What is Vince McMahon's greatest creation?

[Fisheatppl]

ONly one other person has mentioned my first thought, which was Monday Night Raw. It was/is so influential. It gave every perosn the ability to view pro wrestling on a regular basis (more so than other programs had been), gave a steady and consistent way to build stories, which only furthers the buys of the PPV, and most importantly it was so good that in a couple months it is about to hit 1,000 episodes, a feat not many shows can match ,albeit its not the same as a scripted show with the same cast for 1000 episodes, wrestlers have changed, by either way it is still a feat.

 

[Attitude Era Junkie]

Since I can't choose WrestleMania then I will say Hulkamania. Vince hand picked Hogan to be the star of his wrestling company that he was taking worldwide (or whatever). I know Hogan was responsible for the charisma and good promos to get the fans to love him but none of that Hulkamania stuff would of happened if Vince chose someone else. It feels a bit strange picking a wrestler as Vince's 2nd greatest creation but I think it is. Hogan was the Babe Ruth of wrestling back then. I don't know where the WWE would be now if Hulkamania and WrestleMania never existed.


If picking a wrestler as his greatest creation doesn't count then maybe it's Monday Night Raw. I don't know.


I tried.

 

[Rockyfolifebo!!!]

Hogan, Mania, PPVs, etc were all great answers! But for me PERSONALLY, I'm going to say the Attitude Era was Vince's greatest creation.

During this time, you had arguably the best pool of talent ever in the business. The Rock, Austin, Taker, Kane, Mankind, HHH, Angle, Benoit, Hardys, Dudleys, E&C, etc. Day in and day out these guys came out there and told compelling stories and put their bodies on the line in doing so. Some of the best storylines and classic moments come from this time period.

It was also good from a business standpoint. WCW was winning in the Monday Night ratings back in like '95- '96, right? So Vince realized that his formula of "Say your prayers and drink your milk" wasn't working. Around this time, you slowly started to see an increase in language, blood, etc. Fastforward to around 1999, and you have Austin bringing out beer truck in the arena, Undertaker crucifying people, DX pulling outrageous pranks on people, etc. It was truly a fun time to be a wrestling fan. The insane matches, top notch promos, and very gifted talents of the Attitude Era was Vince's best gift to me.

 

[Domamania]

I'm gonna have to agree with this. Hogan didn't go out of his way to put himself over with the fans like other greats did (Austin, Rock). Vince literally put him at the top and seeing how at the time it was a huge transition for wrestling, the fans bought into it and rode along. I think it's very arguably that at that point in time, Vince could've choose anyone and they could've been what Hogan was.

Hold on, your saying that Hgan was shoved down ppls throats by the wwf anf vince mcmahon jr. well no offense your wrong. Hulk Hogan was a huge fan favorite in the awa and hulkamania was getting beloved then. Vince saw that and grabbed the opportunity to pay hogan more and to get him the title cause vince new hogan was hot before he took over him...

 

[DrWilsonIPersume]

VKM's greatest creation is, "SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT"

He combined yocal local wrasslin' promotions with Hollywood glam and it became the WWF, which in turn gave birth to Wrestlemania.

VKM brought wrasslin to the mainstream and away from the territories, some say this was the death, others say the beginning.

With all that being said, none of what VKM did could have been possible without Turners advent of the Superstation, but that is another topic...

 

[TTWWE5]

I think his greatest accomplishment would be the character of Mr. McMahon. The business behind it was great and it really helped kick off the Attitide era and the whole angle of the montreal screwjob into the villian was brilliant.

 

[Cookie14]

Wow. Not surprised to see so many people miss the boat on this one.

The one, single thing, greater than Wrestlemania, that Vince has ever done was conceive and execute the idea of a nationally unified wrestling company. Prior to Vince Jr., national wrestling was accomplished through a loose series of agreements between companies, which were often skirted or outright broken in the name of individual self interest. In such a market, the idea of a national TV show and regular PPV's would be insane- no cable provider would want to work with a group of people who can't be counted on to still want the same thing two years in the future, since they all want something different.

Kids here truly don't understand that Vince McMahon Jr. is responsible for professional wrestling as we see it today. It's bigger than WrestleMania, bigger than any one single guy; Vince's greatest creation is the business plan for the modern WWE, because through that, everything else becomes possible.

After reading the first 10 posts and not seeing this response, I was starting to think I might just be the first person to say this. Unfortunatley, I was beaten to it. You, sir, are correct in what you say, and I couldn't have said it any better.
None of Vince's creations, whether they be WrestleMania, Hulkamania, XFL, Raw, WWE Films, John Cena, Rocky, Austin, Taker, HHH, Royal Rumble, etc, would have ever been recognised, or maybe not even possible, if it wasn't for the money brought in by being the first, and nowadays only, international wrestling organisation.

 

[ECFNW]

One of the greatest creations of vince mcmahon is when he created the fued between himself and stone cold steve austin. Bringing his personal life to the ring and letting austin destroy him most of the time. Fighting austin in matches.

Think about it how many people go to work and hate their boss and want to take them into the parking lot and beat the hell out of them, well vince brought that dynamic right to our televisions.

That fued lasted so long and was a huge part of austin and vinces careers, without creating that fued, i dont know how big austin would have become.

Something else i dont recall seeing posted was the INFERNO MATCH even theres no way in hell we would see one in todays era.

 

[GameOver]

I would say The Royal Rumble, I wouldnt consider wrestlers a big creation because a good idea depends a lot on the person which is executing it, for that matters Austin was a better success and 100 % wwf/e

That wasn't his creation. Pat Patterson came up with that idea atleast according to him and noone can say WrestleMania either other then the name maybe, Starrcade was the same thing 3 yrs b4 WWF debuted WrestleMania but it wasn't televised more then on local tv or just people in attendance.

as for the question at hand, Hulkamania the advent of "larger then life characters" and taking WWF Global when wrestling wasn't a global phenomenon without that WWF could arguably had still been on even par with WCW/NWA and never become an american tradition.

Yes i know Hulkamania was really a part and parcel of Terry Bolea and Vince but Vince put all the chips into it and for 6 straight years it was the ultimate gimmick and put wrestling on the map, and that gimmick has lasted another 30yrs beyond that. to note Hulk Hogan was the name given to Terry by Vince McMahon sr. prior to that he was The Hulk, Sterling Golden, and Terry Boulder.

 

[rge2010]

Hulkamania easily. Hulkamania gave WWF mainstream coverage in the 80s and 90s. The guy was a househoeld name around the world and that benefitted WWF immensley.

Talk about Rock, Austin, Cena all you want but they cant hold a handle to the popularity of Hogan in the 80s/90s. I truly believe he was bigger than WWF.

 

[relentless1]

Hulk Hogan/Hulkamania hands down, it put the wwf on top as the #1 wrestling promotion where it has more or less stayed ever since.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

Wow. Not surprised to see so many people miss the boat on this one.

The one, single thing, greater than Wrestlemania, that Vince has ever done was conceive and execute the idea of a nationally unified wrestling company. Prior to Vince Jr., national wrestling was accomplished through a loose series of agreements between companies, which were often skirted or outright broken in the name of individual self interest. In such a market, the idea of a national TV show and regular PPV's would be insane- no cable provider would want to work with a group of people who can't be counted on to still want the same thing two years in the future, since they all want something different.

Kids here truly don't understand that Vince McMahon Jr. is responsible for professional wrestling as we see it today. It's bigger than WrestleMania, bigger than any one single guy; Vince's greatest creation is the business plan for the modern WWE, because through that, everything else becomes possible.

This x100. Without Vince taking the WWF national wrestling would be nowhere near what it is now. Hogan would not have been over like he was and the Rock 'n' Wrestling connection would have never happened. MTV really helped put Hogan and the WWF on the map.

It's his plan that was his biggest creation. Great post!

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

The whole McMahon-Austin rival was the best that Vince has created. I can watch that over and over. That rival kicked off the whole attitude era. I also loved the McMahon/Helmsey era.

 

[theBec2101]

It has to be the WWF/E. Back in the day no one went into another promoter’s territory and setup shop. So I would have to go with how he created or restructured how the wrestling business is run as a whole. If it wasn’t for the way he did business he wouldn’t of been able to get his wrestlers out there and over as fast and as much as what he did. There wouldn’t of been no Hogan worldwide if only one part of the nation new about him. There also would be no need for wrestle mania. It would just of been some wrestling event in a certain region. Not as global and as popular as it is now.

Other Honorable Mentions
Hulk Hogan
Wrestlemania
Survivor Series ( it used to be one of the best PPV’s)
Royal Rumble
SummerSlam
Kiss My ASS Club lol

 

[Poop Master Flex]

This is gonna sound like a cheap answer but I'm gonna go with Sports Entertainment in general.

Before Vince although wrestling was entertainment it was treated like a legitimate sport, it was treated more like MMA than it was entertainment. Vince is the person who changed all that and instead of making wrestling about the sport he made wrestling more about the entertainment aspect. It was a brilliant move because it was different, it was fresh and it made wrestling more relevant in pop culture more than ever before. Instead of putting someone like Bob Backlund (a great wrestler) as champ he put Hogan as champ, someone who although was a good wrestler wasn't a great wrestler from a technical aspect. Hogan was more about look, charisma and character and was a completely different mold than any other champion before him with the exception of Superstar Billy Graham.

Hogan didn't rely on his in ring work, he relied on his larger than life personality to get over and in doing so it opened the door for more larger than life, even cartoonish characters. Even great technical wrestlers like Ted Dibiase got more over than they ever were from being a larger than life character. At the end of the day, as great as wrestlers like Randy Savage and Ted Dibiase were they will always be known as The Million Dollar Man and The Macho Man. Sure, they were great in the ring but their personality is what people are gonna remember. Now Vince didn't necessarily create this formula but he certainly refined it, perfected it, and coined the phrase Sports Entertainment and out of all the great things Vince created this was the most important and greatest creation he ever made and wrestling from now until eternity will follow this model.

I'm not saying larger than life characters didn't exist before Vince, but even back in those days it was about the in ring product for the most part, so in an 2 hour program it was 15 minutes talking, 1 hour 45 minutes wrestling.

Say what you will but guys like Austin, Hogan and The Rock got over as well as they did because of what they did out of the ring, not what they did in it.
_________

With that said its probably not what you are looking for Mack so in that case I would go for the following:

Character would be The Undertaker. Everything about The Undertaker is awesome and he is by far the greatest gimmick in wrestling history.

Concept/Match would be The Royal Rumble. That match has been a staple of WWE since the early 90's and if there is 1 guaranteed match fans can look forward to, every year, regardless of who is on the roster is the Royal Rumble. As long as I remember I've always looked forward to the Royal Rumble and seeing what it would bring.

 

[DrWilsonIPersume]

that is not a cheap answer and it is exactly what i said earlier, you just expanded.

VINCE CREATED SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT

he does not even allow them to be called wrestlers anymore, IN MY OPINION VKM has always been embarrassed that he was a "WRASSLIN PROMOTOR" or involved in the business in general and has done everything to make it more Hollywood aka Entertainment based...

regardless of how much money WWE films looses, he will not cut ties because making films is more "prestigious" than putting on a great wresting program.

for Gods sake he did not even trust commentators to do their jobs in the mid 90s, HE had to be behind the mic and in front of the camera.

scratch that, VKM was never a promoter, his old man was...VKM just bought terrotories aka his dads competition and united them under a single banner, errr paycheck.

and who is to say that VKM came up with all of the listed ideas, yeah he gets the credit but he is the boss, so of course he would get credit for the Undertaker, Warrior, Rock, Austin, ect.

truth is none of us know what goes on behind closed doors, i know Slaughter was very influential in the Attitude Era as were Briscoe and Patterson, Arn Anderson, Russo, Terry Taylor, michael hayes, i could go on and on.

and "stone cold" was steve austin's creation, watch the stone cold dvd, they had some crappy gimmick planned where he was the Million Dollar Mans bodyguard and was never supposed to speak and was known as the f'ing Ringmaster with the Million Dollar Dream as his finisher...

austin called hayes, told him the gimmick was crap, and due to the fans reaction when austin started doing his own thing, austin became stone cold, i am sure much to VKMs displeasure...

 

[VeryReal1980]

I have to agree with many of the others posting. Hulkamania is his greatest creation. He has continued to use that same formula to this day with Cena. Hogan was given the postion due to his body and flamboyant charisma. Vince put everything behind him. Without Vince, there is no Hogan.

 

[tripleddd]

Really simple as a character VKM which probably was a characerture of VKM the stride the strut the attitude - he made the feuds - we all wanted Austin, The Rock, HBK Triple H to stick it to him

 

[smokeyjoe414]

I cant believe everyone has missed this, VKM greatest achievement was................ THE SPIRIT SQUAD!!!!!!!!!!
Ok im just joking, before anyone thinks im totally ******ed i do have an actual answer
Vince's greatest creation was probably monday night RAW, the show holds the record for longest running show in USA, it has outlived hulkamainia and Stone Cold and will outlive Cena and the Rock, its the flagship show that battled with wcw nitro and won.
If there were no Raw there would be no PPV, no storyline, no place for superstars to showcase their talent and no way to promote the art of sports entertainment.
Mainia may be the showcase but Raw is the workhorse that builds up to it for 365 days of the year, the show that has earned Mcmahon millions of dollars, millions of fans and world wide recognition.
Simply put RAW is bigger than most PPV's and most wrestlers and has been (and probably always be) the back bone of VKM success for years.

Only rivalled by the spirit squad in terms of pure genius LMFAO

 

[Best in the World 79]

I respect your statement to exclude Wrestlemania. Because that's the obvious choice, if it were included, there wouldn't really be a big discussion..

so we'll say an undisputed answer is wrestlemania... so we'll say what besides wrestlemania is the greatest creation of vince mcmahon

some will say hulkamania, it has a great argument, but it's not like wrestling would've died if it weren't for that..

but i'll go with something that has stood since 1990 through today, something that revolutionized the business..

THE UNDERTAKER. the character has so much mystique and intrigue. the guy can wrestle. the entrance. the attire. the tats add so much to the character. the music. the gong. 20-0 at wrestlemania. beat hogan for the belt in 1991.

IMO, the undertaker is, overall, the greatest professional wrestler of all time.