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Regardless of who runs the creative teams on WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown, Vince McMahon is the person responsible for the career progression of his Superstars.
The WWE Chairman has repeatedly said over the years that he simply hands opportunities to WWE performers, and it is ultimately up to the men and women in WWE to “grab that brass ring” and connect with the audience.
Vince McMahon’s approach to dealing with Superstars was summed up in a 2014 interview on WWE’s website with JBL, who revealed that his boss essentially signed him over a handshake.
“He threw this contract out there for virtually no guaranteed money and said to me, ‘That contract’s not worth the paper it’s written on. All I can guarantee you is the handshake behind it.’ And that’s all I needed. I could live with that.”
While JBL went on to be hugely successful in WWE, Vince McMahon has not always accurately predicted how his new Superstars will fare in the future.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at three WWE Superstars who Vince McMahon expected to fail, as well as three he tipped to succeed.
#6 Vince McMahon expected Mick Foley to fail
In 1996, The Undertaker had established himself as one of the top babyfaces on the WWE roster. Vince McMahon constantly used The Deadman in high-profile matches and storylines, which meant he quickly ran out of heel opponents to face.
Former WWE commentator Jim Ross, who also scouted talent for the company at the time, suggested to Vince McMahon that Mick Foley could join WWE and work with The Undertaker.
“I go to Vince and say, ‘I want to hire Mick Foley.’ ‘Oh no, JR, we’re not doing that. I’m gonna go along with you on most of these things, but not that one.’” [H/T Talk Is Jericho]
Vince McMahon reluctantly agreed to hire Foley, but only because he felt it would be a good lesson for Ross when the newcomer failed in his role.
“He says, ‘Okay, here’s the deal. You hire him because I want you to know what it feels like to have your heart broken by a talent that you have great belief in. Just prepare for that. It’ll be a great lesson for you to learn, so hire him.’”
Ross added that Foley eventually won over Vince McMahon, especially during the time when his Mankind character cut unscripted promos in sit-down interviews.
#5 Vince McMahon tipped Drew McIntyre to succeed
It is rare for Vince McMahon to tell WWE fans on television that they are about to witness one of the company’s top stars of the future, but that is exactly what he did in 2009 when he introduced Drew McIntyre to the SmackDown crowd.
“This man, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be a future World Heavyweight Champion. This man’s attitude can be summed up by the phrase, ‘He is simply bada**.’”
Dubbed “The Chosen One”, McIntyre initially struggled to live up to Vince McMahon’s hype. Granted, he won the Intercontinental Championship during his first spell with WWE, but he looked a long way from becoming a World Heavyweight Champion after joining forces with Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal in 3MB.
After returning to WWE in 2017, McIntyre spent one year in Triple H’s NXT brand before rejoining Vince McMahon’s main roster in 2018. Within two years, the Scot defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 to win the WWE Championship.
Speaking to Sportskeeda’s Alan John, McIntyre reflected on his bizarre ‘Mania moment in front of an empty Performance Center and discussed his happiness at fulfilling Vince McMahon’s 2009 prophecy.
“I think for Vince and Hunter [Triple H] themselves, they were just very happy to see that I have finally kind of grown up and realized the potential they had seen in me all those years ago.”
It may have taken longer than anticipated for McIntyre to reach WWE’s main-event scene, but it is fair to say that Vince McMahon was right to have so much belief in his Superstar.
#4 Vince McMahon expected John Cena to fail
One of the most interesting moments from the ‘Ruthless Aggression’ series on the WWE Network came when John Cena admitted he failed in the role that Vince McMahon wanted him to play in 2002.
Everything went according to plan at the start of Cena’s main-roster run, with his SmackDown debut against Kurt Angle going extremely well, but the up-and-coming Superstar struggled to maintain fans’ support in the months that followed.
As Cena explained, Vince McMahon did not expect him to turn around his career and the WWE Chairman was ready to fire the future 16-time World Champion just a few months after his debut.
“The WWE, they used to make a series of cuts around late November and around mid-May. I was told that I would be getting my release at Christmas cuts because it just wasn’t working, and there was no argument there, it wasn’t. They gave it to me on a silver platter – John Cena, Ruthless Aggression – and I failed, I messed it up.”
Cena may have had difficulty entertaining WWE fans at this stage of his career, but he knew how to get a reaction from the rest of the Superstars on Vince McMahon’s roster.
Shortly before he was due to be released, Cena entertained his fellow Superstars by rapping on the back of a bus. Vince McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, enjoyed what she heard and asked him to portray a rapper on television, leading to his career being revitalized as “The Doctor of Thuganomics” character.
#3 Vince McMahon tipped Marc Mero to succeed
It is well known that Vince McMahon was a huge fan of Johnny B. Badd in WCW, but he did not realize when he signed the man behind the character – Marc Mero – that he would have to change his over-the-top persona due to a rights issue with WCW.
Mero said on the Noonan Speaks podcast in 2018 that Vince McMahon enjoyed his work so much that he even discussed the possibility of making him a World Champion.
“I mean, at that time, when I first came in, Vince talked about wanting to put the world strap on me right away. I mean, he had such big hopes for me, and, unfortunately, it did not go [that way].” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Although Mero won the Intercontinental Championship within five months of his WWE debut in 1996, his career was derailed in 1997 by a serious knee injury.
“They gave me the Intercontinental strap, and, of course, that didn't go well and I blew out my knee. And at that time, it was eight months off. And in that eight months, coming back it was never the same.”
Despite Vince McMahon’s high hopes, Mero only spent three years in WWE between 1996 and 1999, and his time with the company is best remembered for his on-screen association with his wife at the time, Sable.
#2 Vince McMahon expected Samoa Joe to fail
WWE director Bruce Prichard once revealed on his Something to Wrestle With podcast that Vince McMahon did not want to sign Samoa Joe because he thought he was “a fat Samoan” who looked out of shape.
In 2019, Joe all but confirmed that Prichard’s statement was correct when he said in an interview with Fightful that Vince McMahon “vehemently opposed” him joining his company.
“Vince vehemently opposed me being in WWE. He didn’t know me, wasn’t familiar with me, but now we have a great relationship and everything is working fine.”
Another example of Vince McMahon not seeing anything in Joe came in 2018 when the former IMPACT Wrestling star said in a ‘WWE Chronicle’ episode that Triple H even doubted whether Vince McMahon would ever call him up from NXT.
"[Triple H said] 'I don’t think Vince is looking to put a late thirty-something, you know, looking to promote him up to the main roster.' That was said within the first few sentences of us meeting."
As Joe said, everything worked out in the end and he now has a great relationship with Vince McMahon.
#1 Vince McMahon tipped Tom Magee to succeed
In 1986, former powerlifter Tom Magee produced such an impressive performance in a non-televised match against Bret Hart that Vince McMahon allegedly thought he could become WWE’s next Hulk Hogan.
It turned out that the real star of the match was Hart, who went on to prove himself as one of Vince McMahon’s top Superstars over the next decade. In contrast, Magee did not live up to the early hype and he ended up leaving WWE in 1990.
Up until 2019, it was believed that the tape of the famous Magee vs. Hart match was never going to be seen by fans. However, the footage was finally found on an old video, prompting WWE to produce a documentary about the lost tape.
Speaking on The Two Man Power Trip podcast, Magee revealed that he was unaware that Vince McMahon thought so highly of him after his match against Hart.
“So that's interesting because I don't recall anybody gushing over me verbally. I certainly knew people were watching me and I had a lot of attention but in terms of somebody giving me like an over-the-top appraisal like that was just a no.”
Magee added that it was not Vince McMahon’s style to overly praise somebody, so he did not expect to hear comparisons with Hulk Hogan from his boss.
