13 Times Vince McMahon Trolled the WWE Universe

No one trolls harder than Vinnie Mac.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Genius. Maniac. Visionary. Dictator. Needless to say Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr. has been categorized as many things throughout his prolific career. The Chairman and CEO of the WWE has also been nothing short of a mastermind troll—one who’s deliberately infuriated wrestling fans by letting his ego run wild with controversial storylines, dubious plots, and the occasional need to steal the main event spotlight. Yet despite years of creating mayhem amongst the social wrestling community, the man has figured out the power in pissing off audiences, as we’re still trapped in his headlock watching WWE programming week in, week out. 

Somewhere in the world Vinnie Mac is laughing maniacally at the endless number of times he’s trolled us. And these are just some of the more memorable spots that made us want to Stone Cold stun the boss. Here are 13 Times Vince McMahon Trolled The WWE Universe.

The Diesel and Razor Ramon Return Hoax

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Date: Sept 23, 1996

Troll Level: ​

Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were instrumental in keeping WWE alive during the early '90s, but the Clique members chose to leave the company for a bigger payday with the competition. Vince McMahon then got pissed at how Eric Bischoff introduced both grapplers in WCW, leading viewers to speculate the two were invading the territory while still employed by his federation. He even tried suing Ted Turner for trademark infringement regarding the on-screen appearances of The Outsiders, which accomplished nothing and only added to the NWO’s dominance and success in shifting the wrestling landscape. Desperate to retaliate, it was thought up to have Jim Ross address fans and tease the return of Diesel and Razor Ramon. Oh, they came out, but it wasn't Hall and Nash in character. McMahon hired two imposters—Rick Bognar and Glen Jacobs (aka Kane)—to take on the personas and pushed them as serious acts till they got dropped in 1997. Shots Blanks fired!

Wrestling’s First-Ever Gay Wedding

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Date: Sept. 12, 2002 

Troll Level: 

WWE’s always been at the forefront of social controversy. So when deciding to form its first ambiguously gay tag team with Badass Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo, the company had the intentions of offending, well, everyone. Anything to get more eyes on the product, right? After months of teasing fans with the duo's aggressively flamboyant behavior, the creative team came up with the idea of staging the first gay wedding on live television, leaving the world to watch for the sake of calling McMahon’s bluff. Those who’ve followed the brand since the days of Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth know not every WWE wedding goes as planned. Only this time, it did, as both men admitted the entire angle was a publicity stunt. The arena went nuts upon hearing Billy say, “We’re not gay! I mean, we got nothing against gay people.” McMahon had us questioning it though for a minute. What’s even more crazy is how WWE hired GLAAD to consult with the storyline, only to be lambasted by the organization for allegedly lying about when they would publicly come out and wed. They don't call him a ruthless SOB for nothing.

Daniel Bryan’s Early Elimination At The 2015 Royal Rumble

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Date: Jan. 25, 2015

Troll Level: ​

Being stripped of the championship and nearly suffering a career-ending neck injury wasn’t stopping Daniel Bryan from competing for a chance to headline Wrestlemania 31. That would be McMahon’s job. After promising fans this would be “the best year ever” for WWE starting with the Royal Rumble, he immediately proved it to be the opposite when scripting one of the biggest blunders in the event’s history. Of course he would eliminate the one wrestler backed by the entire WWE Universe mid-way through the match. No build-up for a Roman Reigns confrontation or even runner-up consideration. This sparked the entire arena to scream in unison "WE WANT A REFUND!" for the rest of the show. That negative reaction, along with the #CancelWWENetwork movement, caused the service's cancelation page to crash immediately after the PPV. 

God Enters The Squared Circle

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Date: April 30, 2006

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Whether viewed as the ultimate mockery of God or a stroke of ribbing brilliance, McMahon had no qualms bringing religion into a WWE ring, even if it meant attacking Shawn Michael’s new found faith. The CEO and his son Shane challenged the born again Christian and his holy savior to a tag match at Backlash 2006, where things just took a turn for the absolute worst. Vince chastised the heavenly creator for what seemed longer than a standard Triple H promo and broke into a dance routine until the man upstairs made his way through the Gorilla Position in the form of beaming light. It was then where McMahon requested the referee to “check the wrestler for weapons.” This angle had no chance in hell of getting over.

His Illegitimate Son Is A Leprechaun

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Date: Sept. 10. 2007

Troll Level: 

Mr. Kennedy: No. Stone Cold: Hell No. Triple H: Ha. Hornswoggle: WTF? Think we all shared that same reaction when hearing who McMahon's alleged bastard son was. They spent weeks building up the huge mystery, dropping numerous clues linking the CEO to a talent on the roster. After conducting a series of paternity tests and profiling the entire locker room, creative settled on the in-ring leprechaun as the favorable choice. What made it even worse was the company actually dragged out the angle and forced us to watch the two compete in a steel cage match weeks later. Guess it was that or revealing the woman (or thing) McMahon actually impregnated.

Mark Henry’s Fake Retirement

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Date: June 17, 2013

Troll Level: 

Since his ’96 debut, The World’s Strongest Man struggled to win over crowds as a babyface or heel. Sure, the Sexual Chocolate gimmick gained him some notoriety during the Attitude Era, but he wasn’t getting over like the Godfather. Then came the emergence of “somebody gonna get they ass whopped” Mark Henry—the indestructible badass who decimated the entire rebranded ECW and Smackdown rosters to earn championship gold. But injuries took him out of action, leading many to speculate he would announce retirement his first appearance back on Raw. McMahon and crew simply entertained the idea and sent Henry out to perform one of the most heartbreaking speeches in wrestling history, prompting John Cena and every single wrestling fan to shed a tear in homage. Then he pulled a “cheap heat” moment and inducted Cena into the Hall of Pain, for the simple purpose of serving as his next PPV opponent. Booking nailed it at the expense of our emotions.

Staging His Own Death

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Date: June 11, 2007

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Breaking kayfabe—the portrayal of an event within the industry that’s real——was once considered a cardinal sin in the wrestling biz. Nowadays, it’s used more as an element to enhance a storyline. WWE's practically exploited the concept since the Attitude era, though it went overboard when treating the on-screen death of Vince McMahon as a legitimate occurrence, reporting the limo explosion at the end of RAW as a real incident on WWE.com. Hardcore wrestling fans accepted it for what it was, nothing more than a ruse, where as business partners freaked out over the incident once stock prices briefly dropped. It was then during what was to become the McMahon memorial service show where talent was informed of Chris Benoit’s suicide, leading creative to nix the entire angle.

Mae Young Gives Birth To A Hand

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Date: Feb. 28, 2000

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Most of us know the late Mae Young for two things. One is getting powerbombed through a table by the Dudleys at the age of 77. The other is sharing a love child with Mark Henry in the form of a rubber hand. Guess which she is most remembered for?

Vince McMahon has a habit of turning legends that stuck around with the company into comic relief. Gerald Briscoe and Pat Patterson are living proof. The idea of putting Young in a sexual relationship with Henry proved to be oddly humorous for the Attitude Era. But the thought of knowing she was pregnant and ready to pop forced us to switch wrestling programs. Poking fun of the angle on the 1000th episode of Raw only proved the angle flatlined harder than Tensai's push.

Kiss My Ass Club

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Date: Nov. 19, 2001

Troll Level: 

Jim Ross, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, William Regal, and even son Shane all have an ass pub reserved in their name on Vince’s backside. Why any wrestling personality, let alone a member of a prestigious group of this caliber, would ever succumb to embarrassing themselves in front of millions by joining the Kiss My Ass Club is too bewildering to comprehend. Granted a job is a job, but still, this was just Vince’s way of showing us he had the power to make even your favorite talent pucker up.

The Anonymous RAW General Manager

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Date: June 21, 2010

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“Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please?” Those exact words uttered from announcer and management tool Michael Cole pissed us off week after week as we struggled to guess who McMahon put in charge of running the RAW brand. Conspiracy theories ran wild on the Internet with many throwing the names of former general managers and retired legends into the hat. Then came the big payoff. Of all people, Santino Marella plays Inspector Gadget and discovers Hornswoggle has been living underneath the ring at every show playing the anonymous GM, drawing complete and utter silence from the crowd. We would say you can’t write this stuff, but evidently someone did. And McMahon  signed off on it.

Batista and Roman Reigns Ruin Consecutive Royal Rumbles

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Dates: Jan. 26, 2014 and Jan. 25, 2015

Troll Level: 

The Animal’s return was an epic fail. Period. The glorified former champion was pelted with boos, leading marks to coin the phrase Bootista. But we couldn’t blame it all on him. Bad timing and poor booking made his run disastrous. No one was more over at the time than Daniel Bryan and the fans practically designated him as the company’s main eventer for over a year. So when Batista was chosen to win the 2014 Royal Rumble, it didn’t sit over well as all signs pointed to the move being a bargaining chip to place a marquee name in the championship fold for Wrestlemania 30. Then they caved in to the “Yes!” movement and inserted Bryan into the title picture.

History repeated itself this year with Roman Reigns, who McMahon has lobbied as WWE’s future superstar and selected to win the 2015 Royal Rumble. The youngin’ caught hell from the WWE universe, far worse than Batista, as the last man standing. Not even The Rock’s return saved him from the nuclear response. McMahon knew eliminating Bryan super early would cause an uproar, which creative somehow thought would help push Reigns heading into the end of the match. You saw how that worked. Till this day, McMahon stands by the call and states there are no plans to have Bryan in this year’s championship bout. Riiight.

"And NEW World Heavyweight Champion…"

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Dates:  Sept. 16, 1999 and April 29, 2007

Troll Level: 

What’s worse: Vince McMahon being crowned World Heavyweight Champion or winning the ’99 Royal Rumble? Both are equally deplorable, but there is still no getting over the fact that he’s technically considered a two-time world champion. Defeating Bobby Lashley for the ECW strap was just Vince feeding his own ego and burying a brand he knew was doomed for failure, where as dethroning Triple H not only weakened the championship credibility of the DX leader at the time, but also devalued the title. He obviously didn’t learn from the WCW/David Arquette debacle.

The Montreal Screw Job

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Date: Nov. 9. 1997

Troll Level: 

Some say it was 100% real. Experts believe it was one huge work that until this day has fooled every wrestling fan in existence. Truth is we’re never going to find out unless McMahon decides to spill the deets in his posthumous memoirs. The rivalry between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels was competitive, fiery, and ugly, making it must-see TV during the Monday Night Wars. You already know the backstory of what went down: Expiring contracts, money issues, and the Hitman’s unwillingness to the drop title in his last match with the WWE led to the most controversial event in wrestling history. Without any real facts as to what  went down, we were left with this vision of McMahon doing dirty business and screwing the Excellence of Execution. However, those wise enough to put the pieces together could see how the entire angle was perfectly played to create the industry’s most vile heel ever: Mr. McMahon. It's all there.

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