As the Mr. McMahon saga continues, we continue with WWE’s unprecedented growth. Following WrestleMania’s success, Vince McMahon ventured his product into network television with the creation of Saturday Night’s Main Event.
This event helped reach a much larger audience and set the seeds for the biggest event in company history.
The Unstoppable Force vs. The Immovable Object
Vince McMahon wanted to up the stakes, so he booked WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome. It was an event like no other, boasting perhaps the largest main event in wrestling history.
A very much disputed 93,000 fans packed the stadium to watch Hulk Hogan retain the WWE Championship over Andre the Giant. It was a huge event that brought WWE and Hulk Hogan into the national spotlight. They became a household name after that night.
As great as WWE’s success was this episode only laid it as a foundation for the disasters that were to come. Even from an early stage, WWE had to deal with scandals coming at it from all directions.
The Start of a Series of Problems
To begin with was a more internal issue of the grueling WWE schedule. Having wrestlers on the road nearly year-round was murder on their bodies. There were no company benefits or guaranteed money, so wrestlers needed to show up to work.
This sparked a select few wanting to start a wrestler’s union. It was a great idea, but one that was put to bed early when Hulk Hogan caught wind of it and ratted on the boys to the boss. Not a great start for Vince and Hogan.
Flash forward a few years, and WWE was again in trouble when they capitalized on the real Iraq War strife, pushing American Hero Sgt. Slaughter as an Iraqi sympathizer. It was a move that was done in bad taste and one that had a lot of people backing off the company.
When it rains, it pours, as they say, and soon, Vince had to deal with attacks from all angles.
One of the biggest was the steroid allegations levied against him. These issues have been well documented but what was interesting from the docuseries was the justification from McMahon.
We keep seeing a theme of him not seeing what he was doing was wrong. Sure, he wasn’t the only guilty party in the situation, but his desire not to take any responsibility is indicative of his personality.
He did administer a steroid testing policy within WWE, but it was seen as a paper solution to a larger problem.
With a steroid trial looming Vince was also having to deal with reporter Phil Mushnick. A report that had it out for McMahon and kept digging deeper into the sexual abuse allegations that have been levied against WWE.
Over the years, there were too many to count, but the biggest of them were the ring boy scandal and the scandal involving referee Rita Marie. In both instances, alleged inappropriate behavior towards both parties was laid against high-up executives within the company.
In the case of Marie, the charges were against Vince himself.
These stories are well known to the public, and while there was some conjecture as to their truth, there is no doubt that something happened. Where there is smoke, there is fire, and it looks like Vince doesn’t care about them.
Throughout the interview, he kept downplaying the significance of these charges. He never seemed to take them seriously and disregarded many an instance.
His actions are hypocritical considering his statements about the federal government. He stated that they were bullies, and it comes across as a pot calling the kettle black situation. His actions mirrored the government’s against him, and he didn’t like it.
Two episodes in, we are starting to see a pattern of behavior from the boss that would explain a lot, considering what has happened over the past few years. It will be interesting to see where this story goes in episode 3.
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