Vince McMahon’s creative decisions are back within the highlight after several backstage stories resurfaced about his most controversial calls.
During a recent appearance on the “Public Enemies Podcast,” former WWE author Chris Dunn revealed that McMahon once booked SmackDown to lose every match at a Survivor Series solely to aggravate Brian ‘Road Dogg’ James, who was running the blue brand on the time. McMahon even moved The Latest Day’s match to the kickoff show in order that their victory wouldn’t count for SmackDown.
Dunn also recalled the infamous 2017 ‘Bayley: This Is Your Life’ segment, saying McMahon doubled down on the thought when it was criticized. The previous WWE Champion personally directed two extras in a backstage room, including showing them the right way to kiss, because the creative team struggled simply to make the segment watchable.
One other story is about McMahon’s decision to proceed the Over The Edge 1999 pay-per-view after Owen Hart’s 78-ft fatal fall.
In Netflix’s Mr. McMahon docuseries, McMahon explained that the live crowd didn’t fully understand what had happened because the feed was briefly blacked out. He argued that if fans had clearly seen the autumn, the show would have been stopped.
McMahon defended his call as a business decision to maintain the event going for the paying audience and later said that if he himself had died within the ring, he would have wanted the show to proceed. He said,
“The choice that mainly I needed to make was whether or not the show goes on/ The live audience didn’t really see what happened. Had they seen, there was no doubt about it, you will have to shut the show down…Those people got here to see a show. They didn’t come to see someone die. And me as a businessman, it’s like, ‘Okay, let’s proceed on. Let’s proceed the show.’”
“Naturally, Bret’s gonna feel like, , like a brother should. He had every right to say anything negative about our company.”
Owen’s widow Martha Hart would later sue WWE, and the case resulted in an $18 million settlement.