10 Wrestlers Vince McMahon Initially HATED

3. The Undertaker

So I think Vince might have the worst instincts in the world. Which by the way, at this point in the list, I don’t want people watching this to infer that we think Vince is terrible at his job.

That’s why you surround yourself with good minds, people you trust, people like JR who can convince you to go a certain way, Vince has other strengths, like biting this bit of metal, or walking, key strengths.

But no, Vince was shown Mark Calloway, the man who’d go on to become Marklord the Darklord, and his immediate honest-to-god reaction was, that’s just another tall basketball player with red hair, and didn’t see anything special in him.

Vince legit watched a match that Mean Mark Callous had with Lex Luger in WCW at the Great American Bash in 1990, a match that Taker worked with a dislocated hip specifically because he knew he was going to meet with Vince, and Vince tried to cancel that meeting.

With the man who went on to become the greatest gimmick in the history of the business.

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2. Steve Austin

Was there anyone that made Vince millions of dollars that he actually wanted to sign in the first place?

Well, yes, Hulk Hogan and ok fair enough Vince, but literally everyone else other than The Rock seems to have succeeded explicitly DESPITE Vince McMahon.

Steve Austin make SO MUCH money for Vince during the Attitude Era, that even Scrooge McDuck would drown in it.

On Talk Is Jericho, Vince Russo claimed that when Austin came into the company as the Ringmaster, McMahon was dead set against him talking. Steve Austin, one of the greatest talkers of all time, Vince told Russo that the Million Dollar man had to do all of his talking for him.

It’s a perception that’s been verified by Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, the subject of the infamous Austin 3:16 promo.

When Roberts told Vince that Austin was the next big thing, Vince replied, quote “You kidding me Jake?’ He said, “That guy, he’ll never make it past fifth, sixth match. He’s not a main-eventer.”

In case you didn’t know, that’s Vince talking about one of the most lucrative main eventers in wrestling history. But you know, hindsight’s 20/20, isn’t that right…

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1. John Cena

Yes indeed. The man for whom Vince had so much faith in as the top guy in all of wrestling, that he refused to turn him heel and drove away a significant portion of his fanbase.

Vince’s initial reaction to John Cena is f**king hilarious, because oh the road not traveled. According to, who else, Bruce Prichard, Cena has just been signed by the company and was walking around looking like, well, like the prototype did, which is all sorts of hamburger insane.

Vince took one look at the man who’d become the face of his company, turned to Bruce and said, and I quote “get that walking, talking steroid billboard out of our backstage!”

I mean sure, almost a decade earlier the steroid trial had almost brought down the entire company, and sure, John Cena looked like he invented steroids at the time, but just imagine if Vince hadn’t been talked down.

I think a lot of us criticize Vince for his perceived stubbornness and refusal to budge in the face of criticism.

But if this list has taught us nothing else, it’s that, if Vince had ACTUALLY been as stubborn as he’s accused of, then wrestling history would look very different today.

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• Adam Blampied
• John Cena
• Vince McMahon
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