Here are some wrestling news items for you:
- Yesterday was an end of an era in pro wrestling. Vince McMahon announced he was retiring as CEO of WWE, the company he helped turn from a mom-and-pop operation in the Northeast US to a billion dollar worldwide firm. The 77-year-old Vince was accused of paying hush money to women who say he allegedly gave him hush money. Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named as Vince's replacements.
- Vincent Kennedy McMahon was first introduced as a play by play broadcaster for the then World Wrestling Federation. He brought the compsny from his father in 1983, and started its national and worldwide expansion. He took the biggest stars from the territories that ruled wrestling like Hulk Hogan Rowdy Roddy Piper, Junkyard Dog and so many others. He put the World heavyweight title on Hogan, and Hulkamania was running wild. He made the name WrestleMania a household word. As a result, wrestling was no longer someone thought only children and inbreds watched. On July 14, 1984, Vince controlled all the major wrestling timeslots when the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling and its 6:05 pm time slot on WTBS, stunning everyone so much that Ted Turner gave Georgia Wrestling a Saturday morning slot and a Sunday evening show to Bill Watt's Mid-South Wrestling. Eventually, Vince caved in and sold the WTBS time to Jim Crockett.

In the 1990s, things started to cool off. Despite the debut of Monday Night Raw in 1993, the likes of Hogan and Randy Savage began to leave the WWF and join the rival World Championship Wrestling. In t994, he stood trial on charges that he gave steroids and PEDs to wrestlers; he was acquitted. After Scott Hall and Kevin Nash left to join WCW and start the New World Order with Hogan, it looked like the company could gone under. Instead, Vince turned heel after the 1997 Montreal Screwjob between Bret Hart (who was leaving for WCW) and Shawn Michaels, and began a feud that millions could identify with - the now-Mr. McMahon against Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock and Mick Foley eventually became big stars, and combined with WCW's difficulties, Raw took the lead in the Monday Night War against WCW Monday Nitro. After that, Raw never looked back. The product became much more edgier, as WWF introduced the Attitude Era, with crotch chops, reference to puppies and sometimes profanity. On March 23, 2001, Vince brought WCW, and he became the sole major promoter of shows in the United States.
WWE's product started to suffer. Raw's audience began to dwindle, and now averages less than two million for a three-hour show. Several high-profile incidents probably turned off viewers; in 2007, Vince was killed in a limousine in a angle, but he was back two weeks later, standing in an empty arena to announce Chris Benoit was dead, and Raw would be a three-hour tribute show to him (it was revealed during the show that Benoit had committed double murder-suicide). WWE made questionable deals with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that allowed them to put on two shows a year. Last year, WWE released many wrestlers while the company made their biggest profits in its history.
There is so much more about Vince's career that I didn't mention, but there will be more on Vince's retirement later.
Cincy43235@yahoo.com - RATV;s pro wrestling ambassador
------

"I loves the hot sauce." - David Letterman