No Mercy Thoughts:
– Matt Hardy over Mark Henry – To the shock of no one, though it was a better match than it had any right being.
– Beth over Candice – Again, no surprise, a typical Raw match here, and c’mon, a ppv match going 5 minutes.
– Rey over Kane by DQ – Well I think we all knew they wouldn’t unmask Rey so they had to do something. But then again, this is a reason you don’t bury yourself in a corner booking-wise.
– Batista over JBL – 5 minutes! Now, I don’t want to watch JBL go that long but another 5 minutes on ppv! That is unacceptable.
– Show over Taker – Sick match here, to the shock of me at least. Show was allowed to look dominant and will likely get the next shot against Triple H.
– Triple H over Jeff Hardy – That tricky Triple H… great match as usual between these two and I like how they played off the Armageddon match from last year where Jeff won with a finisher reversal to a pin and this time Triple H did the same thing. Quality stuff here, ***1/2.
– Jericho over Shawn – Great stuff again as the feud of the year gets another notch in the belt. Jericho got beaten down but flat out beat Shawn in his match with no bullshit, so huzzah for Chris. Here’s to hoping there is one more match between the two down the line.

Overall Thoughts – This one is the stereotypical 1998 WWF(E) ppv. The lower and mid card was just okay but the main events were ROCKING! Here is the problem. JBL discussed the economic crisis and I have taught economics before, and Vince and the rest of the booking committee has to understand that in these current times fans are spending $40 a month for ppvs. Therefore if you only have 7 matches on a card, then make the matches longer and better. The Women’s Title and JBL/Batista were only 5 minutes and seemed like nothing more than Raw matches. Then there was the ridiculous MVP/Orton/Priceless/Punk interview that lasted FOREVER and did NOTHING! Why not book a Punk/Kofi/MVP vs. Priceless and Manu match, or another tag match or something. I hate wasting ppv time on stuff normally seen on free television. The main events and Show/Taker were good so overall it is a thumbs up, but I want more for my $40.

So when pondering what to write for this week’s column, I hit up my number one resource, WWE 24/7. This month, focuses on brawls, stadium wrestling events, Big John Studd and Triple H. I was watching Triple H’s King of Kings volumes 1 and 2 in the Legend’s section and he talks a lot about the Clique’s interaction with Vince and into the McMahon/Helmsley alliance leading to the huge feud with Vince himself. I began thinking about Vince McMahon, the wrestler.

Now I grew up in the early to mid 1980’s where Vince McMahon was nothing more than an announcer, and a BAD one at that. Watching Saturday Night’s Main Event where he co host with Jesse the Body Ventura, I remember plenty of nights of “ONE, TWO, THREE! HE GOT EM’, NO HE DIDN’T!!!” Vince served as an announcer for SNME and other WWE events leading to the premiere of Raw in 1993. It wasn’t until 1997 where the lethal combination of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Degeneration X outed Vince as owner of the WWF(E), and the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” sealed his fate as a non-bias entity in the WWF(E). After Wrestlemania XIV in April of 1998, Vince began getting a handle on his Mr. McMahon persona and with the Stooges and genuine hatred of Stone Cold, he became the biggest heel in wrestling. As the years rolled on we were introduced to the Corporation, “YOU’RE FIRRRREEDDDD!,” The Higher Power, McMahon/Helmsley Alliance, 2-Man Power Trip, a sexual predator, a father of a leprechaun, and of course THE MONAAAAY. But in becoming everyone’s favorite heel owner, Vince also recognized fans’ desire to see him pay dearly. And thus he has stepped into the ring with some of the legends of the past 10 years; Austin, Triple H, Shawn, Foley, Hogan, Flair, etc. He has also been a part of arguably some of the most memorable moments of the previous 10 years. So let’s see where Vince McMahon places in the archives in terms of wrestling.

1998 – It was 1998 where Vince first entered the squared circle. Stone Cold Steve Austin pushed enough of Vince’s buttons to get him involved in a match where Dude Love interfered saving Vince. This led to Vince becoming the special ref of the classic Dude/Austin WWF Title match from Judgment Day where an errant chair shot knocked Vince out allowing Austin to use Vince’s hand to count the three. After Kane and Undertaker destroyed Vince in the ring, he again played the fool to Austin leading to the classic hospital scene, which introduced the world to Mr. Socko. Vince ended 1998, by establishing the Rock as his Corporate Champion with Shane at his side.

1999 – To paraphrase Al Pacino in the Devil’s Advocate, “Can anyone deny that 1999 was Vince McMahon’s entirely.” After forcing his arch foe Austin to take the #1 spot in the Royal Rumble, Austin managed to work Vince into the #2 position. After running off and sitting back at the announce table for half the match, Austin finally dragged Vince in, but Rock’s interference led to Vince dumping Austin to WIN THE ROYAL RUMBLE. That’s right, Vince McMahon, Royal Rumble winner! But acting Sheriff Shawn Michaels would jump on a Vince error in giving up his Wrestlemania shot and give it to Rumble runner up Stone Cold. This set up Vince vs. Austin in the main event of February’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre ppv. That match was the steel cage match where Vince, in his old age took a crazy bump from the top of the cage flying off through the announce table.

After months of crazy Russo booking where Vince went from hating to Austin to being Austin’s backer to becoming the Higher Power out to get Austin, Vince also competed in the KOTR 99 main event 2 – 1 ladder match with Shane against Austin where the “mystery briefcase lifting” occurred allowing the McMahons to win. At Fully Loaded, Austin and Vince had a final showdown. If Austin defeated Taker, Vince was forced to be off TV forever!!! Should Taker win, Austin gets no more title shots EVER!!! Austin beat Taker in a First Blood match and Vince gone FOREVER. HAHAHA!!! Triple H began drawing the ire of Vince and the McMahon family as he became world champion and Vince found himself challenged by the crazed champion to a World Title match in September of 1999. There Vince’s mortal enemy, Stone Cold, came out delivered a Stunner to Triple H and dragged a bloody Vince McMahon over for the 1, 2, 3… and we have WWF(E) Champion Vince McMahon! Later in the year the unresolved issue between he and Triple H would blow off at Armageddon where Vince defended his daughter’s honor against her “husband” in a Street fight. 40 minutes of brutal violence ensued but Stephanie turned on her father and sided with Hunter. 1999 ended with Vince McMahon having main evented 4 ppvs out of 12 (1/3), winning the Royal Rumble, and WWF Title.

2000 – By Wrestlemania 2000, Vince had again switched allegiances, now siding with the McMahon/Helmsley alliance. Although I bet Triple H would have not recommended Vince to side with him at the KOTR where Triple H/Vince/Shane lost to Rock/Kane/Taker with Rock pinning Vince to become World Champ.

2001 – The Austin/McMahon saga came full circle at Wrestlemania X-7. There Vince lost a brutal war to his son Shane who had bought out WCW from under him. But Vince would side with Austin to help him beat Rock in the main event. Vince would have his WWE army to put away the InVasion of WCW/ECW and then a new enemy would arise for Mr. McMahon… WOOOO Nature Boy Ric Flair as the new co-owner of WWE.

2002 – Vince and Flair’s disagreements continued until a match was planned for the Royal Rumble. Flair was bloodied in front of his family, but his years of in ring experience would allow him to secure the Figure 4 and defeat a bloody Vince.

2003 – By 2003 Vince was fighting old enemies and new foes. At Wrestlemania 19, Vince and his one time money ticket Hulk Hogan battled it out in front of the world at Safeco Field in Seattle Washington. Roddy Piper interfered but in the end, Hogan was victorious. Later in 2003, Vince was on ppv again but facing lesser known and lesser quality opponents. First at Vengeance, he fought and defeated one-legged Zack Gowen and then beat up his own daughter at No Mercy in an I Quit Match. At Survivor Series, with the help of Kane, Vince buried Undertaker alive to end his ppv record at 3 – 1 for the year.

2006 – Vince stayed off the radar for a while until 2006 when his rivalry with DX gave root to a heated feud with Shawn Michaels. At Wrestlemania 22, Shawn and Vince brutalized each other in a loooong hardcore match where Vince was garbage canned, elbowed through a table, and superkicked into unconsciousness. Vince then teamed with his son Shane against Shawn and God in an angle even I felt was unsavory. Shawn was defeated by the McMahons that night and by the middle of the year, Vince was having his bloody face shoved into Big Show’s ass inside a Hell in a Cell.

2007 – Last year, Vince was once again involved in a Wrestlemania match, though not as a wrestler, as a second to Umaga in a hair vs. hair match with Donald Trump who seconded Bobby Lashley. Lashley defeated Umaga with the help of Stone Cold, and Vince was shaved bald. He went on a crusade against Lashley who was the ECW World Champion. Vince sided with Umaga, and Shane in a 3 – 1 match against Lashley and Vince scored the pin to become the ECW Champion. The man who was the annoying announcer of my childhood was now a World Champion of 2 wrestling companies.

Vince McMahon will never be considered one of the greatest wrestlers ever, but lets review the resume:
– 1999 Royal Rumble Winner
– Former WWE and ECW World Champion
– Competed in classic matches with Hall of Famers and Future Hall of Famers:
– Stone Cold Steve Austin
– Triple H
– Shawn Michaels
– Hulk Hogan
– Ric Flair
– Undertaker
– Was a participant in Wrestlemanias X-7, X-9, XXII

Whether or not you respect, hate, love and worship the man, one cannot deny Vince McMahon has built an accomplished wrestling resume and deserves mention as one of the greats of all time. Creepy to say that only 10 years after he let the world know he wasn’t just an announcer/owner.

A final thought, about current booking. I would love to see the fans choose Shawn Michaels as the special ref in the Batista vs. Jericho title match, and have Michaels cost Batista the win by accident. That can fuel a triple threat that ties in all loose ends from this entire year between Batista, Shawn and Jericho.

No Mercy Thoughts:
– Matt Hardy over Mark Henry – To the shock of no one, though it was a better match than it had any right being.
– Beth over Candice – Again, no surprise, a typical Raw match here, and c’mon, a ppv match going 5 minutes.
– Rey over Kane by DQ – Well I think we all knew they wouldn’t unmask Rey so they had to do something. But then again, this is a reason you don’t bury yourself in a corner booking-wise.
– Batista over JBL – 5 minutes! Now, I don’t want to watch JBL go that long but another 5 minutes on ppv! That is unacceptable.
– Show over Taker – Sick match here, to the shock of me at least. Show was allowed to look dominant and will likely get the next shot against Triple H.
– Triple H over Jeff Hardy – That tricky Triple H… great match as usual between these two and I like how they played off the Armageddon match from last year where Jeff won with a finisher reversal to a pin and this time Triple H did the same thing. Quality stuff here, ***1/2.
– Jericho over Shawn – Great stuff again as the feud of the year gets another notch in the belt. Jericho got beaten down but flat out beat Shawn in his match with no bullshit, so huzzah for Chris. Here’s to hoping there is one more match between the two down the line.

Overall Thoughts – This one is the stereotypical 1998 WWF(E) ppv. The lower and mid card was just okay but the main events were ROCKING! Here is the problem. JBL discussed the economic crisis and I have taught economics before, and Vince and the rest of the booking committee has to understand that in these current times fans are spending $40 a month for ppvs. Therefore if you only have 7 matches on a card, then make the matches longer and better. The Women’s Title and JBL/Batista were only 5 minutes and seemed like nothing more than Raw matches. Then there was the ridiculous MVP/Orton/Priceless/Punk interview that lasted FOREVER and did NOTHING! Why not book a Punk/Kofi/MVP vs. Priceless and Manu match, or another tag match or something. I hate wasting ppv time on stuff normally seen on free television. The main events and Show/Taker were good so overall it is a thumbs up, but I want more for my $40.

So when pondering what to write for this week’s column, I hit up my number one resource, WWE 24/7. This month, focuses on brawls, stadium wrestling events, Big John Studd and Triple H. I was watching Triple H’s King of Kings volumes 1 and 2 in the Legend’s section and he talks a lot about the Clique’s interaction with Vince and into the McMahon/Helmsley alliance leading to the huge feud with Vince himself. I began thinking about Vince McMahon, the wrestler.

Now I grew up in the early to mid 1980’s where Vince McMahon was nothing more than an announcer, and a BAD one at that. Watching Saturday Night’s Main Event where he co host with Jesse the Body Ventura, I remember plenty of nights of “ONE, TWO, THREE! HE GOT EM’, NO HE DIDN’T!!!” Vince served as an announcer for SNME and other WWE events leading to the premiere of Raw in 1993. It wasn’t until 1997 where the lethal combination of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Degeneration X outed Vince as owner of the WWF(E), and the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” sealed his fate as a non-bias entity in the WWF(E). After Wrestlemania XIV in April of 1998, Vince began getting a handle on his Mr. McMahon persona and with the Stooges and genuine hatred of Stone Cold, he became the biggest heel in wrestling. As the years rolled on we were introduced to the Corporation, “YOU’RE FIRRRREEDDDD!,” The Higher Power, McMahon/Helmsley Alliance, 2-Man Power Trip, a sexual predator, a father of a leprechaun, and of course THE MONAAAAY. But in becoming everyone’s favorite heel owner, Vince also recognized fans’ desire to see him pay dearly. And thus he has stepped into the ring with some of the legends of the past 10 years; Austin, Triple H, Shawn, Foley, Hogan, Flair, etc. He has also been a part of arguably some of the most memorable moments of the previous 10 years. So let’s see where Vince McMahon places in the archives in terms of wrestling.

1998 – It was 1998 where Vince first entered the squared circle. Stone Cold Steve Austin pushed enough of Vince’s buttons to get him involved in a match where Dude Love interfered saving Vince. This led to Vince becoming the special ref of the classic Dude/Austin WWF Title match from Judgment Day where an errant chair shot knocked Vince out allowing Austin to use Vince’s hand to count the three. After Kane and Undertaker destroyed Vince in the ring, he again played the fool to Austin leading to the classic hospital scene, which introduced the world to Mr. Socko. Vince ended 1998, by establishing the Rock as his Corporate Champion with Shane at his side.

1999 – To paraphrase Al Pacino in the Devil’s Advocate, “Can anyone deny that 1999 was Vince McMahon’s entirely.” After forcing his arch foe Austin to take the #1 spot in the Royal Rumble, Austin managed to work Vince into the #2 position. After running off and sitting back at the announce table for half the match, Austin finally dragged Vince in, but Rock’s interference led to Vince dumping Austin to WIN THE ROYAL RUMBLE. That’s right, Vince McMahon, Royal Rumble winner! But acting Sheriff Shawn Michaels would jump on a Vince error in giving up his Wrestlemania shot and give it to Rumble runner up Stone Cold. This set up Vince vs. Austin in the main event of February’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre ppv. That match was the steel cage match where Vince, in his old age took a crazy bump from the top of the cage flying off through the announce table.

After months of crazy Russo booking where Vince went from hating to Austin to being Austin’s backer to becoming the Higher Power out to get Austin, Vince also competed in the KOTR 99 main event 2 – 1 ladder match with Shane against Austin where the “mystery briefcase lifting” occurred allowing the McMahons to win. At Fully Loaded, Austin and Vince had a final showdown. If Austin defeated Taker, Vince was forced to be off TV forever!!! Should Taker win, Austin gets no more title shots EVER!!! Austin beat Taker in a First Blood match and Vince gone FOREVER. HAHAHA!!! Triple H began drawing the ire of Vince and the McMahon family as he became world champion and Vince found himself challenged by the crazed champion to a World Title match in September of 1999. There Vince’s mortal enemy, Stone Cold, came out delivered a Stunner to Triple H and dragged a bloody Vince McMahon over for the 1, 2, 3… and we have WWF(E) Champion Vince McMahon! Later in the year the unresolved issue between he and Triple H would blow off at Armageddon where Vince defended his daughter’s honor against her “husband” in a Street fight. 40 minutes of brutal violence ensued but Stephanie turned on her father and sided with Hunter. 1999 ended with Vince McMahon having main evented 4 ppvs out of 12 (1/3), winning the Royal Rumble, and WWF Title.

2000 – By Wrestlemania 2000, Vince had again switched allegiances, now siding with the McMahon/Helmsley alliance. Although I bet Triple H would have not recommended Vince to side with him at the KOTR where Triple H/Vince/Shane lost to Rock/Kane/Taker with Rock pinning Vince to become World Champ.

2001 – The Austin/McMahon saga came full circle at Wrestlemania X-7. There Vince lost a brutal war to his son Shane who had bought out WCW from under him. But Vince would side with Austin to help him beat Rock in the main event. Vince would have his WWE army to put away the InVasion of WCW/ECW and then a new enemy would arise for Mr. McMahon… WOOOO Nature Boy Ric Flair as the new co-owner of WWE.

2002 – Vince and Flair’s disagreements continued until a match was planned for the Royal Rumble. Flair was bloodied in front of his family, but his years of in ring experience would allow him to secure the Figure 4 and defeat a bloody Vince.

2003 – By 2003 Vince was fighting old enemies and new foes. At Wrestlemania 19, Vince and his one time money ticket Hulk Hogan battled it out in front of the world at Safeco Field in Seattle Washington. Roddy Piper interfered but in the end, Hogan was victorious. Later in 2003, Vince was on ppv again but facing lesser known and lesser quality opponents. First at Vengeance, he fought and defeated one-legged Zack Gowen and then beat up his own daughter at No Mercy in an I Quit Match. At Survivor Series, with the help of Kane, Vince buried Undertaker alive to end his ppv record at 3 – 1 for the year.

2006 – Vince stayed off the radar for a while until 2006 when his rivalry with DX gave root to a heated feud with Shawn Michaels. At Wrestlemania 22, Shawn and Vince brutalized each other in a loooong hardcore match where Vince was garbage canned, elbowed through a table, and superkicked into unconsciousness. Vince then teamed with his son Shane against Shawn and God in an angle even I felt was unsavory. Shawn was defeated by the McMahons that night and by the middle of the year, Vince was having his bloody face shoved into Big Show’s ass inside a Hell in a Cell.

2007 – Last year, Vince was once again involved in a Wrestlemania match, though not as a wrestler, as a second to Umaga in a hair vs. hair match with Donald Trump who seconded Bobby Lashley. Lashley defeated Umaga with the help of Stone Cold, and Vince was shaved bald. He went on a crusade against Lashley who was the ECW World Champion. Vince sided with Umaga, and Shane in a 3 – 1 match against Lashley and Vince scored the pin to become the ECW Champion. The man who was the annoying announcer of my childhood was now a World Champion of 2 wrestling companies.

Vince McMahon will never be considered one of the greatest wrestlers ever, but lets review the resume:
– 1999 Royal Rumble Winner
– Former WWE and ECW World Champion
– Competed in classic matches with Hall of Famers and Future Hall of Famers:
– Stone Cold Steve Austin
– Triple H
– Shawn Michaels
– Hulk Hogan
– Ric Flair
– Undertaker
– Was a participant in Wrestlemanias X-7, X-9, XXII

Whether or not you respect, hate, love and worship the man, one cannot deny Vince McMahon has built an accomplished wrestling resume and deserves mention as one of the greats of all time. Creepy to say that only 10 years after he let the world know he wasn’t just an announcer/owner.

A final thought, about current booking. I would love to see the fans choose Shawn Michaels as the special ref in the Batista vs. Jericho title match, and have Michaels cost Batista the win by accident. That can fuel a triple threat that ties in all loose ends from this entire year between Batista, Shawn and Jericho.