Vincent K. McMahon = Greatest of All Time?

Is Vincent K. McMahon, Jr. the Greatest of All Time? When it comes to being a professional wrestling company owner, none is his equal. Many have tried to imitate, but they can never duplicate the same success as that of Vince McMahon’s WWE (formerly known as World Wrestling Entertainment which was previously known as World Wrestling Federation). Born and raised during the age of professional wrestling where wrestling promotions stayed within their designated territories, he learned the business under his father, Vincent J. McMahon, Sr., who owned Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which became World Wide Wrestling Federation and eventually just World Wrestling Federation (WWF). After legal troubles with the World Wildlife Fund over the initials WWF, the name was changed to the World Wrestling Entertainment and then finally simplified to WWE. With the success of the WWE by the guiding hand of Vincent K. McMahon, he, in his own right, is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME. When people think of the Greatest of All Time in professional wrestling, they think of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair, Sting, etc. But professional wrestling would not be what it is today without Vince McMahon. Before Vince McMahon, there were many wrestling promoters. Even until now, there are still many wrestling promoters throughout the world, but none has come near to the accomplishments of Vince McMahon. Upon purchasing what is now known as the WWE from his father in 1982, he has taken this company to heights that have never been seen in the world of professional wrestling. To the anger of many of the territorial promoters, he started to sign many of the best wrestlers from the various territories to wrestle for his company. Because wrestling was always focused for the adult market as an alternative to boxing, he started to market wrestling to the youth making wrestling a family event. He started giving wrestlers comic-book-like characters that appealed to children. He started marketing these characters by creating action figures, stickers, posters, ice-cream bars, cartoons, etc. As a result, the WWE has become a staple in pop culture. Though there were many wrestling events throughout the United States in the 1980s, his promoting prowess capitalized on the growing use of VHS tapes, the cable market, and the growing use of Pay Per View events. Prior to the 1980s, holding events in your own territory was common practice amongst wrestling promotions. One promoter would not invade another promoter’s territory. With the invention of the VHS, people from one coast of the United States could watch matches on the other coast. This was something heavily promoted by Vince McMahon. With the expansion of cable television in the 1980s, Vince McMahon was able to get more exposure of his wrestling company by holding a weekly wrestling show. In 1985, he created the Super Bowl of wrestling shows known as Wrestlemania. To bring this event to the mainstream media, he got celebrities like Mr. T., Cindy Lauper, and Muhammad Ali, to appear at his wrestling events. With these aggression marketing strategies, all other promoters and their promotions slowly began to die. As the 1980s kids grew up, Vince McMahon and the then-called World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) continued to grow with its audience. During the 1990s, the WWF started to move away from the comic-book-like-characters and started to make the wrestlers look more realistic. Along with the symbolic change of the logo in 1994, the core group of main event wrestlers from the 1980s started to be replaced with a younger, up-and-coming group of wrestlers. Talents like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel (Kevin Nash), and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) were replacing popular 80s wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, and Macho Man Randy Savage. This was a conscious effort of Vince McMahon to not stay with older wrestlers, but to promote younger wrestlers who are more relatable to the current generation. By the mid-90s, Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (WCW) persuaded many of the main event wrestlers, whose contracts were expiring in the WWF, to sign with WCW. Capitalizing on the popularity that they gained in the WWF and with a readjustment to their characters, WCW became a threat to the ratings in the WWF. The battle of ratings between these two companies is known as the Monday Night Wars. During this time, many people commented that Vince was getting a taste of his own medicine because what he was experiencing was the same thing he did to the territorial promoters, but unlike the territorial promoters, Vince McMahon and WWF did not fold and close shop. Being surrounded with younger talent and younger writers who were more in tune with pop culture, Vince and the WWF began to make more risqué moves with their storyline and their look. This time of the WWF(WWE) is known as the Attitude Era. Though this move irked a lot of people, the former 80’s kids who grew up on wrestling loved it. As they have matured as young adults, the WWF matured along with them. With Vince McMahon calling all the shots in this ratings war, the WCW soon crumbled to the ground with the WWE being the victor. To show further growth and vision of Vince McMahon, the now named WWE has branched out beyond the wrestling arena. With the creation of WWE Studios, they have now ventured into the movie industry. With WWE Music Group, they compile and sell albums of their wrestlers theme music. With WWE Books, they publish autobiographies of and fiction based on WWE personalities, behind-the-scenes guides to WWE, illustrated books, calendars, young adult books, and other general “Nonfiction” books. Also, in further expansion of the company, WWE is now publicly traded in the New York Stock exchange. Though wrestling is still at the core of their business, the WWE has become more than just a wrestling promotion. Before Vince McMahon, there were many wrestling promoters but none ever reached the same accomplishments as him. After Vince McMahon, many will try to duplicate his success but only time will tell as how long they will last. But regardless of who comes and goes, Vince McMahon was the first to innovate the wrestling industry like no other. That is why Vince McMahon can be termed as The Greatest of All Time.