4 Current WWE Superstars who had real backstage altercations with Vince McMahon

Who said father time can’t be conquered? The godfather of WWE has seemingly done that too! Vince McMahon, at 73 years old, is still the hands-on promoter that took a pro wrestling company from the territories to a global platform, and, has preserved its monopolistic status for decades.

The WWE Boss may attract a fair share of hate for his apparent stubbornness in altering the so-called product, but you can’t deny his genius. He is a mastermind with a true obsession for telling stories. McMahon has meticulously crafted a web of operations to ensure the incredibly vast WWE remains a tight ship however sluggish it may seem at times. He is a shrewd businessman, a workaholic, and often, a brutally savage boss to have.

Working under Vincent Kennedy McMahon, thus, has its own merits and demerits. While he can be a vibrant leader, he can also be a talent’s worst nightmare if things go awry.

There have been many superstars who have had their issues with McMahon over the years. Some got physical while others were just verbal in nature. The matter of the fact is that everyone does not get along with the boss for varied reasons. A handful of currently employed stars too have had volatile backstage run-ins with Mr. McMahon. So, let’s have a look at those moments in detail:

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#1. Kofi Kingston

Surprised to see good guy Kofi on the list? The New Day member is currently at the height of his relevancy but that wasn’t always the case.

Chris Jericho revealed an interesting backstage story in his book ‘Best in the World (At What I Have No Idea) and the surprising protagonists were Kingston and McMahon.

It should be noted that this happened during Kinston’s early days with the WWE. While on a plane ride, McMahon was at his confrontational best as he made a comment to Kofi. McMahon said, “Maybe one day you’ll get over.” Kingston was not a happy man but gulped his anger down until Jericho ruffled a few feathers.

Y2J told Kingston to get back at McMahon and challenge him to a fight. Kingston initially thought of it to be a harmless joke but Y2J somehow convinced him that McMahon was indeed serious.

Kofi manned up and confronted McMahon by asking him whether they had a problem. A verbal argument ensued before a sneaky double leg takedown attempt from the WWE boss. For the next few minutes, Kingston and McMahon grappled on the ground. Yes, you heard that right!

The fracas ended after McMahon got back to his feet and comically subdued the incident. McMahon was impressed by Kofi’s decision to stand up to up him and it all ended with the much-needed mutual respect.

#2. Batista

Batista is back in the WWE and he finally got what he wanted – a feud with Triple H. The former WWE Champion is an adamant man who never refrains from speaking his mind. It was this inflexibility that once cost Batista $100,000.

It was during an episode of Raw in Tampa, Florida that Batista took on Chris Jericho in a steel cage match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Batista wanted to keep it old school and envisioned the contest to be as bloody as possible. The only problem was that this match happened during the advent of the PG Era when bloodshed was a big no-no.

It was decided that Jericho would smack Batista in the head with a metal pipe, however, they were strictly told to not make it a messy contest. Batista wasn’t too high on the conservativeness and took it upon himself to blade ‘for the betterment of the business’.

Vince McMahon lost it backstage as Batista bled all over the place. The match ended and both Jericho and Batista made their way back where all hell broke loose. As revealed by Jericho, there was a lot of commotion as Batista and McMahon argued. The boss didn’t want any explanation and told them to wait for their respective punishments to be dished out the following week.

Batista even tried to call McMahon after the incident to smooth things out but only got a resounding ‘f*** o**’ during the 18-second conservation. McMahon wanted to fire Batista for disobeying the rules but eventually settled for a hefty fine of $100,000. He even fined Chris Jericho, producer of the match, Dean Malenko, and referee Mike Chioda $5,000 each, which were all paid by Batista himself.

Things were never the same between WWE and Batista after the blading fiasco. The former Evolution member would, later on, quit the WWE in 2010 and would attribute WWE’s PG stance as one of the biggest reasons behind the ouster.

#3. Mark Henry

WWE's Strongest Man and Mark Henry!

Now we know that Mark Henry isn’t an active competitor anymore but he is still employed by WWE as a producer. In any case, this is too good a story to not mention.

Ask any WWE superstar and they would tell you how big of a prankster Vince McMahon is. He is probably the nastiest of them all, so much so, that McMahon once orchestrated a prank on the World’s Strongest Man.

The episode of SmackDown in 2011 was advertised to have a dark match featuring Randy Orton and Christian for the World Heavyweight title. WWE changed it up instead and sent out Mark Henry to the ring.

Henry was reportedly scheduled to face Sin Cara but what followed was a fast one being pulled on the WWE Hall of Famer at the expense of the fans in attendance. Henry waited in the ring for his opponent but no one came. He grew frustrated and began a promo, but WWE kept cutting him off by killing the microphone.

For the next twenty minutes, WWE played the entrance theme songs of various superstars but no one emerged out of the curtains. Mr. McMahon’s music was the final theme to play and by this time, Henry was fuming. He left the ring and made his way backstage in a fit of rage. The fans may not have been happy for not getting a promised dark match but Henry’s anger was the combined total of all the fans at the Wells Fargo Arena that night.

He supposedly destroyed some equipment backstage and even threatened to quit. McMahon, who directed the whole prank through a phone call, had to later calm Henry down.

#4. Brock Lesnar

If there was one superstar who even Vince McMahon wouldn’t want to mess with, that man has to be Brock Lesnar. We don’t even want to think about how the grappling exchanges between the two would be like.

The WWE Universal Champion was scheduled to drop the title to Roman Reigns at last year’s WrestleMania 34. However, WWE altered the script at the last moment and instead booked Lesnar to retain the title, much to the surprise of the fans.

The match itself was nothing special that drew the ire of the WWE Universe. Perturbed by the reactions to the match, The Beast Incarnate came back to Gorilla Position a frustrated man and flung the big red strap straight towards McMahon, who was seated in his usual position in front of the monitors.

McMahon mouthed off at Lesnar by calling him an a**h***. The champion didn’t wait for a major scuffle to break out and continued towards the locker room. The situation was later on diffused as they reportedly talked things out and we all know what happened next.

Lesnar is the champion as we speak and has another WrestleMania title match in his kitty. Déjà vu? Nope. Just usual Lesnar things.