'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Vince McMahon is known as one of the most intimidating people in the history of sports entertainment/pro wrestling – but what is the WWE owner really like when the camera is turned off?
Follow Sportskeeda for the latest WWE news, rumors and all other wrestling news.
Does his on-screen heel persona ever transfer backstage? Is he strictly business when he meets potential WWE Superstars for the first time? Does he go out of his way to make people feel comfortable?
In this article, we look through the archives to recall 10 real-life stories that WWE Superstars have told about the very first meeting they had with their boss.
#10 Finn Balor
When a WWE Superstar meets somebody as intimidating as Vince McMahon for the first time, it’s probably best to get the chit-chat over with as quickly as possible before doing their talking in the best way they know how: in a WWE ring.
In Finn Balor’s case, that’s exactly what happened when, prior to his match against Neville at an NXT live event in March 2015, he was introduced to Vince by Triple H seconds before his music hit.
The Irishman recalled to Sports Illustrated:
“I went over and Vince’s head popped out from behind the curtain and [he] said, ‘How are you doing, son?’. I said, ‘Hello, sir,’ and shook his hand. As I shook his hand, the heartbeat of my music started and I said, ‘That’s my cue, gotta go’.”
#9 Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan had just finished competing in an untelevised match against Lance Cade at a Monday Night Raw show in 2008 before he met Vince McMahon for the first time.
After being recommended to the WWE owner by Shawn Michaels, Bryan wanted to make a good impression so, knowing that Vince takes notice by how people dress, he bought a $500 suit for the pre-arranged meeting.
The rest, as Bryan explained to WWE.com, didn’t go very well:
“I have a very self-deprecating sense of humour and think of myself as a humble person, so it’s hard for me to say that I’m good at something. Vince said, ‘Shawn tells me you’re very good’. And I just said, ‘Well, I’m okay’. And I could tell instantly he disliked that. It was very awkward and very uncomfortable.”
#8 Luke Harper
Luke Harper became a full-time member of the main roster in the summer of 2013, so you’d think he would have had a conversation with Vince McMahon during his first year on Raw and SmackDown, right?
Wrong! It turns out the former Wyatt Family member didn’t have his first proper interaction with the multi-millionaire until the summer of 2014 when he and Erick Rowan were involved in a memorable rivalry with The Usos over the Tag Team titles.
He said on Talk Is Jericho in November 2015:
“My first real one was, we started doing the Uso feud like maybe a year into our thing. And I don’t know if it was the two out of three falls match or the one before at Money In The Bank, where we killed it. And we came to the back and he stood up and he hugged each one of us and he goes, ‘You go to that locker room and you tell these motherf*****s to follow that!’”
#7 Alexa Bliss
Vince McMahon is often portrayed as a scary guy to be around backstage, but there have been plenty of stories throughout the years that have shown a more playful side to his personality, too.
Four-time women’s champion Alexa Bliss revealed to Dirt Fork in 2017 that her first meeting with the WWE owner ended with him asking if she thought he would suit pink hair dye!
“I had my hair extensions and was painting them pink with hair dye. I’m sitting there in makeup, painting my hair extensions and Vince walks by and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, hi’. And he was like, ‘Hello’ and looks at my hair and asks me what I’m doing and I said, ‘I’m painting my hair extensions’ and he was really funny about it and said, ‘You think I need pink in my hair?’. I was like, ‘Yeah, that would be awesome’.”
#6 The Big Show
Way back in 1997, two years before The Big Show joined WWE from WCW, he met Vince McMahon for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in New Orleans.
“The World’s Largest Athlete” said in a 2014 interview with WWE.com that, despite his intimidating reputation, Vince is a very good motivator and he knows how to make Superstars feel special.
“I went by the WWE booth and he was standing out in front with a suit on, shaking hands. I was The Giant in WCW and I walked by and introduced myself, but Vince knew who I was already. I said, ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you’. I remember he had a firm handshake, a big smile on his face and looked me in the eye.”
#5 EC3
Current NXT Superstar EC3 was known as Mike Hutter and Derrick Bateman during his time in OVW, FCW, NXT and WWE between 2007 and 2013, but he never made enough of an impression to receive an extended period of television time on the main roster.
Speaking to the This is Awesome Wrestling Show in February 2015, the former Impact star said he has “nothing but respect” for Vince McMahon and enjoyed his first meeting with the man he now works for again.
“Well, this is ironic, Vince McMahon loved me and he loved my crazy hair. And we did some awful cologne commercial; that was the Mark Henry Cologne. He produced and wrote every bit of that segment. And he laughed hysterically when we were doing it. So, he thought it was awesome. Then, I was never on Raw again. So I guess it wasn’t that good.”
#4 AJ Styles
AJ Styles made a huge impact during his first year in WWE, entering the 2016 Royal Rumble at #3 on his very first night before winning the WWE Championship just eight months after his debut.
“The Phenomenal One” has proven himself to be a perfect representative for WWE on and off camera since joining the company in January 2016, so it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that his first meeting with Vince McMahon was all business.
He told Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho:
“The character that he explained to me is very close, very similar to [the guy I am]. He brought it up: ‘This is the way you need to be. You’re not the tallest guy, you’re not the biggest guy, but you’re a pit bull’. [I thought] I know that guy, I could be that guy.”
#3 Sheamus
Sheamus had one of the most impressive starts to a WWE career out of anybody in the last decade, bursting onto the scene in October 2009 and winning the WWE Championship within two months of being a member of the Raw roster.
However, while he was making a superb first impression inside the squared circle, the Irishman revealed to The42 in June 2016 that his first meeting with Vince McMahon outside a WWE ring didn’t exactly go as planned.
"The first time I met him I actually went to shake his hand and I kind of gave him a lame handshake and he pulled his hand away, and he goes, 'That's not a handshake! Give me a proper handshake!' ... He's just a very intimidating man, especially now I know him, but it's great; he's given me a great opportunity to have a lot of fun."
#2 Mark Henry
After competing in the 1994 Olympics, Mark Henry revealed in an interview that he was a big WWE fan. Word quickly got back to Vince McMahon, who called “The World’s Strongest Man” himself to see if he was interested in joining the wrestling business.
From that moment, as Henry recalled to WWE.com, things went a little sour.
“I picked up the phone and he said, ‘I heard you like wrestling. This is Vince McMahon’. I hung up on him because I thought it was one of my wrestling buddies playing a joke on me. I got another call from Terry Todd [Henry’s manager] and he asked me, ‘Did you hang up on Vince McMahon?’ And I said, ‘That was Vince McMahon for real?’. Vince called me back and we got a laugh out of it.”
#1 John Cena
The day of John Cena’s debut match in WWE was a milestone moment in the history of the company – and it was also the first time that the future 16-time world champion met Vince McMahon.
Speaking to CenterStage on the YES Network in March 2016, “Big Match John” revealed that his memorable first match against Kurt Angle on SmackDown only happened because The Undertaker – Angle’s original opponent – was ill and couldn’t make the show.
Cena had, in his own words, “a long, horrible, badly-dyed mop haircut at the time”, and that’s the one thing that stood out to Vince when he first locked eyes on his next big star.
“My first meeting with Vince McMahon went something like this: I was shoved into a room and someone over my shoulder said, ‘What do you think?’. And he [Vince] turns around and goes, ‘Cut his hair’. That was my first meeting with my boss.”
Do you love to play crosswords, Wordle or other exciting games? We'd like to connect with you. Fill the form here!
