Should Vince McMahon Retire?

[Jack-Hammer]

Criticism from internet fans is nothing new to Vince McMahon. McMahon has been criticized by everyone from your average fan to wrestling legends to heads of state and it seems to always just roll off his back like droplets of water. Events & reports over the past few days, coupled with what we've already known about Vince, suggests that things might be changing in WWE when it comes to ultimately how he runs things or what goes on.

As reported earlier, there's been a creative shake up in WWE as Brian Gerwitz has been fired as head writer for WWE. Gerwitz is known to be a favorite of Vince so this indicates that Vince is supremely frustrated with the creative aspect of the company at this point. Also, it's been reported that Vince was confronted by a top star in the company and this top star really got into Vince's face by voicing his criticisms over how things are going. What really made this all the more significant was that it's said to have taken place in front of a good number of other people and that other top stars have been coming to Vince with the same complaints for several weeks. Allegedly, one of the things Vince was told was that he's no longer "in touch" with things and doesn't have his fingers on the pulse of WWE. He was also told that he needs to start listening to other people rather than simply just doing whatever he wants just for the sake of wanting to do it before the company goes over a cliff.

For the past couple of years, Triple H has been a company executive and has very much been gaining lots of power and trust among WWE officials. Triple H was put in charge of overhauling WWE's developmental program and everyone from fans to officials to wrestlers themselves have been very impressed with the changes Triple H has made and the young talent that he's signed. He's also taken over Big Johnny's post as Vice President of Talent Relations, so he's ultimately in charge of who gets hired and who gets fired. Triple H has instituted changes that we've seen in WWE such as longer title runs, more general emphasis placed on the titles in the first place and an actual relevant tag team division for the first time in years.

Vince McMahon is 65 years of age and, if the reports are true, he's just simply not the same guy he once was. His health is said to have been an issue for several months, such as allegedly having a very bad flu for a couple of months, and the stress is only making things harder. While he obviously looks great physically, as was pointed out by Jim Ross on Raw this past Monday as part of the set up with McMahon's fight against Punk, Vince isn't the same as he was 15 years ago. Nobody can be, quite frankly, at his age no matter how much he works out.

I don't know what the whole story is. As usual, we've mostly just gotten a bit of the story here & there before something happens that kinda sorta maybe ties things together. Considering Vince's alleged declining health, being vocally told off about how out of touch he is and the fact that he's getting older; should Vince McMahon step down as WWE Chairman and hand things over to his son-in-law Triple H?

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I don't think Vince needs to retire, he just has to listen a little bit to the people around him and stop being so anal about everything. It seems to me like he expects everything to happen now and with their current talent pool that's just not possible. They have a solid current talent pool sure but at the same time its not developed enough and that has a lot to do with Vince trying to micro manage everyone.

Now it may be me but personally I can't reach my full potential if I'm being micro managed. The way I look at it is you hired me to do a job so let me do it. If you don't trust me enough to do it on my own and have to micro manage the shit out of me then why did you hire me in the first place if you can do it so much better? I notice this every time I hear someone like Ziggler do a promo and every time I see John Cena do a promo. Ziggler sounds scripted and very robotic, he's not a bad talker I just don't buy what he says. Cena on the other hand is very obviously not scripted, because of this I believe what he says more. They have enough confidence in Cena to let him do his job and they actually let him get to the end zone without breathing down his neck. It's the only way I feel a person can maximize their potential. All they have to do is give the talent the game plan and then put it in their hands to sink and swim, that's all you really have to do. Some will sink but others will swim and those who swim will swim a lot faster and stronger because of it.

As I said before he doesn't need to retire, all he has to do is to trust others more, stop putting so much pressure on himself and just let the talent and backstage help do their thing. By doing that the workers will be happier and more willing to push themselves in whatever they do. He's 65 and according to him hasn't taken a vacation since 1984, its time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Start trusting others to take over and let them do it.

 

[Slash-LN]

No. Although not for the reason listed in the poll. I don't think the WWE would be lost without him.

I definitely don't think it's time for him to retire but I think he needs to delegate more stuff to people and trust them with what he asks them to do. He needs to have a group of people he trusts and allow them to work without making changes or prying in on what they are doing. I think the stuff he is allowing Hunter to do is a good start. Hunter has shown he has a good mind for the business side of things and the entertainment side of things.

I think the WWE is in a transitional phase right now and Vince should be around to help that. Once Hunter and the rest of the staff get things sorted out and some more talent starts to get established then he should retire and enjoy his life of luxury.

 

[Fansince1992]

I read earlier that the latest Raw Episode gained 600k Viewers from the previous week because of Vince's appearence. This might be false information however as you can't always believe what you read.

Based on my own enjoyment of Raw 2 days ago. It was same old same old, but.... The main event was spectacular for me, and no not because of the Slapping to the glasses man in the crowd at the end of the show.

Vince put on a great show at the end there. When he dived over the announce table head first i was laughing and clapping my ass off. I was loving the Kendo stick fight aswell. The crowd was pumped for Vince and popped even louder when Ryback showed up. Cena's short interference was also a nice moment. Ryback and Cena (perhaps the 2 top faces on Raw right now) coming to the aid of thier boss, was a nice touch.

Back to Vince, and the main topic. I have to respect him for stepping in the ring. Most Million or Billionaires (whatever he is) would never risk thier health like that! The question is, is he putting his own health on the line there in that main event to make the show better. Wether he is or not Vince certainly entertained me for 15 minutes there. The gash over Vince's eye looked nasty wether that was real or not, he is still trying his utmost to provide for the WWE fans.

It's a very tough question for me if Vince should retire. The way he entertained last monday suggests NO. But like Jack Hammer said is Vince's health declining rapidly, with nasty Flu viruses and Stress of WWE failing.

I don't know what Vince's health is like at the moment, maybe he should stay on for a bit longer with the support from Trips and see how things go. Long term though i defo think Trips should take over.

 

[anvilx8]

I have a better question. Should this even be a thread? Seriously.. WHY would vince retire? why should vince retire? He's built the wwe to what is is today, and we don't really know what goes on backstage anyway. We don't know what was "Vinces idea" or "HHHs idea" or if Vince actually "blew up backstage at raw". PPL who ask these questions read too much on the internet.

 

[Slash-LN]

I have a better question. Should this even be a thread? Seriously.. WHY would vince retire? why should vince retire? He's built the wwe to what is is today, and we don't really know what goes on backstage anyway. We don't know what was "Vinces idea" or "HHHs idea" or if Vince actually "blew up backstage at raw". PPL who ask these questions read too much on the internet.

You're right to a certain extent. We don't know what goes on backstage and most of what we read is hearsay and second and third hand information.

However this is a valid question.

What we do know is ratings are going down and there is a lack of star power in the company right now. Vince has run the company his way since he bought the company from his dad in the '80s and he built it into the biggest wrestling company in the world. However lately it's been a sub par product.

Either he should stick around and try to fix it and make new stars or he should let someone else take over and try to get ratings back up and plan for the future.

 

[anvilx8]

I don't think Vince is to blame for ratings at all. I think its more that theres forms of entertainment like MMA that people find more interesting and thats causing the decline in ratings. Once ppl grow tired of ufc and the likes, they will return to watching wrestling

 

[MayorMcCheese]

He shouldn't retire but he should take a major step back, he's out of touch with reality, he lives in the WWE bubble and has no life outside of it, he needs a new perspective

 

[theHeadliner]

I'm really, really surprised Vince wrestled like that on such short notice on cable TV. In the recent past they would have built that up over a long period and had the blow off on PPV. They must have really felt desperate. I have to admit, I haven't been following wrestling since Shawn Michaels retired, but I actually tuned in to watch that match and was curious to hear what Vince said in his State of the Union WWE segment (even though I missed it).

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Considering Vince's alleged declining health, being vocally told off about how out of touch he is and the fact that he's getting older; should Vince McMahon step down as WWE Chairman and hand things over to his son-in-law Triple H?

Why?

He could always be someone who comes every couple of months and says or does something. He is like that for quiet some time and he could be someone like that in the close and far future.

I enjoyed seeing him on RAW on Monday. He bringed something fresh with Heyman and Punk and I hope he could do something like that every time he is on RAW(with the exeption of fight, we could not expect that from him in that age).

 

[HBsam31]

I definitely enjoyed seeing Vince on Raw. He still definitely has "it" on camera. I don't think he needs to retire, but just take a step back. Like others here have said, he needs to trust the people around him more. He can always be a guy watches everything from "the eye in the sky", but he needs to slow down on the actual work. He has been at it for a long time.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I don't think he needs to retire, but just take a step back.

A logical statement, but probably impossible for him. He's apparently a control freak who hasn't mellowed with time one bit. Clinically speaking, a man his age shouldn't engage in rage, which he seems to go into at the drop of a hat. For gosh sakes, this is live TV, the producers can't expect everything to go perfectly. In fact, it's the botches and occasional acting out by performers (Hi there, Phil Brooks!) that makes pro wrestling such compelling theater. But having his employees walking on eggshells isn't going to improve the product.

Although he's a promoter the magnitude of the great P.T. Barnum, Vince McMahon seems too close to the situation to see it clearly anymore. He wants to micro-manage every move that takes place, such as scripting everything in a match rather than let the performers work. This keeps them edgy and him furious.

A new regime is sitting there already. Is the Family Levesque capable of running the show by themselves?........ No way to know until it happens, but my guess is that they can take over and hit the ground running without any help from Vince. Love to see it happen already.

Will Vince McMahon retire? Sure, the succession plan is probably already in place. He's agreed to retire on the day he dies.

 

[attackgypsy]

Should Vince retire: Yes, I believe so. Although the recent match with CM Punk was decent, he's at the age where he's earned a rest from it all. People his age are looking forward to retiring in the next 2 years or so.

Will Vince retire: Only if Linda wins her Senate race. Then Linda will have a massive amount of pressure from her peers for him to retire and be done with it.

And, being from CT, I'm NOT voting for her. I've been a democrat for many years now.

 

[Nada]

In theory: Yes, he is an old man and he has done everything he could with his character. Besides he should focus more on teaching Stephanie and Hunter how to run his bussiness than goof around in the ring with a bunch of wrestlers.

In practice: No, WWE roster is thinner than HBK's hairline, other than Cena they got nothing else but a part time Hunter, a once a year Undertaker and a part time Lesnar. Punk and Orton arent "big" stars atm tough Punk could potentially become one, Orton's ship has more or less sailed

They litterally have nobody to challenge John Cena, their only big star anymore, they had to push Punk a year ago just to get any sort of program for Cena. Last year they had to reintroduce the masked Kane in a shittier and than shit angle just to have something he can do.

They need Vince now

 

[theBec2101]

I got to say Yes and No.

Yes, because I don’t think he know what fans want so to say. I think he is just trying to recreate older stories that don’t fit well with certain people. Example would be Alberto and JBL. I just think he may be a little out of touch with new or improving story lines. Again who am I to say, I never ran a Billion $ Company and destroyed all competition.

No, because look at the rating people still want to see him. Doesn’t matter if he is getting his ass beat or he's doing the beating. People just like to watch and see what he will say or do. Maybe if he had less of a say behind the curtain but as for being involved physically, if it works.