If Vince McMahon doesn’t like your gimmick you’re doomed forever, right? Not necessarily. Here’s a list of wrestlers who’s gimmicks were loathed by Vince, but ultimately even The CEO couldn’t keep them down.
Daniel Bryan
Full of passion and skill, lovable and relatable, but tiny compared to Vinnie Mac’s favourite type of wrestler (big). He had a goat beard, underwhelming ring gear, and was seemingly in need of anger management...but D-Bry proved Vince and all the naysayers wrong when The YES Movement hit a monumental stride that launched him into the stratosphere.
If Bryan hadn’t been plagued by injuries who knows where he could be today. Personally, I think Vince was a little happy that Daniel would be out of his hair following his forced retirement.
Just look at his face at Danny’s farewell episode. He was beaming with joy, although probably not as much joy as when he watched how much money Bryan brought into the company.
The Vaudevillains
Vince may get the last laugh on this one, but in NXT, Strongman Simon Gotch and Singin’ Aiden English were CAPITAL Over as the old-time throwbacks villains.
Vince thought they were dumb as hell.
I can see why. On paper, it seems like an awful idea with no room for any growth. But English is an exceptional showman and Gotch is deceptively good at playing the chivalrous muscle – handlebar moustache and all.
And when they were doing Spy vs. Spy type vignettes and a carnival barker entrance, they were consistently the best part of any show they were on. They admittedly have lost a little steam since debuting on the main roster, but the brand split might restart that hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine that powers them.*cough cough*
Kevin Owens
Vince doesn’t like wrestlers that he didn’t develop at home.
Not literally his home (although that would be pretty cool, like if he had some sort of mad-scientist basement where he spliced DNA and mix-n-matched physical attributes like a create-a-wrestler in WWE ‘12), but you get my drift.
Anyway, Kevin Owens doesn’t fit the checklist of Vince McMahon’s stereotypical main eventer, and it is at these instances that you have to take a step back and question just how blind he has to be to ignore the pot(belly) of gold that is staring him in the face.
Goldberg
This one sort of falls into the “not built in my backyard” category.
Bill Goldberg was a PHENOMENON in the wrestling world, but he was Ted Turner’s phenomenon down in WCW. I think Vince thought (rightfully so) that he had the superior black-trunked bald guy on his show.
I think Vince was mad that Bill wasn’t already exclusively on WWE TV. And I think Mr.McMahon just flat out didn’t like Goldberg. Billy G didn’t really care about the wrestling side of the business, just the money part.
In that sense maybe Vince and Goldie Brawn should have found common ground. Because as much as VKM hated Bill Goldberg, he LOVED making money, and Goldberg equalled BIG money.
So he bit the bullet and signed him. While his run in the WWE may have fizzled out unspectacularly, Goldberg is world famous to this day.
Disco Inferno
Oh boy, did Vince hate this guy! It’s well documented that The (ACTUAL) Boss has an affinity to country slow jams, and rap-rock fight anthems, and he LOATHED disco music. so when Glenn Gilberti pitched the idea of “a guy who really likes disco. Like, he’s so into disco that he’s in danger of bursting into flames. I call him Dancey Flameguy!” Vince saw an opportunity. See, the only thing he hated more than disco, was Glenn, something about a “turnip incident,” VKM’s evil side took over and he devised a plan to take him out. If he could convince him to do a crazy fire spot enough times maybe he could extinguish him for good, ending disco music’s reign at the top of the Billboard charts once and for all in the process. Vince doesn’t understand how fire works or albums chart. All of this would be true if Disco Inferno ever wrestled for Vince.
CM Punk
To be fair, I think we can all find something to hate about Chicago’s Finest, be it something about his gimmick or even the dude himself. He’s cocky, self-centered, smug, possibly sociopathic...all the good stuff.
Vince usually likes those things and IS those things but Punk made his name on the indy promotions. And Vince hates that!
But there was CM, collecting belts all over the country. Building his reputation and biding his time to erupt onto the ‘big leagues.’ He was the biggest thing in wrestling outside of the WWE. Now he’s one of the biggest to just up and leave the WWE.
So, Vinnie Mac begrudgingly gave him a shot and every time he started to get any momentum, the creative team just pushed him aside.
Stalling him out in the eyes of fans, confusing casuals and infuriating nerds. It wasn’t until Punk got so fed up that he may have implied he wished for the death of his boss on live TV. But we all know how that turned out.
Finn Bálor
Vince did not like the idea of importing a Demon character to his WWE Universe, especially after spending decades trying to get his own Demon character over, to no avail. I guess Vinnie Mac just doesn’t understand the subtleties of constructing such an out-of-this-world gimmick that would resonate with both young fans, women, and man-adults. But that’s what he always wanted! So he bit the bullet again and rolled the dice with this Irish shapeshifter. I think this Prince of Teeth and Darkness has got a shot at main eventing a big show in the future. We’ll see.
American Badass Undertaker
Vince just didn’t like it. He stubbornly wanted to stick with “caskets and lightning” wrestler but somebody got in his ear and convinced him to let Taker ride a bike to the ring and dress like an extra in a Brian Bosworth movie.
Rumour has it that is was Kurt Angle who pushed for it.
And while Vince gave it a green light then, don’t ask him about it, today. He pretends it never happened. Vince DID get a compromise out of it by getting to pick the entrance music. I told you he liked rap-rock.
Christian
This one wasn’t even really about a gimmick, per se. Vince just straight up didn’t like Christian’s face. One-Half of Edge & Christian. The Peeps’ Champ. CHRISTIAN! A multi-time champion of many different belts. A storied career spanning decades. What did Vince want to do with this future Hall of Famer? He actually wanted to put a blue dot over his face every time he showed up on TV. This is a man with the face of a man who books acting gigs on TV shows and movies. TV shows he doesn’t even own himself! I bet Vince was SUPERSTOKEDVERYHAPPY when Captain Charisma wore a full gold bodysuit as Conquistador Dos.
Cody Rhodes
Not so much a gimmick as a trait, I guess, but get this: Vince thought Cody Rhodes had a tendency to overact. Vincent Kennedy McMahon, thought Dashing Cody Rhodes, was an OVERACTOR. A fantastic wrestling, charming to the gills, handsome as all get out, WRESTLING ROYALTY. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen the character Mr.McMahon on TV before, but the guy is like a weird hybrid of Donald Trump and Jim Carrey. THAT dude thought The Man Soon To Be Called Stardust acted TOO HARD. I don’t even know where to begin with that. He’s the Kanye West of overacting. He’s the Sam Kinison of the drama class. He’s the movie Over The Top of being over the top. If you looked up “overacting” in the dictionary Vince would rip the dictionary out of your hands and beat you to death wi...wait, that might be overreacting. Where was I?
Roman Reigns
Nah, I’m not a lunatic.
