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Although WWE has lots of producers and behind-the-scenes personnel, the majority of segments and matches on RAW, SmackDown and WWE’s other regular shows have to be approved first by Vince McMahon.
Whether he is changing scripts at short notice or giving Superstars guidance on the direction of their characters, the WWE Chairman has always had a hands-on approach when it comes to his on-screen product.
On some occasions, Vince McMahon has even taken the unusual step of making an impromptu appearance on one of his own shows, leaving fans guessing as to whether the segment was scripted or not.
In this article, let’s take a look at three times that Vince McMahon interrupted a WWE show, as well as two times he wanted to but decided against it.
#5 Vince McMahon interrupted the 2005 Royal Rumble
One of the most controversial Royal Rumble finishes of all time came in 2005 when John Cena and Batista accidentally went over the top rope and touched the floor at the same time. "The Animal" was originally supposed to win the match, so the botched finish left everybody in a state of confusion.
Vince McMahon took it upon himself to march down to the ring to inform the referees that the match had to be restarted. This allowed Batista to eliminate Cena and go on to face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21, but the Royal Rumble drama did not end there.
Sadly for Vince McMahon, his appearance resulted in him tearing both of his quads as he quickly ran and tried to get under the bottom rope from outside the ring.
As Edge recalled in the Inside The Ropes video above, the rest of the Superstars in the WWE locker room were told to clear the hallway in order to let the injured Vince McMahon through.
“Nobody knew at that time, I just remember like, ‘Oh man, I am getting out of dodge.’ I am going back to that dressing room. And then we were told, ‘Don’t go in the hallway, don’t go in the hallway, don’t go in the hallway.’”
Edge added that Vince McMahon refused to let anybody help him as he made his way through the hallway and to his limousine, which took him to a hospital.
#4 Vince McMahon wanted to interrupt ‘This Is Your Life’
The Rock and Mankind’s ‘This Is Your Life’ segment in September 1999 is among the most-watched segments in WWE RAW history, but it has emerged in recent years that Vince McMahon disliked it so much that he considered walking down to the ring to bring it to an early end.
The comedy segment, which drew an 8.4 rating, saw Mankind introduce various people from The Rock’s past, including a school teacher and a high school girlfriend.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio in 2019, Dave Meltzer recalled a story that Mick Foley told about Vince McMahon at one of his live shows.
“He [Vince McMahon] hated it so bad, because it went so long, that he almost stormed down to the ring on live TV and stopped the segment. In fact, they had to talk him out of doing that.”
Vince McMahon told both Superstars how much he hated the segment when they returned backstage. However, after seeing the television ratings the next day, he was forced to admit that they did a good job.
#3 Vince McMahon interrupted Rhyno vs. Tajiri
If you regularly read articles about Vince McMahon and the real-life stories behind WWE matches, there is a good chance that you might have heard about the 2003 live event match between Rhyno and Tajiri.
The match came at a time when Vince McMahon had made the unusual decision to run WWE live events from the backstage area – something he usually leaves to producers.
Before the match, Vince McMahon stressed to Rhyno that he could not afford to make any mistakes against Tajiri, while a producer told the one-time United States Champion to try to frustrate the crowd even more if they began to chant “Boring!” at any stage.
When the “Boring!” chants began, Rhyno followed the advice he was given and started to put Tajiri in a submission move. But, as he would find out, it proved to be a bad decision, as Vince McMahon himself walked down to the ring and ordered both Superstars to go to the back.
Rhyno said on Talk Is Jericho in 2020 that he received double pay for that show, presumably because Vince McMahon felt bad for not allowing the “boring” match to finish.
#2 Vince McMahon wanted to interrupt Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon
Vince McMahon was so infuriated by the match between Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon at King of the Ring 2001 that, according to Shane, the WWE Chairman almost came out to stop the match on three occasions.
Angle was originally supposed to suplex Shane through a pane of glass next to the entrance ramp. However, WWE used the wrong kind of glass and it did not break on the first suplex, meaning Shane landed head-first on the concrete floor.
Moments later, the two men attempted the dangerous stunt again, this time with Angle suplexing his opponent through the glass before launching him through another pane of glass from the other side of the set.
Shane recalled on The Steve Austin Show that Vince McMahon threatened to end the match, while he also thought that Shane ignored his order to stop the match after receiving information from referee Mike Chioda.
“Vince thinks that I'm shooing him off, that I'm disobeying an order, that I'm ignoring the order from Chioda, but I never got the order because I would never disobey him [Vince McMahon]. So [the] gorilla [position] was silent. Vince was going ballistic. I mean, throwing stuff.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Angle, who suffered a broken tailbone early on in the match, ended up winning the 26-minute Street Fight, which has gone down as one of the most brutal matches in WWE history.
#1 Vince McMahon interrupted a SmackDown taping in Liverpool
In November 2014, Vince McMahon was so unimpressed with the Liverpool crowd during WWE’s European tour that he cut a heel promo on them after the first segment of the night.
The segment saw a babyface Chris Jericho engage in a war of words with the figureheads of The Authority, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, on an edition of his ‘Highlight Reel’ talk show.
Unfortunately, on this particular night, the three experienced performers struggled to get much of a reaction out of the Liverpool crowd, prompting Vince McMahon to make an impromptu appearance and insult the entire city.
“Have some fun here tonight, Liverpool. Liverpool… what kind of name is Liverpool? Liverpool sounds like an old man’s skin disease, doesn’t it? Liverpool; kind of like ebola, it just crawls up on you. Come on and have some fun here tonight, d*mn it.”
As usual, this United Kingdom episode of SmackDown was taped, so footage of Vince McMahon’s promo never made it to air.
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