The character of Mr McMahon no longer has a place on WWE television.
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The character of Mr McMahon no longer has a place on WWE television.
Simply Yes He Does And always will.
On November 9th 1997, the date of the now infamous Montreal Screwjob was the date that many consider to be the day that "Mr McMahon" Was Created. After that night most people viewed Vince is another light. No Longer was he Vince McMahon the commentator, Vince McMahon The announcer etc... He was now the self centered, Manipulative,arrogant evil Chairman of The WWF/WWE Mr McMahon.
Now Moving Onwards 1998 and the night after Wrestlemania 14 saw the beginning of one of the biggest fueds of this Generation & one which most people would consider to be one of the biggest feuds of all time in Austin/McMahon. During this feud we saw the newer more sinister Side of Mr McMahon Come out in full effect. This feud in turn helped contribute to the rising ratings and increased national interest from fans far & near with Raw ratings up from the 2's to 4's & Sometime 5's on a weekly basis as fans would tune in to see what would happen next between the two of them. This Feud Did not only increase ratings but it also helped to elevate the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin into one of the biggest superstars in the history of the company & Probably even professional wrestling as a whole.
Now As time Has gone on the amount of appearances Mr McMahon Makes has declined & has been limited to him mostly appearing on the Raw Brand now & Then. Each Time It is announced that Vince Is to be making an return appearance ratings seem to shoot up.
Return and "Illegitimate child" storyline
July 30, 2007 2.5
August 6, 2007 3.8
Raw's 15 Anniversary
December 3, 2007 3.2
December 10, 2007 4.1
Recent Return to Raw
- January 12: 3.5
- January 19: 3.9
Those Three Examples Above are an indication of the Previous Raw's Ratings and then the ratings of the shows in which Vince McMahon Has returned. As You Can see the ratings for the Second show clearly go up in each Which shows that after all of these years Vince is still able to draw and is appealing to the crowd.
Even while his persona may have change slightly from the manipulative, self centered egotistical Chairman of the board to being more of just "The Boss" He is still able to control a crowd & The fans are still very interested in his on screen persona. One More thing to note is that As Well As Stone Cold Mr McMahon's Character has had a great effect on other WWE Superstars Such as Triple H & The Rock who both with the help of Mr McMahon Whether it be as Friend of foe has Had some of the best times in there character while involved in a storyline with him. HHH saw his career boom during late 1999/2000 during the McMahon/Hemsley era & The Rock's Career started to take off during 1998 during his time with the corporation. Even Bobby Lashley had the Best year of his career & could of been elevated into Main Event status during a feud with Mr McMahon in 2007 before he decided to part ways with the company. Hell Even Hornswoggle gained a lil bit more popularity during the Illegitimate child storyline which shows that Vince can make any one a star.
In Closing Yes Mr McMahon Has a Place on WWE television as the Fans Still DO care about him and he is still without a doubt one of the most popular figures in the WWE today as well as in the history of the entire business.
The character of Mr McMahon no longer has a place on WWE television.
We all know that, Mr. McMahon is the on-screen character of Vince McMahon, with the gimmick of being an often egotistical heel boss. Does this character have a place in the WWE television today? The answer is no.
The justification of the answer can be laid out by first understanding why this character was ever created. This character was spawned from the real-life hatred many wrestling fans had for McMahon following the Montreal Screwjob, at the 1997 Survivor Series. At that time, the WWE was dueling with the opposition known as WCW. Emotional uprisings and bitterness towards the man formed a bridge between the company and the hearts of the masses. Vince McMahon saw the possibility of entering into the hearts using the same bridge and thus created the Mr. McMahon character, a real villain for whom the fans would pay and come, just to see him getting beaten up. The cash register of McMahon clinked, for every blow he received from a fan favorite. He was the Wiley Coyote of the late 1990s, always winding up at the bottom of the cliff. The Austin-McMahon rivalry was one of the immediate factors instrumental for giving the WWE, victory in the wars.
But the times have changed and so has the hatred for McMahon. People don’t hate the old villain any more. Another fact is that the story of the egomaniacal boss versus dissatisfied employee is too old and boring. People know what to expect from such a rivalry and how Mr. McMahon’s master plans would backfire on him. WWE needs refreshingly new and never before seen storylines to attract people and cannot just use the same character driven plots to make people watch their show. And now, even Shane McMahon or more suitably, Stephanie can substitute for the character of an evil boss, if required. The WWE tried their best in using the character or in other words, “killing” the character, to attract the audience. But the resulting laughter and meager response proved that the character of the maniac boss and his egos are history.
Nothing much resulted from Mr. McMahon’s presence in recent times (which itself was “once in a blue moon”) and the show would have remained the same without the character. The most recent return of Mr. McMahon was to just get beaten up by Randy Orton and set a feud between Shane, Stephanie and Orton and more specifically, Triple H and Orton. The task would have been easily accomplished with just Stephanie or Shane getting beaten up in first place or just VINCE McMahon (not the Mr.McMahon character) getting beaten up.
The Mr.McMahon character lost the popularity and craze it had, when foes such as The Rock and Austin left. Vince McMahon may be needed for the WWE television, just for the shocking announcements and authoritative storyline decisions. But as far as the egomaniac, sadistic, perverted and evil boss character is concerned, it is all done with and over, and thus no longer has a place in the WWE television.
Let me start my argument by asking the question; what was your reaction when Randy Orton punted the chairman of the board in the head? If I recall correctly, the vast majority of members here were legitimately shocked and/or marking out. That’s what professional wrestling is all about. You build up a character to such a level that they’re able to get the audience emotionally invested enough to suspend their disbelief, even if only for one shocking moment. It’s not as if we haven’t seen Mr. McMahon get physically abused before. We’ve seen him take Stunner after Stunner. We’ve seen him drop off the side of a steel cage and land spine-first on the edge of the announce table. We’ve seen him take an elbow drop off a ladder with a garbage can over the upper half of his body. We’ve even seen blood pour out of the guy’s head like a faucet in a Buried Alive Match with The Undertaker. Mr. McMahon has endured a lot, and the fact that he’s still an important enough figure for us to mark out over Orton’s punt is indicative that he does have a role on screen.
Whenever McMahon is set to return or "guaran-damn-tees" a major announcement, there’s usually a lot of excitement about it. McMahon has not lost his aura as THE wave-making, business changing, cutting edge, authority figure. The man knows how to control a crowd, and if executed properly, a storyline with him can substantially elevate a superstar’s career. Look at Stone Cold Steve Austin (Who's program with McMahon is considered one of the best feuds of all time), Bobby Lashley (Who's program with McMahon made ECW must-see TV), and more recently Randy Orton. When a wrestler gets involved with Mr. McMahon, their storyline is one of the biggest and most hyped in the entire company.
There's no question that the business has gone through tremendous changes, but what hasn't changed is Mr. McMahon's ability to influence the crowd as an on-screen character. The notion that he's the boss and doesn't actually belong on screen isn't a believable one nowadays. He's widely considered a part of the show, as opposed to a chairman who's forced to appear on TV to deal with issues that come up. He comes and goes as he pleases, and does what he wants, but when it comes down to it, his presence is still something special. Here's some evidence of that. This was posted on ProWrestling.net on February 3rd.
WWE Raw drew a 3.6 rating for Monday's Raw on USA Network, which is equal to the rating the show scored last week. The first hour of the show drew a 3.55 with 5,151,000 viewers. The second hour of the show drew a 3.63 rating with 5,471,000 viewers.
Powell's POV: I assumed there was at least a chance that some viewers would have been so turned off by the Shane McMahon attack on Legacy last week that they wouldn't return for Monday's show, but that didn't turn out to be the case. The show drew it's best rating of the year two weeks ago when Vince McMahon returned and drew a 3.9.
This is a clear indication that people still care about the Mr. McMahon character. There was no promise of an announcement or anything of the sort. He was simply returning from his "freak accident", and the rating was a huge success.
Aside from numbers, the fact that McMahon is still willing to put his body through the same, if not more, punishment than men thirty or forty years younger than him, makes him worthy of having an on screen role. He sacrifices his body to make believable moments, and in that regard the man has certainly earned his stripes.
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