Vince McMahon is always thinking about what is best for the WWE audience.
Over the years, there have been performers who have left WWE (unceremoniously or not) only to be welcomed back at a later date. For example, Hulk Hogan returned in the early 2000s after joining rival promotion WCW in the mid-90s. During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Vince McMahon said you have to learn to put your ego aside and do what's best for business. The audience comes first.
"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," McMahon said.
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a mass exodus of talent and personnel from WWE, with hundreds being released, most of whom were told it was as a result of budget cuts. Vince admits that he used to make decisions with his heart, but now has to look at things from a business perspective. That said, even if he isn't the one to blame for someone not reaching their desired level of success, he understands that in his position he will be seen as the bad guy.
"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. 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," he said.
Elsewhere during the interview, Vince revealed that he will be inducting The Undertaker into the WWE Hall of Fame. Click here to learn more.
It was also announced that Pat McAfee will wrestle at WrestleMania 38. Click here to learn more.
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