Some of the biggest moments can happen when someone takes a chance. The dice can roll either way, but those meant to do or be something always seem to find a way or get “lucky.” On this day in wrestling history, Vince McMahon Jr. started the dice rolling by purchasing 100% or his father’s promotion on June 6, 1982.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBFUyngJbUe/
Keeping it in the family
Vince McMahon Jr. had different ideas on running his father’s wrestling business than his father. Vince Sr. believed promotors should remain behind the curtain and never interfere with the public and wrestlers. It’s an old school approach where one left the talent to do what the talent does. Everyone has different approaches.
A perfect example is Stu Hart, who, according to Bret Hart in his book, Hitman, Stu would be at ringside or even wrestle at any given time with his promotion, Stampede Wrestling. Over the years, we’ve all learned that Vince Jr. is a combination of the two, but leaned more toward Stu Hart than not.
For many of us, it was a shock to learn that Vince McMahon the commentator was in fact the company’s owner, but that’s wrestling. It’s part of the story they weave.
Vince’s ideas were to take wrestling national, as he’d already done a good deal of that by sending tape to various stations across the country and helped to increase the WWF’s visibility. But that wasn’t anything close to what he hoped to achieve.
Buying 100% of the company
On June 6, 1982, Vince McMahon made this day in wrestling history by purchasing the remaining portion of the WWF from his father’s business partners, Gorilla Monsoon, Arnold Skaaland, and Phil Zacko for an estimated $1 million.
This gave Vince complete control, and he admitted in a 1991 Sports Illustrated article, “Wrestling With Success” that his father wouldn’t have approved of his ideas.
“Had my dad known at the time I bought him out what my plans were, he would never have sold his stock to me.” – Vince McMahon Sports Illustrated.
There’s no denying that Vince had the Midas touch as the WWE quickly took off in large part to his embracing of other medias his father hadn’t.
As previously mentioned, Vince Jr. had different ideas than his father, and one of them was tested with Hulk Hogan.
When Hogan was offered a part in Rocky 3, Vince Sr. refused to let him take part, as Vince Sr. didn’t think wrestlers should appear in other medias. So, Hogan quit and went to Verne Gagne’s AWA (All American Wrestling) promotion until Vince Jr. hired him back and openly encouraged wrestlers crossing over into other avenues. This led to the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling crossover and explosion of mainstream popularity of wrestling.
Though Vince Jr.’s ideas worked and took professional wrestling in a whole ne direction, his father didn’t live to see his ideas come to fruition. Vince Sr. died on May 24, 1984. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996 by his grandson Shane.
Vince Jr. continues to run his father’s company to this day despite some hiccupts along the way, and is expected to hand the reigns over to his son Shane and/or son-in-law Paul Levesque (Triple H) at some point. That’s a moment many fans are impatiently waiting for, and it’ll be another this day in wrestling history to remember.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!