brand extension. I like to think that anyone could face anyone at any time. It was done well for a while (when Bischoff and Stephanie tried to one-up each other by stealing talent, and have "better" main events than the other show). But it has gone stale.

The first problem is that the sides are uneven. Look at Raw. It has Cena, Orton, Triple H, Jericho and Edge. Smackdown has Undertaker, Rey Mysterio and er....Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre and Christian. Not exactly even, is it. They make it obvious that Raw is the No.1 show, so unless the shows have an even spread of talent (e.g. main-eventers, mid-carders, divas, tag-teams etc) then it is a farce.

The second problem is that you get more matches between the same two people. Because there is seperate brands, instead of John Cena, for example, fighting a Christian, Jack Swagger or Drew McIntyre (which would be a fresh feud and has never been done), he fights Randy Orton, Edge or Chris Jericho, which have been done a hundred times before. More variety creates more chance of fresh feuds, and thus, more interest in the product. I tell you, put together a PPV of "never-done-before" matches, and it will have interest, even to see how they work together. Also, they are precluded from doing some feuds, if the two superstars are on different brands.

The third problem is that they don't enforce it anyway. Once, it was a big deal if a "Smackdown" superstar showed up on Raw (and was built up like an "invasion"). But now, anyone can show up on any show, yet they act like the brand extension still exists. It just insults the intelligence of the fans.

Finally, there is no "life or death" struggle between the brands anyway. It's not like WWE v WCW. No matter who wins, the WWE get the benefit, so it is a "phoney" war, anyway.

My suggestion. Scrap Smackdown, move everyone to Raw, and make Raw 3-hours every week. This gives the talent at the upcoming PPV plenty of time to build for the PPV, and the unused talent can be used on the new-revamped "Superstars" (which will be like "Heat" used to be), where new talent is nutured, and current talent await the call to be promoted to "Raw". I would also have one WWE World Champion, one woman's title, one tag-team, and merge the U.S. and IC Titles.

Scrap Smackdown? Are you a ******? If you did that and moved everyone to RAW along with making it a 3-Hr Show Every Week you still wouldn't get everyone on the Roster on the Show each week. The Brand Extension has worked wonderfully because guys like Jack Swagger,CM Punk,Drew Mcintyre,Kofi Kingston,Evan Bourne,The Miz,John Morrison,R-Truth,Ted Dibiase,Cody Rhodes among others have all gotten their chance because of RAW & Smackdown being Seperate Brands. Hell even the NXT Season 1 Guys have gotten a Push because of being on a Seperate Show. If u had just one Brand alot of the guys would not be Pushed.

 

[SickJames]

One of the biggest mistakes Vince made was to allow the whole "Katie Vick" storyline to happen. It was disgusting to start with (you people may like a lot of the non-PG stuff, but you can't surely like rape and necrophilia storylines). Also, it destroyed Kane's character. Kane was suppoused to have spent his childhood locked in a mental institution after being accussed of burning down his parent's house (it turned out the Undertaker did it). But in this storyline, Kane was a party animal who DUI'd and killed Katie in a car crash. He then made out with her (or so Triple H claims). That, and unmasking Kane, destroyed one of the better wrestling character over the years. Kane is now just another monster, whereas, with the mask and the backstory, he was awesome.

Well 1. I happen to love this storyline and rape/necrophilia (how some of us got here) are okay.

2. Kane's character isnt ruined because that was just one incident really. He couldve done that at any point, they can make it work, it's WWE. It's nothing wrong with having him murder a girl in a week. It couldve happened in one month. I see no way it has to or did ruin his character

And the HHH in the casket with Katie scene was funny as hell

 

[enterkey]

Scrap Smackdown? Are you a ******? If you did that and moved everyone to RAW along with making it a 3-Hr Show Every Week you still wouldn't get everyone on the Roster on the Show each week. The Brand Extension has worked wonderfully because guys like Jack Swagger,CM Punk,Drew Mcintyre,Kofi Kingston,Evan Bourne,The Miz,John Morrison,R-Truth,Ted Dibiase,Cody Rhodes among others have all gotten their chance because of RAW & Smackdown being Seperate Brands. Hell even the NXT Season 1 Guys have gotten a Push because of being on a Seperate Show. If u had just one Brand alot of the guys would not be Pushed.

On another note it wouldn't work or happen mainly because Vince makes a hell of a lot more money doing house shows for both Raw and Smackdown, why would someone scrap something that basically doubled his house show revenue? Also without Smackdown we'd be without the mainly wrestling focused alternative to Raw's heavily storyline oriented style and the neverending loop of John Cena title runs.

 

[#hamler]

Beside pg era, and blue blazor id say releasing mr. Fucking kennedy! This actually pissed me off. Great in the ring, mic skills was unbelievable on the verg of main eventing wrestlemanias. Could've probably been the next breakout star for the decade. Along with letting shelton bejamin, elijah burke, and batista leave this is one of his biggest mistakes.

 

[Reddannihilation]

By Montreal are you referring to the Montreal Screwjob that acted as a catalyst for the Attitude era, the debatable golden age of wrestling, and created the mega heel onscreen character of Vince McMahon without which Stone Cold Steve Austin would not have been able to feud with and quite possibly would not have turned him into the phenomenon that hurled the WWF past WCW and made Vince McMahon into a legit billionaire? Sounds like a huge fucking mistake to me

Hello one sided argument how's the bias doing? I'd say ruining his relationship with one of his most talented stars, offending an entire country's worth of fans, seriously damaging numerous working relationships, causing each member of the Hart family to leave save for Owen who was then strapped with the Blue Blazer gimmick (great ending to that story) yeah, I'd say it was a mistake because unlike you I don't have my tongue stapled to his balls. It may have been a catalyst to McMahon's personal success it was also the catalyst to a ton of events that had rather negative impacts on the lives of multiple wrestlers.

derp.

 

[TheSpokenTruth95]

The Biggest Mistake Vince Has Ever Did Was Switching To PG Because The Attitude Era Was The Best Era In Professional Wrestling History Period

 

[Tenta]

Look, I've said this before, and I'm going to stick to my guns about this subject. However, his biggest mistake was something that was natural, and going to happen anyway. His biggest mistake was having a hand, not being fully responsible for, the death of the wrestling territories.

Now, look, part of why this is such a dubious "mistake" was because for the WWE to get as big as it did, the WWE did need to go on a national basis. Part of that did involve performing in the "backyards" of other territories. That did in fact, happen, and I'd never begin to doubt that. He also did steal some of the biggest talents from the territories, and I'd never dispute that whatsoever. However, I'm still of the belief that if territories did want to stop Vince McMahon from monopolizing the wrestling business, they would have performed better shows, and found newer ways to stay relevant in the wrestling world. The sad truth is, wrestling promoters were fixated on a primitive, outdated fashion in producing wrestling programs, and the WWE simply offered something that no promotion could match. Simply put, the combination of Vince's expert marketing skills and the superstars on his roster made his brand of professional wrestling the thing to watch. Bill Watts, Jim Crockett, Stu Hart (Well, realistically, Bruce Hart) could never realize that in order to beat the WWE, it was going to take production values to at least be similar to the WWE, and a show in which catered to the audience. All of these promotions, even after being "gutted" as some historians will have you believing, did still have the talent to produce these kinds of shows.

Still, I can't deny, Vince did in fact have a hand in the destruction of the territories. In addition, with that destruction began the "greening" of the boys. As the territories died, his boys had less of a chance to be seasoned, and get used to the concept of a crowd. They had fewer years to perfect their craft, and even worse, had nowhere to go to learn how to create new, invigorating ways to spice up gimmicks. In theory, barring some miraculous uprising in popularity for Indy promotions, The Era of Cena will prove to be the last of wrestlers who have at least went through one territory. Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and the likes will be the last, at least in the WWE, of a dying breed, in one that traveled worldwide to wrestle in different promotions. Without this travelling group of wrestlers around the world, Vince is left with boys who ultimately don't know how to work that well, and will take three to five years to get over with a live crowd. Three to five years, that is, that they really don't have. Whether or not it was intentional is really insignificant at this point. The point is, he still had a hand in destroying the old way, and making it so his boys can't learn about the business before coming to the WWE. And that, ultimately, is his biggest mistake

 

[Tenta]

Hello one sided argument how's the bias doing?

Right, because this argument isn't one sided, at all, either.

I'd say ruining his relationship with one of his most talented stars,

Talented? Yes. Drawing? Abso-friggin-lutely not! Look, the myth that Bret Hart was a draw is almost as long as Virgil's schlong. Bret was never a draw anywhere beside his home of Canada, of which is a decent money making area, but not what Vince was looking for at the time. Otherwise, Bret's reigns are distinctly marked with indifference in the United States of Amurrrica, and were swiftly put back onto a wrestler who was thought to be more of a legitimate draw. And the numbers don't lie, in that business typically did better when Bret was not champion, save for Diesel's run, which we both can agree was pretty terrible, and he himself was no draw whatsoever.

Anyway, clearly it didn't ruin the relationship, as eventually Bret did come back. And perhaps it would have been damaging if Bret did anything in WCW, but he didn't. Bret Hart was worth fuck all in WCW, and perhaps it was because of Montreal. I'd think it had more to do with the fact that WCW had no idea how to book Bret Hart, and Nash, Hall, Hogan, and co. were on a mission to bury him.

offending an entire country's worth of fans

Who would still sell tickets to boo the character that spawned from this incident, arguably the most over heel in the history of professional wrestling.

seriously damaging numerous working relationships,

Who was damaged? Mankind, who walked out of one Raw, and came back? The Undertaker, who still is loyally performing for Vince twelve years after the fact.

Say what you will, but Vince's "hurt relationships" never lasted longer than two Raws, unless you were a member of the Hart Family...

causing each member of the Hart family to leave

And never really mattered in the history of professional wrestling! I mean, come on now, let's be realistic. All of the remaining Hart members were washed up mid carders. What, you wanted Bruce Hart to be part of the WWE? How about Keith, is he available?

save for Owen who was then strapped with the Blue Blazer gimmick (great ending to that story) yeah

I know you didn't, at least, imply, that The Montreal Screwjob was responsible for Owen's Death.

No, no, you're not getting away with that. I'm deamanding you explain exactly what you mean by that before I even give the chance to explain how wrong you are here.

I'd say it was a mistake because unlike you I don't have my tongue stapled to his balls. It may have been a catalyst to McMahon's personal success it was also the catalyst to a ton of events that had rather negative impacts on the lives of multiple wrestlers.

derp.

And there you go. And by the way, you can change the "it may have" to "it did". Anyway, who was really hurt by this? Bret, who actually made more money in WCW, and became the hottest thing in Wrestling, until WCW did fuck all with him? The Harts, who take far too much personal issue with a fake sport? Davey Boy and Jim, who got bigger pay days for coming to WCW? And don't even begin on that whole "Montreal caused Owen's death" until you've explained exactly what you meant by that. Montreal did really nothing to hurt anyone, either than the Hart's far too foolish pride. Vince made a business decision, and strictly that; a business decision. That business decision led to one of the greatest heel characters of all time, and the launch of an era.

Yeah.... Big mistake there...

 

[Reddannihilation]

Right, because this argument isn't one sided, at all, either.

2 sides to every to coin and since the positive side is already covered, why cover it again

Talented? Yes. Drawing? Abso-friggin-lutely not! Look, the myth that Bret Hart was a draw is almost as long as Virgil's schlong. Bret was never a draw anywhere beside his home of Canada, of which is a decent money making area, but not what Vince was looking for at the time. Otherwise, Bret's reigns are distinctly marked with indifference in the United States of Amurrrica, and were swiftly put back onto a wrestler who was thought to be more of a legitimate draw. And the numbers don't lie, in that business typically did better when Bret was not champion, save for Diesel's run, which we both can agree was pretty terrible, and he himself was no draw whatsoever.

Don't remember saying Bret Hart was a draw.

Anyway, clearly it didn't ruin the relationship, as eventually Bret did come back.

Yeah over 10 years later. Think of it this way, Bret left the WWF on McMahon's suggestion because they were losing money, you think he wouldn't have been welcomed back as soon as the WWF began making money again or even after WCW was bought? I would've loved to have seen Bret Hart in the Alliance.

Who would still sell tickets to boo the character that spawned from this incident, arguably the most over heel in the history of professional wrestling.

Monetary gain vs. Common deceny.

Who was damaged? Mankind, who walked out of one Raw, and came back? The Undertaker, who still is loyally performing for Vince twelve years after the fact.

Say what you will, but Vince's "hurt relationships" never lasted longer than two Raws, unless you were a member of the Hart Family...

Rick Rude.

And never really mattered in the history of professional wrestling! I mean, come on now, let's be realistic. All of the remaining Hart members were washed up mid carders. What, you wanted Bruce Hart to be part of the WWE? How about Keith, is he available?

How about the British Bulldog? Last I checked Davey Boy was in the foundation at the time of the screwjob.

I know you didn't, at least, imply, that The Montreal Screwjob was responsible for Owen's Death.

No, no, you're not getting away with that. I'm deamanding you explain exactly what you mean by that before I even give the chance to explain how wrong you are here.

Directly responsible? No. Did the even indirectly lead to Owen Hart being the sole member of his family left in the company? Yes. Did Owen being on his own and essentially being paraded around as joke eventually end up with him being the Blue Blazer? Yes.

Correlation.

And there you go. And by the way, you can change the "it may have" to "it did". Anyway, who was really hurt by this? Bret, who actually made more money in WCW, and became the hottest thing in Wrestling, until WCW did fuck all with him? The Harts, who take far too much personal issue with a fake sport? Davey Boy and Jim, who got bigger pay days for coming to WCW?

Personal damage =/= monetary damage.

And don't even begin on that whole "Montreal caused Owen's death" until you've explained exactly what you meant by that. Montreal did really nothing to hurt anyone, either than the Hart's far too foolish pride. Vince made a business decision, and strictly that; a business decision. That business decision led to one of the greatest heel characters of all time, and the launch of an era.

Yeah.... Big mistake there...

The funny thing is you look at it as a business decision except the thread isn't called "Vince McMahon's biggest business only mistake", I'd say the event caused a lot of emotional damage to a group of people. It also lead to a broken ankle and a swollen eye for McMahon. Not to mention how much locker room morale would've been effected by the event. Montreal caused a lot of personal and emotional damage that didn't need to be caused and it did end up leading to other consequences.

The fact being that as far as personal impacts go McMahon caused a lot of trouble with that event and I personally feel it was a mistake. Also take into account the concept of cooler heads, numerous stars had wanted to boycott or ditch the WWF at the time and Bret Hart was the one encouraging them to stay and protect their careers. If Hart had been the vindictive type you could've seen a ton of wrestlers walk out, it was a gamble and to me a mistake on his part.

 

[Tenta]

2 sides to every to coin and since the positive side is already covered, why cover it again

So you admit to having a personal bias?

Glad to see you are such a reliable source, and are looking at this from an objective perspective.

Don't remember saying Bret Hart was a draw.

Which is why it wasn't a mistake. Again, if he was a major draw, this would have hurt. The only thing was Bret was a great worker, and that was it. He didn't make money, and in fact, he was actually losing money for the WWE. When someone is losing money, you cut them. It's business 101.

Yeah over 10 years later. Think of it this way, Bret left the WWF on McMahon's suggestion because they were losing money, you think he wouldn't have been welcomed back as soon as the WWF began making money again or even after WCW was bought? I would've loved to have seen Bret Hart in the Alliance.

And how would he have fit into that? If anything, he was always a WWE guy. He would have never fit in the WCW side. Sure, for personal reasons, but the fact is that it's over and done. End of story. Who cares when he could have come in, the fact is that he has now, and he's over it.

Monetary gain vs. Common deceny.

Look, this isn't about Vince the human. This is about Vince, from a business standpoint. He can't help if Bret's family takes the sport way too seriously. If anything, it would have been Bret's common decency to drop the belt, just like any champion is obliged to do. If anything, it was Bret that broke the code.

Rick Rude.

Right, because that hurt Vince so much. How will he ever deal with Rick Rude's hurt feelings?

How about the British Bulldog? Last I checked Davey Boy was in the foundation at the time of the screwjob.

Yeah.... No. Just no. Davey Boy always was, and always will be, a mid carder. He never meant more than a mid card champion at best in both companies. And even in 97, he was long past his prime, and everyone knew it.

Directly responsible? No. Did the even indirectly lead to Owen Hart being the sole member of his family left in the company? Yes. Did Owen being on his own and essentially being paraded around as joke eventually end up with him being the Blue Blazer? Yes.

Correlation.

Oh... You're serious. Look, every human being has a little something called "personal responsibility". Owen Hart is an adult; he had the right to nix the gimmick if he didn't want to. Sure, his career may have suffered a little, but compared to being safe? It would have been a better call. I really am sick of people believing this wouldn't have happened if Bret was there. News flash: Owen should have said something himself. Yes, McMahon shouldn't have had him do it, I agree with that. But at some point, Owen should have said this was bullshit. Owen is accountable for himself, and Vince should have been accountable for him, too. No one else had a personal responsibility to Owen Hart.

Personal damage =/= monetary damage.

In the professional wrestling world? Uh... You bet your ass it does. Yes it does. Don't get too optimisitc about the business. Wrestlers amount to nothing but prostitutes and ****es.

The funny thing is you look at it as a business decision except the thread isn't called "Vince McMahon's biggest business only mistake", I'd say the event caused a lot of emotional damage to a group of people.

Right.... Again, plenty of things amount more to professional wrestling than hrt feelings. Trust me.

It also lead to a broken ankle and a swollen eye for McMahon

Right...

Not to mention how much locker room morale would've been effected by the event. Montreal caused a lot of personal and emotional damage that didn't need to be caused and it did end up leading to other consequences.

Man.... You'd seriously make a horrible plaintiff lawyer.

Anyway, morale seemed quite up when business began to boom in the Attitude Era not but six to seven months later. Morale is only as good as how much money you're making in wrestling. Simple as that.

The fact being that as far as personal impacts go McMahon caused a lot of trouble with that event and I personally feel it was a mistake. Also take into account the concept of cooler heads, numerous stars had wanted to boycott or ditch the WWF at the time and Bret Hart was the one encouraging them to stay and protect their careers. If Hart had been the vindictive type you could've seen a ton of wrestlers walk out, it was a gamble and to me a mistake on his part.

I'll agree to it being a gamble. But again, he really didn't lose anything. He gained hundreds of millions of dollars.

Oh.... I'm sorry... Some feelings got hurt.

 

[Canadian-BadAss]

to quote Bret hart himself "Owen is dead, get over it"

so to sit there and argue about it is really pointless, and is really no better than his wife.

yes the montreal screwjob was bad, but you're only looking at one side of the fence there. yes, the WWE lost bret hart, BUT he was already past his prime at that point really. but what did it GAIN from it? well, we got Vinny Mac, one of, and a lot of people say THE greatest Heel in WWE history, we got the launch of the Attitude Era a few months after, which brought up a lot of opportunities for up and coming stars. without the Heel Vince, we would have never had the Mcmahon/Austin feud. and a lot of people say that feud helped shape the wrestling world as it is today. So YES while those were both bad decisions AT THE TIME, in the end they did have a bit of a pay off, so really the question is can you name the Biggest mistake Vince Mcmahon ever made?? a mistake is one that has NO gain it in, and you wish you never did looking back on it. now a lot of people still say the owen thing, or still running the PPV after, which are both usable ones, but can you think of anything else? one i think, and this one i have herd about not only on TV, but in the IWC, is making Benoit disappear from the books completely.. yes what Chris did was horrible, absolutly agree 100%, but the man still gave most of his life to the "sport" of wrestling. never really complaining much, the last promo he cut in WCW before leaving was so raw and emotional it was perfect, not only that but the man's in ring ability was outstanding. if you asked a lot of the boys in the back 5 years ago who they thought the best technical wrestler in the biz was, about 70% would say Chris Benoit. there have been NUMEROUS cases in the past of a wrestler doing something that was really bad, and yet he is the first, and only to have every mention of his name, or image, cut from the records/video library. within a week of the case details coming out, WWE.com removed anything about him from the site. the damage to his head, which caused him to go insane and commit the atrocity's he did, were caused by years of head trauma from wrestling. no one has forgot about him, the PG era is a result OF what happened that night, the no more chair shots comes from it, a lot of the things people complain about these days come from it, but why can WWE not remember him for his WM matches? or his time on RAW as world champ. hell he was the first man in years to beat HHH like 3 or 4 PPV in a row! but removing anything Benoit related from the WWE = (IMO!!) Biggest mistake Vince Mcmahon ever made.

 

[Hazardous]

Hello one sided argument how's the bias doing? I'd say ruining his relationship with one of his most talented stars, offending an entire country's worth of fans. yeah, I'd say it was a mistake because unlike you I don't have my tongue stapled to his balls. It may have been a catalyst to McMahon's personal success it was also the catalyst to a ton of events that had rather negative impacts on the lives of multiple wrestlers.

now im not looking to get into this little back and forth "im right you're wrong" thing, because the owen thing is so played out, but did you really just say Vince offended an entire country worth of fans?? believ it or not, not ALL canadians love bret hart. in fact, i cant stand the guy, never could. that would be like me saying that Vince letting go of Kurt Angle offended all of the USA just because he was marketed as an "american hero". it's not true. to say Hart would have helped the "invasion" angle really doesnt work either, just because he was already past his prime by that point. like, im talking Hogan/Flair style, and probably would have resulted in some pretty horrid matches that the same people saying "they should have brought him in" would now be saying "why did they bring him in?" Believe it or not, not ALL Canadians love the "home town guys" when im in the arena, im booing guys like edge, and Bret, and the new Hart wannabes, because of the way they are used as characters. they were made as the "im canadian so im better than you" people, also im just not a fan of edge or Hart as people. i still cheer for Y2J, because he has earned my respect as a person. he may not be perfect, but who really is?

 

[Ric Stratus]

Are we only talking about Vince's bad decisions as far as the wrestling business goes? If not, XFL and ICOPRO or whatever it was called should rank high on the list. If we are talking in terms of wrestling...he should have never let Hall and Nash leave in 96. If they never left they're would have been no nWo.... Vince was almost put out of business during that time. Of course, it all worked out with the WWF dominating in the end and very interesting TV that pushed the envelope and gave a new life to the business. But at the time that was probably his worst choice.