The reputation of Vince McMahon is hit or miss depending on who you ask. Many wrestlers love working for him as he is a creative genius that delivered some of the most successful wrestling ideas of all-time. Others believe McMahon is past his prime and has been an egomaniac for many years leading to negative things going down in WWE. Both sides can be right as Vince proved each of these theories to be true in various ways through the years. WWE has become a massive company with a big staff of writers pitching ideas as well as the wrestlers in the company.

McMahon is ultimately the person responsible for what gets added to the shows on WWE television. The thought process of Vince has given us both outstanding results and some things that make you wonder how WWE is still in business today. Each side will be examined as we look at the history of McMahon when it comes to his job running WWE. Find out just how good he can be at his job along with the moments where he loses his mind. These are nine outrageous ideas Vince McMahon said yes to and seven great ideas that he completely shut down.

16 16. Said Yes To: Fake Razor Ramon & Fake Diesel

One of the most obvious character traits of Vince McMahon is his petty nature. McMahon will go out of his way to have fun at the expense of others that he has issues with. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash became the enemies of McMahon when they left WWE for WCW. Unlike the other talents to jump ship, Hall and Nash formed the New World Order to help WCW pass WWE for a few years.

During this time, WCW and WWE took shots at each other on their respective programs. One of the tactics used by WWE was advertising the return of Razor Ramon and Diesel. Instead of Hall and Diesel coming back, fans were greeted by imposters playing their beloved characters. McMahon said yes to this idea for the petty enjoyment of trashing his former wrestlers. Unfortunately, it annoyed fans and convinced them to continue tuning into WCW.

15 15. Turned Down: Kevin Nash As Anonymous Raw GM

The mystery of the Anonymous Raw General Manager was one of the longest storylines without a real payoff. Fans expected a huge name to be revealed as the big culmination of not knowing who was making these decisions for a long time. A name pitched backstage was WWE legend Kevin Nash. This seemed wild considering Nash was still employed by TNA at the time.

The idea would have seen the angle play out until Nash became a free agent and returned to WWE. Vince McMahon turned down the idea and the angle was just dropped until a later comedic segment revealed it to be Hornswoggle. Nash was old and unable to compete at a credible level during this time frame, but his character work could have been perfect for the authority figure position. Not to mention, he was clearly a better choice than Hornswoggle.

14 14. Said Yes To: Braun Strowman Ambulance Attack

A recent example of Vince McMahon’s outrageous mind saw Braun Strowman become a star essentially by beating the hell out of Roman Reigns. Following Reigns assumingly retiring The Undertaker, fans hated him more than ever. Strowman received the lucky spot of being the man to not only face him during this time, but to destroy him on multiple occasions.

The most unbelievable feat came when Strowman attacked Reigns multiple times. Braun attacked Roman backstage, outside of the ambulance and while he was in the ambulance by tipping it over. It felt like a cartoonish moment of violence in the best possible way. McMahon saying yes to this idea helped Strowman become the fastest rising star in WWE using the hatred for Reigns to their advantage.

13 13. Turned Down: Indie Wrestling Star Invasion

Former WWE writer Kevin Eck revealed an idea he pitched for the 1000th episode of Raw. Eck wanted to utilize some of the talented wrestlers in the developmental system that had reputations for being great performers on the independent circuit. The angle would have started with Tommy Dreamer introducing Kassius Ohno, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins as the newest WWE Superstars.

Instead of it being a feel-good moment, the new wrestlers would have destroyed Dreamer to send a statement of why they were here. Other wrestlers with similar backgrounds on the roster like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk were pitched to join the group to give it instant credibility. McMahon shot down the idea, but we did get to see Rollins and Ambrose get called up with Roman Reigns in The Shield. This story at least had a positive ending.

12 12. Said Yes To: Randy Orton Punting Him in the Head

Vince McMahon can be criticized for many things, but one positive is he will put his body on the line in the same way he asks wrestlers to. It has been said numerous times that Vince will not ask his talent to do anything in the ring that he wouldn’t try. One instance of this took place in a memorable segment that helped the career of Randy Orton.

The big push of Orton as a top heel in 2009 saw him wage war on the McMahon family. It all started with him snapping at Vince in a segment that got very violent. Orton delivered a stiff punt to the head of McMahon. The moment helped Orton get to a level he lacked earlier in his career. McMahon was insane enough to let another person kick him in the head with full force and likely showed zero hesitation.

11 11. Turned Down: Cody and Brandi as the new Goldust and Marlena

Cody Rhodes leaving WWE helped add to the independent wrestling scene as well as growing Ring of Honor and New Japan. WWE failed to utilize Cody well with the below average Stardust character sinking his career. This led to Rhodes requesting to leave WWE to try his luck on the independent success. Obviously, it has been a huge success, but he could have found similar success in WWE.

Writers pitched for Brandi Rhodes to be added to the act early on as his version of Marlena. It was meant to push the envelope in the same way Goldust did. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon said no to this and instead just used Stardust as a borderline enhancement talent with little creativity to the gimmick. If McMahon added Brandi and amped it up, Cody may have never left in the first place.

10 10. Said Yes To: His Infamous Club

Many ideas are created backstage to feed the ego of Vince McMahon. One of these is clearly the inception of a club where wrestling personalities are forced to kiss the behind of the boss. William Regal, Jim Ross, Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley are some of the wrestlers that had to endure the embarrassing moment done for storylines that quite frankly didn’t need it.

As mentioned earlier, McMahon has a massive ego and likely said yes to this idea within seconds. The fact that it became a staple for his character proves that he loved it and wanted to run with it as long as possible. McMahon didn’t need much convincing to show his butt on national television to have others kiss it. We are just grateful the WWE PG rating shut this concept down before he found ways to get creative with it.

9 9. Turned Down: Finn Balor challenging Brock Lesnar

The poor booking of Finn Balor has been one of the biggest failures for WWE in recent years. Balor had a great debut winning the Universal Championship in his first PPV match at Summerslam 2016. An injury forced him to relinquish it and not return until 2017. Balor has been back for almost a year now and has never received his rematch for the title he never lost.

WWE scheduled to have Balor face Brock Lesnar on multiple occasions over the past year, but it was always turned down by Vince McMahon. The most recent instance came for the Royal Rumble where it was reported McMahon doesn’t believe Balor is a draw. This is shown in the booking of Finn ranking him significantly below the other top faces on Raw. It could have been a great story that set him up as a Superstar even in a losing effort, but McMahon doesn’t think Balor has the “it factor.”

8 8. Said Yes To: Ladder Match for Custody of Rey Mysterio's Child

A bizarre storyline to come to fruition involved the status of Rey Mysterio as a father to his son Dominic. WWE brought in Rey’s real son to play the role as it was revealed Eddie Guerrero was the legitimate father of Dominic. To sell Guerrero’s heel turn as an evil villain losing his mind, he was trying to get custody of Dominic solely to spit his former best friend Rey.

Vince McMahon said yes to a ridiculous match stipulation to culminate this aspect of the story. A ladder was placed above the ring at SummerSlam 2005 with Guerrero and Mysterio fighting over the custody of Dominic. The notion that climbing a ladder to grab a briefcase would grant you custody of a child shows how outrageous the mind McMahon can be.

7 7. Turned Down: New Jack Feuding with John Cena

One ECW legend to never get a chance with WWE or WCW was the hardcore gangster New Jack. The matches of New Jack saw him brutalize his opponents with weapons all while his entrance theme played throughout the match. ECW fans fell in love with the work of New Jack. The real temper issues of the performer made him quite unpredictable to work with.

Paul Heyman reportedly pitched an idea to bring New Jack into the WWE in 2004. It would have been for the mystery reveal of the person who stabbed John Cena in a nightclub. WWE considered bringing in New Jack to feud with Cena before Vince McMahon was scared off by his rap sheet and reputation. The reveal ended up being Carlito’s forgotten bodyguard Jesus.

6 6. Said Yes To: Facing God in A Wrestling Match

The ego of Vince McMahon was once again on display when he decided to enter a wrestling match against God. McMahon was feuding with born-again Christian Shawn Michaels around the time of WrestleMania 22. Following Michaels’ win on the big stage, Vince wanted to work a few more matches to build towards a D-Generation X reunion.

The next PPV saw Vince team with Shane and force Michaels to team with his new pal God. This representation of God was an invisible presence of a spotlight. McMahon’s team scored the victory and boasted for weeks about beating God. The writer that pitched this likely became a favorite of Vince as there probably wasn’t any convincing to be done. Michaels did get his revenge at the end of the day when reuniting with Triple H to destroy the McMahon family.

5 5. Turned Down: WCW Being Its Own Promotion in 2001

Wrestling fans still wonder how WWE dropped the ball so badly on a feud with WCW after buying the company. The invasion angle turned into a disaster with few memorable WCW stars representing them and everything ending within a few months. An idea that many people in the company wanted to do would have seen WCW continue working as its own promotion under the WWE umbrella.

WCW Nitro would have aired on Mondays and WWE SmackDown would have been the main program for the company on Thursdays. WrestleMania was going to be positioned as an annual super show with the top stars from both promotions battling it out. Vince McMahon’s hatred of WCW led to him shutting down this idea and watering WCW down to the point where it had to die for good.

4 4. Said Yes To: Montreal Screwjob

You can’t bring up outrageous Vince McMahon decisions without discussing the Montreal Screwjob. The worst thing you can do as a promoter is set up an unsafe environment where one of the wrestlers has no idea what is going on. This happened when Bret Hart felt the wrath of McMahon going back on his word and having Shawn Michaels win the match at Survivor Series 1997.

Triple H pitched the idea of Vince ‘screwing’ Hart out of the WWE Championship on his final night under contract. Hart exploded in anger quickly after the match by dismantling the commentary table and monitors at ring side. It created a huge change in the wrestling industry and beyond for all involved. McMahon reportedly accepted the idea within minutes of Triple H bringing it up as a way out of all the drama.

3 3. Turned Down: Samoa Joe and CM Punk Debuting with Mick Foley in 2005

Mick Foley came up with a unique idea that could have given WWE two future Superstars a lot earlier. Following a few appearances for Ring of Honor, Foley fell in love with the work of top independent wrestling stars CM Punk and Samoa Joe. Both men were creating reputations as the best unsigned talent in the industry. Foley knew they would be major stars and wanted to work with them in WWE.

The idea would have seen Punk and Joe get introduced on WWE television as the newest stars endorsed by Foley in his next storyline. Foley wanted Punk and Joe to both debut in a major storyline eventually ending with him turning on them. Vince McMahon had no interest in the idea considering both guys were unknown entities with physiques he disliked. Funny enough, both men became big stars for the promotion when signing later.

2 2. Said Yes To: Katie Vick

The infamous Katie Vick angle is one of the bizarre wrestling storylines that still make fans shake their head in disgust today. WWE came up with a backstory for Kane where his pain came from witnessing his high school sweetheart girlfriend pass away due to a road accident where he was the driver. The dead woman named Katie Vick became the latest form of torment Triple H used in his feud against Kane.

Bruce Prichard revealed that the idea was put into Vince’s head to have a segment where someone pretending to be Kane hugging a doll in a casket meant to imply Katie Vick. Triple H suffered the embarrassment of playing Kane himself as part of the heel act. McMahon remained adamant that this had to happen for the story and shut down any other ideas. Once it was approved, there was no talking him out of it.

1 1. Said Yes To: Storyline With Stephanie

This idea was quite terrible in every sense, however, thankfully, Vince was literally the only one to say yes to it. According to his daughter Stephanie, Vince pitched the angle of being revealed as the father of Stephanie's unborn child. As it turns out, only Vince approved the idea as Stephanie wanted no part of it and in all likelihood, neither did anybody else.

It was a rare occurrence of Vince saying yes but realizing it was a bad idea and disposing of it. Who knows how many other ideas he approved of only to talk himself out of it behind the scenes? Given this list, we bet there are a handful of other incidents that will remain hidden and rightfully so.