Kemo
05-22-2023, 01:36 AM
Vincent Kennedy McMahon may have built a wrestling empire, but WWE's Executive Chairman gets too much credit, according to Eric Bischoff.
During the Monday Night Wars, the two men were fierce rivals, with Bischoff WCW Monday Nitro besting WWF Monday Night Raw in the rating for 83 weeks in a row. After that streak ended, Raw would be able to turn its fortunes around and McMahon would ultimately purchase WCW for a fraction of its value in March 2001. Bischoff would go on to work for McMahon from 2002 to 2005 as Raw's General Manager.
McMahon purchased his father's promotion for $1 million in the 1980s, and has made the company a multi-billion dollar juggernaut of Sports Entertainment. Speaking during an episode of My Bizness, Bischoff was asked about the differences between WCW and WWE, and how he didn't have a team like McMahon's group of Nick Khan, Bruce Prichard and others. Bischoff responded by arguing that McMahon gets credit for some things he shouldn't get credit for.
"That's true. One of the things that I think.... Vince McMahon gets a lot of credit for, things that I think he shouldn’t get credit for, I don't think he's the most creative person in the world. I never have. I never will. I mean he is creative, don't get me wrong. I am not taking anything away from his creative. He's come up with some amazing stuff. But he's also shit the bed frequently. Where Vince's true genius, in my opinion, and this is the part that is so rare. This is where Vince in his own way falls into the [category]…. so this will be controversial, but people like Elon Musk, Vince McMahon, [Michael] Bloomberg. Those people who build, they start out with a vision. They're sitting in a lawn chair somewhere, drinking a beer, or they are sitting on a beach or walking down the street, and they have an idea, just an idea. They're able to take that thought, this intangible, neuro-electrical impulse and turn it into a tangible, viable vision that employs thousands of people and generates billions of dollars.
"I find that fascinating. While Vince often gets credits for being a creative genius, like I said, I don't think he is. But I think in terms of a visionary, he's right up there. He's right up there with Ted Turner. Ted Turner was the guy who, everybody thought he was nuts. [He said] 'People will watch 24 hour global news' and everybody thought he was high, he was nuts. Turns out he was right. There are people like that in our lives that have these visions and talk about them and manifest them. We look at them. It's like 'Wow, can you believe that guy?' But Vince McMahon, in his own way, by comparing him, relating him, but he's in that category of people that have an amazing vision. Here's the important part - the passion, and the undeniability to achieve it."
For as bad as some of McMahon's creative ideas that made it to TV have been, there are some atrocities that never made it on-screen. In 2003, McMahon pitched for himself to be revealed as the father of his daughter Stephanie's child, an idea that the younger McMahon immediately refused. Stephanie also rejected the idea that Shane McMahon, her brother, should have been revealed as the father.
During the Monday Night Wars, the two men were fierce rivals, with Bischoff WCW Monday Nitro besting WWF Monday Night Raw in the rating for 83 weeks in a row. After that streak ended, Raw would be able to turn its fortunes around and McMahon would ultimately purchase WCW for a fraction of its value in March 2001. Bischoff would go on to work for McMahon from 2002 to 2005 as Raw's General Manager.
McMahon purchased his father's promotion for $1 million in the 1980s, and has made the company a multi-billion dollar juggernaut of Sports Entertainment. Speaking during an episode of My Bizness, Bischoff was asked about the differences between WCW and WWE, and how he didn't have a team like McMahon's group of Nick Khan, Bruce Prichard and others. Bischoff responded by arguing that McMahon gets credit for some things he shouldn't get credit for.
"That's true. One of the things that I think.... Vince McMahon gets a lot of credit for, things that I think he shouldn’t get credit for, I don't think he's the most creative person in the world. I never have. I never will. I mean he is creative, don't get me wrong. I am not taking anything away from his creative. He's come up with some amazing stuff. But he's also shit the bed frequently. Where Vince's true genius, in my opinion, and this is the part that is so rare. This is where Vince in his own way falls into the [category]…. so this will be controversial, but people like Elon Musk, Vince McMahon, [Michael] Bloomberg. Those people who build, they start out with a vision. They're sitting in a lawn chair somewhere, drinking a beer, or they are sitting on a beach or walking down the street, and they have an idea, just an idea. They're able to take that thought, this intangible, neuro-electrical impulse and turn it into a tangible, viable vision that employs thousands of people and generates billions of dollars.
"I find that fascinating. While Vince often gets credits for being a creative genius, like I said, I don't think he is. But I think in terms of a visionary, he's right up there. He's right up there with Ted Turner. Ted Turner was the guy who, everybody thought he was nuts. [He said] 'People will watch 24 hour global news' and everybody thought he was high, he was nuts. Turns out he was right. There are people like that in our lives that have these visions and talk about them and manifest them. We look at them. It's like 'Wow, can you believe that guy?' But Vince McMahon, in his own way, by comparing him, relating him, but he's in that category of people that have an amazing vision. Here's the important part - the passion, and the undeniability to achieve it."
For as bad as some of McMahon's creative ideas that made it to TV have been, there are some atrocities that never made it on-screen. In 2003, McMahon pitched for himself to be revealed as the father of his daughter Stephanie's child, an idea that the younger McMahon immediately refused. Stephanie also rejected the idea that Shane McMahon, her brother, should have been revealed as the father.