WWE Post Vince= The next AJ/NOAH?

[jdw]

This post got me thinking, How come Vince hasn't had a sudden, massive heart attack yet?

Coke and roids impact people differently. Len Bias died young. Vince and Hogan and Keith Richards (sans the roids) are still alive. There never is a good reason why other than different people have different body chemistries that let them survive what kills others.

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

There was never really an AJW split. The Matsunagas went bankrupt, couldn't pay the workers anymore and there was an exodus.

[Bob Morris]

This post got me thinking, How come Vince hasn't had a sudden, massive heart attack yet?

Coke and roids impact people differently. Len Bias died young. Vince and Hogan and Keith Richards (sans the roids) are still alive. There never is a good reason why other than different people have different body chemistries that let them survive what kills others.

 

John

 

I'd say there's more to it than that. Hogan never took the massive amounts of painkillers that other wrestlers did because Hogan, while working a lot of dates, worked a style that ensured less wear and tear on his body. Plus there was the period when he got off the juice when the Zahorian trials were underway and he knew he was going to be put under the microscope.

 

Vince likely got off certain drugs as well when the feds were cracking down on him.

 

Many of the wrestlers who have died in their 40s were either not with WWF when the feds were on Vince's case, or were off the juice but still hooked on painkillers, and for those on street drugs, they were keeping a low profile regarding it.

[Tawren]

WWE is a public company. I'm curious what their protocols are if their Executive Chairman (or whatever Vince's job actually is) passes away. I understand that his shares can be in his will or whatever, but his actual company job. That could make a large difference and lead to some possible friction and or schisms.

[kjh]

Looking for someone to buy out the company makes sense, but without Vince who is buying?

Same as always would: dumb money marks.

 

For the last fiscal year, the Company had $526.5M in revenue, $45.4M in net, paid out $81.4M in dividends, had $177.3M on the books in Cash and short-term investments and has all of $3.9M in debt. For all our knocking of the company declining, financially that's a company with really good books.

 

Someone out there would offer up a fair amount to buy it.

But, I really can't see all the remaining McMahons selling out if the company remains a license to print them money like it is now. The key to your scenario is that reality sets in and they realize that they're creatively bankrupt and not cut out to promote wrestling. I really can't see reality setting in until they've screwed up their books so badly that they can only get a fire sale. Maybe Shane, who seems to be the most grounded and pragmatic of the heirs apparent, will get fed up of dealing with his dumb sister and prick of a husband and sell his shares while the going is good. I don't see Steph and Trips following suit.

[Childs]

I've learned to be suspicious of "great man" narratives when trying to figure out why the world works the way it does. Usually, a company as large and profitable as the WWE will roll right past the death or firing of a CEO. But in Vince's case, he might be so intrinsic to the DNA of the company that his passing would cripple it. He has trained employees to rely on him as the final word for a huge percentage of decisions. Even worse, he seems to have trained them to make decisions based on their perceptions of his taste. The bookers and writers might be able to continue going through the same motions for many years without him as their north star. Right now, for example, I'm not sure he has to do anything terribly smart to keep the company chugging along. But over time, I could see the company losing its discipline and urgency without his manic leadership.

 

The real question is whether Vince has trained the American public to see wrestling as synonymous with WWE to the point that without a strong WWE, the industry would collapse. I'm more skeptical of that idea, because wrestling has worked as entertainment in so many different contexts. If WWE collapsed, I doubt another company would rise to fill its full market share, but I suspect wrestling would still slither into some profitable niches in our entertainment-obsessed culture.

[jdw]

WWE is a public company. I'm curious what their protocols are if their Executive Chairman (or whatever Vince's job actually is) passes away. I understand that his shares can be in his will or whatever, but his actual company job. That could make a large difference and lead to some possible friction and or schisms.

The Board of Directors elects the Officers. The shares held by the McMahon Family (Class B ) have a 10-1 voting power as do what the rest of the Shareholders have (Class A). In a sense, if Vince dies, they remaining family members will elect a friendly board (which is already friendly) who will elect a Chairman they want.

 

It's a 100% lock that if she survives Vince in good health and mind that Linda will be the Chairman. And one of the kids likely will move up into the CEO role that she has.

 

My guess is that *before* that, one of them will move from EVP to President, since Mike Lake is 66. It's possible that Donna will move into that role, but they seem to be keeping the President role open for one of the kids while the top non-family executive (Donna at the moment) will get the COO spot.

 

Just a guess on the last paragraph. The first two are pretty obvious of how it will play out given they control the company.

 

John

[tomk]

I didn’t word this well. And didn’t mean for the metaphor to be taken literally.

I know what happened to AJW.

I never thought anyone was afraid of Vine punching them in the face. Fear of Vince meant fear of crazy vindictive fickle Vince fucking with your career.

 

My sense was that nine years ago there were lots of strong personalities in the WWE. Lots of talent who were seen as leaders inside the WWE with strong personal vision. Also get the sense that there was more interaction between the support staff and the talent, where you had things like Russo being loyal to Road Dogg and Road Dogg to Russo, Ross to Austin and Austin to Ross, Patterson to Rock and Rock to Patterson.

 

Some of this may be that Meltzer doesn’t have sources as good as he once did, but my impression is that the current talent is weaker (fewer leaders) and that the relationship between the talent and the “staff” is far more mediated to prevent loyalty between the two.

 

It’s a fed that has fewer Chigusas and more Angela Manellis.

 

The sense I get is that the WWE today has surrounded it self with people who have accepted their roles as puppets and not interested in string pulling. People who don’t need to be kept in line out of fear, but rather cause they don’t have the vision to challenge anything.

[ohtani's jacket]

It seems to me that a CMLL/AAA split would be more likely if Vince were to die. The circumstances that led to Chigusa starting GAEA would be like Steve Austin starting up his own promotion. I don't see that happening in the US market. It's easier to start your own promotion in Japan because everything is run out of Tokyo.