Line #41 YMMV/VinceMcMahon


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: His rare runs as a {{Face}} could be seen as him still doing what he did as heel -- manipulating people, bending his own rules and using his connections for his own needs -- but this time knowing he can get away with it if he'll stick to targetting Heels.
2	* AmericansHateTingle: He's loathed in Canada due to the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob. Canadians' hatred of Vince is limited to him personally and doesn't really extend to his company, though. Even after the Screwjob, the WWE has regularly toured in Canada and always drawn good business.
3	* AssPull: The reveal that Vince [=McMahon=] himself was the "higher power" in charge of the Ministry of Darkness as part of an elaborate scheme to strip Steve Austin of the WWF title was a dramatic one that cemented his status as the BigBad of his own promotion and the ultimate ArchEnemy of the top babyface in the hottest era of wrestling in the history of the company. It was also ''rock stupid'' and made absolutely no sense given prior events and motivations of everyone involved, and [[FranchiseOriginalSin arguably produced, or at least reinforced the mindset that surprising audiences with "swerves" was more important than good storytelling, which caused the downfall and destruction of WCW and the slow degeneration of [=WWF/E=] storytelling for the next thirty years]].
4	* AwesomeEgo: Vince [=McMahon=] initially pissed off ''everyone'' in wrestling by swamping the cable market and telling promoters to take their old fashioned rules and stick it up their asses. He also slept with all their wives and mistresses, and later bought WCW for 1 cent. ([[TallTale True story.]])
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: His entrance theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-s_XgRGjzg "No Chance in Hell"]] is so cool, he's never changed it even once. Interestingly, he only started using it by virtue of infamously winning the 1999 Royal Rumble, since that was the event's theme song, but it fit the Mr. [=McMahon=] character like a glove and has remained ever since.
6	* BrokenBase: His match against [[Wrestling/TripleH Triple H]] in Armageddon 1999. Many fans like it for showing a rare event where Vinnie Mac was the [[{{Face}} face]] instead of [[{{Heel}} heel]], while some dislike it for being one of the slowest main event match in PPV history. The facts that Triple H didn't perform his FinishingMove Pedigree and that Vinnie Mac lost the match thanks to outside interference did not sit well with the detractors as well.
7	* CrazyIsCool: Most 70+-year-old multibillionaires are content to sit back and bask in the glow of their wealth, but Vince will cry, piss his pants, and willingly let himself be bodyslammed by employees of his who are half his age, twice his height, and five times his weight just because he loves playing the bad guy that much. It's not much of a stretch to say that VKM would probably slice his own arm off with a buzzsaw on live TV if he thought it would get a pop from the crowd.
8	* EpilepticTrees: More than one internet commentator has suggested that Vince is a dark puppetmaster controlling TNA from behind the scenes as a dumping ground for any wrestlers too old/unconventional, as an end around antitrust legislation, and as a way of making his product look good in comparison.
9	* FanNickname: His name is Vincent Kennedy [=McMahon=] and his father's middle name started with a J. Still it is common for people, especially those who were around the business in the 1980s, to refer to this one as "Vince Jr." and the dad as "Vince Sr.", especially when talking about how different they were.
10	* FountainOfMemes: Mr. [=McMahon=], both as a character character and a real-life figure, is memorable for being one of the most [[CardCarryingVillain theatrical]] and [[TheWonka eccentric]] figures in all of professional wrestling, with his larger-than-life persona and willingness to do anything crazy for attention making him intensely quotable and memorable, with an astonishing track record of all-time wrestling lines.
11	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct:
12	** While Vince is more known for his work backstage or on the microphone, many agree he shows impressive talent in ring for a non-wrestler, taking a lot of carnage and selling far more abuse than a lot of iconic superstars would be willing to. When you consider that he wanted to be a wrestler and the only reason he wasn't able to pursue that dream was because of his father, it takes on a whole new meaning.
13	** In a more direct application of the trope, his acting during the infamous "Poison" promos as he descends into madness, convinced Wrestling/RicFlair is giving the company "terminal cancer" and that Vince has to "inject poison" via the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder as a MercyKill, is genuinely unsettling and emotionally arresting.
14	* HarsherInHindsight: Whoo boy. The short summary here is that an awful lot of Vince's bizarre obsessions that showed up in his product, either put there personally by him or added in by his creative teams in an effort to please him, went from [[CrossesTheLineTwice too audacious and wacky to be truly detestable]] to uncomfortable warning signs of a predatory monster looming in plain sight.
15	** The Mr. [=McMahon=] heel character would often sexually harass and extort his female employees as part of angles and storylines. In 2022, Vince [=McMahon=] was forced into temporary retirement, then into a likely more permanent retirement in 2024, after the details leaked on a series of scandals involving, among other things, his doing exactly that in real life.
16	** Of particularly disturbing note is the segment where Stephanie confronts him about forcing her to be sexually available to his business associates when she was younger which eerily mirrors the allegations that Vince forced at least one female employee to have sex with people in the company as an incentive for doing business with him.
17	** On the January 24th, 2002 [=SmackDown=], Mr. [=McMahon=], having lost control of the [=WWF=] to someone else and blindly certain that [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight they're going to run the company into the ground because no one but him could possibly do it right]], ranted into the camera about his plans to instead kill it himself so no one else can have it through collusion and selling out to a hostile foreign enemy: the [=nWo=]. On January 6th, 2023, having been previously ousted from the company, Vince [=McMahon=] elbowed his way back onto the board of the [=WWE=], forcing the resignations of several senior board members who might've objected including his own daughter, and began to attempt to sell the company off and/or take it private so he would no longer be beholden to anyone else, allegedly because he was blindly certain no one else could do it right and/or would rather professional wrestling die (through a sale to the Saudis or some other big foreign entity that doesn't understand the business) than lose control of it. Many comparisons were made to that specific promo when the news broke of his return. [[note]] Ironically, the aforementioned move ended up [[GoneHorriblyRight costing him his creative control permanently]], as when [=WWE=] was bought by Endeavor, CEO Ari Emmanuel removed him from all creative control in October 2023 after citing the aforementioned antics as a reason [=WWE=]'s new media rights were lower than expected, leaving Vince KickedUpstairs in the company he vowed to control. Another misconduct ([[https://www.wsj.com/business/vince-mcmahon-accused-of-sex-trafficking-by-wwe-staffer-he-paid-to-keep-quiet-0b19b21c?mod=hp_lead_pos2 of sex trafficking and rape]]) would lead to his ''second'' [[https://deadline.com/2024/01/vince-mcmahon-resigns-rape-lawsuit-tko-group-holding-sex-trafficking-1235805961/ resignation]], ensuring that any remaining control he had over [=WWE=] will be gone, likely for good in light of Vince divesting himself of all TKO stock.[[/note]]
18	** The ''Monday Night Raw'' on June 26, 2006. As Wrestling/DGenerationX, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/TripleH dumped crap all over Vince, Shane, and the [[Wrestling/DolphZiggler The Spirit Squad]]. While funny at the time, it hits differently given the allegations in 2024. In fact, Vince [=McMahon=]'s general weird fondness for ToiletHumor generally hits different in light of these allegations.
19	* HilariousInHindsight:
20	** After ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' became popular in the west, people made a ''lot'' of mashups of the already memetic "it's me, Austin!" and "it was me, Dio!" clips.
21	** Crossed with AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: The Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, his NewEraSpeech on the main page and the announcement of Creator/MikeTyson's participation at ''[=WrestleMania XIV=]'' led to some fans thinking that this new direction was doomed and that WCW would continue to be the top wrestling promotion. WhosLaughingNow
22	** During Wrestling/RandyOrton's [[https://youtu.be/XBEObbwfp38 "full address" promo]], Vince (along with Shane) came to back up Wrestling/TripleH, while The Viper was surrounded by security guard and his The Legacy stablemates Wrestling/CodyRhodes and Wrestling/TedDiBiaseJr. Pay attention to the pairings when the security guards are taken down: Vince attacks Cody. Just a normal part of the promo back then, but [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling 10 years later]], it becomes rather prophetic.
23	* LoveToHate: His Mr. [=McMahon=] persona... oh, ''so'' much. [[EvilGenius Diabolical]], [[CardCarryingVillain conniving to the point of cartoonish supervillainy]], but in his prime, he was possibly the best promo of his entire company, with many coming to tune in every week just to take joy in what ridiculously entertaining bit of madness he'd be up to next.
24	* MemeticBadass: The Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance couldn't beat him. The Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation couldn't beat him. Wrestling/{{WCW}} couldn't beat him. The freaking '''FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA''' couldn't beat him.
25	* MemeticMutation: Long before he became an infamously crazy old man, Vince was already a FountainOfMemes. Here is a list of highlights:
26	** "[[LetMeAtHim YOU TAKE ME TO HIM! TAKE ME TO THE SONOFABITCH!!!]]"[[labelnote:Explanation]][[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadr-dG8EzQ a clip from a promo]] where Vince runs yelling down a hallway shouting this, used as a reaction to someone hearing that someone/something they dislike is nearby and that they intend to go whoop their ass.[[/labelnote]]
27	** [on commentary] THAT'S GOTTA...THAT'S GOTTA BE {{Wrestling/KANE}}![[note]]A famous call during Kane's debut that followed Kane, and every other character named something like Kane, for the rest of his career whenever any of them did anything.[[/note]]
28	*** WHAT A MANEUVER![[note]]Vince famously could barely remember the names of any of the wrestling moves when he was taking care of commentary himself during the New Generation era, so he'd just generically gush over "maneuvers." This gained momentum when he started micromanaging his ring announcers later in his career, preventing ''them'' from listing the names of moves on the ground that he, a "genius," couldn't keep them straight so of course the mouth-breathing mongoloid fans who watch wrestling couldn't.[[/note]]
29	** Later, in the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras:
30	*** '''[[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P7aQP4dXFgs/hqdefault.jpg INJECT THE POISON...]]'''[[note]]Vince pulled some... interesting facial expressions while shooting a set of promos depicting himself descending into madness over his blind certainty no one but him could possibly handle running his company and deciding to kill his own company through bringing in the nWo rather than give it up.[[/note]]
31	*** Usually on forums when something of old news or common knowledge is talked about by someone that thinks of it as brand new info a few people would throw something like "OH MY GOD! DID YOU GUYS SEE RAW!! VINCE MCMAHON'S LIMO JUST EXPLODED!!!".
32	*** [[Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness IT'S ME AUSTIN!]] ([[Wrestling/JimRoss AW SONUVABITCH.]])[[note]]A famously dramatic but [[AssPull completely nonsensical]] plot twist that cemented [=McMahon=]'s famous heel character, and his status as the BigBad of WWF. Jim Ross's reaction is also beloved, because it can be read as either in-character anger and indignation over the deception or as JR breaking character to [[LampshadeHanging complain on air how stupid it is for Vince to be the higher power]].[[/note]]
33	*** EVEN MY FAMILY, EVEN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY BOUGHT IT![[note]]An infamously awkward line from the same promo.[[/note]]
34	*** Vince didn't screw Wrestling/{{Bret\|Hart}}. Bret screwed Bret. Later modified into "Austin screwed Austin," or, "The people screwed the people," or someasmuch. (Which became an AscendedMeme, which he used on Steve Austin's podcast when talking about the demise of the wrestling territories in the 1980's.)[[note]]The origin of Vince's heel turn came when he gave an interview intending to defend himself in the aftermath of the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob. He instead came across as cold and unsympathetic, and then leaned into it, reduxing the Screwjob several times in storylines.[[/note]]
35	** The New Era...of memes. Most of these are the result of glimpses into how Vince talks and acts "behind the curtain," especially as his de-facto monopoly, ever growing age, and the probable aftermath of multiple concussions meant his booking could and did get increasingly eccentric and the writing started to cater to an effective audience of one:
36	*** [[VerbalTic DAMMIT PAL]][[note]]Apparently Vince is sometimes incapable of finishing a sentence without throwing a "dammit" and "pal" or two into it.[[/note]]
37	*** [[SeriousBusiness HAVE SOME FUN, DAMMIT]][[note]]A complaint thrown at wrestlers unhappy with their booking and/or scripts.[[/note]]
38	*** [[BerserkButton ACHOO]][[note]]Sneezing is about the only bodily function Vince hates because it's [[ControlFreak an involuntary one the body can't control]]. This may or may not include punishing wrestlers for sneezing in front of him and taking it as a sign of weakness.[[/note]]
39	*** [[BadassDecay BUILDING NEW STARS]][[note]]Vince would often claim to want to elevate new talent, but would constantly get angry with them for no good reason and spitefully bury them while coming back to a tiny core of aging personal favorites instead, ''especially'' if the audience he increasingly came to hate and resent started to organically get behind them without his say-so, and doubly so if they're rejecting his latest CreatorsPet. This has held true since before the Attitude Era; if Vince wants new stars it's always on his terms, not the fans'.[[/note]]
40	*** Vince does not have time for your [[http://i.imgur.com/9g1bAXk.gif flippy shit]].[[note]]Vince is famously PrejudicedForPecs and often delights in having smaller, more agile wrestlers squished and squashed by the huge brutes. He's also reliably skeptical when "big man" wrestlers move in an agile, acrobatic fashion, trying to get them to wrestle like lumbering giants instead.[[/note]]
41	*** Steve Austin's podcast gave us "Brass rings." That quote will probably [[http://33.media.tumblr.com/f989e9bda6248e8decf4f86c22a00723/tumblr_ng1qu2xanP1rnjfjfo1_r1_400.gif haunt him]] for a while.[[note]]Vince complained on the podcast that newer wrestlers don't stand up for themselves and take initiative like they used to, seemingly oblivious to [[Catch22Dilemma his own habit of angrily burying and punishing younger wrestlers that do]].[[/note]]
42	*** [[GrumpyOldMan MILLENIALS!]][[note]]Vince complains about young people a lot, whether younger wrestlers or younger fans not appreciating his booking. If a wrestler suddenly starts complaining about millenials in a promo, it's a shoe-in that either Vince wrote it or the writers are trying to convince you he did.[[/note]]
43	*** [[BlatantLies IT'S GOOD SHIT]][[note]]Vince's frequent defense of his eternally unfunny comedy ideas, often while trying to convince wrestlers to go along with them.[[/note]]
44	*** IT'S SO YOU[[note]]This one comes from the attempt to "Jedi Mind Trick" Wrestling/DeanAmbrose into going along with the set of distasteful promos that ultimately led to his exit from WWE as a company.[[/note]]
45	%%*** Without further ado, the [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5aaszw "Vince is out of touch" video set to the tune of Hall & Oates.]]
46	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QodpprseMR4 Vince McMahon's "O" face]], usually placed in memes to show excitement building as things escalate.
47	** After Vince left the company amid sexual misconduct allegations, many people cut together a promo of Vince shouting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FV112gTPGc “Come on out, you RAPIST!”]] with another of Vince then coming out.
48	** [[https://tenor.com/uk/view/mr-mc-mahon-ggez-moneh-mrmcmahon-gif-22008643 A GIF of McMahon smelling money]] commonly has a caption added to represent (usually assumed) wealth or an opportunity to make money.
49	** A GIF of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsliQD7TvhI Vince choking up and making a cut-off motion]] after being asked what Wrestling/TheUndertaker meant to him during his documentary ''The Last Ride'' is often used in connection to questions on how things once were.
50	* MoralEventHorizon: When [[{{Kayfabe}} Mr. McMahon]] started his feud with Steve Austin, he was more or less a stodgy businessman uncomfortable with Austin's behavior. By the time he organized his own daughter's kidnapping just to get the belt off of Austin, he crossed into a psycho who'd do ''anything'' just to spite his enemy.
51	* NarmCharm: His [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLBUd3r1y3I Power Walk]] looks absolutely silly with him strutting down the ring while swinging his arms and bobbing his head in an exaggerated way. Yet the fans feel that this fits the Mr. [=McMahon=] character perfectly as it shows his confidence and insanity while not caring how others think of him. Multiple sources have confirmed that, while he plays it up for the cameras, Vince [=McMahon=] walks that way outside of kayfabe too.
52	* OlderThanTheyThink: Vince [=McMahon=]'s first portrayal of the evil "Mr. [=McMahon=]" character was actually in USWA in the early 90's, years before he portrayed it in his own company [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Entertainment]], in which he feuded with [[Wrestling/JerryLawler Jerry "The King" Lawler]] (who was also employed by WWE at the time, in which their face and heel roles were switched), and would have Lawler fight his WWE wrestlers (who were heel "invaders" in USWA). Interestingly, Lawler become one of Vince's biggest suck-ups during the Wrestling/AttitudeEra in WWE. (Of course, Lawler generally sucked up to the heels[[note]]Although there ''was'' the Wrestling/DoinkTheClown fake-arm angle with [[Wrestling/BrianAdams Crush]][[/note]], enough to the point that one time Jim Ross finally had had enough and just said, "Yeah, well, you're an ass!")

Context YMMV / VinceMcMahon