The reputation of Vince McMahon indicates that he’s a difficult person to work for. WWE employees spend all day Monday and Tuesday each week attempting to write Raw and Smackdown. The show undergoes countless changes according to former writers that worked there. McMahon is never content with the first draft and requires a lot of rewriting. Wrestlers feel his wrath as well since Vince is the one making all the big decisions at the end of the day. Many talented performers could not win over him over, and it hurt their careers.
McMahon’s ego is a huge part of what drives him. There have been interviews where he even admits this as a quality about himself. A few positive things have come from this like WWE rising to the occasion for greatness when competing against WCW. However, many more negatives have come from this aspect of the boss. We will look at ten specific moments where Vince’s ego hurt WWE.
10 Humiliating The Revival for wanting release
The most recent instance of Vince McMahon using WWE television as a tool to put his ego in play featured the treatment of The Revival. Both Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder continue to show displeasure for their booking on the main roster since getting called up from NXT.
Reports indicate The Revival requested their release from WWE and turned down a contract extension with a pay raise. The aftermath has featured Wilder and Dawson getting embarrassed on Raw every week. From the jokes about back shaving to the Usos hiding Icy Hot in their gear, WWE is now making fun of The Revival as a way for McMahon to get back at them.
9 Ridiculous backstage rules
Wrestling podcasts have given us a glimpse into the backstage world of WWE when working for Vince McMahon. Various writers and wrestlers have confirmed that McMahon has quite a few quirks that he expects others to follow.
Anyone to sneeze in the presence of Vince is talked down to for showing the weakness of letting the sneeze win according to Chris Jericho. Former writer RD Evans quit after McMahon yelled at him for breaking the rule of letting Bret Hart say Vince’s name during the Hart Foundation Hall of Fame speech. The unusual nature of working for McMahon causes talented people to leave WWE.
8 WrestleMania 2000 main event
The WrestleMania 16 main event in 2000 was the peak of Vince McMahon’s ego getting out of control. Vince wanted the entire McMahon family involved in storylines. The main event of the year’s biggest show featured all four McMahon members involved in a fatal four-way match.
Triple H represented Stephanie, Big Show represented Shane, Mick Foley represented Linda and The Rock represented Vince. It ended in a big swerve that had Vince turn on Rock to help Triple H win. WrestleMania 2000 was viewed as a disappointment to fans watching the McMahon family drama take over the biggest night of the year.
7 Making commentators quit
The role of a commentator for the live matches is among the toughest jobs in WWE. Vince McMahon has a reputation for screaming into the headsets of the broadcasters sitting ringside as they try to watch and call the match.
Mick Foley was a huge name to give the job a spot, but he quit within a few months due to Vince cursing him out every show. Tazz even chose to leave the secure job after thriving for years to work for Impact Wrestling. McMahon also made it tough for the iconic Jim Ross as his ego caused issues for them all.
6 Signing Dusty Rhodes to embarrass him
Dusty Rhodes is rightfully viewed as one of the all-time great wrestlers. WWE signed him the 80s after his work for the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions. McMahon gave him the embarrassing gear of wearing yellow polka dots and a comedic gimmick that was awful on paper.
The talent of Dusty did help get fans invested into him, but he was nowhere near the main event. WWE thankfully treats his legacy with respect today. However, we missed out on a Rhodes main event run in WWE thanks to Vince’s ego.
5 Winning the WWE Championship
Vince McMahon tried to remove himself from playing a television character for many years. Things would change when he adopted a heel character role following the Montreal Screwjob. McMahon did do a good job at the top rival for Steve Austin.
It would quickly get to his head as he started wrestling and taking part in many top storylines. A rock bottom moment came when he defeated Triple H to win the WWE Championship. McMahon did relinquish the title, but this was the one case of a non-wrestler winning the title to hurt the credibility in WWE.
4 That Trish Stratus Storyline
Vince McMahon’s ego started to see him book his way into romantic storylines with some of the ladies on the WWE roster. The most blatant instance featured a romance angle with Trish Stratus that featured them making out every week.
A low moment would see Stratus forced to bark like a dog in the middle of the ring at Vince’s request. Trish did get a push as a face at the end of the storyline, but this angle in general is still used to criticize WWE today.
3 Using WWE Name For Failures
The outside projects of WWE have hurt the company itself in the long run. Vince McMahon has made some bad choices when it comes to expanding his empire throughout the years. WWE Films has yet to find success in the box office with their stars appearing in embarrassing D-List movies.
McMahon’s experiment with the XFL in 2001 hurt WWE as the performers appeared on an all-time failure of a project. These duds getting time on WWE television just devalues the program altogether. Vince refuses to accept just succeeding with WWE as he continues to try to expand by using the WWE name.
2 Not Letting Reigns/Lesnar Die
The feud between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar was the main story on WWE television from WrestleMania 31 in 2015 to Summerslam in 2018. Fans started to turn on Reigns heading into WrestleMania 31 which led to the change in plans for Seth Rollins to cash in his MITB shot to win the title.
Lesnar would retain over Reigns three years later in the WrestleMania 34 main event. Roman finally got his win and ended Brock’s run as Universal Champion at SummerSlam, but the harm was done. Fans never reacted well to the feud and it hurt WWE television in a major way.
1 Burying WCW during Invasion angle
Vince McMahon purchasing WCW in 2001 gave him the easiest and most desired storyline in WWE history. The on-screen version of a WWE vs WCW was right there in WWE’s hands. However, WWE only picked up the weaker WCW names and used them poorly.
The few top WCW wrestlers like Diamond Dallas Page were buried. WWE names would defect as Steve Austin and Shane McMahon led this new WCW. This dream storyline ended within a few months and ratings started to tank shortly after. McMahon’s ego robbed us of an iconic storyline.