11 Wrestling Stars We Never Thought Vince McMahon Would Make Up With
Pro wrestling has dramatic storytelling at its foundation, but as hardcore fans have come to embrace over the years, the real life drama surrounding the business can be every bit as interesting as what happens on screen.
WWE and its iconic head honcho Vince McMahon are lightning rods for this kind of attention. For better or worse, McMahon is the definitive wrestling power broker of the last forty years and there’s no quicker way to destroy a national level pro wrestling career than to run afoul of the Chairman.
Still, if there’s one way of defining McMahon’s approach to talent relations, it’s through the lens of a man willing to swallow personal grudges and forgive past transgressions in service to giving the fans what they want or, more to the point, making money for his company. This article looks at eleven times when, against all expectations, McMahon made up with a major wrestling personality.
#11. Bret Hart
There are a lot of ways for a wrestler to leave WWE, but refusing to drop the world title on the way out the door and punching out the owner of the company backstage is about as ugly as it gets. Of course, to be fair, when Bret Hart took these two actions, he was also the victim of the Montreal Screwjob, not to mention that a year and a half later his brother died because of a stunt gone wrong while working for the company.
It seemed Vince McMahon and Bret Hart would never make amends. The unlikely occurred, however, when McMahon reportedly offered an olive branch after Hart had been hospitalized because of a stroke. That paved the way for Hart to collaborate with WWE on a DVD documentary about his life, complemented by a selection of mutually agreed upon matches. The ice broken, Hart would go on to accept a Hall of Fame induction, and later make a brief, highly protected return to the ring to wrap up his WWE legacy on a high note.