Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon (born August 24, 1945, Pinehurst, North Carolina, U.S.) is an American professional wrestling impresario who used showmanship and tireless promotion to make wrestling, formerly a niche entertainment, into a vastly lucrative industry.

McMahon was himself the son of a wrestling promoter, and in the 1970s he began working as a ringside announcer for his father’s business, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (later known as the World Wrestling Federation [WWF; 1979–2002] and World Wrestling Entertainment [WWE; 2002– ]). In 1982 he bought the company. McMahon transformed the sport, displaying the brash ambition and innate promotional ability that would become his trademark. He created a unique blend of sports and entertainment, incorporating rock music, celebrities, and outrageously scripted matches, and in the process he molded wrestlers into child-friendly stars. Outside the ring he lured performers away from rival companies and broke the long-standing regionalism of wrestling organizations as he took his eastern-based business national. Although McMahon made many enemies, his bold changes revolutionized the sport and moved it into the mainstream. WWF cable shows and live events were hits, and by the mid-1980s the company was the leading wrestling group.

In the early 1990s McMahon encountered difficulties as the WWF was rocked by charges of steroid use and sexual misconduct. In addition, the National Wrestling Alliance (later bought by media magnate Ted Turner and renamed World Championship Wrestling [WCW]) experienced a resurgence, and its cable broadcasts soon surpassed those of the WWF in viewership. McMahon responded by hiring new writers to create soap-opera-like story lines. Skimpily clad female wrestlers became prominent, as did “colourful language” (profanity) and “sign language” (obscene gestures). Although critics, parents in particular, complained of excessive sexuality and vulgarity, audiences roared their approval. By the late 1990s the WWF’s programs, including Raw Is War and SmackDown!, had doubled the ratings of those of the WCW and dominated cable programming. McMahon had turned the WWF into a national obsession, complete with books, video games, action figures, magazines, and pay-per-view events, such as WrestleMania. In 1999 he took the company public, raising $170 million in its initial offering. By then the WWF was a billion-dollar industry, watched by some 10–20 million viewers weekly.

In 2000 McMahon shifted his focus to the gridiron. Looking to end the stranglehold the National Football League (NFL) had on the sport, he announced the creation of the Extreme Football League (XFL). While many questioned the move, citing the failure of past ventures to compete with the NFL, McMahon displayed his signature bravado and marketing muscle, slamming the NFL as dull and calling it the “No Fun League.” He promised a faster and more entertaining (though, unlike the WWF, unscripted) sport with no-holds-barred access, including microphones in the huddles and helmet cameras. In March of that year, McMahon signed a broadcast contract with NBC (National Broadcasting Company) worth more than $30 million, and he later inked a deal with UPN (United Paramount Network). The XFL kicked off in February 2001, but, despite McMahon’s savvy salesmanship, it lasted only a single season. In 2002 McMahon’s flagship brand was forced to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a challenge from the World Wide Fund for Nature, with whom McMahon’s wrestling juggernaut had shared initials since 1979.

Although McMahon’s WWE had become a cultural phenomenon largely because of its sexually charged over-the-top entertainment value, by 2009 he was seeking a larger audience by toning down the raunchy content and making the violence more deliberately cartoonish. Other developments included the debut of a subscription streaming service in 2014.

In 2022 WWE launched a probe into allegations of misconduct by McMahon. It initially focused on a secret settlement involving a woman with whom he reportedly had an affair while she was working at WWE. However, investigators also discovered nondisclosure agreements with other female employees who had accused McMahon of misconduct. It was later determined that he had paid the women almost $20 million. In June 2022 McMahon stepped down as WWE’s chairman and chief executive. However, he returned as executive chairman in January 2023.