Vince McMahon Should Step Down For Recent Booking Decisions

In 2001, Vince McMahon bought the copyrights to WCW’s name and their video library for $4.2 million. With that, WWE officially won the Monday Night Wars. Vince McMahon’s younger, edgier “Attitude Era” helped push his company past WCW, and Vince has been labeled a "genius" and a "visionary" ever since. Certainly, we have to give the devil his due. His direction for the company clearly paid off, pushing the anti-heroes like Stone Cold Steve Austin and D-Generation X. Not to mention his decision to involve himself as the corporate villain boss made for fresh and entertaining television.

Despite winning the Monday Night War and creating some wildly entertaining television, Vince McMahon's “genius” seems to be losing steam. Without any pressure from competition, some of Vince’s ideas have been less than stellar to say the least, leading many fans to believe he is currently out of touch with the wrestling fanbase. Who can blame them? The fanbase is largely ignored when it comes to pushing who the fans want, and any superstar who manages to get over has their push sabotaged. Even the superstars Vince likes aren’t safe from odd booking, terrible scripts or ruinous gimmicks.

With Vince restarting the XFL, Triple H may assume more control over the WWE, and that’s a good thing. The less involvement Vince has, the better the product appears to be. Just take NXT as an example. Unlike Vince, Triple H seems much more in tune to the wants of the fans, making WWE feel like it’ll be in good hands when out of touch Vince finally steps down. In fact, looking back on some of the recent booking decisions, the sooner he steps down the better. Here are 15 recent booking decisions that prove Vince McMahon needs to step down immediately.

15 Sting’s WWE Run

Sting shocked the wrestling world when he finally debuted for the one major company he never wrestled for. It was “showtime folks” in WWE, and the dream match between Sting and The Undertaker was finally about to happen. Sadly, that dream match was not delivered, and probably never will be.

Instead of Taker, in Vince’s infinite wisdom, Sting faced Triple H.

Not that that match wasn’t unique, but it certainly wasn’t the match everyone was hoping for. The booking of the match was even more perplexing, as Sting would take the loss to give The COO a win he didn’t need. But at least the Taker match could happen at the following WrestleMania, right? Nope, Sting would face Seth Rollins at Night of Champions for another loss, including an injury that likely ended his career, thus making the Sting/Undertaker dream match highly unlikely. What a great use of Sting in WWE.

14 Roman Reigns Facing Brock Lesnar Again At WM 34

After headlining WrestleMania 31, headlining WrestleMania 32, headlining WrestleMania 33, and being slated to headline WrestleMania 34, Vince McMahon is finally giving this young Roman Reigns guy a push. Monday Night Raw has been his “yard” for over four years, headlining WrestleMania after WrestleMania and coming out ahead in three of the last four. Yet, he’s still not well received by the WWE Universe.

That said, Vince McMahon continues to push Roman as "The Guy" despite his negative reactions, and after already receiving three WWE World Heavyweight Championships as well as huge victories over WWE’s biggest stars.

Even if Reigns was over, four years on top is too long for anyone. It’s time for some fresh blood in the main event scene. Unfortunately, this tiresome push doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. The WWE penciled in Lesnar vs. Reigns dating back to before WrestleMania 33 and despite other stars outshining Reigns in the past year, Vince refused to deviate despite a chorus of boos expected to rain down at the big show.

13 The Brand Extension

Most WWE fans were excited for the Brand ~~Split~~ Extension when it happened in 2016. With the influx of talent rushing into WWE, the Brand Extension seemed like a great way to ensure more air time for the talent.

The Extension started out really well with Raw and SmackDown Live feeling different and unique from each other, but that unique feeling between the two brands didn’t last very long.

Not long after the Extension, SmackDown started to feel more like Raw-lite and less like its own unique brand. Then, while SmackDown was dominating Raw in entertainment value, Vince decided to raid the loaded blue brand roster, weakening SD to bolster the flagship show. While The Miz and Alexa Bliss benefitted from the trade, Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose haven’t done anything on Raw. Meanwhile, SmackDown took heavy losses to their once strong mid-card, leaving them depleted.

While the Brand Extension could have been great, it’s just apparent that Vince wants to keep Raw strong, and, at the moment, the only real difference between the shows is the color of the ring ropes. Sorry Vince, this is not the Brand Extension we were looking for.

12 Everything Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler is easily one of the most misused talent on the current roster today. He’s a former World Heavyweight Champion but can’t seem to stay there. Even worse was Ziggler’s move to SmackDown. Dolph was lowered to the mid-card and degraded with a stupid gimmick mocking other superstars’ entrances before coming out to no music at all. And just when you thought Creative had something for Ziggler, they fooled us once again.

Ziggler would get a surprising United States Title win only to vacate the title and “leave.” When Ziggler made a surprise entrance as number 30 in the Royal Rumble, there was hope that his return would lead somewhere. Ziggler, instead, was quickly eliminated, and his reappearance was never explained. If this booking makes any sense then you have more imagination than I do. If not, then it’s even more proof that Vince hasn’t a clue on how to use his talent.

11 Goldberg Winning The Universal Title

Goldberg shocked the world when he returned to WWE to wash that bad taste out of his mouth from his last WWE run. Goldberg returned to face Brock Lesnar and destroyed him in 1:26 to stun the wrestling world. Lesnar had been largely untouchable since then, but even worse was Goldberg’s needless Universal Title win over Kevin Owens.

Even though Goldberg was only supposed to stay around for one match, his return turned into three, which led to an undeserving Universal Title Win.

Despite Goldberg’s return being a huge draw and therapeutic for Goldberg himself, it came at the expense of Owens, who was holding Raw on his shoulders. The endgame was Lesnar getting his win and title back over Goldberg, and the huge payoff win over the elusive and dastardly K.O. that could have helped a full-time superstar was wasted on Goldberg. It doesn't look good when a old worn-out superstar can just return and destroy your young and popular champion.

10 The Cruiserweight Division

What was supposed to be the most action packed hour of television, 205 Live, had recently been flopping hard. Though the show started strong, with an awesome tournament and flashy, fast-paced moves, the Cruiserweight Division started to hit some snags. The Cruiserweight Title was passed around like a hot potato, The Division was horribly promoted on Raw, Superstars turned heel for no reason, and even worse, Vince McMahon became more proactive in running the show.

As Cruiserweight wrestling was getting worse and attendance plummeting, Vince decided to focus on characters rather than wrestling and sent Enzo Amore to save the show. That backfired as Enzo would get fired and no one cared about any of the horrible personalities. Thankfully, Vince is giving full control of 205 Live to Triple H who is returning the focus to wrestling, which incidentally showcased more personality than anything Vince ever did.

9 The Current State of the Raw Women’s Division

Despite the Women’s ~~Revolution~~ Evolution claiming many successful firsts, the Raw Women’s Division is currently a hot mess. There’s no single booking decision that's wrong with the Division, it’s the aimless booking of basically the entire Raw women’s roster that is hurting it. Alexa Bliss is doing her best, but she has no direction at all and is likely only holding the title as a placeholder for the future champion, Asuka. Nia Jax has been pushed like a monster then soundly defeated then pushed again, who knows what Mickie James is doing or where Absolution is going, and this doesn’t even include the horrendous booking of Sasha Banks and Bayley.

For whatever reason, Vince McMahon sees nothing in Bayley or Sasha, the two most over women of the Raw Women's Division.

Bayley's forgettable title win, her inexcusable burial at the hands of Alexa and the universally panned “Bayley: This Is Your Life” segment is reason alone for Vince to step down. Not to mention Sasha, who was killing it in the ring with Charlotte Flair, is seen as an afterthought. How about some direction and storylines for these talented women?

8 Not Pulling The Trigger On Braun

Vince McMahon is so dead set on forcing Roman Reigns onto the fans that he’s completely missing the boat on Braun Strowman. The Monster Among Men right now is red hot, and when the opportunity came to put the belt on Braun, Vince McMahon balked. The plan is for Roman to beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, so naturally Braun eats the loss to Lesnar to make Reigns looks strong when he slays The Beast instead. The only problem with that is, fans want Braun, and not Roman.

How WWE isn’t capitalizing on Braun’s popularity is mind-boggling.

Plans should have seen Braun as champion now or at least winning the Universal Title at WrestleMania. Instead, fans are seeing Roman win the title against Lesnar in a match no one wants to see (again). 2018 will still likely be the year of Strowman, but Braun's time is now. It’s just a shame Braun and the WWE fans have to wait in line until after Vince’s dream match of Roman and Brock.

7 Jinder Mahal, WWE Champ?

This huge flop is all on Vince. The Jinder Mahal experiment is thankfully over after it crashed and burned. Honestly, what were they thinking? Jinder got himself into great shape, but without any buildup or credibility, someone who has been a jobber 90% of his career wins the most prestigious title in the company? All for a tour in India? The entire company looked terrible for this decision so much so that officials where forced to take the title off of the favored Jinder. Now, he’s in the mid-card, where he should have been all along.

WWE’s insane booking is unfair to Jinder, who is a nice enough guy and was just doing what he’s told to do, but his wrestling, credibility, character and mic skills weren’t ready. He could be a big star and has a great look, so why not build him up a little bit and let him find his character, instead of throwing the belt on him before he's even remotely ready?

6 Kane’s Destruction Of Finn Balor

Kane made a surprise return to WWE and was marketed as the Big Red Machine he had been many years ago. Clearly, Kane was being built up only to be fed to Braun Strowman, which was fine, except this build up came at the expense of Finn Balor.

A match was booked for Kane to face Finn Balor, which could have been a cool feud to see who the Devil’s Favorite Demon really was.

Not only did the first-ever Universal Champion eat the clean loss, but he got destroyed by the 50-year-old Kane in the process.

The loss was so out of the blue that many speculated that it was a response to the Too Sweet hand gesture between AJ Styles and Finn after their match at TLC.

Either way the loss was dumb. Finn, fortunately, did not suffer much from the loss, but there were other ways to build Kane, who really doesn’t need to be built up anyway. The whole situation just illustrated how little Vince thinks of Finn.

5 Bray Wyatt’s Booking Of The Past Two Years

Bray Wyatt’s erratic booking goes back even further, but these last two years have been the worst yet. Just when Bray is finally looking like he’s about the break through, Creative smacks him back down. Bray's title loss to Orton was inexcusable, and his transfer to Raw didn’t help him. On Raw, Bray is either forgotten or put in the most ridiculous situations to where a legitimate feud is immediately destroyed through terrible booking.

Bray found himself in a program working with Finn Balor, and the setup for the match was excruciating. The promos by "Sister Abigail" that Finn had to sell made for one of the most cringeworthy moments in wrestling history. Now, Bray is in an even most nonsensical feud between "Woken" Matt Hardy where Vince McMahon thinks the entertainment comes from the two of them laughing at each other. *Facepalm*

4 Kurt Angle’s "Son"

Fans were intrigued by the mysterious secret Kurt Angle was hiding from the fans. Finally, when Angle announced his deep dark secret was that he had an illegitimate son, and that it was Jason Jordan, the fans collectively groaned. None of the fans were buying it, and the boos began raining down on the babyface Jordan.

Does Vince McMahon not realize that most wrestling fans have the internet and know how to use Google?

To be fair, Jordan is a talented athlete and starting to catch on with the fans with a hinted heel turn, but to think that anyone would accept the premise the Jordan as Angle’s long lost son just shows how out of touch Vinny Mac really is. Oh it’s true. It’s damn true.

3 Randy Orton's Booking

The Legend Killer, Randy Orton will go down as a legend himself, but his best days are well behind him. But that didn’t stop Vince McMahon from giving him a needless 2017 Royal Rumble victory and an even more pointless WWE Title win over Bray Wyatt. Despite his feud with Bray Wyatt being a complete embarrassment, Vince also found a way to ruin one of the last dream matches left for Orton.

WWE fans were finally treated to the Randy Orton/Brock Lesnar match they’ve been waiting for. While the build up for the match was pretty solid, the booking of the match itself is beyond reproach. In sheer stupidity, Vince McMahon decided to ruin the dream match by having Orton mostly dominated and ending in the worse way possible.

Vince wanted Orton to bleed in the match but didn’t want any blading for the effect. Instead, Lesnar convinced Vince that he could hit Orton in a way that would make him bleed the “hard way” without actually hurting Orton. Vince agreed with that idiotic approach, and Lesnar succeeded in busting Orton open. It also concussed him for real. The match ended in a TKO, with Vince effectively ruining the dream match as only he could.

2 Brock Lesnar As Universal Champion

While there are benefits of having Brock Lesnar as the reigning defending undisputed Universal Champion, the negatives greatly outweigh the pros. Lesnar’s God status on Raw makes him untouchable for the likes of Finn Balor, AJ Styles or even The Miz from believably defeating The Beast. That normally wouldn’t present a problem, but since Lesnar seldom ever wrestles and still holds the title, that makes it virtually impossible for anyone else to become Universal Champion.

Vince loves superstars that look like they could seriously win in a fight, and Lesnar fits that mold.

However, Lesnar dropping the title will open the door for many Universal Title opportunities that weren't available before. More importantly, the Universal Title will actually be defended more frequently, and the title match quality will greatly improve. Vince has good reason to want Lesnar in WWE, but crowning him the champion of Raw for this long of a reign was a poor decision overall.

1 Initial Plans For James Ellsworth In The Women's Division

Like it or not, James Ellsworth was involved in some huge storylines on SmackDown and actually showed his decent mic and wrestling skills. The character was fairly entertaining and well received by the fans, but Ellsworth remained a puny jobber. However, that didn't stop the company's top stars from having to sell for him.

Without any credibility at all, Ellsworth hit "No Chin Music" to AJ Styles, who sold Ellsworth’s offense like he was hit by a bus.

AJ shouldn’t be selling for jobber Ellsworth whatsoever. The fact that Ellsworth got any offense in made Styles and the WWE Title look weak. Styles should have destroyed Ellsworth in seconds.

Ellsworth is gone from the company, and thankfully he left before Vince could apply his plans for him. Reportedly, Vince had thrown around a transgender gimmick for Ellsworth just to show everyone how with the times he is. While this rumor seems almost too crazy to be true, this is from the same man who approved Eugene, Katie Vick and Kerwin White.

NEXT: Vince McMahon Decisions That He Actually Regrets (And Some He'd Do Again)