“Hey Pal” What Does Vince McMahon Want From Wrestling?

Vince McMahon is the greatest wrestling promoter ever.   You can judge his journeys outside of wrestling from the WBF to the XFL to Hollywood, but no one can dispute the empire he has created inside the squared circle.  He has promoted, commentated, performed, and produced more landmark wrestling events then anyone.  He’s truly unique in every possible way but what does he want out of wrestling?

Vince McMahon - The Chairman of the Board

It was a very cold February day in Milwaukee, WI when I met Vince McMahon for the very first time.  I had packed my life up for a try out for my dream job as a writer for the WWE.  I wasn’t even seated for a minute in his small road office when he walked in and simply introduced himself as Vince.  My first response in my head, “I know.”  After years of hearing stories and seeing the Mr. McMahon character on TV, our working relationship began on a simple handshake and exchange of real names.  I’m proud of the work I did for him in my six years; including the time I interviewed to be his assistant on Smackdown in 2002 that made the Best 100 moments in Smackdown history.  Like everyone I learned this business from, I’m better because of them.  Here are three things I learned that Vince  “wants” from wrestling.

#1 – Know your Brand

Coke is a brand.  Tide is a brand.  You are a brand.  Vince would always make this one point very clear: “Perception is Reality.”  Vince McMahon is a brand.  From how he walks, to how he carries himself, to the speech patterns he uses.  What he does, works for him.  Don’t believe me?   Check out his net worth.

Vince would sit down with talents to talk with them, to get inside their heads and find out who they are.  The best characters always come from inside the person playing them.  Vince prided himself with finding a little nugget inside a talent and running with it.  All the great characters are a piece of themselves, with the volume turned up.

If you walk into work, complaining everyday; what are you?  How people perceive you is how they see you.
This is true in every profession, including wrestling.  The “show” doesn’t stop when the red light goes off.  Look what being mean to a a catering person did for Randy Moss.  The information (publicly and privately) you put out, every interaction you have; this is your foundation.  If you don’t know how to communicate, what will happen to your brand?  Look at the truly successful people and the brands they create for themselves.   It’s really the idea of personal responsibility.  You can blame others or take ownership in the things you control.

#2 – What’s your Finish

As talked about in a previous article, storytelling is key to all forms of communication.  No matter if it was a storyline being pitched to Vince or details of a match, he’d always ask “What’s your finish?”   He wanted to see if you had thought about where you were going, the goal.  While this sometimes could be perceived as a power game, it also made you prepare differently for the next time.

Every task you tackle, it has an order.  Putting thought into them before starting will save headaches along the way.  I have an IKEA desk that will agree with this way of thinking.  Know your plan, know your mission.  Write it down.  That way when asked “What’s your finish?”, you can properly communicate it and then execute it.   

#3 No Sneezing

If there is one thing Vince McMahon hates… it’s sickness.  “There is no such thing as sick”, was the usual response when someone would try to use it as an excuse.   Vince is a workaholic and if anything gets in the way of his work, it makes him angry.  Paul Heyman would joke that Vince would get angry with his own sneezes.  Perhaps it was because he couldn’t control it.   Like the famous quote from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings”.  In the pro wrestling world, “Every time someone sneezes, Vince McMahon gets angry.”

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David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com