WWE: Vince McMahon - Professional wrestling's greatest artist

Vince McMahon

Genius of a man is defined by his impact on an industry. A man’s importance depends on the number of lives he touches; when someone transforms and revolutionizes the way an entire industry is looked at, he is considered a revolutionary.

In professional wrestling, there have been such people few and far between. From the humble beginnings of being looked at as a ‘circus’, performing the strongmen theatrics while travelling into different parts of the country, professional wrestling has come a long way to where it is today.

All of it didn’t happen overnight, as wrestling evolved in the past century. From the times of Ivy Cutcher to Harley Race to Bruno Sammartino, professional wrestling turned from being seen as a “legitimate sport” to a mixture of legitimate brawls and theatrics, but that was where it ended.

Professional wrestling needed someone to come in and give it a much needed push, and that was when a certain promoter took over the reins from his father, and the rest is history.

Vince McMahon Jr. is regarded as the saviour of professional wrestling, and one cannot deny that. Although Vince hasn’t been the most popular booker/promoter in the history of the business, he was successful in monopolizing the industry.

By the mid 80s, Vince shattered the territorial system in North America and globalized the now World Wrestling Federation. He then managed to do the unthinkable, which was transcending the business into a much bigger phenomenon.

If you’re an 80s kid, chances are that you were hulking up, and witnessed the rise of “Rock ‘n’ Wrestling connection”, in a move which initiated the hostile takeover of the global juggernaut.

When everyone else was happy with the way professional wrestling was pushing through, Vince McMahon had a vision. His vision was to take professional wrestling and turn it into ‘Sports Entertainment’.

Vince McMahon created stars such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, who managed to captivate the imagination of the fans all over the world. With WWF becoming a super power in the sports entertainment sector, Vince was just getting started with his master plan.

In the 90s, Vince made it clear that the business was scripted, and that it was only “Entertainment”. What followed was the outpour of hatred from the entire wrestling community, but Vince fought back alone.

After Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels broke the shackles of how a WWF champion should look like, Vince McMahon took the negatives and turned them into positives. Although WCW was beating WWF in the ratings war, Vince McMahon was waiting to pull the trigger. And then, it happened.

The Montreal Screwjob

The MSJ incident made Vince McMahon the most hated man in professional wrestling, and this was Vince’s trump card. He created the greatest rivalry in the history of professional wrestling when he handpicked a blue collared redneck by the name of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and helped him in becoming the single greatest name in professional wrestling.

With the Austin-McMahon rivalry in full flow, WWF beat WCW in the ratings and never looked back. Vince McMahon once again took something that should have been a death blow, and created something magical out of it.

Once again, Vince proved that he had the greatest mind in the business, and like everything else in the past, he defeated great odds and remained on top of sports entertainment industry.

There will come a time in the near future when Vince McMahon will not be amongst the wrestling fraternity. But Vince has created a legacy which is already a legend on its own. From the Bobby Heenans to Jake Roberts, from the Paul Heymans to Jim Cornettes, there have been great minds in the business.

But everyone will agree on two things; Vince McMahon is not only one of the most hated people in professional wrestling, but also the most respected in a business where respect is not given, but earned.

Professional wrestling is a business which has seen all the highs and the lows. They say professional wrestling does not need one individual to survive, and that pro-wrestling is greater than any individual.

While that is true, there is always an exception. In this case, professional wrestling owes a lot to Vince McMahon, and Vince McMahon is arguably the only individual who will ever be greater than the industry itself.

For once, the industry didn’t make Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon made himself, and Vince McMahon has made sure that when he moves on, he would’ve left behind the greatest contribution to a business that has, in one way or the other, touched each and every one of us.