Has Vince McMahon been successful in spite of himself?

[Hitman81]

I know WWE stock has hit all times highs recently and I don't want to come off a salty fan here but when I look back on the history of the WWE I can't help but wonder what might have been? Yes, he's made stars like Hulk Hogan and The Rock. He took wrestling from the dingy cowbarns to the 93,000 seat arenas. He's a trend setter that buried and bought his competition. But for decades hes also booked A LOT of absolutely terrible shows for no excusable reason and seemingly at times just to spite his cashcow, the fans. So my question is what if WWE hadn't booked such shit for so many years? What if matches had clean finishes? What if wrestlers who were over with the fans were over with Vince? What if he didn't book WCW stars like jokes? What if he didn't bury ECW immediately after relaunching it? Would WWE be more popular than ever or worse off?

 

[Pliny Pete]

He didnt make Hulk Hogan a star
Hogan was appearing in major motion pictures and booking dates on the Johnny Carson show before he worked for Vince Jr
He took Hogans stardom and charisma and used it to achieve his goals of world domination and they both got bigger because of it but he didn't make Hogan

 

[Hitman81]

He didnt make Hulk Hogan a star
Hogan was appearing in major motion pictures and booking dates on the Johnny Carson show before he worked for Vince Jr
He took Hogans stardom and charisma and used it to achieve his goals of world domination and they both got bigger because of it but he didn't make Hogan

Okay,fair enough.

 

[Michaelangelo]

So my question is what if WWE hadn't booked such shit for so many years? What if matches had clean finishes? What if wrestlers who were over with the fans were over with Vince? What if he didn't book WCW stars like jokes? What if he didn't bury ECW immediately after relaunching it? Would WWE be more popular than ever or worse off?

none of that stuff matters. that’s prob why they don’t give a shit. clean finishes and good booking would barely affect their ratings or popularity. there is a hardcore fanbase that will watch the program no matter what.

 

[My Spot]

They're still turning roughly $30 million in profit annually. Why change?

http://oswreview.com/history/wwf-wwe-reported-profit-and-loss/

 

[Michaelangelo]

They're still turning roughly $30 million in profit annually. Why change?

http://oswreview.com/history/wwf-wwe-reported-profit-and-loss/

they’ll prob make more than 30 a year on the saudi deal alone.

with the new tv deals at 500+ million a year they’re just printing money and laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

They're still turning roughly $30 million in profit annually. Why change?

http://oswreview.com/history/wwf-wwe-reported-profit-and-loss/

Only that much?

 

[My Spot]

they’ll prob make more than 30 a year on the saudi deal alone.

with the new tv deals at 500+ million a year they’re just printing money and laughing all the way to the bank.

I think they made over $40 million last quarter in profit. That's insane.
And yeah, when those TV deals hit, they could literally shut down the network, stop having PPVs, stop having house shows, stop selling merch, and would still turn a healthy profit.

 

[El Moose]

Being a monopoly has many advantages

 

[Darth Nevets]

Much of life is luck, and he has been blessed. With the new tv deal his company is worth more than the UFC despite ratings at their lowest point. He only got the money because Fox needs content and they got their Disney money to blow. Rock was mostly Patterson, Austin by JR, the Reaganite Hogan character was created by Verne Gagne. Hell if the NWA was a bit structured they could have drowned Vince, if his dad didn't die he would never have even owned the company.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Much of life is luck, and he has been blessed. With the new tv deal his company is worth more than the UFC despite ratings at their lowest point. He only got the money because Fox needs content and they got their Disney money to blow. Rock was mostly Patterson, Austin by JR, the Reaganite Hogan character was created by Verne Gagne. Hell if the NWA was a bit structured they could have drowned Vince, if his dad didn't die he would never have even owned the company.

He bought the company outright from his dad and the other owners 2 years before his dad died

 

[Stargazer Rex]

Being a monopoly has many advantages

This is really what it is.

 

[Thrawn33]

This is really what it is.

Legally No.

Realistically yes.

But if no one wants to put up the money to fight him, that's not his fault

 

[Darth Nevets]

He bought the company outright from his dad and the other owners 2 years before his dad died

Sorry but this is modern business propaganda, Vince was required to pay only about a million dollars to acquire the company. He was also required to pay in quarterly installments (giving him months to earn the money) or else ownership would revert to three of Vince Sr.'s partners. Considering the annual revenue of the WWF was over ten million dollars at that time it wasn't exactly a miracle to save 10% of their revenue.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Sorry but this is modern business propaganda, Vince was required to pay only about a million dollars to acquire the company. He was also required to pay in quarterly installments (giving him months to earn the money) or else ownership would revert to three of Vince Sr.'s partners. Considering the annual revenue of the WWF was over ten million dollars at that time it wasn't exactly a miracle to save 10% of their revenue.

And how does all that add up to your statement of "if his dad didnt die he would never have even owned the company"?

 

[Furious George]

Some of the WCW guys they got for the invasion were total jokes and not worth attempting to push beyond the initial invasion. ECW had a solid lineup and did quite well as a result I think.


OTOH:

Booker T was handled pretty well, he had a good run through the invasion and was a great heel. Should have gone over at WM19 though and its a shame he left for TNA as I feel like he was about ready to become a megastar in the WWE.

Two guys that did deserve better were Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire. They had a decent invasion and looked awesome but tbh O'Haire fizzled quickly after and Chuck had that ridiculous gay gimmick that was going to be difficult to come back from due to how damn long it lasted. DDP had that weird stalker angle too, but he came back quite well from it and what really ended his run was just his age.

Stasiak, Bagwell, Hugh Morrus were all garbage and they got the worst treatment on TV

If they had got guys like Goldberg, Sting etc I could genuinely see them managing to run the second continuity WCW show they wanted to, but tbh there was nobody for Booker T to really go against when you discount the garbage.

 

[Darth Nevets]

And how does all that add up to your statement of "if his dad didnt die he would never have even owned the company"?

If he wasn't going to be die he wouldn't have sold the company, his every action was motivated by that fact. The sale price was to take care of personal finances, he effectively gifted his son the company because if he wasn't dying he would have continued to own it or else wanted a fair price.

This would have been a huge detriment to VKM's success. Having the full weight of debt would have curtailed spending. Those lean few years where expansion was losing money would have killed him, the interest on a loan for the full value of the WWF (or even more) would be considerably more than the pittance he paid. His financial state would have prevented investors from taking such a loan risk as well, his acquisition of talent would likely be impossible.

 

[Pliny Pete]

If he wasn't going to be die he wouldn't have sold the company, his every action was motivated by that fact. The sale price was to take care of personal finances, he effectively gifted his son the company because if he wasn't dying he would have continued to own it or else wanted a fair price.

This would have been a huge detriment to VKM's success. Having the full weight of debt would have curtailed spending. Those lean few years where expansion was losing money would have killed him, the interest on a loan for the full value of the WWF (or even more) would be considerably more than the pittance he paid. His financial state would have prevented investors from taking such a loan risk as well, his acquisition of talent would likely be impossible.

So he knew he was gonna get cancer and forced his partners to sell to his son at a severely reduced price?
And Skaaland, Zacko etc just gave up their points for the fuck of it even though they were worth a shitload of money?

 

[deezy]

Most successful promoter ever and he's somehow just lucky he surrounded himself with the best people and used others blueprints better than they did.

Totally just fell into his money and success <45>

And Steve Jobs is just lucky he knew Wozniak and saw an MP3.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

I like when he pissed his pants on Raw.


And when Socko visited him in the hospital and then he got hit with the bed pan by Austin