Vince McMahon Reveals Mindset Around Releasing WWE Superstars
Vince McMahon says there is nothing personal behind decisions to release WWE Superstars from their contracts, it’s just business.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has shown himself to be an astute businessman, having turned WWE from a US-based wrestling company into an international entertainment juggernaut. During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, McMahon discussed some of the business strategies he’s used along the way.
Vince McMahon made clear that all of his business decisions are made in the best interests of the WWE audience, and cutting roster members who are seen as “dead weight” is part of that process.
“I’m always concerned about what’s best for the audience. What does the audience want? If you have dead weight around you and you have situations where someone is not cutting it and you have an opportunity for someone else to come in, ‘okay, that’s probably the best thing.’
“It’s one of the reasons with Hogan, and a lot of guys who left me at one time and why I brought him back. ‘I’ll never bring that son of a bitch back.’ When you say stuff like that, you’re really hurting yourself because you’re not thinking about your audience. You’re not thinking about your product. It’s not about you and your ego. ‘Yeah, maybe I really felt that way, maybe I didn’t, but it doesn’t matter.’ What’s the best thing for business. If the audience wants Hulk Hogan back, you bring him back. He has value that way.”
Vince McMahon went on to say that he believes he’s become a better businessman since taking WWE public because he now has to keep the company’s stockholders in mind and make business-based decisions.
“It’s not personal, it’s business. Once I took the company public, it helped me be a better businessman because prior to that, I was running the business, with my head, but mostly my heart. These decisions are so damn tough when you do that. You don’t know who has kids, someone has cancer in the family, all that is in your head. When you’re a public company, you go, ‘stockholders.’ It is the business end. You have to make an easier and better business decision.”
Despite admitting that there is still some heart to his decision-making, Vince McMahon said that these decisions don’t come down to whether or not he likes someone.
“My heart, there is still some of it in there, there is. At the same time, it’s business. There’s nothing personal about it in terms of whether I like somebody or don’t like someone or whatever.
“Sometimes, athletes, maybe more so in our type of business, are not given the opportunity, or even if they are and it doesn’t work, people from all walks of life, seldom look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the guy who fucked up. It’s on me.’ Instead, everyone has a million excuses as to why things didn’t work, and generally speaking, the heat has to go someplace, the old blame game, and I’m the bad guy. That’s part of the job.”
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.