3 WWE superstars who didn't win over Vince McMahon in 2019 and 3 who did

In WWE, you can impress all the fans in the world, all the agents backstage and even your peers in the locker room. But none of that makes any difference if you don't impress the one man who matters the most - Vince McMahon.

Ultimately, you need to win over the boss to start getting favoured, but the real uphill battle is in making Vince a fan of your work. Mick Foley famously said that in order to get pushed in WWE, Vince needs to be a fan of you.

Last year was the prime example of two superstars who really won Vince McMahon over. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch's outstanding work throughout the year helped gain the favour of the boss and it was only a matter of time before they started getting the very top push in their division.

For Seth Rollins, it meant multiple World Championship victories and for Becky Lynch, it meant being the first woman to stand tall at the main event of WrestleMania. These are only two such cases, however. It's happened throughout history and many of the legends that we know today have had to scratch and claw to win McMahon over.

Here are a few superstars who weren't able to win over Vince McMahon in 2019 and a few who were!

#3. Didn't win over: Luke Harper

Luke Harper has fallen out of favour at WWE

Unfortunately for Luke Harper, 2019 has seen him hardly appear on television at all. Due to the fact that he asked for his release and was denied it, it seems as though he has fallen out of favour with Vince McMahon.

He hasn't been featured at all and his contract is set to expire only around November. Until then, he'll likely be sitting in the sidelines, having not won over the boss.

#3. Did win over: Ricochet

Ricochet is without a doubt the fastest rising star in WWE in 2019. He started off alongside Aleister Black on the main roster and their run as a team rightfully concluded at WrestleMania weekend - when they failed to beat The War Raiders at NXT Takeover: New York and then failed to capture the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.

Both are singles stars at heart anyway and Ricochet seems to be viewed as the next big star in WWE. You can simply see by the way he's getting pushed that WWE has big plans for him.

Sure, his United States Championship reign was merely transitional, but ultimately, it was just a stepping stone for bigger things on the main roster. Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman are both well aware that Ricochet is a very marketable star and with each performance, Ricochet mesmerizes not only the crowd, but also Vince.

By all accounts, the two seem to have a great relationship and have been seen acting friendly to one another backstage. Ricochet has won over the most important man in the company and if he goes at the rate that he is right now, big things await him.

#2. Didn't win over: Drew McIntyre

This isn't directed against Drew McIntyre specifically. McIntyre is still perhaps one of the most promising stars in WWE and we would be very surprised if he isn't a top 5 superstar in the next few years.

With that said, Vince McMahon hasn't been focusing on McIntyre this year. Sure, he has been protected to some extent, but as a whole, focus on superstars such as Ricochet and Seth Rollins has meant that McIntyre has had to take a backseat.

This isn't really what fans had hoped for because it's already been 18 months since his return to the main roster. It's clear that Drew McIntyre is one of those superstars who will simply have to wait to get his turn. If there's anything we've learned in the last few years, it's that except for the core top superstars, the pushes are often rotational in nature.

There's no doubt that McIntyre will have his time, but 2019 has not been it. It's evident that he hasn't been able to win over Vince McMahon this year, but hopefully that is something that's going to change in the near future.

#2. Did win over: Kofi Kingston

2019 has truly felt like the year of Kofi Kingston. From not even being close to a World title shot, all it took was one untimely injury by Ali to kickstart what would come to be known as KofiMania.

That run saw Kofi Kingston take the ball and run with it like he never had before. He knew that the window of opportunity he had was limited, which is why he seized it in a huge way. This resulted in the entire WWE Universe getting behind him like never before and that was what led to the big rise.

Credit must be given where it's due. Vince McMahon was very quick to realize the potential of KofiMania and altered the WrestleMania plans for the WWE Championship (which would reportedly have seen Kevin Owens in that spot instead).

Ultimately, Vince became an even bigger fan of Kofi in 2019, if he wasn't one already. From being viewed as the reliable "tag team guy", Kofi made history by becoming the first-ever African-American WWE Champion.

It was truly a great moment and the fact that Kingston has been booked so strongly as champion only goes to show how much he really won Vince McMahon over.

#1. Didn't win over: EC3

EC3 has unfortunately been a victim to factors that weren't in his favour to begin with. They wanted to push him as a babyface in a mini-rivalry against Dean Ambrose, but the circumstances were such that on a live event, Ambrose was cheered as a heel while EC3 was booed as a babyface.

Backstage officials were reportedly furious at what happened and ever since then, EC3 has been in a creative rut. You can see based on his entrances alone that he has lost a lot of the passion and vigour that made him so great at Impact Wrestling.

Unfortunately for EC3, the matter seems to be completely out of his hands. It's safe to say that he hasn't exactly won over Vince McMahon this year. If anything, he unintentionally crossed the boss due to no fault of his own and now he's paying the price.

All we can hope for is that one day, Vince McMahon warms up to EC3 and starts giving him the opportunities he deserves. WWE can make him look good if they really want to (and this applies to anyone), it's just that at this stage, that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon.

#1. Did win over: Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt is a homegrown talent through and through. Given that he was always a character-driven wrestler, it's a bit of a surprise that Wyatt never got more of a run on top as The Eater of Worlds.

The previous character was ultimately utilized as a jobber to the stars and he got a much-needed hiatus from September 2018 till April 2019. When he returned after WrestleMania, it was in these little episodic vignettes known as The Firefly Fun House. While there was skepticism at first, it took a much darker turn and skepticism turned into intrigue, which eventually turned into obsession for many fans.

Bray Wyatt is an outright wrestling genius and even if that's not something you'll hear a lot now, it will be when he's all finished up with his career. The Fiend character is easily one of the most interesting ones that WWE has had in many years and it's evident that Vince McMahon is 100% behind Wyatt to succeed.

They're making sure to take a very careful approach with The Fiend, as they should, and it's clear that in those 8 months, Wyatt was in his own world coming up with the new character. That kind of dedication would have instantly won over Vince McMahon.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram