Vince McMahon

This article is about Vincent Kennedy McMahon, current chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment and majority owner of the company. For his father, see Vincent J. McMahon.

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Vince McMahon on WWE RAW

Vincent Kennedy McMahon (born August 24, 1945 in Pinehurst, North Carolina) is an American professional wrestling promoter, on-screen personality, and former play-by-play announcer. He is currently the chairman and majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) Formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Mr. McMahon is currently serving as the interim General Manager of Monday Night RAW.

Early life and career

Vincent Kennedy McMahon attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he became the first cadet in the school's history to be court-martialed. He was not convicted, however. He graduated from East Carolina University in 1968 with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing. He had married Linda Edwards (also an ECU graduate) in his junior year in 1966. His son Shane Brandon McMahon was born in 1970.

Vince was actually raised as Vinnie Lupton. His mother Victoria 'Vicki' Lupton remarried after her first marriage to famed wrestling promoter Vincent James McMahon failed during World War II. Vince also has a slightly older half-brother Rodney McMahon, who is understood to work in the steel industry in Texas.

Vince didn't meet his biological father Vincent J. McMahon until he was twelve. Living in a trailer park in Havelock, North Carolina, he had only known a string of abusive stepfathers until his mother revealed that his father was Vincent J. McMahon. McMahon's company the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) and its parent company the Capitol Wrestling Corporation had dominated pro wrestling in the northeastern United States during the mid-twentieth century when the wrestling industry was divided into strictly regional enterprises.

Vincent K. and Vincent J. quickly bonded. The elder McMahon was willing to give his son, then a struggling traveling salesman, a shot, however, in Bangor, Maine. In 1971, he promoted his first wrestling card there. In 1972, in addition to promoting, McMahon provided play-by-play TV commentary for the WWWF, but promotion was his real interest.

Throughout the 1970s, McMahon became a prominent force in his father's company, tripling the WWWF's TV syndication and pushing for the renaming of the company to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The young McMahon was also behind the famous Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match of 1976, the year that his daughter the now Stephanie McMahon-Levesque was born. In 1979, the WWWF became the WWF, and Vincent K. purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum, which held both hockey and wrestling events. In 1980, he incorporated Titan Sports, Inc., which would purchase the Capitol Wrestling Corporation from his father in 1982.

Against his father's expressed wishes, McMahon began a national expansion process that would fundamentally change the business. By 1983, Vince had full control and ownership of the WWF and its future direction, having bought out all of his father's former partners, including the legendary Gorilla Monsoon (As part of the deal, Vince promised Monsoon lifetime employment, and Monsoon did in fact remain affiliated with the WWF until his death.). Vince's father died in 1984, leaving his son behind to carry on his pro wrestling legacy. The first thing that he did as full owner of the WWF was to break away from the National Wrestling Alliance, as his vision of a new, national wrestling promotion was incompatible with their old-school promoting philosophy.

In Rocky III, Hulk Hogan began to expand on his new-found celebrity and returned to Vince McMahon's all-new WWF. Hogan won the WWF Championship on January 23, 1984—just weeks after his return—and helped engineer Hogan's immersion into the mainstream entertainment media, in which Hogan was portrayed as the ultimate all-American good guy. McMahon did not stop there, however, inviting rock and pop stars such as Alice Cooper and Cyndi Lauper to participate in WWF storylines in what would come to be called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection." The popularity of the WWF increased exponentially as MTV often featured wrestling in its programming to follow the exploits of music stars and other celebrities in the wrestling world. McMahon called the incorporation of pro wrestling among other types of entertainment such as music and movies Sports Entertainment. Hogan even co-hosted Saturday Night Live and had his own CBS cartoon series. With Hulk Hogan as the performer and McMahon as the promoter, the two worked to take the pro wrestling business to places that no one ever deemed imaginable.

Around the same time, McMahon publicly admitted the secret behind kayfabe in pro wrestling: that its outcomes were predetermined, moves planned and rehearsed, and that wrestlers played character roles much like Hollywood actors do. While general knowledge to most wrestling fans, this admission broke the final taboo of the old ways of wrestling and earned McMahon much ire among old-school fans, wrestlers, and promoters, who were already incensed at McMahon for his invasion into long-held NWA territories. Then-NWA Champion Harley Race was very vocal of his frustrations toward McMahon and the WWF; when promoting a show in his hometown of Kansas City, Race supposedly attempted to burn down a WWF ring. Interestingly, Race jumped ship to the WWF just two years later and became "King" Harley Race.

The culmination of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection was the first-ever WrestleMania event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. While wrestling mega-events were not a new idea (The NWA's StarrCade had existed since November 1983.), WrestleMania, held on March 31, 1985, was innovative in its inclusion of mainstream stars, including Mr. T, Cyndi Lauper, old pal Muhammad Ali, Billy Martin, Liberace, and the Radio City Rockettes. McMahon promoted the event across the country on closed-circuit TV (Pay-per-view technology was not yet sufficiently developed.), pouring all of his and his company's resources into what was widely seen in the business as a long shot.

The investment paid off, and the inaugural WrestleMania was a resounding financial success. The show became an annual event, held every March or April, with it already completing twenty-two incarnations. WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987 was the most popular, drawing a reported 93,173 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome and claiming to set a record for indoor attendance (The real figure was actually much lower than that, reported to be roughly 87,000, but McMahon, in an effort to "prove" to the general public how popular his brand of sports-entertainment was, wanted to do something memorable. Without asking for any proof of the feat, the media jumped on the WWF bandwagon and accepted the inflated 93,000 figure. The practice continues today in pro wrestling, as most (if not all) federations routinely inflate their pay-per-view buys and attendance numbers, confident that no one cares enough to check the numbers for accuracy.) in Pontiac, Michigan and many more viewers on PPV for the much-anticipated showdown between WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and challenger André the Giant. This is the famous match which saw Hogan body slam the 7'4", 520-pound Giant and hand André a rare pinfall defeat (supposedly his first).

Also in 1987, McMahon launched a second annual PPV extravaganza, known as the Survivor Series, held roughly every Thanksgiving. In August 1988, the SummerSlam series was launched, and then in January 1989 the Royal Rumble spectacular was added to the calendar, although it had its TV debut the year prior. Things stayed like this until 1993, when a fifth PPV, King of the Ring launched. By 1995, the WWF was promoting twelve pay-per-view cards; one a month. The big five events stayed in their traditional places, while the other months played host to the In Your House shows, which were generally shorter and cheaper to view than the main five shows. In September 1997, the In Your House concept was amended to fill three hours as per the other five main cards, and it has roughly remained this way ever since with, McMahon now promoting one (or sometimes two) three-hour PPV cards each calendar month.

From 1988 to around 1992, the WWF firmly ruled when it came to "sports entertainment." McMahon ventured outside of wrestling and founded a bodybuilding company called the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF). At roughly the same time, some die-hard NWA territories run by Jim Crockett, Jr., badly bruised by McMahon's tactics of attempting to undermine Crockett's shows by threatening PPV carriers of withholding his WrestleMania if they showed Crockett's shows and placing his shows directly opposite of Crockett's (a tactic that Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff would later employ on McMahon), as well as WWF's garish comic book heroes, sold up to Ted Turner, thus creating World Championship Wrestling (WCW). WCW never really troubled the WWF at this juncture when it came to TV ratings or attendances, but it was generally accepted amongst many that WCW had the edge when it came to "real" pro wrestling.

However, around 1992, things began to change. The WBF went out of business as alleged steroid abuse among both McMahon's wrestlers and bodybuilders came under scrutiny. Hulk Hogan was nearing the end of his big run in the WWF at the time. The equally "well-sculptured" Sid Justice vanished, and a comeback run for the "chiseled" Ultimate Warrior was aborted that year after seven months. Smaller, more technical wrestlers such as Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair were prime beneficiaries of this shift in focus, as were rather unorthodox stars such as the "sumo" wrestler Yokozuna. However, silly storylines and characters still abounded throughout 1993 in particular, with an expensive and failed attempt to turn Lex Luger into the next Hogan not helping matters. By 1994, things were slowly turning in WCW's favor, especially when they signed Hulk Hogan.

McMahon was put on trial in 1994, accused of distributing steroids to his wrestlers. As a legal move, his wife Linda was made CEO of the WWF during the trial. He was acquitted of all charges but later admitted to taking steroids himself in the '80s. The prosecution made Hulk Hogan its star witness, and his testimony in the trial severely damaged the two's friendship even though Hogan's testimony defended McMahon. After Hogan's testimony, McMahon would go before the media declaring that he wished that Hogan had not lied about him on the witness stand. McMahon's rationale for stating such a comment was later revealed to be his attempt at vilifying Hogan before he entered WCW. Despite not being convicted, McMahon and the WWF took a major public relations hit. The WWF's popularity sharply declined from that point, mainly in part to even more poor ideas and matches being served up in Vince's enforced absence.

The Monday Night Wars and WWF Attitude

Template:Kayfabe disclaimer In 1997, the WWF and its flagship show on the USA Network Monday Night RAW were consistently losing the ratings war with WCW and its new show WCW Monday Nitro, which premiered in September 1995. Despite the fans' loud yearning for less over-the-top gimmicks unlike the Patriot and Doink the Clown, the returning McMahon resisted, and the WWF's product quality continued to sink. WWF fans now witnessed McMahon – who to many was known more for being an announcer rather than the WWF owner, although despite being lesser known as owner of the WWF, no secret was made of it – "screw" Bret Hart out of the WWF Title "for real."

After the 1997 Survivor Series, McMahon inserted himself into the WWF show as an evil owner character Mr. McMahon, who conspired and meddled in the affairs of other fan favorite wrestlers. He eventually led various heel stars in the "Corporation" stable, which complimented the prolific Austin vs. McMahon feud that saw popular beer-guzzling anti-hero "Stone Cold" Steve Austin challenge McMahon's authority every week on Raw, and business really picked up again.

In the spring of 1998, the WWF solidified itself as the wrestling ratings king and never looked back. During this time, Vince was out of the business due to a sprained ankle. After a complex storyline with The Undertaker in 1999 (as a super-monster heel who terrorized his daughter Stephanie), McMahon turned face again but quickly turned heel again when he revealed that he was in cahoots with the Undertaker all along (so he could gain Stephanie's control of the WWF and thwart Austin); however, Linda foiled McMahon's scheme by naming Austin the new CEO of the WWF.

McMahon then made his third face run during a feud with Triple H. On the September 16, 1999 edition of SmackDown!, McMahon defeated Triple H to become the WWF Champion with assistance from several people including his son Shane and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The feud with Triple H intensified that fall, upon Stephanie's engagement to Test; at the wedding, Triple H showed video footage of eloping with an obviously-drugged Stephanie at a drive-through wedding chapel in Las Vegas. In December of that year, McMahon (as a babyface) established himself as a legitimate physical presence in a thirty minute "No Holds Barred" match with Triple H at the Armageddon PPV. However, Stephanie turned heel when she betrayed her father at the end of the match, thus starting the McMahon-Helmsley Era storyline.

Mr. McMahon was both a face and a heel on WWF programming for the next several years, turning on the Rock at WrestleMania 2000, having to combat the WCW/ECW Alliance and siding with Kurt Angle after the Alliance's demise. In 2003, Hulk Hogan, who had returned to WWE in 2002 and then again in 2003, and McMahon turned their real-life animosity over McMahon's steroid trial into fuel for a wrestling storyline, and the two had a street fight match at WrestleMania XIX. Before WrestleMania, Vince McMahon attacked Hogan with a steel chair on Smackdown!, busting him wide open, and then he signed the contract for their street fight. He would then go up to a bloody Hogan lying in the middle of the ring and stab him in the forehead with the pen, thus making him sign his name in his own blood. Hogan would win the street fight. However, the McMahon/Hogan feud never reached its natural conclusion (possibly McMahon winning a rematch at SummerSlam in 2003) due to Hogan leaving the WWE in early summer 2003. Later that year, Vince worked a very controversial wrestling angle, in which he feuded with his own daughter Stephanie, who was then the General Manager of the SmackDown! brand. Vince wanted Stephanie out of power (for a combination of reasons, beginning with Stephanie's decision to bring Hulk Hogan back into the company in 2003), but he didn't want to fire her. Instead, he wanted her to quit her job, and he would do everything in his power to make her quit. Stephanie refused to quit, so Vince began making the situation very rough for his daughter. During a match at SummerSlam between Stephanie and Vince's on-camera love interest Sable, he ordered A-Train to physically beat up Stephanie and cost her the match. Vince also made Stephanie face A-Train in a one-on-one match, which A-Train won in a squash. The Vince/Stephanie feud then took a turn when, in breaking up a "cat fight" between Stephanie and Sable, Vince put his hands on his daughter and body slammed her! He would clothesline Stephanie in a similar situation a week later. Vince's feud with his daughter came to a head at No Mercy 2003 where they fought each other in an "I Quit Match," the rules being that if Stephanie said, "I quit," she'd not only be quitting the match (and thus losing) but also would be quitting her job as general manager. Although Vince's wife Linda McMahon seconded Stephanie for the match and did everything in her power to help Stephanie defeat her maniacal father, Linda eventually threw in the towel (signifying surrender and therefore defeat in professional wrestling) when Vince wouldn't break a choke hold that he had applied on Stephanie with a lead pipe. Therefore, Stephanie lost the match and lost her job (This would explain Stephanie's absence from WWE television for nearly two years, when in actuality Stephanie was taking time off to be with Triple H, whom she would be marrying a week after No Mercy.), although the ending of the match didn't seem to make sense, as Stephanie never said, "I quit" and thus never verbally agreed to giving up her job as general manager. After vanquishing his daughter, Vince moved on to a feud with The Undertaker , whom he defeated in one of the "Dead Man"'s specialty "Buried Alive" matches (Undertaker has been a combatant in every Buried Alive match in history.), the rules of which state that to win the match, one must literally bury his opponent in a makeshift grave in the arena, although Vince received help from Undertaker's "half-brother" Kane. Vince's last match (prior to 2006) was against Eric Bischoff on Monday Night Raw with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest referee. The match ended in a no contest when Brock Lesnar of SmackDown! interfered in the match. During that time it was a heel vs. heel match, since Vince still had a feud with Austin and questioned his skills as a referee.

Now sixty years old, Mr. McMahon is once again competing in the ring. He is also, at age sixty, featured (March 2006) on the cover of Muscle & Fitness Magazine, displaying a phenomenal, well-chiseled physique.

On April 18, 2006, WWE.com announced the August 22 release of a DVD about McMahon's career entitled Mr. McMahon.

The new millennium and the birth of WWE

In 1999, McMahon took the WWF public; the McMahon family retained the vast majority of voting shares, however. Forbes has put his net worth at $700 million.

In 2001, his company created a joint venture with NBC for a new professional football league called the XFL. The league folded after one season and is widely regarded as a colossal failure. He and NBC lost over 30 million dollars that year.

Also in 2001, the North American wrestling landscape changed forever when the WWF purchased its failing rival WCW. AOL Time Warner, then WCW's parent company, was looking to cut costs dramatically in the wake of its merger. WCW was an easy choice, since it was now losing millions of dollars a year after the departure of figurehead and nWo architect Eric Bischoff. ECW went bankrupt that same year, and McMahon purchased the rights to its video library and trademarks. This WCW, ECW, and WWF "merger" created the biggest and practically only major pro wrestling organization in North America. Since then, however, the WWF has failed to hold onto WCW and ECW viewers as well as many of its own viewers, and the wrestling business is largely viewed to be in decline. In fairness, McMahon would be the first to point out that the company is still very profitable, making millions of dollars a year, and its brand recognition is strong. However, a mediocre ratings performance by the resurrected Saturday Night's Main Event (It finished last out of the big four networks.) on NBC indicates that the WWE and wrestling in general are in a "down period," just a few years after the incredibly popular "Attitude Era."

Having saturated itself with its own talent as well as much of the former talent WCW and ECW, the WWF underwent a talent roster and brand split a year later, creating separate WWF RAW and WWF SmackDown! (a new WWF show broadcast on the United Paramount Network beginning in 1999) brands, both with exclusive title belts.

In May 2002 (as noted by the interchangeable usage of different acronyms for the company in this article), McMahon changed the WWF's name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the midst of an ongoing lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the use of and trading using the WWF initials.

New Era?

Most recently Vince launched a "new era" after the episode of "WWE Homecoming" on October 3, 2005, where he made his fifth heel turn by showing highlights of his favorite moments of beating up "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin then made his appearance, told Vince that he didn't like being made fun of, and proceeded to show clips of some of their classic confrontations, all ending with Vince on the short end of things. Shortly thereafter, Austin stunned Vince. The other McMahons – Shane, Stephanie, and even Linda – each came to the ring, only for Austin to stun each of them.

The following week Vince attended RAW live to publicly reprimand RAW announcers Jim Ross, Jonathan Coachman, and Jerry Lawler (because they did nothing to stop Austin's rampage a week earlier). The skit ended when McMahon's wife Linda turned heel for the first time ever and "fired" Ross. She then kicked Ross in the crotch.

Two weeks later Vince did a reenactment of JR's colon surgery, which involved Vince pretending to be Dr. Heiney and taking various items out of JR's butt until pulling out JR's head, then shoving JR off the table, grabbing the nurse, and making out with the nurse (Evidently, Linda as a heel was now okay with her husband committing adultery.). During the segment, off camera, the crowd were not interested in the sketch and chanted "boring." When the sketch ended, Vince was visibly angry with the crowd's reaction and quickly bashed the town that he was in before he left the ring.

The "new era" consisted of the return of Austin, Stephanie, and himself with the storylines based on the rebelliousness of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the egomaniac Vince McMahon - basically a throwback of the old main event storyline from the Attitude Era. This was generally well-received by the fans, who mostly preferred to see the return of Austin and the McMahons. However, Austin lost interest in the storyline when it was revealed that Vince McMahon was booking him to job to RAW commentator Jonathan Coachman, and he walked out on the company.

Somewhere within this time, Vince quickly turned face once again. On November 28, Vince said that Eric Bischoff had to set a goal and meet it by the end of the night, or Vince would look for a new General Manager of RAW. Bischoff said that nobody could do the job that he did; then Shane McMahon's music hit, and he came down to the ring. Vince announced that unless Bischoff meet his goal, Shane would most likely be the new General Manager. Bischoff's goal was that John Cena would tap out and lose his WWE Championship in a submission match against Kurt Angle and Chris Masters in a Triple Threat Match. Cena made Masters tap out to the STF-U, and therefore Bischoff did not meet his goal. Vince told Shane that next week it was time to "take out the trash."

The following RAW, Vince held a trial for Eric Bischoff with Johnathan Coachman representing Eric and Mick Foley as the prosecutor. Vince turned out to be a more than slightly biased judge. Mick Foley brought in witnesses such as Maria, Stephanie McMahon, and Tajiri while Bischoff could not get one successful witness. From Vince's bias towards Eric Bischoff and Coach's failing to get a single good witness, Eric was "fired." After Vince uttered his famous phrase "take out the trash," John Cena came out and FU'd Eric Bischoff followed by McMahon actually carrying Bischoff over to a garbage truck at ring side and bodyslamming him into it, thus "taking out the trash" as the show concluded. Bischoff's firing is believed to be kayfabe, but he has been removed from WWE's website WWE.com. Currently, Vince McMahon acts as interim general manager of RAW.

The 2006 Feud with Shawn Michaels

Vince's latest face run didn't last long as he made his latest heel turn by engaging in a feud with Shawn Michaels, rooting it in the Montreal Screwjob some eight years earlier. This is the first time that Vince has started a feud with another wrestler since his latest brief feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin at "Homecoming." When Michaels asked McMahon to let the infamous match go (since both he and Bret Hart had moved on from the incident), McMahon started making Michaels' life miserable, placing on-the-spot stipulations on his matches that placed his career or participation in various main-event matches (such as the Elimination Chamber at New Year's Revolution or the "Royal Rumble") on the line. Michaels, however, foiled McMahon at every turn. On the January 23, 2006 RAW broadcast, McMahon – playing the part of the Devil in the story of Jesus' temptation in the desert– asked Michaels to help him turn back the clock thirty years and re-live the times when the then-WWF was about "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" and, after cajoling him into betraying his morals and family aside in exchange for glory, asked him what happened to his "wild side," pill-popping personality. Michaels flatly refused McMahon's offer. Taken aback, McMahon vowed that Michaels' luck would run out at the Royal Rumble.

McMahon made good on his threats during the "Royal Rumble" match. Not long after Michaels got on a roll and eliminated MNM and Shelton Benjamin, McMahon entered the ring area to taunt Michaels. A distracted Michaels was no match for Shane McMahon, who ran into the ring, attacked from behind, and eliminated Michaels from the match. An irate Michaels ran after Vince and Shane.

McMahon celebrated the success of his plan on the January 30, 2006 RAW, when Michaels confronted him in the ring. Michaels again declined to revert to his "WWF Attitude"-era persona and then challenged McMahon to a match. When McMahon refused, Michaels taunted him and asked if his "king sized grapefruits" had all shriveled up. McMahon then dared Michaels to hit him, noting that if he did, it would be "career suicide." Before Michaels could finish pondering whether to hit McMahon, Shane McMahon ran into the ring and struck Michaels with a chair; Shane then helped his father out of the ring.

On February 6, 2006 Michaels was scheduled to face the Big Show in the first round of an eight-man "Road to WrestleMania 22" elimination tournament, where the eventual winner faces the WWE Champion. However, McMahon immediately pulled Michaels from the match (replacing him with Shelton Benjamin) and announced that Michaels was going to be forced to retire. When Michaels stood his ground, McMahon said that a "retirement" ceremony was being planned for the February 16 RAW and that Michaels was going to attend, voluntarily or not. Michaels chased McMahon to the back.

During the "retirement" ceremony (aired February 13, 2006 in the U.K. and Canada and February 16, 2006 in the United States), McMahon again played the role of the Devil, suggesting that Michaels had "something" which he wanted: inner peace. He then screamed at Michaels and demanded that he sign "the papers" to formalize his resignation. Michaels, who had repeatedly told McMahon he was not retiring, teased signing it but then tore up the contract. McMahon slapped Michaels and left the ring. Michaels began chasing after him, but McMahon warned that he would regret not resigning voluntarily.

On the February 20, 2006 edition of RAW, McMahon made Michaels compete against the Spirit Squad in a four-on-one handicap match. After Shawn won the match by disqualification, the Squad attacked him, when out of nowhere, HBK's former partner Marty Jannetty, ran in and helped him. McMahon later came out and announced that he would reinstate Jannetty (who had been legitimately released from WWE due to an arrest in the summer of 2005), provided that he join the The "Mr. McMahon's Kiss My Ass Club."

On the February 27, 2006 edition of RAW, Mr. McMahon forced Jannetty to kiss his ass after "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters put Marty in the Masterlock. Shawn Michaels then came to the ring to make the save. However, he was attacked by Vince's son Shane, eventually getting knocked out by a steel chair. An unconscious Michaels was then forced to kiss Mr. McMahon's ass. McMahon then announced that he would be kicking Michaels's ass at Wrestlemania 22. This would be McMahon's third Wrestlemania match.

The following week on the March 6, 2006 edition of RAW, after Michaels was defeated in a match against Shane McMahon (after being drugged by Stephanie McMahon), Vince added insult to injury and faced HBK, pinning him in under ten seconds. On the March 13, 2006 edition of RAW, Vince and Shane then proceeded to try to test Shawn for drugs. Shawn went through and then said, "It's better to get pissed off than pissed on!" He then dumped his cup of urine onto Vince and Shane. Vince later booked Shawn in a steel cage match against the Spirit Squad. Shawn lost the match due to outside interference by Shane, who then placed a trash can onto Shawn and gave him a Coast-to-coast dropkick off the top ring rope. Vince also cost Shawn Michaels his "street fight" match against Shane on Saturday Night's Main Event March 18, 2006, ordering the timekeeper to "ring the bell" after signaling to Shane to apply the sharpshooter on Shawn; this obviously alluded to the "Montreal Screwjob."

On April 2, 2006, at Wrestlemania 22, Vince was defeated by Michaels in a No Holds Barred Match. The match saw a partial return of the wildside of Shawn Michaels, who used DX taunts when fighting. The next night on RAW, Vince came out and, angry that Michaels had had divine intervention on the grandest stage of them all, booked the first match for Backlash 2006: Vince and Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels and his tag team partner God.

Vince and Shane visited a local church on the April 10, 2006 edition of RAW, where they were looking for Michaels' tag team partner God. Vince took this time to recite his own version of the Ten Commandments and speak to the lord almighty about the upcoming tag match at WWE Backlash.

On the April 17, 2006 RAW, McMahon announced his newfound religion which he called McMahonism. Before he could continue, he was attacked by Shawn Michaels. Later in the night, McMahon booked HBK in a match against Umaga, a follower of the newfound religion. At the end of the match, Vince tied Michaels up in the ropes and attempted to hit him with a steel chair. However, a bolt of lightning struck the ring and prevented him from carrying out the assault. Frightened, McMahon ran backstage but eventually tried to get back to the ring. However, a wall of fire engulfed the ramp to the ring, blocking his path.

On the April 24, 2006 edition of RAW, Michaels faced Shane McMahon in a one-on-one match. The match ended in a no contest when Vince and Shane attacked HBK, putting him through the announce table.

On April 30, 2006 at Backlash 2006, Shawn Michaels teamed with "God" (which actually turned out to be an empty spotlight being directed towards the ring by the lights people) to take on the McMahons in a tag team match. He was defeated due to interference from the "Holy" Spirit Squad who put him through a table, allowing Vince to make the pinfall. Most recently on Raw Vince has been useing the Spirit Squad and Thriple H to hurt Michaels. Though Thriple H has been helping Shawn more then hurting,Hinting at a DX return. Most recently accedintly hitting Shane ( Vince's son) with a sledge hammer. It was meant for Shawn but he ducked. Next week he brawled with the spirit squad after they took his sledge hammer. He hasn't touched Shawn the last couple of weeks. Much to Vinnie Macs disapiontment.

List of superstars whom McMahon "fired"

In wrestling storylines, one of McMahon's more notable gimmicks is his ability to terminate whomever he feels from either a position or the company. This is a list of those whom he has "fired."

• Kane (Kane was quickly rehired for that one night.)
• Mick Foley (as Commissioner, twice)
• Paul Heyman (as an announcer for RAW)
• Hulk Hogan (after it was proven that Hogan was indeed "Mr. America")
• Kurt Angle (as SmackDown! General Manager and forced back as wrestler)
• Eric Bischoff (since the RAW brand lost to SmackDown! at Survivor Series 2005, plus for failing to accomplish "his goals")
• "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (numerous times)
• Jim Ross (blamed for being Stone Cold's friend, representative of an off-screen decision to replace Ross. Joey Styles replaced Ross as play-by-play commentator however, Ross did commentary for Saturday Night's Main Event, WrestleMania 22 and Backlash 2006 since then returned to RAW due to the kayfabe "quitting" of Joey Styles.)
• Shawn Michaels (as Commissioner, although Shawn notified Vince that he couldn't be fired as per his contract)
• The Undertaker (though Linda McMahon signed him to a new contract just eight months later)
• Dude Love (for not being able to defeat Steve Austin at In Your House: Over the Edge in 1998. However, Mankind came back later in the night.)

Mr. McMahon's Kiss My Ass Club

McMahon's other trademark gimmick is "Mr. McMahon's Kiss My Ass Club." It refers to those people who have literally kissed Mr. McMahon's backside in order to either get or keep a job within the company. William Regal joined the club first, followed by Jim Ross, who was forced to join when Mr. McMahon spotted him laughing. The Undertaker came to Ross' rescue but made his last heel turn to date, by shoving JR's face into McMahon's ass. Shawn Michaels was likewise forced into the club; after getting knocked out with a steel chair, he was forced by McMahon's son Shane to kiss Mr. McMahon's ass. At WrestleMania 22, Shane McMahon joined the club after McMahon again ordered Shane to push Michaels' face into his backside. This was reversed in a way that made Shane "join the club." On Smackdown!, Vince once tried to get Zach Gowen to kiss his ass but got a low blow instead. Another time, he also got a low blow from Stone Cold Steve Austin when he tried to make him join the club. So far, Regal is the only member who has willingly joined.

Members

• William Regal
• Jim Ross
• Shawn Michaels
• Shane McMahon

McMahonism

Main article: McMahonism

On the April 17, 2006 edition of Monday Night Raw, Mr. McMahon introduced a new religion called "McMahonism." A number of performers on RAW have joined this "religion," and more are expected within the coming months. As a result, McMahonism could become the latest incarnation of the Corporate Ministry faction from the Attitude Era. However it doesn't have a crown jewel as of right now.

Followers

• Shane McMahon
• Armando Alejandro Estrada
• Umaga
• Shelton Benjamin
• Jonathan Coachman
• The Spirit Squad
• Candice Michelle

Controversy

On February 1, 2006, McMahon was accused of sexual harassment by a worker at a Boca Raton tanning bar[1]. The worker said that he "groped her and harassed her." The charge was thought to have been discredited as McMahon was at the post-Royal Rumble company meeting in Miami during the alleged event. However, Dave Meltzer reported that confusion about the alleged day occurred due to a Florida newspaper reporting that the accuser had stated that the incident took place on Sunday when it in fact is reported to have taken place Saturday. Meltzer reported that "The confusion is because the alleged victim told police the story on Sunday, but apparently not that it happened on Sunday." The Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that police reports say that the reported incident took place Saturday (See [2].). On 3/27/2006, a Television station in Florida reported that no charges would be filed against Vince McMahon as a result of the investigation into allegations that he groped a tanning salon attendent.

On the 17th April edition of Monday Night Raw, Mr. McMahon announced his own religion McMahonism, in which his own commandments and theories(mainly spoofs of conventional theology) were put in place, as a foil for Shawn Michaels and Christianity/God. This angle was met with harsh criticism, particularly from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

McMahon has also come under fire for constantly placing himself into sexual angles with the WWE Divas. He has done so in the past with Sable/Rena Mero in 1998 as well as in 2003 when she returned, Trish Stratus in early 2001, Stacy Keibler in 2002, and currently Candice Michelle. He also had a flirtation with Torrie Wilson in the summer of 2001 and Melina at the 2006 Royal Rumble.

McMahon DVD

On August 22, 2006, a two-disc DVD set showcasing McMahon's career is scheduled to be released. The DVD will simply be titled McMahon.

Finishing and signature moves

• The MacElbow / The Corporate Elbow/ Vince's Elbow (Feint leg drop to elbow drop)
• The MacStunner (Stunner)
• The MacWonder (Low blow)
• 'Atomic Leg drop
• DDT

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 1-time WWF Champion
• Royal Rumble Winner (1999)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• 1998 Feud of the Year (vs. Steve Austin)
• 1999 Feud of the Year (vs. Steve Austin)
• 1999 Best Non-Wrestler
• 2000 Best Non-Wrestler

External links

• WWE Profile
• WWE Corporate Bio