Vince McMahon is one of my of the best promoters in the entertainment industry. He has taken the WWE to astronomical heights, and this might just be the start of it all. Vince has done almost everything you can do for the WWE; he’s been a film producer, actor, wrestling commentator, announcer, professional wrestling promoter, occasional professional wrestler and CEO of the WWE since the 1980’s after taking over for his father. Vince McMahon is an excellent businessman despite not being able to see the Stone Cold Stunner from a mile away.
Vince McMahon Net Worth: $1.63 Billion
Early Years
Vince McMahon was raised almost exclusively by his mother; he had a list of stepfathers who really didn’t help him much. Vince was born on August 24, 1945, in Riverhurst, North Carolina to parents Vince McMahon and Vicky Askew, but they did not stick together long. One of Vince’s many stepfathers had a very violent temper and often beat Vince whether he deserved it or not. This ended up being a massive force in shaping Vince who chose to use it positively instead of dwelling on the negative. He is quoted telling Playboy “Like I said, I grew up in a very volatile environment. My view was that if I took a beating and lived, I won. I still have that view. It gives me a tremendous advantage because I’m not afraid of failure. Don’t get me wrong–I hate falling. But I’m not afraid to take chances and fall on my ass, because if I live through it I’ll be better off, and I’ll win.” McMahon then went off to Waynesboro, Virginia where he attended and graduated Fishburne Military School.
WWE Comes A Calling
Vince’s father (Vince Sr.) was the owner of a wrestling league called the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and Vince began working for his father in 1971. McMahon was given the job f promoting a small wrestling event, and he knocked it out of the park. Vince continued to excel in promoting the matches and slowly gained more and more responsibility as time progressed. As Vince climbed the ladder towards the top of the WWE food chain he continued to gather not only a feel for the business, but he gained the respect of everyone that saw him work, his time in military school had taught him the meanings of discipline and hard work, and he was putting it all out there. Then in 1984 tragedy struck when his father passed away, handing the keys to the WWE to Vince and his wife who wasn’t a very large company at the time.
New Era Of The WWE
Vince took no time at all to start revamping some of the WWE’s promoting tactics; he was determined to grow the business as large as he could. The first major step Vince took was the “Rock & Wrestling Connection,” a concept that brought pop stars into the storylines and gave professional wrestling a national and much broader, audience. He also started with new promotional events such as Wrestlemania which really helped boost the following. Everything Vince put into place seemed to turn into gold, and the WWE’s popularity was skyrocketing. WWE continued its growth over the years, and Vince had to keep continuing to shock audiences. He determined the best way to do that was to step into the ring and give the fans what they really wanted the boss wrestling for titles. Vince captured the world hearts after winning the Royal Rumble in 1999 and has continued to make appearances over the years. Vince McMahon owns roughly 57% (39.9 million shares) of WWE’s Class A common stock. As of December 2017, WWE was trading at a price per share of $32 which means Vince’s stake was worth about $1.4 billion.
XFL
Vince has had his hand in a few other businesses but none quite like the XFL, Vince along with other wealthy people at the time such as current president Donald Trump started up an American football league to rival the NFL called the XFL. This was basically football on steroids (literally and figuratively) Vince wanted to combine all of the high flying and creative promotional tools he learned in the wrestling world and apply them to football and create the biggest sports league of all time. Due to some bad decisions, the XFL fizzled out after just one season. As mentioned in the quote above Vince hates failure, and that’s why there are rumblings of the XFL making a comeback! Vince is in a place to only increase his Net Worth over the years.