Editorial: The Legacy of Vince McMahon

The most important person in the history of professional wrestling is stepping away. Over the weekend, Vince McMahon announced that he was retiring after over 40 years of being in charge of World Wrestling Entertainment. The man who made WWE a global brand and revolutionized the term “sports entertainment” has decided to step down from the empire that he created.

Whenever something like this occurs, and a person of this magnitude takes himself out of the equation, the first thing that many people immediately do is reflect on his life. And that’s what I would like to do today, as well as ask the important question: What will be the legacy of Vince McMahon?

I always feel it’s important to acknowledge all the incredible contributions of a person as they prepare to take their final bow. Though, to be fair, with Vince, this may not be the end, as we know how erratic of a person he can be. However, it is important to reflect on what this man has done not only for professional wrestling but for the world of sports, business, and media as we know it today.

Ever since he founded Titan Sports in 1980, McMahon made it a mission to make WWE a global brand. Over that decade, he began to phase out wrestling territories and unify the sport as a national entity. During this time, he also created his first mega star in Hulk Hogan, as well as began the concept of WrestleMania in 1985. This signature event would go on to become a pop culture phenomenon and is regarded as one of the most important events of the year in the entire sports calendar.

McMahon was also responsible for revolutionizing how business was conducted in the world of professional wrestling. He capitalized on the concept of pay-per-view and used this platform to generate incredible revenue for his company. They said never been done before in wrestling and is now the basis for how most wrestling promotions make a majority of their money.

Vince was always cutting edge and was not afraid to think outside the box and make controversial decisions that he thought would be better for his product. In the late 1990s, he established the “Attitude Era” and began to provide more adult-oriented content, which wrestling fans have been clamoring for as the product was beginning to grow stale. This also allowed him to win the Monday Night Wars, defeating and eventually purchasing WCW in 2001.

Continuing with that trend, McMahon was also not afraid to back away when the culture called for it. In 2008, WWE switched exclusively to TV-PG and began to market itself to a wider array of fans. This was a genius move, as it allowed younger generations to be able to watch the product create lifelong fans that would pour money into the company longer than if he continued to market only to adults.

Other important and game-changing ideas and investments include the WWE Network and the XFL, which introduced new ways for consumers to view their respective products.

Let’s not also forget that he was completely comfortable as an on-screen character and performer, and even though there were some shady dealings behind the scenes that led to it, he established the Mr. McMahon character and created one of the greatest heels of all time. It led to legendary feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, D-Generation X, and many others.

However, not everything is butterflies and rainbows.

McMahon has certainly been under a lot of scrutinies over the years, particularly in his later life.

Perhaps most notably has been why many people believe that his retirement was unavoidable. Over the last few months, Vince has been involved in a sexual misconduct scandal in which he paid hush money to various women to keep affairs that he had with them quiet. These circumstances have been a very bad look for him and the company over the last little while, and should more legal actions be taken, he can’t be the head of this company and deal with that at the same time.

In addition, many reports have been given over the years that he was incredibly rude, insulting, and condescending to certain talent and employees, as well as created some gimmicks that were racist, sexist, and left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouth.

Switching over to business and dealing with talent, over the last few years, McMahon has come under a lot of criticism for the superstars that he kept and those that he released. In addition, he came under a lot of fire with the recent changes to NXT, and when power was taken away from Triple H, many people felt that the product went downhill.

Furthermore, many superstars who were doing incredible things in NXT underwent name changes, gimmick changes, and wrestling style changes once they got called up to the main roster. This caused a lot of people to become stale on them and ultimately led to them being released. In a lot of ways, many people feel that that wasn’t the talent’s fault as they weren’t broken in NXT, but Vince decided to fix it.

What does all of this mean?

It means that nobody is perfect, and even the greats get it wrong just as often as they get it right.

All that being said, what will be Vince McMahon’s legacy? A person who revolutionized an industry but couldn’t up going down in a blaze of glory. Only time will tell how he will be remembered, and each person, whether a fan or somebody in the business, will have their own opinion.

However, nobody can deny that he is the most important person in the history of professional wrestling, and none of what we enjoy today would be even remotely possible without his vision, brilliance, and ability to go after what he wants and bring it to life.

So, all I have left to say is thank you. Thank you, Vince, for all that you have done for all of us wrestling fans over the years. I have been a wrestling fan for over 30 years, and none of it would’ve been possible if it wasn’t for one man.

Let’s remember the good, learn from the bad and continue to enjoy a product that we all love so much!

 

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