September 24, 2019 ▸ Corporation, People

Episode 419: Vince McMahon: The Ultimate Heel

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the ultimate heel in all of professional wrestling, the chairman of WWE, Vince McMahon. Vince is the primary owner of the company, and he is a unique corporate mogul. Yes, he’s worth billions of dollars for having an insane vision that nobody else had (kind of like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, but with man flesh instead of microchips). But he has also paid his dues, putting himself through the same grueling matches as the boys. He’s a controversial figure who change the entire TV mediascape.

He was born as the third generation of sports promoter with a father and grandfather who both promoted boxing and wrestling matches in their New England and New York territory. Vince McMahon didn’t know his father at all until he was 12 and moved to New York to study under him and start working the wrestling and promoting gig. By the time he finished college, he had a plan to take his family’s property national and buck the traditional unwritten law that said no wrestling promoter would wander into other people’s territory. Vince was armed with the newly famous Hulk Hogan, and they cut a deal together to take on the entire nation and make professional wrestling more than a backyard gig.

Within a few years, he was the master of syndication and with Hogan and Jessie Ventura’s fame and heat in the ring, the started to take over all the other territories. He soon launched WrestleMania, and by WrestleMania III, he was the undisputed king of wrestling. The other territories dried up, and there was only Vince and his WWF. Eventually, he went to war with Ted Turner over cable wrestling dominance, and he won that as well, gobbling up ECW and WCW and changing his name to WWE after a lawsuit.

But this rags to riches story comes with drama. He treats his wrestlers notoriously poorly, giving them no health benefits or pension, and using them up until they can’t be used any more. Some of the old timers had it out with him. There were feuds, lawsuits, deaths, and challenges, but Mr. McMahon (the character and the person) always came out on top. So, what happened when Jessie the Body tried to unionize the wrestlers? Why did Hulk Hogan get fired and then brought back on as the golden boy? Was the Rock the biggest of all time, or was it someone else? Why did Vince get death threats building his company, and how did he respond to his wife? How are the wrestlers treated poorly? What was the Montreal Screw Job, and how did it change the face of all professional wrestling? From Andre the Giant to Mick Foley, Vince was in the middle. So, listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_McMahon

https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Shane-McMahon-CLASSIC

https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Immortal-Hulk-Hogan

https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Jesse-Ventura-CLASSIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8UQ4O7UiDs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Screwjob

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFL_(2020)

https://variety.com/2019/tv/features/wwe-vince-mcmahon-interview-smackdown-raw-1203213046/

https://www.grunge.com/149456/the-untold-truth-of-vince-mcmahon/