Vince Is Pissed

As if the Voodoo Kin Mafia hadn’t done enough to piss off Vince McMahon in recent weeks, reports have leaked that the WWE kingpin was livid during “Raw’s” broadcast when fans starting chanting “TNA” and “VKM” during that horrid segment which shall not even be named again. I know many of our O-sters are sick of hearing about it (and I'm sick of thinking about it).

I did find it funny that even Howard Stern (the king of tasteless humor) thought it was pathetic and unwatchable.

Word has also came out this week that McMahon had pulled the plug on all future pay-per-view press conferences. That seems strange doesn’t it?


Something the WWE has been doing for the better part of a decade, suddenly scrapped?

A chance to have local media and fans interact with their talent, and an opportunity to sell their show… scrapped?
Well apparently Mr. McMahon may have been responding somewhat rashly to the presser that happened prior to New Year’s Revolution. Fans were loudly chanting TNA, to which Jonathan Coachman responded “like Kansas City, TNA is inferior”. This was heard during the WWE’s webcast, and pissed off the boss.

Vince’s way has always been to completely ignore the competition. Mentioning them in the least shows them that you are concerned. During the late 90s when DX starting “shooting” on WCW, Vince was at his most desperate. He didn’t know if his company would survive Turner’s attempts at a hostile takeover, so he literally tried everything.

Those vignettes helped bring some of the WWF fans back, and helped lead the charge – that and two years of good TV from Steve Austin.

Reports also came out this week that McMahon was furious with the interview segment that the Great Khali did on “Raw”. Ya, I was too… Khali sucks. Vince’s issue apparently was that the camera angle sucked, and the interviewer didn’t sell his fear of the 7’3” shithead.

Security has really tightened at WWE shows as well. When Dan-e-o and I went to Unforgiven, we had security inspecting every sign we brought in. This is the same company that used to say, “Bring your signs, say whatever you want – we believe in freedom of speech”. Of course, they were sayin that, when they were desperate. Maybe they are starting to feel a little desperate again and are grasping at straws.

You’re not allowed to carry anti-babyface signs into a WWE show anymore. So my “Cena sucks” sign would be confiscated at the gate. If you don’t agree with who the company is shoving down your throat, then just shut up and deal. Smart ploy. Alienate your fans further.

TNA really seems to understand right now that in order for them to get over the next hump, they need to embrace who they are (number two) and they need to allow their wrestlers and their fans to express themselves. WWE used to do that.

This reminds me of Christian Cage’s speech when he entered TNA. He said:

“When I broke into the national wrestling scene eight years ago, there were two companies. One was old, stale and lacking direction. The other one, I was a part of. It was young, hungry and cutting edge. Fast forward eight years and there are still two companies. One is old, stale and lacking direction… and one is TNA”.

Amen.

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