I lived in Kentucky, and we got the USWA shows in my town. It was weird as hell to watch, the Hart/Lawler feud on WWF programming, then to see that it was actually a huge WWF vs. USWA feud on Memphis programming. Guys who were huge babyfaces in the WWF showing up on USWA and cutting vicious heel promos on the fans... What an awesome time.
Is there any doubt that VKM is the greatest heel of all time? God, how great would Vince have been in the 80s in a Heenan type role as a mouthpiece, have a stable, and wrestle 15 times a year? Vince didn't have a match till his early 50s I believe. He's 46/47 here, it's a shame he waited so long.
Thomas Colosi There is NO question about Vince being the greatest heel ever. Piper, Punk, Lawler, Helmsley, heel HBK, NONE hold a candle to Vince as far as heeling things up.
It's a pretty bold statement to claim that VKM is the greatest heel ever. The Mr. McMahon character became far too cartoony for my taste. But then you hear him cut these Memphis promos and you're blown away by how genuinely sinister and cowardly -- the two most important traits for a heel -- he is. If you weren't around at the time, words are insufficient for explaining how jaw dropping this was to those of us who had grown up with Vince the announcer. Yeah, he was a great announcer in his day but nobody knew he had this in him. Nobody.
DJ Tommy C. Colosi I’ve been a wrestling fan since the 1970s watching the greatest heels, The original Sheik, Abbie, Stan Hansen, Kevin Sullivan, Freebirds, Andy Kaufman , Bockwinkle, Stevens, Race, Terry Funk, Albano, Heenan, Freddie Blassie, John Tolos, Piper, The 4 Horseman, etc. but VKM IS the greatest heel of all time. His Mr. McMahon character left his FED the last game in town. His heel run put the final nails in the territorial system and was entertaining as hell.
Vince Mcmahon's ultimate goal of coming on the USWA, is for the acquisition of jerry lawler. He knew Jerry lawler is a valuable personality, and he sure was, for being the heel commentator of Raw.
Vince was using the USWA as a prototype of the current "Developmental system" he has now. So he got Ahmed Johnson, Jeff Jarrett, the Road Dogg, Mo and Mabel and others out of the deal. As for Vince's direct on camera role. I have a feeling Jerry came up with it himself and Vince probably liked it and went with it
Vince got the chance to perfect the heel character he would become in the Austin-McMahon feud, as well as being able to try out Bret as a heel, and Owen as a heel while they were both babyfaces in the WWF at the time.
The Rock was sent to Memphis for "seasoning" before he came to the WWF in 1996 but was a special circumstance and not - to the best of my knowledge - a full development program deal with the promotion like you have now in Ohio Valley and Florida. Memphis did become a full blown developmental territory around '99 or so. From that crop you got guys like Kurt Angle, Albert, Crash Holly, Shawn Stasiack, Brian Kendrick, Bryan Danielson, Lance Cade and others.
A great Vince promo, I believe this may have been Vince finally trying to get involved in a storyline, something he couldn't do when his father, Vince Sr did'nt want him doing.
This is great footage as Vince was still wearing his trademark blue suit and playing the heel several years before Mr. McMahon was born and I agree he's great at being cocky and arrogant, too bad this only took place in Memphis at the time but it set the stage for what was to come later on.
for me to hear vince doing heel mr mcmahon work in his 90s voice before it became so ripped apart by his constant yelling is this really weird sense of continuity. this is the vince who commentated main event with jesse ventura, not the one who took the stunner and screwed bret, but like, he's showing that it's the same dude here. i dunno it's just an odd feeling
Vince totally ruined his voice by all the angry yelling he done non stop in Raw and Smackdown since 1997. Before that he yelled at the heels during "Superstars" but that was every now and then, not constant. I prefer his 93 voice over the 2019 voice. Vince sounds more sinister here then he does today.
It was the HGH not the yelling that ruined his voice (Trips and Shawn also suffer from it to a lesser extent, as well as a bunch of other dudes on the gear.)
In 1993, AWA had been out of business for three years, WCW was still slumping during the Bill Watts Era and ECW was still a nondescript indy. Jarrett and Lawler managed to keep the Memphis area afloat long after Vince and Hulk's hostile takeover of pro wrestling in the 80s. I'm surprised that, on that principle alone, he didn't see the inherent value in subsidizing one of those longstanding territories (USWA, Global, SMW) as a farm team as opposed to schools they dabble with these days.
This character Vince McMahon is nothing compared to the one we all know and love now. This Vince McMahon would run a mile if he was to com face to face with Mr McMahon.
In hindsight it looks like Vince wanted to try himself, Bret, Owen and Tatanka as heels but was hedging his bets by doing it in Memphis where basically nobody (other then USWA fans) would see it. The internet didn't exist as it did today so 99.9% of the WWF audience wouldn't be aware of this. Most of the Vince interviews are for Memphis house shows so the rest of the USWA "network" (Nashville, etc) might not have even gotten this storyline on their weekly TV shows.
This is so awesome to see and ppl try to say Vince started doing it when Eric Bichoff did it when that’s not true Mr McMahon was being a heel in Memphis he would bring wwf superstars with him to wrestle down there and they were always heels no matter what lol Vince really is 🐐
As far as I know this is a more accurate description of what was happening. Jarrett, Mo, Mabel and Johnny Polo all came directly from the USWA to the WWF in this era. But they weren't "developmental" guys. Just guys getting their start in Memphis like hundreds of guys before them. The truth is - if you read the sheets at this time- nobody (outside of the guys actually working the angle) knew for sure why Vince was doing this. The hardcore fans were shocked. Also....
Yeah, it wasn't a devlopmental deal as we know it, more like the missing link between Vince just raiding the territory dry (like he did in the early 80's with a lot of places) and the developmental deals of Today.
No, it was more like Vince taking the guys he wanted and in return giving Memphis lower card guys he didn't want anymore (Papa Shango, The Big Bossman, Giant Gonzolas). About the only guys who got any "development" out of this deal were Owen Hart and Vince himself
It's funny to me how Vince hates Bret Hart and he wants him to beat Jerry Lawler and embarrass him in Memphis and he is cheering Bret on and on Brets side rooting him on to beat Lawler and then a few years after this he screws Bret out of the WWE championship at Survivor Series in 1997
It looks like Vince decided to send himself down to Memphis to "develop."
Kinda a beginning of the development territory for all personal people
I’m stealing the line
But he’d never ask his wrestlers to do something he wouldn’t do himself
Underrated comment
THIS should have been on the McMahon DVD.
So true!!
They should make a Memphis section on WWE/Peacock and add a few of McMemphis and Andy Kaufman
I lived in Kentucky, and we got the USWA shows in my town. It was weird as hell to watch, the Hart/Lawler feud on WWF programming, then to see that it was actually a huge WWF vs. USWA feud on Memphis programming. Guys who were huge babyfaces in the WWF showing up on USWA and cutting vicious heel promos on the fans... What an awesome time.
Wow, "Mr. McMahon" before he was "Mr. McMahon", great footage.
Is there any doubt that VKM is the greatest heel of all time? God, how great would Vince have been in the 80s in a Heenan type role as a mouthpiece, have a stable, and wrestle 15 times a year? Vince didn't have a match till his early 50s I believe. He's 46/47 here, it's a shame he waited so long.
Thomas Colosi There is NO question about Vince being the greatest heel ever. Piper, Punk, Lawler, Helmsley, heel HBK, NONE hold a candle to Vince as far as heeling things up.
VancouverChokers No.
spidersense1472 As a whole package guys like Piper or Flair as heels provide more but as a promo, pure heel.. he's the man.
It's a pretty bold statement to claim that VKM is the greatest heel ever. The Mr. McMahon character became far too cartoony for my taste. But then you hear him cut these Memphis promos and you're blown away by how genuinely sinister and cowardly -- the two most important traits for a heel -- he is. If you weren't around at the time, words are insufficient for explaining how jaw dropping this was to those of us who had grown up with Vince the announcer. Yeah, he was a great announcer in his day but nobody knew he had this in him. Nobody.
DJ Tommy C. Colosi I’ve been a wrestling fan since the 1970s watching the greatest heels, The original Sheik, Abbie, Stan Hansen, Kevin Sullivan, Freebirds, Andy Kaufman , Bockwinkle, Stevens, Race, Terry Funk, Albano, Heenan, Freddie Blassie, John Tolos, Piper, The 4 Horseman, etc. but VKM IS the greatest heel of all time. His Mr. McMahon character left his FED the last game in town. His heel run put the final nails in the territorial system and was entertaining as hell.
Vince Mcmahon's ultimate goal of coming on the USWA, is for the acquisition of jerry lawler. He knew Jerry lawler is a valuable personality, and he sure was, for being the heel commentator of Raw.
Vince was using the USWA as a prototype of the current "Developmental system" he has now. So he got Ahmed Johnson, Jeff Jarrett, the Road Dogg, Mo and Mabel and others out of the deal.
As for Vince's direct on camera role. I have a feeling Jerry came up with it himself and Vince probably liked it and went with it
Vince got to be a heel. At this time he was just a straight man announcer and he wanted to be a wrestler/character, as you can see today.
Man are you even alive now??
Vince got the chance to perfect the heel character he would become in the Austin-McMahon feud, as well as being able to try out Bret as a heel, and Owen as a heel while they were both babyfaces in the WWF at the time.
The Rock was sent to Memphis for "seasoning" before he came to the WWF in 1996 but was a special circumstance and not - to the best of my knowledge - a full development program deal with the promotion like you have now in Ohio Valley and Florida.
Memphis did become a full blown developmental territory around '99 or so. From that crop you got guys like Kurt Angle, Albert, Crash Holly, Shawn Stasiack, Brian Kendrick, Bryan Danielson, Lance Cade and others.
popculturestu So basically, the Yes Movement started in Memphis. Not really, but the man behind the Yes Movement did.
He started in Memphis pat told Vince bout flex cavana down in Memphis he didn’t get send there he started there
Vince is the greatest heel ever
A great Vince promo, I believe this may have been Vince finally trying to get involved in a storyline, something he couldn't do when his father, Vince Sr did'nt want him doing.
I love that he even works "and then from there" into his heel promo. Hilariously good.
It's weird hearing Vince say "wrestling"
This is great footage as Vince was still wearing his trademark blue suit and playing the heel several years before Mr. McMahon was born and I agree he's great at being cocky and arrogant, too bad this only took place in Memphis at the time but it set the stage for what was to come later on.
Straight out of the Kaufman angle 10 years earlier...as it says in that old book "there is nothing new under the Sun..."
This is great footage. Mr. McMahon (character) before he was deemed Mr. McMahon. Good stuff!!
for me to hear vince doing heel mr mcmahon work in his 90s voice before it became so ripped apart by his constant yelling is this really weird sense of continuity. this is the vince who commentated main event with jesse ventura, not the one who took the stunner and screwed bret, but like, he's showing that it's the same dude here. i dunno it's just an odd feeling
Vince totally ruined his voice by all the angry yelling he done non stop in Raw and Smackdown since 1997. Before that he yelled at the heels during "Superstars" but that was every now and then, not constant. I prefer his 93 voice over the 2019 voice. Vince sounds more sinister here then he does today.
It was the HGH not the yelling that ruined his voice (Trips and Shawn also suffer from it to a lesser extent, as well as a bunch of other dudes on the gear.)
Hearing Vince say 'Mid-South' is so jarring.
I'm not at all surprised from these clips that Bert Prentice was never "called up" to the bigtime.
In 1993, AWA had been out of business for three years, WCW was still slumping during the Bill Watts Era and ECW was still a nondescript indy. Jarrett and Lawler managed to keep the Memphis area afloat long after Vince and Hulk's hostile takeover of pro wrestling in the 80s.
I'm surprised that, on that principle alone, he didn't see the inherent value in subsidizing one of those longstanding territories (USWA, Global, SMW) as a farm team as opposed to schools they dabble with these days.
Vince`s test run as a heel on tv. He passed.
Vince looks like he's having a blast here being heel.
Lawler blames Vince for tripping him over?
This character Vince McMahon is nothing compared to the one we all know and love now. This Vince McMahon would run a mile if he was to com face to face with Mr McMahon.
McMemphis>Mr. McMahon
The birth of "Mr. McMahon." BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
In hindsight it looks like Vince wanted to try himself, Bret, Owen and Tatanka as heels but was hedging his bets by doing it in Memphis where basically nobody (other then USWA fans) would see it. The internet didn't exist as it did today so 99.9% of the WWF audience wouldn't be aware of this. Most of the Vince interviews are for Memphis house shows so the rest of the USWA "network" (Nashville, etc) might not have even gotten this storyline on their weekly TV shows.
Pretty funny that the guy's head is in the way of the first letter, making it say 'AGED KINGS'
Mr. McMahon before he was mr. McMahon
This is so awesome to see and ppl try to say Vince started doing it when Eric Bichoff did it when that’s not true Mr McMahon was being a heel in Memphis he would bring wwf superstars with him to wrestle down there and they were always heels no matter what lol Vince really is 🐐
Thanks again!!!
As far as I know this is a more accurate description of what was happening. Jarrett, Mo, Mabel and Johnny Polo all came directly from the USWA to the WWF in this era. But they weren't "developmental" guys. Just guys getting their start in Memphis like hundreds of guys before them.
The truth is - if you read the sheets at this time- nobody (outside of the guys actually working the angle) knew for sure why Vince was doing this. The hardcore fans were shocked. Also....
Vince is a wise business man..
I bet the Mid South Coliseum smelled so bad
it smelled like bastion booger's ass times 1000 I bet lol
Juicedupp Jayy it smelled like delicious funnel cakes
@@QuentinDude it smelled like that...in Sabu's Camper
He was so good back then, and not a parody of himself
Jerry Lawler had NO CHANCE IN HELL!
Yeah, it wasn't a devlopmental deal as we know it, more like the missing link between Vince just raiding the territory dry (like he did in the early 80's with a lot of places) and the developmental deals of Today.
It's amazing how Jerry would go on to represent WWE against ECW. Ha.
No, it was more like Vince taking the guys he wanted and in return giving Memphis lower card guys he didn't want anymore (Papa Shango, The Big Bossman, Giant Gonzolas). About the only guys who got any "development" out of this deal were Owen Hart and Vince himself
USWA wrestling was awesome... Sad it went out of business. And sad WWE is still around.. USWA looks real, and it doesn't seem like a stupid kid show..
Jay Yang So if uswa was so good why didn't it live on... or surpass WWE.
What a stupid comment
we never got uswa in philly what the hell are you talking about
You probably did but it was coming in on shitty UHF Channel
No. Never got it
It's funny to me how Vince hates Bret Hart and he wants him to beat Jerry Lawler and embarrass him in Memphis and he is cheering Bret on and on Brets side rooting him on to beat Lawler and then a few years after this he screws Bret out of the WWE championship at Survivor Series in 1997
Who really care what a bitter has been who managed one good team thinks.
He was a waste in WWE
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