3 matches that Vince McMahon hated and 2 that he loved

WWE Superstars can entertain audiences and their fellow performers as much as they like during matches and segments, but Vince McMahon is the one person within the company whose opinion matters the most.

Back in September 1999, for example, Mick Foley and The Rock’s “This Is Your Life” segment turned out to be one of the highest-rated moments in the history of Raw, but McMahon only described the segment as “okay” and he was initially frustrated that it ran for so long.

With regards to matches, there does not appear to be one certain in-ring style that the WWE owner prefers the most, with his top Superstars throughout the years (Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, John Cena etc) all having contrasting approaches inside the squared circle.

One thing we do know about the most important person in WWE, however, is that he is not afraid to make Superstars fully aware of his brutally honest opinion, even when he knows they will not like it.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at three matches that McMahon hated and two that he loved.

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#5 Hated: Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

One of the most memorable moments from Kevin Owens’ ‘WWE 365’ documentary on the WWE Network came when he approached Vince McMahon backstage following his victory against Chris Jericho in a United States Championship match at WrestleMania 33.

Owens simply asked “we good?” to McMahon, to which the WWE owner replied “nope” before allowing his new United States champion to walk away.

The rest of the documentary revolved around KO attempting to rediscover his confidence after disappointing his boss at WWE’s biggest event of the year, but he did not elaborate on why McMahon viewed the match so negatively.

In 2019, it was revealed by Jericho that McMahon’s issues were not with Y2J, who had no idea that his boss hated the match so much, and that his main problem was that Owens was performing high-flying, crowd-popping moves when he was supposed to be a heel.

Jericho told Inside The Ropes:

“I thought the [match] was good. I was very surprised when I saw KO after and he's like, 'Vince said it's one of the worst matches in WrestleMania history.' He wanted Kevin to be 'this type of heel' and Kevin was doing a lot of flashy moves and Vince didn't want that.”

#4 Loved: The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

The Undertaker took his WrestleMania undefeated streak to 21-0 in 2013 when he defeated CM Punk in the best match of the night at WrestleMania 29.

Speaking 18 months after the match, Punk revealed during his infamous appearance on Colt Cabana’s ‘Art of Wrestling’ podcast that he would have had no problems with not main-eventing WrestleMania as long as WWE paid him as much money as the people who competed in that year's main event, The Rock and John Cena.

He added that, during an argument with Vince McMahon about his pay, the WWE owner told him he should be proud of the match and he should watch it back.

Punk said:

"I wrestled that match like I had a deathwish. People can go back and watch it. I've never, ever watched it. I got into a huge screaming match with Vince about that because he's like 'did you watch it back yet?' I was like 'no!' 'Why, god damn it? You should be proud of that.' I was like 'f*** you, I was there. Pay me.' That was my attitude."

#3 Hated: Luke Harper vs. EC3

The inspiration for this article comes from a report from the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer which stated that Vince McMahon did not like Luke Harper’s match against EC3 in April 2019.

205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick accompanied EC3 to the ring and was involved in lots of spots at ringside throughout the match, which took place before an episode of SmackDown Live. However, McMahon described the match as “bad” and decided not to draft Harper to either Raw or SmackDown Live in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up.

Meltzer wrote:

“The creative meeting the day of the draft when it was asked about which brand Harper would be on, Vince said how the guy can’t even do a Southern accent [something he was asked to do years earlier], said the match with EC3 was bad, so they didn’t put him with either brand and that’s when he asked for his release.”

#2 Loved: Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

Seth Rollins brought an end to his storyline with The Authority in 2017 when he defeated Triple H at WrestleMania 33, earning his “Kingslayer” nickname in the process.

The non-sanctioned match had been in doubt after the Shield member suffered an injury to his knee in January 2017, just over two months before ‘Mania took place, but he recovered in time to compete in the 25-minute encounter.

As it turned out, the match not only ended up being the longest of the night, but it was widely regarded as one of the best, with the most memorable moment coming towards the end when Triple H inadvertently sent Stephanie McMahon crashing through a table at ringside.

Footage from ‘WWE 24: WrestleMania 33’ showed Rollins speaking backstage with Vince McMahon, who told him:

“That was an unbelievable performance. Wow. You’ll be proud of that one when you look back at it, I’ll tell you that. I’m proud. Thank you.”

#1 Hated: WarGames

WWE reintroduced the WarGames match back to its programming in November 2017 when the two-ring concept headlined the inaugural NXT TakeOver: WarGames event.

The Undisputed Era joined forces to defeat SAnitY and AOP & Roderick Strong in the main event of the 2017 show, while Pete Dunne, Ricochet & War Raiders defeated Undisputed Era when the chaotic match returned in 2018.

Speaking on his ‘Something To Wrestle With’ podcast in January 2017, several months before the announcement that WarGames would return, Bruce Prichard revealed why Vince McMahon dislikes the match so much.

He said (quotes via Wrestling Inc.):

“[McMahon] hates the double ring. He hates the double ring thing. I tried to sell the two-ring battle royal for years. He hated the double ring thing. He didn’t like the guys going in at intermittent times and the way it was always done with the heels having the favor of the babyfaces, but then you fast forward to Elimination Chamber. It was just one of those things. It was a WCW creation and he didn’t care for it.”