Vince McMahon once instructed WWE announcers to 'bury' Hall of Famer on debut
WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon has been known to be not-so excellent booker in the eyes of some fans. He has shown interesting trends in the superstars he pushes and in his signings, and has even injected himself into several storylines. Now, let us look back at one of the times where The Boss himself made a booking decision, that could be considered petty in the eyes of many.
Back in 2015, fans saw the debut of one of the icons of WCW, Sting, who made his arrival at WWE in order to start a feud with The Authority and Triple H. The feud brewed over to Wrestlemania that year and The Stinger made his WWE in-ring debut against the 14-time world champion. This was the perfect opportunity for Sting to end this chapter with The Authority.
In 2020, in his The ARN Show, Arn Anderson, who worked backstage for WWE for almost two decades revealed the events backstage involving the match between Triple H and Sting. He revealed that aside from Triple H being made to win the match, Vince McMahon himself wanted the announcer to bury Sting, and make his loss seem all the more embarrassing. This would be his final way of saying that WWE trumps WCW and one-upping the former promotion.
“All it did was give the announcers – and I know this was fed to them – they just buried Sting. ‘Minnow in a big pond.’ Just total condescending. ‘Guy’s out of his element.’ ‘This is WrestleMania now.’ ‘You’re just a small minnow in a huge lake.’”
WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin was only mid-card worthy according to Vince McMahon
Stone Cold Steve Austin was one of the most popular superstars of his era. He has feuded with many, but one of the most iconic has got to be his very chaotic relationship with Vince McMahon. We have seen many iconic moments in history, with these two icons on opposite sides.
Even today, it seems that there is that never-ending animosity between them, but this almost was not the case. Recently Jake "The Snake" Roberts revealed on his The Snake Pit podcast that this almost did not happen. It was because The Chairman did not think Austin was anything higher than a mid-card level talent.
"After I watched him for a while I went to Vince and said, 'This is your next superstar,'" Roberts said. "And he said, 'Are you kidding? I don't see him anything other than mid-card.' That's exactly what he said, mid-card at best. He was ready, primed, ready, settled go. I was pushing anything to have Steve do." (h/t Wrestling Inc.)
#OnThisDay in 2001: WWF Smackdown: Steve Austin tries to cheer Vince McMahon up with a present. Matching cowboy hats! https://t.co/7A8DZ4oLdK
Looking back to a lot of moments in history, and hearing about their behind-the-scenes happenings, there are a lot of revelations of what ifs.
What would you change regarding Sting's loss in his WWE debut? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.