For all his faults Vince's transition from announcer to evil boss was incredible..

[~Styles~]

As a kid I had no idea that this announcer was such a major player in the company. He wasn't a brilliant commentator by any means but everything from back then just had a classic feel (I can't think of one guy in the 90s who was working the tables on a regular basis who was bad). Then Michael Cole showed up and its been downhill ever since..

I was young so I don't even know if they ever hinted that Vince was a shareholder back then or if that only became common knowledge when the Austin feud started? Either way his confidence and believability in his new role was staggering and completely seamless looking back.

Basically the WWE and Vince get shytted on and rightfully so, but I just feel like a thread should be made on arguably the greatest heal turn of all time.

P.s. I probably would be considered a casual by most of you guys so feel free to call me out on anything I've got horribly wrong

 

[Riley Escobar]

As far as I'm aware he started to be acknowledged on TV as the owner in late 1996/early 1997, then when Montreal happened he took a more public role on screen

And you're right, it's crazy how quickly he transitioned, especially as he never really wanted to be an on-screen character in the first place

Edit:

Throughout late 1996 and into 1997, McMahon slowly began to be referred to as the owner on WWF television while remaining as the company's lead play-by-play announcer. On the September 23, 1996 Monday Night Raw, Jim Ross delivered a worked shoot promo during which he ran down McMahon, outing him as chairman and not just a commentator for the first time in WWF storylines.

I think for most people though it would have been Bret's "THIS IS BULLshyt" promo right after that cage match

 

[~Styles~]

Ahhh how could I forget the screw job. I suppose that was the first glimpse of what was in store..

Looking back his time as a commentator might be more impressive seeing as how you hear about the real life stories some not being too dissimilar to his onscreen heel character. How did he pull off being a convincing face..

 

[Riley Escobar]

Ahhh how could I forget the screw job. I suppose that was the first glimpse of what was in store..

Looking back his time as a commentator might be more impressive seeing as how you hear about the real life stories some not being too dissimilar to his onscreen heel character. How did he pull off being a convincable face..

In 1993 he was part of an "invasion" angle with the USWA and Jerry Lawler, and looking at the promos that was essentially the birth of the "Mr. McMahon" character

 

[~Styles~]

Props like I say I'm far from knowledgeable so I've not seen any of these clips...

That charisma though

 

[Mr. Negative]

there are no "casuals" here, dude.

Just smarks/neckbeards and people who watch WWE cause other feds don't matter.

I remember not watching WWE for a good long while. And watching and being shocked that Vince was the owner....

I'm not gonna lie, I REALLY thought that Jack Tunney was the president and Vince the Announcer being the owner was just an angle

 

[Sypress]

its crazy to think we all thought this even though he was acknowledge several times as the owner before

they werent hiding the fact he's the owner in the 80's
during the sex/steroid scandals
livewire i swear it was mentioned there a couple of times
during the heel JR run after bringing in fake diesel and razor
Heyman during the ECW invansion in 97


i guess we werent paying attention

 

[MrFirst2doit]

The steroid investigation I thought pre-dated the on-TV reveal no?

 

[King P]

It was first acknowledged on air in 96 during JR's shoot, but there were hints to it before that.

After Diesel lost the belt in 95, he cut a promo and talked about Vince wanting him to be a company guy and whatnot. And when Bret announced in 96 he was staying with the WWF and the camera was all on Vince.

 

[El Poyo Loco]

The steroid investigation I thought pre-dated the on-TV reveal no?

Yup. And for years I was waiting for them to not play us for stupid but when dubya see dubya was not a threat he could afford to do that but once they had him on the ropes oh by the way Vince owns this company.

 

[THE 101]

Yeah also when Diesel was feuding with Shawn Michaels in 96 just before he left he kept throwing shots and slick little references at Vince. There was a lot of hints throughout 96 although it didn't click with me until sometime in 97

 

[JerseyBoy23]

its crazy to think we all thought this even though he was acknowledge several times as the owner before

they werent hiding the fact he's the owner in the 80's
during the sex/steroid scandals
livewire i swear it was mentioned there a couple of times
during the heel JR run after bringing in fake diesel and razor
Heyman during the ECW invansion in 97


i guess we werent paying attention

Yeah this is kind of reminds of the secret of wrestling being scripted actually. If you do research, you find that they were scripting finishes in the 30s but just like Vince being the owner, it didn't matter until it was revealed to casuals.

 

[Sypress]

Yeah this is kind of reminds of the secret of wrestling being scripted actually. If you do research, you find that they were scripting finishes in the 30s but just like Vince being the owner, it didn't matter until it was revealed to casuals.

Vince revealed wrestling was predetermined in the late 80's to avoid certain taxes in NJ

If I'm not mistaken, I think it was also revealed during the steroid/sex scandal as well

 

[JerseyBoy23]

Vince revealed wrestling was predetermined in the late 80's to avoid certain taxes in NJ

If I'm not mistaken, I think it was also revealed during the steroid/sex scandal as well

Yup. My point was that by the time he revealed it, it had been predetermined for at least 60 years. I read on one of those wrestling classics threads that some dude exposed the whole industry in the 30s.

 

[ZEB WALTON]

i think it was c ommon knowledge vince was the owner but maybe we were too young to care, know or whatever. i remember my dad tellin me vince was the owner before i went to wrestlemania 10 and i was . i was like 6 tho lol.

they just never talked about it on tv but it was common knowledge during the steroid trial

anyway, yes vince is one of the best performers of all time. flawless transition and vince was underrated as the commentator. hes def one of the best, dudes promo game was incredible. had me wanting to watch that "Silk Stockings on USA!" bad lol.