It has been a turbulent year for WWE and the shocking retirement announcement from Vince McMahon amid the conclusion of an internal investigation fired another shot across the bows of the mega wrestling promotion. The ultimate heel’s decision to step away from professional wrestling marks the end of an era for the sport.
McMahon has been in charge of the company since purchasing it from his father in 1982. The 76-year-old's daughter Stephanie and Nick Khan will now take over as the company's co-CEOs while 14-time world champion Triple H has returned to his role head of talent relations.
Vince gave us many reasons to jump for joy over the years, but also some that made us shudder. In the wake of McMahon’s retirement, we take a look at some of the most memorable and iconic moments of his rollercoaster career.
1994 steroid scandal
In 1994, several years before the lauded Attitude Era began, McMahon’s career almost came to a shuddering halt. He stood trial after being accused of supplying illegal anabolic steroids to his professional wrestlers.
The US government brought six charges against McMahon; however, three of the six were thrown out of court before the full trial. The three that remained were for two counts of distributing steroids and one of conspiracy to distribute steroids.
The prosecution alleged that McMahon was in charge of distribution of illegal steroids to WWF wrestlers; they also ruled that McMahon had required wrestlers to take steroids while they were in the WWF.
Eleven wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan, were called to testify by the prosecution. No other wrestlers called to the stand attested that McMahon had supplied them with steroids apart from Kevin Patrick Wacholz, known in WWE as Nailz. He claimed that McMahon had pressured him into taking steroids.
McMahon's defence attorney argued Nailz was a hostile witness and having been previously fired from the company, he simply wanted revenge. Judge Mishler dismissed the distribution charges on the grounds that the prosecution had provided insufficient evidence. The jury deliberated for sixteen hours on the conspiracy charge before announcing a not guilty verdict.
Montreal Screwjob
While the steroid scandal marks one of McMahon's most controversial moments outside the ring, the multi-million dollar businessman’s most contentious moment inside the ring came on that fateful day in Montreal in November 1997. Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart was defending his WWE title against Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in front of his home crowd.
The Canadian had signed a contract for rivals WCW and prior to the match, McMahon sought to prevent Hart from leaving the company as the champion, but Hart was unwilling to drop the title to Michaels – with whom he had an intense feud both on and off screen.
Therefore, McMahon took matters into his own hands in the worst possible way. Hart, Michaels, and McMahon came to an agreement where the Survivor Series match would end with a disqualification, which would result in Hart retaining the title. He would then lose or forfeit the title at a later date.
But McMahon executed his devious plan when match referee Earl Hebner, on direct orders from McMahon, ended the match as Michaels held Hart in the Sharpshooter submission hold, even though Hart had not submitted. Michaels was declared the winner by submission and crowned as the new WWF Champion. A furious Hart spat at McMahon before leaving the ring and was ostracised from the company before reconciling with McMahon and Michaels some years later.
Monday Night Wars success
McMahon would rebound from the indignity of the Screwjob incident by overseeing a huge victory for the company over arch-rivals WCW which coincided with the most successful and popular era of wrestling.
The mid-late 90s moved to an edgier and rebellious style as both companies looked to increase their TV ratings and appeal to fans who wanted to see them push the barriers as much as possible. They began to gravitate towards more morally ambiguous characters and wrestlers whose personas were more grounded in real life.
While WWE initially had the upper hand, Ted Turner’s WCW turned the tables as the likes of popular stable NWO, led by Vince’s former golden boy Hulk Hogan, the incomparable Goldberg and the legendary Sting began to lead the ratings charge. The June 10, 1996 episode of Raw would be the last rating victory for the WWF for nearly two years.
Not to be outdone, McMahon turned the tide in the WWF's favour towards the end of the decade. The likes of McMahon’s epic feud with anti-hero and widely popular Stone Cold Steve Austin boosted the company massively, and is regarded by many as the greatest rivalry in WWE history.
Into the late 90s and early 2000s, WCW began to struggle and ultimately ran into financial difficulties and once the company was removed from the Turner Organisation, things continued to spiral. Despite efforts to salvage the company, it was ultimately sold to McMahon, ending the Monday Night Wars in March 2001.
Battle of the billionaires
In 2007, McMahon played a significant role in WrestleMania 23, as he took on future President of America Donald Trump in a match dubbed the ‘Battle of the Billionaires’.
The two came up with a match where the stipulations were that they each had to choose a representative to wrestle for them and the loser would have his head shaved bald. McMahon picked the late Umaga as his representative, while Trump picked Bobby Lashley.
To make things slightly more nerve-wracking for McMahon, his nemesis Steve Austin was appointed as special guest referee. In a chaotic yet fun match, it ended after Umaga attempted to attack Austin, but he avoided it and delivered a 'Stone Cold Stunner' to Umaga.
Lashley took the opportunity and speared Umaga, then pinned him to get the victory in front of a bewildered McMahon after discovering his fate. After the match, Trump and Lashley shaved Vince's head bald, to the delight of the crowd, followed by Austin executing a Stunner on Trump.
Vince’s ‘death’
Just three months after WrestleMania, wrestling fans watching Monday Night Raw on June 11, 2007 could scarcely believe what they were witnessing come the end of the show. On the night dubbed ‘Mr McMahon Appreciation Night’, WWE fans witnessed the presumed storyline killing of the owner of the company.
Following the end of his appreciation night, he made his way backstage and found his limo that he would use to leave the arena. What happened next was simply unbelievable. As McMahon shut the door to his limousine, it went up in flames immediately.
Fans were left stunned by the turn of events and Trump even rang the WWE to make sure he was okay. WWE actually put out a press release stating that McMahon was ‘presumed dead’ but promoted Raw as in to tune in next week for the fallout, which made it pretty clear a storyline was in the works.
We would never find out how the story would have ended, as a three-hour Raw dedicated to the memory of McMahon two weeks later was replaced by a show dedicated instead to Chris Benoit, after he and his family were found dead in his home. This took place before it emerged Benoit killed his wife and son before taking his own life.
Honourable mentions
- Continuing the ‘Over the Edge’ pay-per-view despite Owen Hart falling to his death in 1999
- Making Trish Stratus crawl and bark like a dog in the ring back in 2001
- Addressed John Cena by saying ‘my n****r' in 2005 with Booker T watching on in the background
- Mocked Jim Ross's Bell's Palsy On Air
- Fought 'God' In A Tag-Team Match in 2006
