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Chairman

Vince McMahon
Mrmcmahon092407
McMahon at a WWE Raw event, at Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
September 24, 2007.
Born Vincent Kennedy McMahon
Alma mater East Carolina University
Occupation Businessperson, announcer, commentator, film producer, professional wrestling promoter
Known for Chairman & CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment
Salary $850,000[1]
$1.1 million (2011-)[2]
Net worth Template:Gain$1.1 billion (2000)[3]
Spouse Linda McMahon (1966-Present)
Children Shane McMahon (born 1970)
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque (born 1976)
Parents Vincent James McMahon
Vicky Askew
Website
World Wrestling Entertainment

Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon (born August 24, 1945)[4]is an American entrepreneur, television producer, professional wrestling booker, podcast host, and on-screen personality. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and subsequently, the on-screen General Manager of WWE's Raw brand. Bischoff has also worked with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where he served as Executive Producer of Impact Wrestling. With an amateur background in taekwondo, Bischoff also sporadically performed as an in-ring competitor, and is a former WCW Hardcore Champion. He wrote an autobiography, titled Controversy Creates Cash, which was released in 2006 under WWE Books.

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Life Before Wrestling[]

McMahon was a wrestling fan growing up in a rough Detroit neighborhood. He and his family relocated to Pittsburgh just before high school, where he began competing in amateur wrestling for his school.Vince" McMahon moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for his senior year of high school, where he continued his amateur wrestling career until sustaining a knee injury. It is now subject to false rumor that he had attended the University of Minnesota. A short while after leaving school to pursue his interests in business, he became interested in taekwondo, eventually earning a black belt, and competing across the country in small karate tournaments. Before getting into professional wrestling Vince" McMahon a number of occupations. He owned a successful construction company, worked as a veterinary assistant, and, for a time, ran a butcher's shop where he would sell the meat by van delivery. Hulk Hogan would famously refer to this time in his life during a promo at the end of the 1996 WCW pay-per-view event "Bash At The Beach" in Daytona Beach, Florida, saying: If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, would still be selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis.[]

American Wrestling Association (AWA)[]

McMahon his wrestling career in the late 1980s for the American Wrestling Association (AWA). McMahon was a telecaster and syndicator for the company (Verne Gagne is quoted as saying he thought McMahon "had the right look for television," but his announcing at this point was, even according to McMahon himself, admittedly mediocre). Contrary to popular belief, Eric claims he never had any creative input in the company, and denies ever being a "gopher".

World Championship Wrestling (WCW)[]

In 1991,McMahon joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as an announcer, debuting at The Great American Bash. As an announcer,McMahon reported to producer Tony Schiavone and WCW's Vice President of Broadcasting, Jim Ross. After WCW boss Bill Watts was fired by TBS executive Bill Shaw in 1993,McMahon went to Shaw and WCW Vice President Bob Dhue to ask for the job of executive producer. Although Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone seemed to be the two top candidates, Shaw and Dhue went with McMahon Schiavone remained a producer until the company's demise, but Ross was soon let go by McMahon and ended up in the rival World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1994,McMahon became a Vice President, and cleared house within the WCW front office. He famously fired event manager Don Sandefeur, junior Vice President Jim Barnett, and his old boss Bob Dhue, all on the same day (in a 10/14 blog entry on his website,McMahon denied this, stating that Sandefeur and Dhue never reported to him). In 1996, Bill Shaw was reassigned from WCW, leaving Vince with the title of Executive Vice President/General Manager, and by 1997, McMahon was promoted to President of World Championship Wrestling by the head of TBS Sports, Dr. Harvey Schiller. McMahon convinced Turner executives to better finance WCW in order to compete with the WWF. Almost immediately he used the money allotted him to sign big names such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and others away from the WWF. He also invested money in production values and increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (first 7 a year, then 10, and then once a month, with the WWF following suit each time). The plans paid off, and in 1995 WCW turned a profit for the first time.

Monday Nitro[]

Main article: WCW Monday Nitro

During one WCW meeting in 1995, Ted Turner asked McMahon how the company could possibly compete with the WWF. McMahon taken aback by the question, told Turner to put WCW on prime time television against the WWF's Monday Night RAW. At the time, the flagship show for WCW was WCW Saturday Night, which ran on Saturday Nights at 6:05, and as such there was no direct competition between WCW and WWF for viewers. To the surprise of many within the wrestling industry, Turner agreed, and gave McMahon a 1-hour prime time slot every Monday on TNT (in 1996, due to high ratings, it would expand to 2 hours, and eventually 3 hours in 1998).

McMahon designed and produced the new show, WCW Monday Nitro and showcased the company as a fresh alternative to the WWF. While new episodes of RAW were taped weeks in advance, Nitro was live each week, with McMahon often giving away RAW results to encourage viewers to watch his show instead. In his book, McMahon describes the design for Nitro as being a complete alternative to the WWE. RAW catered to younger crowds, so Nitro would in turn cater to the 18-35 male demographic. Character-wise, Raw featured larger than life cartoon characters, while Nitro would begin to feature edgier characters with more depth.

Because WCW and TNT were both part of Turner, McMahon was able to start Nitro several minutes earlier than RAW, as well as provide a late-night rebroadcast so viewers who opted to watch RAW could still see the show. With the influx of new money McMahon also began signing wrestlers from around the world, including All Japan and New Japan, to fill the undercard with quicker paced, more action-packed matches.

The plan worked as Nitro beat RAW in their first head-to-head week and ran neck-and-neck with the WWF for the remainder of the year.

    • person to hold a professional wrestling title to receive one [5]

Notes[]

References[]

  • Shaun Assael & Mike Mooneyham (2002). Sex, Lies and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0609606905. 

External links[]

Template:World Wrestling Entertainment employees Template:WWE Championship Template:ECW Championship

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