5 Epic WWE moments that happened when Vince McMahon coincidentally missed the show

As the Chairman, CEO and creative genius behind all things WWE, it is safe to assume that Vince McMahon is watching on a monitor backstage while some of the greatest moments in sports-entertainment history play out on our television screens.

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant? McMahon was there. Steve Austin and The Rock’s WrestleMania trilogy? McMahon was there. The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar? You guessed it… McMahon was there.

However, you might be surprised to know that WWE’s biggest decision-maker has actually missed a large number of episodes of Raw and SmackDown, as well as pay-per-views, over the last few decades.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five epic WWE moments that happened when McMahon coincidentally missed the show.

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#5 The Festival of Friendship

One of the greatest segments in modern-day WWE took place in February 2017 when Chris Jericho held a ‘Festival of Friendship’ on Raw for Kevin Owens.

After several weeks of disagreements between the allies, Jericho wanted to make amends by putting on a celebratory event to show how much his best friend truly meant to him.

The entertainment extravaganza featured lots of over-the-top moments, including the unveiling of a ‘Creation of Kevin’ painting and an appearance from ‘Friendship the Magician’, before Owens handed Jericho a present of his own: ‘The List of KO’.

Owens went on to attack his supposed friend inside the ring and around the ringside area, bringing an end to their seven-month alliance.

Speaking on Live Audio Wrestling, Jericho revealed that Vince McMahon was not present at Raw on the day of the memorable segment and he had to “fight all day long” with Triple H in order to convince his former on-screen rival to give him and Owens enough television time to make the segment work.

#4 Kevin Owens’ Steel Cage fall

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in 2018 that Vince McMahon usually takes an annual vacation in mid-July, which is why he missed that year’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view and the episodes of Raw and SmackDown Live that followed.

With Triple H and Billy Kidman in charge of running Gorilla Position for Extreme Rules, the 12-match card featured lots of memorable moments, including Bobby Lashley’s surprising win over Roman Reigns and Dolph Ziggler’s 30-minute Iron Man triumph over Seth Rollins in the main event.

However, the most epic moment on the show came when Kevin Owens paid homage to Mick Foley by falling through an announce desk after being thrown from the top of a Steel Cage by Braun Strowman.

As Owens’ feet touched the ringside floor first, the former Universal Champion was declared the winner of the match, but Strowman definitely won the war!

#3 JBL’s legendary title reign begins

In February 2019, WWE producer Bruce Prichard recalled various stories on his ‘Something To Wrestle With’ podcast about The Undertaker’s run with the company between 2004-2006.

When the conversation turned to ‘Taker’s Concrete Crypt match against The Dudley Boyz at Great American Bash 2004, Prichard revealed that there was a lot of chaos behind the scenes that day because Vince McMahon was absent from the pay-per-view.

One of the biggest moments from the show came in the penultimate match when John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) defeated Eddie Guerrero in a Texas Bullrope match to begin his legendary reign as WWE Champion.

The unpopular outcome might not have felt epic at the time, but JBL went on to have one of the most memorable WWE Championship reigns in history before finally losing the title to John Cena at WrestleMania 21.

The former APA member’s record as the longest-reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history (280 days) stood for over 13 years before AJ Styles surpassed it in 2018.

#2 Rusev & Lana’s wedding celebration

Vince McMahon was absent for two weeks of WWE television in early August 2016, meaning he missed much of the build-up to the SummerSlam pay-per-view.

One of the most featured rivalries heading into the event involved United States Champion Rusev, whose real-life marriage to Lana became part of a storyline on Raw.

“The Bulgarian Brute” and “The Ravishing Russian” were all set to relive and re-enact their special day during an in-ring segment when Rusev’s rival, Roman Reigns, crashed the celebration and began to brawl with the US champ.

Sadly for Lana, she also became involved in the melee and ended up being inadvertently pushed face-first by her husband into one of their wedding cakes, leading Raw General Manager Mick Foley to announce a match between Rusev and Reigns at SummerSlam.

This segment was the standout moment of the Rusev vs. Reigns rivalry and, as of the time of writing, it has garnered an impressive 16 million views on YouTube!

#1 Daniel Bryan wins at WrestleMania 30

From August 2013 to April 2014, Daniel Bryan overcame multiple obstacles before defeating Triple H in the opening match of WrestleMania 30 to finally cement his place in the WWE Championship main event against Randy Orton and Batista.

Although Vince McMahon was present for Bryan’s victory over his son-in-law, the WWE Chairman missed the Triple Threat match at the end of the show because he went to the hospital with The Undertaker after the WWE icon’s loss against Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar’s advocate, Paul Heyman, blurred the lines between fiction and reality on the episode of Raw after WrestleMania 30 when he mentioned during a promo that “The Beast” had inflicted such a severe punishment on ‘Taker that McMahon had to visit him in hospital.

It was later confirmed that Heyman was indeed telling the truth and that McMahon left the show early due to “The Deadman” collapsing backstage.