Saturday, June 13, 2009

Vince McMahon


Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon (born August 24, 1945)[1] is an American professional wrestler, promoter, in-ring announcer, play-by-play commentator and film producer, known by the ring name Mr. McMahon. He is also the Chairman of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Board of directors and majority shareholder of WWE. He is the creator of most WWE television programs. After acquiring World Championship Wrestling in 2001 and Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2003 two years after its closure, McMahon's WWE became the sole remaining major American professional wrestling promotion (prior to the national expansion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and to a lesser extent Ring of Honor).
As an on-camera character, he mainly appears on the Raw brand but makes appearances on the SmackDown and ECW brands, as well. McMahon plays a character based on himself in the world of the WWE, and is a two-time World Champion: a one-time WWF Champion and one-time ECW World Champion. He was also the 1999 Royal Rumble winner.In 1968, he graduated from East Carolina University with a business degree and after a nondescript career as a traveling salesman, he was eager to assume a managerial role in his father’s World Wide Wrestling Federation promotion (although Vince Sr. was not thrilled with the idea of his son entering the business). Nevertheless, he was assigned to a small territory in Maine, where he promoted his first card in 1971. Early in his wrestling career, McMahon served as the in-ring announcer. He later became the play-by-play announcer for television matches after he replaced Ray Morgan in 1971, a role he would regularly maintain until November 1997.
Throughout the 1970s, McMahon became the prominent force in his father's company, and over the next decade, Vince assisted his father in tripling TV syndication. He pushed for the renaming of the company to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The young McMahon was also behind the Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Inoki match of 1976. In 1979, Vince purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum, where he promoted hockey games and concerts in addition to pro wrestling, as he began to prove that he was capable of running the WWF after his father’s retirement. By 1980, Titan Sports was incorporated; in 1982, a 37-year old McMahon led Titan’s acquisition of the Capitol Wrestling Co. from his ailing father (who died in May 1984), as he and his wife Linda McMahon took control of the World Wrestling Federation.

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