Posted By James Walsh on 01/12/26


THE HERD MENTALLITY:
This is not a political post! It is about pro wrestling! But, one could easily see how the herd mentallity could apply to modern political times. Instead, this is a post about Vince McMahon and the wrestling journalists who walk in lockstep on their opinion of him. And, they're all wrong.
Chances are, if you watch wrestling YouTube shows or you read wrestling news, you've heard or seen barbs taken at Vince McMahon over the past few years. Some of those barbs have to do with his proposterous plastic surgery which makes him resemble M. Byson from Street Fighter II or perhaps his new Batman voice where he growls everything he says. Or, perhaps they mock him for his sexual expoits which seem to have started with his desire to get blow jobs from willing female employees during long plane rides, some female employees being the stars on the show I might add. But, it his sexual exploits expanded into sharing his paid sexual partner with his male friends and doing things with her that make a little knob job in first class seem tame... Lets be honest, if you have the desire to shit on someone's head while your friend is f***ing them from behind, you probably either have too much money and time on your hands or you're a full blown deviant.
All of those things are valid shots at Vince McMahon. Aoo of those things are things he did to himself that hurt his overall stance in the world. Therefore, it is amusing when people take pot shots at such behavior. But, they miss the point all together.
The new narrative is that Vince McMahon always produced bad content or always had the wrong creative beat on things.
I saw one video that was talking about an angle in the late 1990's, WWE's second boom period, and mocked how Vince "always had horrible creative." I want to say it was a Wrestlelamia.com video but don't quote me on that.
Did the voice over guy on said video only start watching wrestling in 2023 and therefore only likes the paint by numbers, time honored tradition booking of a very lazy, predictable, and drawn out booker like Paul "Triple H" Levesque? If not, and I know they've been a fan for many years, they owe their fandom in no small part to Vince McMahon and his vision for what pro wrestling is. Simply put, without what Vince McMahon did for 40 years, the last 3 years of declining quality because the "Paul is God" honeymoon period is ending would not be a thing.
Vince McMahon did have the original idea to expand the WWF from being just the New York territory to a global force. He did that. He did it by killing the local territories by offering the TV networks his show at a lower cost. He offered local networks a better show for a cheaper expense initially and once the consumer was hoked, he could jack up the price. Guess what, people? That's business. Do you think Costco gives you free samples of various foods when you walk around because they thought you were hungry? They give you a sample for free so you'll pay the full price for the product. Business!
With WWF's answer to Mickey Mouse in Hulk Hogan, the WWF was on the cover of every magazine, lunch boxes, in the toy aisle, and all over national and international television for the majority of the1980's and early 1990's. Vince created a national and international force nwith Hulk Hogan being the perfect guy to carry the company flag.
The Attitude Era was created because society went that way. While I never was on board with the WWF going that route, something people are shocked by given my coarse sense of humor, they followed the trend. Howard Stern, when Stern still had a pair of nuts, was the "King of All Media" and the Jerry Springer Show was all over daytime TV. People wanted raunchy, offensive, sexually explicit content that didn't really have much of a moral message. Vince McMahon saw that and through his own decision making, sought out someone to create that content which is why Vince Russo exists in pro wrestling.
In more modern times, I'd argue that Vince's creative has been weaker. From booking a tag match involving he, his son, Shawn Michaels, and Jesus Christ to multiple attempts to kill his character off on television, Vince's grip on pop culture surely did slip in the 21st century. But, he also still created mega stars.
For all the flack Vince gets about the past few decades, he took an empty vessel with a work ethic and made him a global superstar in John Cena. I know people will read "empty vessel" and get mad. But, did the last couple of years of John Cena's WWE career not prove that you can have a dedicated worker like Cena, whom I don't disrespect, but is a blank page creatively. If I had a robot that was programmed to complete a task to 100% and for 15 years, some other guy programmed it in a way that made a lot of money. But, in the last few years, a new robot overlod programmed the empty vessel and machine devoid of human emotion to perform differently and that output sucked, is it the empty vessel that sucked all of a sudden or the robot's programming overlord? I think you know the answer to that.
Vince McMahon was flawed. In every era, he had swings and misses and those misses usually were overlooked because Babe Ruth struck out quite a few times as well but everyone remembers his home runs far more. But, the herd mentallity that exists online now seeks to only point out those negatives because of their belief that Triple H is a creative sage. To those people, I have a few questions.
What was the end of the Bloodline story?
Wasn't Katie Vick a wonderful angle?
Did you like Goldberg's retirement being blundered in epic fashion which was 100% a conniving move by a petty COO?
How was it seeing a man who always said "Never Give Up" and that has thousands of kids in the ground in shirts that read the same who he was a hero to submitting to Gunter with a dopey smile on his face?
How about the use of Hulk Hogan on RAW where he got boo'd? Was there no one there that could have found a more creative way to use the greatest superstar of all time in what ended up being his final appearance?
How are we enjoying the unexmplained push of a very untalented wrestler such as Jey Uso who continually is intoxicated on WWE programming and receives no punishment for it?
The herd mentallity insisted Vince was the problem with WWE creatively. While he didn't do a lot to convince people otherwise in his final years, there is no one who is being intellectually honest that can say creative has been any better since Triple H took over.
Let me explain what you will continue to get as long as Triple H is in charge of WWE before it is sold to Saudi Arabia - which is happening sooner than you think.
Long, drawn out stories with occasional flashes of interest. But, like a 1,000 page book that could have been cut down to 150 pages, by the time you get anywhere near the end of the story you no longer give a shit. See the Bloodline. See Cody Rhodes' "story" and crappy title reigns.
"Time honored traditions" which means paint by numbers presentations of what worked previously with no understanding that different strokes work for different folks. Why? Autistics have trouble deviating from the black and white. And, yes, I'm saying exactly what you think I'm saying.
Occasional "f***" and "shit" swears being dropped to make the show seem "edgy" and the girls will continue to have their gear crawl up the crack of their ass further and further because bi-sexual autistics remember the DX split and think that is what made the Attitude Era edgy.
And I'll stop this article for a 20 minute commercial break followed by repeating the same stupid, dopey, no talent rap song 700 times which no human with ears could or should like. Don't agree? Fien, fien, fien, fien, fien, fien, fien, fien, fien, fien, fien.... I mean fine.
Long story short. Look for buzz words. Triple H's f*** up with John Cena's last match is "perfect" in the talking points given to WWE talent that do fluff interviews. Why? If you repeat the same lie enough times, it becomes the opinion of those with herd mentallity because they can't think for themselves. And, look for the bashing of Vince to where they give the guy who created all of this exactly no credit and minimize him to being just a dope who never had a good idea or made a star. Seriously, listen out for it next time you're watching youTube videos or reading wrestling news. I bet you see it today, by the end of the day, because the desperate attempt to prove that what is wrong is right is on overload right now.
I've never wanted to be one of the millions. I'll happily be one in a million. Because of that, you'll only get the truth from me. The truth as I've determined. Not the truth as I was told to believe and cannot back up.