Vince McMahon forgot that he fired Jimmy Wang Yang; re-hired him to WWE
Vince McMahon has portrayed a strong and fierce character on screen, and he has those qualities off screen, but he is also quite an eccentric character. The WWE Chairman's weird gimmicks and ideas have somehow made it onto WWE television, while some were thankfully scrapped.
Although WWE is a huge organisation, Vince McMahon still plays a major part in a lot of things, including hiring new talent.
Vince McMahon forgot he fired WWE Superstar; hired him thrice
Former WWE Superstar Jimmy Wang Yang, who also went by the name Akio, recently appeared on Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore podcast, where he revealed that Vince McMahon forgot that he had fired him. Jimmy Wang Yang said that he was called in to have a match on Sunday Night Heat against Charlie Haas, and after the match, John Laurinaitis told him that WWE wanted to hire him again.
Jimmy Wang Yang wanted to thank Vince McMahon for giving him an opportunity to work again, which is when the WWE Chairman revealed that he forgot that he fired him.
"This is like the third time this dude’s hired me. This is kinda crazy. I wasn’t expecting it, but this is the third time so I kinda like sneak in his office, a lil knock and he opens up, ‘Come in!’ I said, ‘Hey Vince, I wasn’t expecting it but thanks for hiring me again.’ He’s like, ‘Oh Jimmy, I didn’t hear you were fired. Just had so much on my plate. But hey, that’s great you’re back and this time, we’re gonna make a negative out of positive. Like last time [when] you were Akio, I didn’t let you talk because you were this Korean dude that has this Southern accent. I can’t let you talk. But this time, we’re gonna make you the Asian Redneck, Jimmy Wang Yang! That’s funny! Wang Yang, that rhymes!’ (H/T Post Wrestling)
Jimmy Wang Yang had three stints with WWE - the first one coming in 2001 after WCW was taken over by WWE; the next one was between 2003 and 2005, and he returned for a final stint in the company between 2006 and 2010. He then had a brief stint with TNA.