We all know what Vincent Kennedy Mcmahon has done for the business over three decades now. He basically created the biggest event that professional wrestling has to offer: Wrestlemania. Some say he is the reason behind all the success of Hulk Hogan. He played a major role with professional wrestling boom in the 80's and 90's. He basically was one (if not the) reason of all the success with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The same can be said about the infamous yet succesful Attitude era.
I'm sure I could continue with this list, in short words Vince Mcmahon has revolutionized the business in many, many ways. But this thread isn't about that. This article is the reason I made the thread:
VKM has been acting weird lately. I don't say it only because of the article. I say it also because of a couple of events lately: naming the maint event of Wrestlemania 28 in one year in advance, wanting to get rid of the "wrestling" concept, cutting the time for some matches etc.
What I'm trying to say is that, VKM is acting very weird lately and it got me thinking "wtf is going on?". I tried to figured it out by seeing his vision on professional wrestling. The man has always said that what the WWE does isn't wrestling but rather an sport-entertainment. You can see that with all the "movies" that the WWE has produced, the reality shows (Tough enough, to some extent NXT), the compilation of wrestler's music entrances etc. I get that is a great way to market and advertise the business but in some way to also show the WWE as something that goes beyond "wrestling" and thus reaffirming the link to the entertainment part. But my point is that is he just going too far? I mean he doesn't want to be involved at all with the wrestling part. Hell, he didn't even wanted to see his own son become a wrestler (completely debatible but who is he to forbid his son to chase his dream).
In brief Vicent Kenndy Mcmahon is a man that grew around wrestling, yet he has a business degree, but for me that is exactly what he is: a businessman. Wrestling is a form of entertainment, but he is almost ashamed to be associated towards wrestling. I'm am deeply thankful for what he has done for the business, but I think it's time for him to "pass the torch" if you will to Triple H. To someone who isn't afraid nor ashamed to be part of the wrestling business or the actual wrestling part of the entertainment. VKM has been part of this business for over three decades, he is 67 (according to wikipedia) maybe is time for someone to take his spot and bring a new and fresh view to the business and IMHO who can be better than Triple H?
What do you think about VKM latest actions?
Is it time for him to retire from the "sport entertainment" business?
Do you agree that he may not be taking the best decisions recursively lately?
Add any thought you want about Mcmahon's curretn state of mind.
Basically yes, he's too old for an industry that is now more youth orientated than ever.
I remember a while back HBK was talking about the years just before his back injury and he said that he and HHH had repeatedly had to go to McMahon to stop him doing stupid things and when he wouldn't listen Shawn said "You're 50+ and we're 30ish, do you really think you know what the kids want better than us". That was nearly 15 years ago, I can only imagine McMahon has gotten even worse since then. The guy has always been mental but seems even moreso these days. He still has an eye for talent but I see no suggestion that he has any more ideas left to offer.
I think he is just moving further in the same direction he has been moving for a while now.. It's a business decision to take the "word" wrestling, not the actual wrestling out of the company. I believe the thinking is along the lines of non-wrestling fans being less likely to reject one of their other products out of hand due to it's association to the WWE.
for example: someone who has no interest in wrestling might decide not to go see the Rock's new movie when they see it is produced by "World Wrestling Entertainment Films" rather than just simply "WWE Films". I think that people are making more out of this re-branding than they need to.
Having said that, I agree that the reports about his recent activities are somewhat alarming, but he hasn't gotten to where he is today through random chance and luck.. I think that we need to wait and see for a little longer before passing any judgement. (I think putting Triple H in charge of talent development is a huge step in the right direction.)
I disagree with those of you who think Vince is too old. I think VKM is right and the stuff he's doing is necessary. WWE's product is absolute shit compared to where it used to be and he wants to put it in better standing while he's still able to do so. He's got about 5 to 10 years before his decision making is passed on. He wants wrestling to be viewed as a form of entertainment rather than wrestling. Wrestling has a negative connotation that will never go away. Good for him. Vince thought WM stunk. Good for him. So did I and most fans. Vince wants to shake things up and is acting nutty about making his product better. GOOD FOR HIM!!! You marks who love your WWE have never noticed with your blind love that your product sucks ass. Vince has allowed the wrestling industry to be stale. Now he wants to spice it up. Good for him. It's time for a shakeup. This direction of mixing Stone Cold and The Rock with the green crop of new guys is an excellent decision. Most likely his decision. He's paying big bucks to FINALLY make this generation of wrestlers credible by having them face the credible ones of the generation prior. Good for him. He's not nuts at all. You smart marks read your WZ stories and digest the spin of the poor journalists and believe it to be what they say it is. You're just dumb sheep who have really no idea what goes on or ever goes on.
The craziest thing VKM did was allow Triple H to be world champ 13 times. It would be just as crazy to let a wrestler run the business that is WWE. The guy is a leetch, he has no business experience, he's just a big dumbass wrestler who used the bosses daughter to solidify his place in wrestling once his best bud (and best wrestler ever) left him all alone to butt kiss for himself. To those of you who think Triple H being charge is a huge step in the right direction i say 'hahahahahaha'. Almost any wrestler whose ever worked with the guy hates him and thinks he does everything for himself. He's the worst possible guy to be running WWE. Is pushing a guy like Triple H's pal Sheamus a huge step in the right direction? I mean 'c'mon'!
And this too old crap is ridiculous. The older you are the 'more' you understand the business side of things. Yeah things change and old people don't get newer trends but
businessmen understand the formula better than anyone else. Vince isn't too old to run
the company he guided to the top all this time. He's not crazy because he's showing some passion for his company. His writing team SUCKS and he's bending over backwards to make changes to their crappy writing. GOOD FOR HIM.
Vince fears TNA. He shouldn't but he does because he's a narcissist. He wants to accomplish more before he's really too old. He wants to push wrestling entertainment to a place it's never been so that it will survive and make billions after he's gone. Good for Vince. He'd only be crazy if he kept allowing such shitty entertainment existing as is.
The craziest thing VKM did was allow Triple H to be world champ 13 times. It would be just as crazy to let a wrestler run the business that is WWE. The guy is a leetch, he has no business experience, he's just a big dumbass wrestler who used the bosses daughter to solidify his place in wrestling once his best bud (and best wrestler ever) left him all alone to butt kiss for himself. To those of you who think Triple H being charge is a huge step in the right direction i say 'hahahahahaha'. Almost any wrestler whose ever worked with the guy hates him and thinks he does everything for himself. He's the worst possible guy to be running WWE. Is pushing a guy like Triple H's pal Sheamus a huge step in the right direction? I mean 'c'mon'!
IMO, Sheamus is in the Top 5 if not Top 3 most credible wrestlers of this new era. The guy is a beast and very believable. If anything, HHH has a great mind for the business. The guys he "buried" such as RVD, Jeff Hardy, and London + Kendrick had no business at the top of the card....just look what happened when RVD and Hardy made it to the top of the WWE. If anything, endorsing guys like Batista, Sheamus, and now Sin Cara just proves to me that HHH is legit behind the scenes as well.
First of all, great topic. I think what Vince has done to the business is bittersweet at best. I truly believe that Vince doesn't care about "wrestling", never has and never will. In the beginning he was a promoter, yeah he put together Wrestlemania and all but he's always brought in celebs, athletes, etc.. from the outside to try and make it mainstream so to speak. Sure having Mr. T, or Mike Tyson may have piqued some people's interest but they never became "fans". I think that after 20+ years of trying to get people to come to the WWF(E) he's going to bring it to them. But news flash! Not everyone loves wrestling, so I think that the company is in this stage where they are changing the product to try and appeal to a broader audience. Which I think is ridiculous because we all remember the amazing ratings "wrestling" did back in the late 90s with WCW/WWF. The problem is that the WWE has sterilized the entire industry because they are the entire industry, the WWE is changing the entire culture "wrestling" to the point where it just doesn't exist. There's more wrestling on the Jersey Shore then there is on Raw, and NXT? Please. Watching these guys who are clearly green being shoved in our faces and answering Wrestlemania trivia questions is is just ridiculous. But this is what it has come to, this is what Vince actually believes is the future of the industry, or should I say the WWE Universe. When you have to cut time out of matches or scrape them entirely off the card at the biggest event of the year there is some deep issues within the company. This is why monopolies are bad, I just wish TNA, or RoH could make it big to make it interesting again.
Vince is not krazy at all I agree with pierre. Maybe Vince having a late midlife crisis or just want to get out his last tenure. Either way it won't be bad for the business meaning the name change. Lets look at it as when a hip.hop artist wants to expand into acting and they use their government. We still will get wrestling but the name will expand making a better product as a whole! Vince always been krazy with his ideas and direction. Lets sit back and watch like we always do until HHH reigns
The craziest thing VKM did was allow Triple H to be world champ 13 times. It would be just as crazy to let a wrestler run the business that is WWE. The guy is a leetch, he has no business experience, he's just a big dumbass wrestler who used the bosses daughter to solidify his place in wrestling once his best bud (and best wrestler ever) left him all alone to butt kiss for himself. To those of you who think Triple H being charge is a huge step in the right direction i say 'hahahahahaha'. Almost any wrestler whose ever worked with the guy hates him and thinks he does everything for himself. He's the worst possible guy to be running WWE. Is pushing a guy like Triple H's pal Sheamus a huge step in the right direction? I mean 'c'mon'!
LMAO! Is that why the majority of wrestlers have nothing but great things to say about him, his work ethic, and his knowledge and passion for the business? Guess what? A lot of people hate Vince, too. They're the same kind of people who hate Triple H. Seflish, ignorant, out of touch fools who only see what he's done to them personally and can't see what he's done for the business. The only people who hate Triple H are the worthless bums who couldn't cut it in the WWE and have to find somebody else to blame because they can't comprehend that it might actually be their own fault. I sure don't see how pushing Sheamus is a bad thing. I don't see how signing Sin Cara is a bad thing either. Anybody who knows anything realizes that Triple H is the right man to take over the WWE.
I have mixed opinions on the whole new vision Vince has, and most of you are getting yourselves in a frenzy but this isn't new news.. he said this back in 1998 (Beyond the mate documentary) they want to do movies, they're sports entertainment not just wrestling, they have an in-house band who creates theme songs (thou most nowadays are rock bands) etc etc, basically Vince realized back in the mid 90s wrestling was dying (going by the old school style of wrestling) and brought in gimmicks which in turn brought in more kids, when WCW started to kick his ass he realized it was paramount for WWE to become edgy and risque' and win the war and then tone it back down which they've done, it's the rights of passage as much as I love the Attitude Era nothing lasts forever and the PG rating won't in time WWE will change it's image.
Yes Vince is first and formost a businessman and secondly a promotor Vince has people around him doing the promotor jobs and he gives the final nod, Vince is vince and he's good at making money.
Well I wouldnt exactly give him total credit for all that has happened over his time in the WWE. I would say Vince is a very smart/lucky business man. You know I give him all the props in the world for doing the first WrestleMania but had that failed with all the money he had on the table for that, he might not had owned a company that time next year. I give him credit for seeing stuff in certain people Hulk,Rock,Austin, but thats a two sided thing. He saw something in these people, but they made them selves really big. So I mean I wouldnt say all the glory should go to him, but hes had some great people to help along the way.
I think Vince has always been a business man, that has never wanted to be known only has the man who owns a wrestling company, and we've seen him try things through out the years out side of the wrestling world, some have worked some didnt. Lets look at some things vince has ventured into, music, WWE home dvd, Theater style movies that have nothing to do with wrestling, the XFL and I'm probably forgetting some but hes always been about trying things as he sees the world change.
So now Vinny Mac is at the point in his life were he wants to step down and we all know he's training HHH and Steph to take over the Wrestling business and I see this last expansion as Vince's way out of wrestling all together. I think HHH will sooner then everyone thinks take full run of the E while vince looks into his other business avenues and he will get this new one set up to how he wants it and with these other things being outside of the wrestling world he can just hire good business people to full time take that over.
So to end, I think through out his life Vince has been a very Smart/Lucky business man who changed his business to fit what the world wants, and I gotta say what made him so sucessful was his willingness to take the big chance when it was needed.
Vince McMahon is pretty much doing nothing more than what he's always done, or at least tried to do, since he bought the company from his father almost 30 years ago: to make it as financially successful as he possibly can. Vince is always someone that's done things differently. He broke every cardinal "rule" in the book when it comes to running a wrestling promotion while the WWE's contemporaries stayed the traditional course. What happened? They all went the way of the dinosaur is what happened. All that's left of the AWA, Jim Crockett Promotions and about a dozen or so of the biggest and most important professional wrestling promotions in the history of North America is the fact that they're now copyrights owned and secured by the WWE.
Vince has always wanted to change the general public's point of view on wrestling. To a lot of people, pro wrestling is something that they just roll their eyes at and can't or don't want to understand the appeal of it. Why has he always wanted to change the opinion of the general public? The hopes of making his company bigger and more financially successful. Professional wrestling is and always will be a business. The goal of any business is to make money and as much of it as they legally can. In spite of all the complaints or general whining you might read on the internet, pro wrestling isn't a fantasy league that exists to cater to the momentary whims of fans. Like any business, the people in charge have to look at what they think works, go in that direction and hope that they made the right decision. Sometimes the WWE makes the right call and sometimes they don't. That's an aspect of life that you can't escape no matter what. There are always going to be times in which the WWE does something that some fans are gonna love and some fans are gonna hate. You can't please everyone and there's no way around that. That's alright, however, just as it's alright to voice your dislike for a particular wrestler or angle or feud or what have you. The WWE is going to go in the direction that they think will be the more profitable one. That includes putting certain wrestlers in certain spots because they have faith that these wrestlers will perform well. Why has Triple H been a 13 time World Champion in the WWE? Because he's great in his role and the man draws money. Why is The Undertaker's streak at WM become such an important part of the event itself? Because it keeps fans interested, thereby generating ppv buys and ticket sales.
When it comes to judging the business aspect of WWE, I don't know jack shit about it and I don't think very many, if any, do either. We can think that we do because thinking is free and there are no negative consequences to us saying what we think. The problem with that is that we might know what we like. We might think something sounds like a good idea on paper but, the truth is, we don't have a clue whether it'd be a good idea in practice. For instance, you might have someone post a thread about Daniel Bryan and how they think he should be World Champion or in the World Title picture right now. You may have several dozen or a few hundred posters that like the idea of it and say as much in their posts. However, putting that idea into practice at this particular time might be something that turns off the majority of Raw's 5.5+ million viewers. If the idea doesn't work then it's no skin off our backs but it could have negative financial consequences for the WWE. We can come up with any and all ideas that we want because it's not our shoulders that the jobs of hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions of dollars rest on.
The interesting point about this industry is that no matter how many guys come and go , no matter how many fans are there ,at end of the day It's all about Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
It's not the first time that McMahon has done some changes which doesn't look appealing to the fans. But we all should realize that the product which is WWE, will always be the way Vince wants it to be.
His current vision is understandable. He knows he can't keep this business alive if it only depends on "rasslin". How many years can people watch the same kind of thing inside the ropes? He knows that right now there's no new thing he can do about what happens inside the ring.People have seen all kind of things in the ring.It may still look fresh to die hard fans but die hard fans are never Vince's main concern and never will be.
He can see that movie industry has changed and now it's all about 3D and animations.The same kind of changes has happened in music, TV and other forms of entertainment. He is smart enough to know that if this company is gonna remain what it is , they should seek new ways.
Does new ways mean better ways? Not necessarily. They can make the product worse or better in our eyes , but It won't matter for Vince If he remains financially successful. it's obvious if he could find a way to make all of this money without using a wrestling ring and wrestling matches , he wouldn't hesitate a second.
The way I see it , If he is able to find ways to reduce the attention from wrestling and emphasize it on the entertainment and remain successful , he will be happy the most.
Why does he think that way? I don't know. Maybe he is ashamed to be known as a pro wrestling promoter, which I don't think is the case,because he is not a 20 year old. As I said, I think he wants to make sure that the company is able to move on to new things and gain new fans all around the world, and If we hate the new approach, It's gonna be our problem, not Vince's.
I think Vince is losing his confidence in wrestling as a drawing concept. Hes trying out all these movies, reality shows, and changes to the company and its not coming out the way he would like to, which discourages him even more. He refuses to run WWE like he did before, with violence, blood, swearing, and great emphasis on storyline rather than actual in ring wrestling which has obviously lead to a drop in ratings. Think about it, PG WWE had some of the lowest ratings ever while the live sex thing with Edge had one of the highest. Vince refuses to put on a raunchy show like that these days and is looking at other ways to attract attention from todays youth.
Its all a case of MTV syndrome. Just like MTV changed its focus from music to reality teen drama, Vince is changing the focus from wrestling to some guest celebrity fighting show. Just like the Music in Music Televison is now nearly useless, the Wrestling in World Wrestling Entertaiment is headed for the same fate. Personally I think its a horrible idea. Someone needs to pull Vince to the side, have the balls to tell him that hes messing up, or this business is gunna suffer.
WWE News: "The New WWE - Expands Beyond Wrestling," reads press release, new marketing plan to be unveiled
World Wrestling Entertainment issued a press release on Thursday to announce the name change to simply WWE. "“The new business model of the company better reflects what WWE is all about, being a global entertainment company,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO, WWE.
“We will always be loyal to our core business that made WWE a globally known entity, however, the future of WWE will be the addition of new entertainment content opportunities beyond the ring.”
The press release also touts that WWE is going to unveil a new advertising campaign called 'Bigger. Badder. Better." to trumpet the rebranding. You can read the press release at Businesswire.com.
Sais it all. WWE is about Entertainment not wrestling. He said that decades ago, now is the time it will come into fruition for him
,might also add as i said in anpther thread this isn't new. During the Hogan era the WWF had there own talk shows, wrapup shows, interview shows and were spread out threw hollywood
then the new school kicked in and Wrestling wasn't so cool in hollywood and wasn't a great draw for the families and kids. Now they are back to the Hoganesque era and Hollywood/Media isn't ashamed to be involved.
I'm not really sure Vince is really loosing his mind, but he's been slipping lately. Bookings, angles, story lines, squashed talent, lost talent, and a Wrestle Mania that felt like a couple of episodes of RAW. The PG rating because Linda was making a senatorial run (wants to run again in '12) was the biggest mistake. Pro wrestling has never been PG. Chair shots, cut jobs, beat downs. It's not PG and doesn't make good storytelling being PG.
I don't know when VKM will step down (probably a year after he's in the grave), but I hope that his successor (Steph/HHH?) will bring the company back to the glory days
It's one of many recent decisions that make you have to at least wonder a bit.
Add this to the failed RAW guest host idea, involving the Jersey Troll at Wrestlemania, cutting actual matches for foolish backstage skits, and the overall poor level of planning for this year's Wrestlemania and one has to wonder about the overall direction of the company.
Oh, and less we forget, the man recently stated that he wanted the word Wrestling taken out of its' name.
hi i had to just pick up on this quote only for the reason about the word wrestling to be taken out. only to be called WWE. as they say if it aint broken dont fix it. if VKM wants to remove the word wrestling he best take it out fully. if not then keep it and not make a big issue about it. what are your thoughts? if you agree with VKM then there is only one problem that seems to come to mind. what will they do about their biggest PPV event of the year WRESTLE mania?????? like other PPV is that also gonna have to be a victim of name changes? what are your thoughts?
They are not moving away from Wrestling at all, they are just rebranding to reach a wider audience.
as they explain it, it's no different then Kentucky Fried Chicken rebranding to KFC so they could get away from the stigma that all they are is fried chicken.
They are still going to keep the core "Wrestling" section as there main focus but will be expanding out into buying "Content" and renting out there style of production to other companies.
and as for the PG era, it's was explained as having to go back to the start as the attitude era was just way too violent and there was nowhere to go forward. So by going back to earlier roots they can grow again. Not to mention being public traded they can't attract the sponsors they would like if they are pushing out a product that only caters to one section of the community.
Which all makes sense.
I will say though, they did seem to talk around some of the questions and talk alot but not say much as far as what the percieved to be the future so take it with a grain of salt
PS the meetings are very booooooring alot of dead air time, Vince woulda been furious if it was a televised event
as for Vince McMahon, at one time i would swear blue murder, he's a genius and created all that is good. But now seeing it over decades and being able to look back, he was a genius in being able to market guys and push the business beyond where it ever would've gone, he was also a copyright artist and takes alot of ideas from elsewhere and claims they are his own.
He ultimately is just trying to endlessly expand WWE to cover every possible thing it can in the entertainment industry and one way or another it will happen or they will die trying.
now with Triple H more in charge of WWE's development and most likely the wrestling side of it, Vince can spend time on acquisitions of "Content" which is what they are trying for atm. The stuff that put Google, Yahoo and the likes on the map and made them very famous
he really needs to ring the attitude era back all this pg13 is BS, no blood, no chair shots, no swearing, half the good moves are banned, makes me angry lol
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