5 Vince McMahon stories we learned this week: WWE Chairman wants controversial feud to continue for two months, Tyson Fury conversation revealed

RAW’s Paul Heyman and SmackDown’s Bruce Prichard oversee the creative direction of their respective brands on a weekly basis, but the major developments we see on WWE television are ultimately approved by one person, and that’s Vince McMahon.

The WWE Chairman has hardly appeared on WWE programming since he introduced the controversial ‘Wild Card Rule’ in May 2019, but that has not stopped him from making the headlines on a daily basis for various different reasons over the last few months.

This week, for example, we found out what he really thought of Tyson Fury’s WWE in-ring debut against Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel, while Mick Foley recalled the time that McMahon almost walked down to the ring to stop a segment during the Attitude Era.

In this article, let’s take a look at five of the most interesting stories we have learned over the last seven days about WWE’s main decision-maker.

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#5 How Vince McMahon feels about the Rusev storyline

One of the most talked-about WWE stories of the last few months has involved Rusev, Lana and Bobby Lashley on RAW.

The latest storyline development, which was greeted by a chorus of boos from the WWE Universe in Manchester, England, saw Lana reveal that she is nine weeks pregnant with Rusev’s child. However, she then said on the stage area to Lashley that she lied and she is not pregnant after all.

Despite the negative reactions from fans, WrestlingNewsCo reported this week that Vince McMahon “gets a kick out of the storyline” and he believes the crowd responses are helping to cement Lashley as a bigger heel.

The report went on to state that there is a lot more to come in the storyline and WWE is planning to keep it going for “at least the next couple of months”.

#4 Why Vince McMahon yelled at Dolph Ziggler

SmackDown Superstar Dolph Ziggler discussed lots of WWE topics with talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy during the company’s recent tour of the United Kingdom.

When asked to give an example of the worst thing that Vince McMahon has ever said to him, Ziggler revealed that the WWE Chairman has yelled at him “a million times” for going over the agreed amount of time in his matches and segments.

“Oh, boy. I can’t say those things! It’s very passionate in the backstage gorilla position where something either really special happens or it doesn’t. And, of course, as much as I brag about being great, I’ve been yelled at a million times because you either went the wrong direction or did something or went heavy [on time].”

The two-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion added that McMahon has told him that he is not allowed to repeat what some people did in the Attitude Era, where certain Superstars would be granted extra time for their segments if needed.

“Something along the lines of ‘This isn’t the Attitude Era, you can’t just go as long as you want out there’, with some yelling back and forth between us.”

#3 Vince McMahon had high praise for Tyson Fury

Despite only having two weeks of training as a wrestler, Tyson Fury made his WWE in-ring debut against Braun Strowman at the recent Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The finish to the match, which was widely viewed as a success by WWE fans, came when the heavyweight boxer landed a huge right hand on Strowman on the ring apron, forcing “The Monster Among Men” to fall to the outside of the ring and lose via countout.

Speaking to talkSPORT this week, Fury revealed that Vince McMahon was very impressed by the way that he was able to quickly adjust to a WWE ring.

"Vince McMahon said he has recruited sports stars from all different sports and he has never seen anyone come into their game, have a couple of training sessions, and pick it up like that. I looked like a natural in there!"

Moving forward, Fury has a fight lined up against Deontay Wilder in February 2020, but he has not ruled out making a return to WWE in the near future.

The 31-year-old recently told Sportskeeda’s Gary Cassidy that he would like to take on Brock Lesnar if he ever competes for WWE again.

#2 How Vince McMahon felt about The Bunny

In November 2014, The Bunny teamed with Adam Rose to defeat Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil in a largely forgettable match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Five years on from the event, former WWE producer Arn Anderson spoke about every match on the card during the latest episode of his podcast, ARN, and he had a lot of interesting things to say about the booking of the storyline and The Bunny character.

After making it clear that he thought The Bunny was “not good entertainment”, Anderson told host Conrad Thompson that he informed Vince McMahon of his opinion, as he always did when he felt something was not right, but the WWE boss did not react favourably.

“I spoke up, of course I did. If you’re paid to not just be a ‘Yes Man’ and you’re paid for your knowledge and your experience and your wisdom, whether it’s during a meeting or you wait and go back after the meeting and voice a different way to go, even if it’s the complete opposite of where creative is heading that day, it’s not met very favourably, I can tell you that.”

Anderson also described WWE’s booking of Slater as “criminal” and he wanted the former 3MB member to be used in a better way.

#1 Vince McMahon almost walked to the ring to stop a segment

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer recently attended a show where Mick Foley told stories about his wrestling career.

Speaking on an edition of Wrestling Observer Radio this week, Meltzer revealed that Foley recalled the time that Vince McMahon almost walked down to the ring on RAW to end the famous “This Is Your Life” segment between Mankind and The Rock in September 1999.

Two decades later, everybody now knows that the segment drew a 8.4 rating, making it one of the most-viewed WWE moments of all time. However, Meltzer said McMahon hated what he saw at the time when he watched the live segment play out.

“He 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. That’s how much he hated the segment.”

Having been critical of Foley and The Rock when they returned to the backstage area, McMahon admitted to both men after seeing the rating that their segment was “good”.

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