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Even though Vince McMahon is largely thought of as a pioneer and a genius in the pro wrestling/sports-entertainment genre, there are a few people who might not share that same opinion.
Over the last few years we've seen some pretty big names leave WWE under bad circumstances. Of course, all of them had their own unique reasons for leaving, but a lot of them had the same overall criticism of the company: Vince McMahon's creative process.
While plenty of superstars who have left WWE under less than ideal circumstances haven't specifically named Vince McMahon is the company's key problem, they desperately wanted him to change his way of doing things while they were actively wrestling.
Of the recently departed WWE superstars who have made incendiary comments about the company chairman, the following three hold the most weight, as they're, by far, some of the biggest names in pro wrestling history and in WWE's rich history as well.
#3 CM Punk: Vince thinks UFC is too barbaric
When former WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk appeared on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast following his departure from Vince McMahon's company, the "Best in the World" revealed why the WWE boss refused to let him escort UFC star Chael Sonnen to the Octagon for one of his fights.
"Oh my God, Phil. TNo, we can't do that. That's barbaric. Somebody is going to die. Then I had to remind him, 'I don't know if you remember Owen Hart or not, because he sort of died in your ring.'"
It's a bit shocking to hear that WWE's chairman believes that mixed martial arts is too barbaric, as his company has featured some pretty brutal stuff throughout the years. WWE's hardcore division was brutal and even more recently, matches involving Brock Lesnar have been brutal.
#2 Chris Jericho: Vince hated his WrestleMania match against Kevin Owens
Heading into 2017, there probably wasn't a better storyline in the entire company than Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho. But, despite that, WWE ended up having the two be the second match on the WrestleMania 33 card.
What's worse than that is, according to Chris Jericho, who spoke about this during an interview with Inside The Ropes, Vince McMahon absolutely hated his match against Kevin Owens back at Mania 33.
Jericho explains:
"I thought the match (against Owens) was good, but I was very surprised when I saw KO afterwards and he said Vince said it was one of the worst matches in WrestleMania history, and I was like 'what?!'
"Because Vince wanted Kevin to be this type of heel, and Kevin was doing a lot of stuff off the top rope and flashy moves, and Vince did not want that."
#1 Jon Moxley: Vince wanted to go harder on Roman Reigns' Leukemia
During the former Dean Ambrose's much talked about appearance on Talk is Jericho, Jon Moxley talked about his heel run prior to him leaving the company, where he revealed that Vince McMahon wanted to use Roman Reigns Leukemia as a way for the ex-Shield member to get heat.
As a matter of fact, as Moxley described during his chat with Jericho, he was asked to say something so egregious about Reigns' illness that, in his opinion, would've caused the company to lose sponsorship deals on top of them having to fire a collection of people.
Thankfully, he refused to do the promo that Vince wanted him to do.
"This promo also had a line regarding my actual friend who is going through actual leukemia that Vince wanted me to say, that he tried to talk me into saying. This is where I absolutely drew the line. He tried to talk me into it but I was like ‘absolutely not’. He said, ‘If you feel uncomfortable, that’s fine’ and I’m like, 'No'... that’s where I had to finally put my foot down. It is the worst line. I’m not going to say it on air, I’ll tell you [Jericho] after we’re done, but I’m not even going to say it on air – that’s how bad it was. It would have been a thing where somebody would’ve had to get fired.”
