When UFC was on its way down in 1997, after a number of cable companies stopped carrying the PPVs, he tried to get WWE to buy UFC from previous owners Semaphore Entertainment Group, so he could become a fourth generation sports promoter. Vince’s grandfather, Jess, who did pro wrestling, was actually far better known as a boxing promoter and matchmaker.
“Yep, we did some marketing with Shane back in the day, and then the idea was to sell to Vince and for Shane to run it,” said David Isaacs, who was running the UFC for Semaphore Entertainment Group at the time. “At that point Vince backed away from the deal and signed Ken Shamrock. It was a smart move, at least in the short run, because he captured some of the UFC mojo at a lot lower price and with less risk.”
In 2000, he tried to make a deal to buy the financially struggling ECW, and he’d run the business and keep Paul Heyman as the head of creative. Once again, his father decided it wasn’t a good idea, as he didn’t want WWF to be publicly associated with or to promote that style.
The 2001 situation with the creation of “Shane McMahon’s WCW,” after the purchase was all storyline. But there was a reality in the sense that Shane would be seen by the public as the next Vince McMahon if he could take the dying brand and bring it back to life. He’d also be the fall guy if the concept failed. As it turned out, he was neither.
Vince gave up on doing a WCW brand when he saw how his crowd reacted at the beginning stages of the angle and immediately decided his plans of turning the Monday show into WCW Nitro were doomed, and all the extensive plans were dropped at the snap of fingers two days later.
He had attempted to get WWF to start its own MMA promotion a few years later. At this point, many thought MMA could be a viable business as long as it could get on television, and the first company with the right television deal would become the major league company. The feeling was the WWF had enough clout to open the door to television. But eventually Vince McMahon decided against starting up their own MMA group, feeling it wasn’t a viable business because you couldn’t control the outcomes and he felt you could spend millions promoting your top star and he could get wiped out and mean nothing.
And he was right and wrong. You could spend millions to create a top star, and they could get wiped out at any time. But as we’ve seen with Ken Shamrock, Chael Sonnen, Kimbo Slice, Chuck Liddell, Ronda Rousey and so many others, that when a top star loses badly, even multiple times, people’s fandoms don’t live and die with the results. They actually continue to draw, sometimes far longer than protected wrestlers. And, like wrestling, sometimes the wrong result at the wrong time kills momentum and does affect drawing power greatly. And, like wrestling, just because a guy keeps winning and you think he’s going to be a big draw, sometimes he just isn’t.
In 2006, Shane tried to push for control of ECW as a separate brand, coming off the second “One Night Stand” PPV. His idea was to do something closer to the old ECW style, more risque, and make it an Internet exclusive property, so he wouldn’t have to worry about violence or angles that TV station execs or sponsors wouldn’t be happy with.
But Vince made a deal with Syfy, and Shane wasn’t put in charge.
In late 2006 and early 2007, he tried to get the company to purchase Pride, but again, wasn’t able to put the deal together and Pride ended up being purchased by UFC.
At another point, he tried to buy the Strikeforce promotion, with the idea he’d work with former WWE Canada President Carl DeMarco in running the business, in another attempt to prove his chops as a promoter. But at that point he didn’t have enough money, nor was he able to raise the money, to do that on his own, and it fell through.
At another point, he tried to purchase a major soccer team in the U.K. but once again he wasn’t able to put together the financing to close the deal.
Shortly after his leaving, quitting, being let go, however one wishes to say what really happened in 2009 and it was a combination of all the above, which was not at all how it was portrayed at the time, he had talks with UFC. But those went nowhere. It was tough to see how a deal could be put together. The Fertittas by that point weren’t looking for business partners. Plenty of people wanted to buy in and they weren’t taking on new partners, except Shine Entertainment which provided them somewhere around $150 million to $175 million in immediate cash for 10 percent of the company and agreed to be silent partners. Even though he had a lot of experience in certain aspects of a sports entertainment franchise administration, skills that would translate to the UFC business model which is the closest out there to the WWE model, he wasn’t about to come on just as an executive making a salary.
the guy who won the royal rumble and is main eventing wrestlemania is keeping his ego out of it?
