"He started smashing s***" - Vince McMahon's furious reaction after WWE backstage issue cost him millions
Vince McMahon once spent millions of dollars on his own equipment after a WWE television taping went wrong due to a production company’s mistake.
Unlike today’s WWE, McMahon used to hire other companies to use their cameras and lights to film his television shows. Mario Mancini, a WWE Superstar between 1984 and 1991, was present backstage one day when the equipment stopped working.
Speaking on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Mancini said McMahon reacted furiously to the technology issue:
“One day his camera wouldn’t work. It screwed up the whole TV taping. He came in the back and started smashing s***. ‘Damn it!’ and screaming. I mean, you could fry an egg on his face. It was just a bad technology night that night, and the following week he spent I don’t know how many million dollars on his own stuff.” [38:25-38:53]
Mancini also said in the interview that McMahon threatened to fine him $100 every time he caught him flirting with female fans at WWE events.
Vince McMahon immediately addressed the production problem
He's here. #SDLive @VinceMcMahon https://t.co/toA8IZsGJI
From camera angles and entrance themes to on-screen graphics and pyrotechnics, WWE’s state-of-the-art production is clear to see on Vince McMahon’s shows in 2022.
Mario Mancini added that McMahon took a keen interest in producing his own shows after the production company’s costly error:
“[McMahon] hired his own people, got his own rigs, his own WWF [WWE] trucks and everything, and he just started doing it himself. But he took a pretty massive fit that night too.” [38:53-39:04]
McMahon famously yelled at WWE Superstars backstage in 1987 after Jim Duggan and The Iron Sheik were pulled over by the police. Mancini said the production problem made his former boss even more furious than when Duggan and Sheik got into trouble with the authorities.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.