Vince McMahon's Ultimate Act Of Promotional Pettiness | War Stories

War Stories - Episode 4: On May 7, 1989, WCW held a pay-per-view called WrestleWar, which had the subtitle of "Music City Showdown", since it took place in Nashville. There was some heated conflict within the confines of Music City itself that night, but the most contentious battle didn't come between any two given wrestlers on WCW's roster - rather, it came when WCW and WWF waged war that weekend inside Nashville city limits.
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Cultaholic provides video coverage of professional wrestling - including WWE (including WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown Live, WWE NXT and 205 Live), AEW, IMPACT Wrestling (formerly TNA), NJPW, ROH, and more with daily news updates, reviews, highlights, predictions, reactions, podcasts and much, much more.

[@freddyrussell7778]

When I saw the title my thought was “You’re going to have to be waaaaaay more specific Sam” haha

[@adamhovey407]

I have to be honest with you, for so long I was used to people saying WWE, even for stuff that took place in the 90s or 80s, that it's actually refreshing to hear someone say WWF, because that's what they were called at the time.

[@DDS029]

The simple answer to all of this was the World Wildlife Foundation, had trade marked WWF. That didn't stop Vinnie from trying to suck money from a non-profit organization, AND the rights to WWF. Not exactly a great PR move.

[@AT-il2ej]

They tapped out to a Panda

[@mikemckeogh3635]

I'd never heard that story before. Was interesting. Thanks

[@randallguzik3764]

I always found it fascinating that Vince would always act like the wounded party when WCW or Crockett would do to him what he done to them before...like raiding talent, Buying established time slots for tv shows, counter programming. He always acts like he never did any of that, that he is the wounded party, his family and employees for the most part say the same thing...looking at you Bruce Prichard.

[@optimus2008]

Vince's hypocrisy is on another level.

[@creoleDJ]

If “throwing stones from a glass house” was a person…

[@outlawrip-offartist4161]

Two things. Number one this is the most fascinating story so far, and a great video. Number two this is why WWF versus WCW was a war.

[@LoganBluth]

What a sad place the inside of Vince's head must be. I wonder if he's ever had an actual moment of genuine happiness (that wasn't related to some sort of cruel prank or angle) in his life. Like, when his kids were born, do you think he was actually honestly happy due to love for his family, or was he already calculating how best to use them to further his business empire.....?

[@lukek1998]

I don't know if comments are read by you guys, but Sam this series is amazing. Major respect for what you've created, quickly becoming one of my favourite shows on the channel.

[@adamhovey407]

I'm liking it too. I'm not much of a wrestling fan, but I love documentaries and I love history, so this is very appealing to me.

[@superrobz]

Vince petty? That doesn’t sound like him at all.... 😂😂😂😂😂

[@superrobz]

Sub for Trump 2020 yeah those millions are from other people’s ideas and hard work as Vince basically broke his dads promise of raiding territories and stealing talent (which Vince senior promised not to do) as well as claiming ideas as his own (ECW > attitude era)

[@superrobz]

Sub for Trump 2020 I never mentioned anything about him meeting his dad or Vince senior not believing in him, but Vince senior never stole talent away or moved in on other territory like Vince has done now so there’s literally nothing left. Half the time he doesn’t even know how to utilise the people he owns, he just signs them because he can or maybe to stop them going elsewhere like say AEW or NWA

[@andrewmacdonnell4536]

Sub for Trump 2020 WWE has sucked since ‘99. Leave it to a Trump supporter to view a rapey greedy billionaire as a role model.

[@superrobz]

Andrew Macdonnell 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@andrewmacdonnell4536]

Sub for Trump 2020 I’m not a yank, mate. We have a competent government where I’m from.

[@jasonmccrank4981]

Vince McMahon represents billionaire capitalism run amuck. He employs "independent contractors" without affording them the appropriate freedoms to capitalize on private business ventures. He also HATES when lucrative competition exists such as WCW and AEW - he can't keep his talent scared and desperate when they can go somewhere else to make six figure salaries while also being afforded more business venture freedoms. The wrestling world and the world in general will be better off when he's gone.

[@ananyaraizada7657]

Well I would tell you one thing the world will stop functioning if such authoritarian men cease to exist. They are very important.

[@robertshay9235]

My new favorite Cultaholic series!!! Still love wrestlers of the week and I watch every graded but these are great!!!

[@jeremyshaw577]

Brilliance... can't say enough about how good these have been.

[@joseherrera8489]

I'll give you a like for calling it the WWF. That's what it was. I'm sick of people calling it WWE. It was not that until 2002.

[@konstantswag]

Jose Herrera World Wrestling Federation

[@Adamgoms]

Oh you're so edgy. Well done.

[@camchildsprod2059]

Sir this is a McDonalds

[@kevincapps7694]

Amen to that I'm sick of it being called wwe period LOL I hate the term sports entertainer too WWE should stand for we want entertainers

[@KenRising1996]

Long Live the World Wrestling Federation

[@ColinKillick]

Sam, these are excellent. Would you consider doing one on the Mike Awesome/Tazz/Triple H drama that played out across all three big promotions over the ECW title? I think it would do very well with this treatment.

[@joeyl7656]

Nothing related to this video specifically but this is hands down, undeniably, the best wrestling channel. Cultaholic is my absolute go-to. Please don’t let Vince anywhere near it 🤣.

[@chrisfrazier5506]

Lowkey my favorite series on Cultaholic . I'd absolutely be up for seeing these more frequently.

[@JeffLandryComedy]

Nice to hear a story about the inter-promotional war that I haven’t heard a million times before.

[@jordcarter2359]

Don't watch it then you Muppet.

[@Cody70858]

I love these . And sam has the perfect voice for it.

[@d_ruggs]

this War Stories series is incredibly well done. Great work, they are like mini dark side of the ring eps

[@Nbflowers1989]

I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times. Cultaholic needs to do a full length doctumentary of some kind!

[@TrenchReynolds]

Great job, Sam and anyone else who worked on this. I had never heard this story before.

[@kraxosOBK]

I really, really love this series.

[@douglasmellows8215]

Sam, I must say, you are knocking it outta the park with this series, awesome!

[@johnriley7312]

Vince McMahon: Petty bastard since 1987

[@csirmihun]

So Vince, did you do this because you're petty or because you're a genius businessman Vince: Yes

[@Aslaug75]

Sam ... you're an absolute treasure. Thank you for making these videos. Not only is your voiceover really, really good, but the stories are truly interesting. I'd never heard of this one before, and I sat here groaning aloud at how pathetic Vince behaved. Thank you for making these. I look forward to the next one already.

[@werter1999]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series in all of youtube, bot just wrestling related. Fantastic work.

[@weedtopia4.20]

Self isolating to my new fav Cult Thanks sam, luv these

[@johnmichaelhernandez2954]

The research done needed for this quantity and quality of content would be a great undertaking. This series is a really great one. Thank you Sam

[@myddrinemrys8988]

Lots of watching Jim Corette's “Deep Dives” and taking notes. 😜

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

This information is readily available and documented through this thing called an internet and google images. Not like they’re putting this story together through newspaper clippings from a local library in 1992.

[@SONOFPEARL315]

For all the things McMahon did to put other promotions out of business and all the underhanded tactics he did, it was ironically hilarious to see him complain about Bischoff's dirty tactics to nearly put him out if business 😂😂😂

[@187mrsmith]

it was always okay when Vince McMahon did stuff to other people but when they did it back to him it was like how dare you I can't believe you did that 😂😤🎬😭

[@timf7413]

I have to admit that one thing bothers me about these claims that Vince sabotaged other promotions: While it's obvious he did use strong arm tactics, one can't discount the fact that the other parties involved agreed to go along with it as they legitimately backing the WWF was the better play for their business. If they thought otherwise, they could and would have told him to go take a walk.

[@kyewilson7837]

You call it petty I’d call it next level business sense

[@Amy-cu1qn]

You say a young Dave Meltzer like he was 15 at the time lol.

[@Kirkenburer74]

So a young Meltzer.

[@srenolsson1235]

Another stellar job, Sam. This is truly an excellent series

[@mrkipling2201]

WCW did have the advantage that year with the brilliant Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat trilogy. With the last one setting up the Flair/Terry Funk angle.

[@urbanlumberjack]

The research on this show is absolutely amazing.

[@WhiskeyBrewer]

I only knew bits and pieces of this, so hearing the full take was great. Another amazing episode Sam

[@Mpritchard1995]

Vince McMahon is simply one of a kind nothing will stop him from trying to put out shows no matter the circumstances you gotta respect him for it not even a worldwide pandemic will go over him I’m glad mania is going on gives some escapism for what we need right now

[@roddypiperfan7719]

At the live closed circut broadcast of Wrestlemania 5 I attended ,when Run Dmc came on and scores of people used the time for getting food and drink, and going to the restroom .

[@grittyboyross7138]

And run DMC came back yrs later and gave D generation x thier greatest theme song ever

[@markwaddington5185]

Love cultaholic, however this is currently my favourite series. So good!

[@Reign649]

sam please do more of these war stories documentaries these are so awesome to watch!

[@blackbirdtech3368]

Just came across this series. Great job!

[@ThePB77]

This is my favourite series on the channel

[@carlobelton6857]

Sam, I love what your doing with war stories. Keep up the good work, I look forward to each new episode and only wish they were longer mate!

[@kennywilkinson913]

I've never been a fan of wrestling but I will always be a fan of the attitude era.

[@pygmalionxxx]

Please please PLEASE do more of these!!

[@dbone3356]

Surprised they didn't throw in the detail of which WCW guys were at the autograph signing to counter the WWF show.

[@ivorypoet6972]

Vince McMahon: The one person responsible for destroying pro wrestling one superstar and one territory at a time.

[@Adamgoms]

If Vince didn't do it then somebody else would. He didn't destroy the territories, he moved before them.

[@jermf35]

These are very well done and full of info. U should cover a lot of old stuff. Monday wars. AWA hogan . Curt Henning awa champ

[@kyleshiflet9952]

This series has become my new KZbin addiction

[@RDub2]

Reminds me of them running SNME the same weekend as TNA's first ever house show. I went to both.

[@zachiswayposi1]

This is why competition is a good thing. Everyone has to bring their A game instead of just skirting by on being the only game in town

[@hash4700]

These war stories are great

[@NotoriousTSK]

Keep. These. Coming.

[@bc338333]

RIP Brown County Arena 1958-2019

[@Cbear3450]

And thus from the black bowels of pettiness were born wrestling events that fans still enjoy to this day. Oh and your mention of the AWA getting buried alive is putting it mildly. By 1989 the AWA had been reduced to a withering husk.

[@carlcady9055]

This series is awesome, keep up the hard work Sam!

[@Camhin1]

Sam has the perfect voice for these videos. So calming.

[@Achoohorsey]

Nice job on this. Will say the background music is a tad too dramatic to be playing underneath the video’s content. I think it’s fine for the title though, but was kind of awkward to play the whole time

[@k.j.hallingswest5231]

This is a great series.

[@SheriffOutlaw]

WAR STORIES IV: THE WAR TO SETTLE THE SCORE!!!!

[@k.j.hallingswest5231]

@14:23 I may very well be the husky child in the Adidas track pants.

[@Drummer8282]

4:25 - Ric Flair in his prime in a dome show with the whole company backing him only drew 5000. 14:00 - again, Flair couldn’t come close to filling an arena for a PPV. Ric Flair was not a draw.

[@ananyaraizada7657]

He himself admitted that. He has said numerous times that nobody in wrestling attracted audience like Hogan stone cold or The undertaker. But then he said that he was a better wrestler than all 3 of them and none could do what he could offer to audience

[@deadmansgulf911]

They should have had Tom Petty be the mid show concert at that Nashville WWF house show to really sell how petty the WWF was being

[@namelessentity5851]

Unless I am mistaken, Starcade 1983 was the first ppv, beating Wrestlemania by a year. Could be wrong as I am old, and the mind-brain is starting to disintegrate.

[@ii9714]

No i think you're correct i saw another documentary about this

[@locdar]

Starrcade 83 was on closed circuit TV at theatres and such, not viewable in home like traditional PPV. There certainly is the argument to be made that Starrcade was the first PPV, but if you go by in home purchase then Wrestlemania 3 is the first PPV I do believe.

[@ReidZer0]

I love the presentation of the video

[@zacharycarter9887]

What is funny about wwf running the event that day before is that after the house show the same crew went to the omni in atlanta what a big fu to crocket that weekend lol

[@MdlAgedHeadbanger]

As petty as this is I still find Vince buying the time slot out from Portland his most petty. The territory had everything going against it and was likely near the end. The mill and timber towns were hit hard with new environmental restrictions taking out most of the week day dates. The major sponsor had filed for bankruptcy. With AWA, Stampede and Roy Shire closed the normal talent exchanges were gone and the Northwest had become VERY remote with a thin talent pool. Don Owen managed to run afoul of the Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission so he had them breathing down his neck. Vince buys out the Saturday 11 PM slot which lead to Don Owen closing up and selling what was left to Sandy Barr who moved it to Vancouver, Washington just over the border. The real kicker? The Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission's rules had lead Vince to stop running Oregon. He bought up this time slot for a market he wasn't even doing live events in!

[@iainnicholls8537]

Vince gets knocked on these wrestling videos but to me is a legend put his whole life and soul into the wwf / e respect to him ..given us some of the bedt shows amgles events ever

[@jefferygwatkins]

Great vid, but an awkward reference to Conrad mixed in.

[@Bosstype90]

Vince is fuckking king 🤴 if this was that era he would fill heads wrestling wouldn’t be as big as it is now without Vince

[@187mrsmith]

So basically the WCW and WWF we're going out that way before 96 through 2001! It's just when that happened it had reach mainstream at that point! I understand for the most part WWE was winning the numbers war but occasionally WCW without do them

[@adamaizenberg756]

Great series fellas!

[@realityorfiction]

Vince did this exact thing last year in November with aew. 2019 survivor series with its 3day event was scheduled for Chicago the weekend before aew dynamite in Chicago. This tool from aew attendance.

[@madhatter8508]

They booked that Survivor Series in Chicago before AEW was even a thing.

[@jtube411]

Love war stories! Keep em coming

[@primusvsunicron1]

War Stories needs a playlist

[@leandar]

You left out one part, the bit where they stopped counter programming each other cause the cable companies tore them a new one over their last money.

[@realazduffman]

Turner and McMahon doing battle is like Iraq invading Iran. Hard to feel bad for either.

[@Alanalananas]

Waow that was awesome guy's more content like this please 🙏

[@marcus813]

WrestleMania IV's buyrate needs some context. The buyrate it got owes itself to the PPV universe expanding exponentially. The buyrate would've been even higher if not for the competition that Jim Crockett Promotions provided that night (Clash of Champions debut) and the cable companies weren't happy with JCP about it. Too bad those cable providers didn't have that same energy for the then-WWF when it opposed JCP's Bunkhouse Show with the 1st Royal Rumble show.

[@marcus813]

@@MrSniperfox29 True, but looking back on it, I hope the cable industry warned the then-WWF about pulling the same stunt henceforth.

[@BrandanTheBroker]

This is the Vince I love, the Vince I know is still in there, wish he'd come back out

[@darthpanic4007]

Brodie Lee should parody Vince's visit to the tanning salon.

[@pauladams1915]

Brilliant. Nice and concise

[@dr.roberts4508]

Outstanding

[@junkoenoshima4457]

Vince McMahon is truly one Sunovabitch but thats why we all love him and wouldn't accept another one.

[@hiphopdagame]

he is an aggressive businessman... thus why WWE is still ontop and richer than ever... not many will like the way he runs his business...

[@kes9684]

Watching these after listening to macmahon on the Monday night wars, things like Ted wanted to hurt us, i focus on my own product, I mean they didn't have to do that etc etc 🤣

[@williamhild1793]

A self-loathing control freak. Really all that needs to be said.

[@nichhodge8503]

I’m sorry but I can’t believe Vince McMahon would’ve been so petty back then or any other time up until WCW finally closed it’s doors and Vince McMahon bought WCW for such a low price!

[@chrisperkins5913]

I was in the stands for the clash of champions in new Orleans

[@jb888888888]

USA Network was never "free TV." It was on cable. Those of us who didn't have cable couldn't watch it, at home anyway.

[@ronimusprime6798]

I honestly don't think Ted Turner gave two shits about the WWE/WCW rivalry. He was more worried about the Braves and the World Series.

[@SJxPVR]

More of these plz!!

[@steveaguiar722]

Great content ! ... Nice narrating too as im exhausted and annoyed by all the British wrestling channels this was refreshing. ( i do love my bros. Across the pond btw )

[@aliinlondon]

Great stuff again, Mr Sam Keep it up *Dustin Rhodes vid request again :)

[@eatpigsnot]

9:23 - did he say February May 5th? huh? did he mean Friday?

[@TheeCoachg]

Ted was smart and knew they couldn’t beat WWF at ppv so he took it back to tv,which was his playground. He could play wrestling 24hrs a day if he wanted to,thats where McMahon was beholden Dick Ebersol,NBC,USA etc ...Bischoff was the mechanism of forward thinking to run a comparable show against McMahon.

[@narusvarus]

Very interesting! Thank you

[@michaelandrews117]

Vince is currently the reason why I haven't watched a WWE main roster event (Smackdown, Raw or a PPV) in some time. It feels like he is making decisions on a whim (as an aside this is before the issues COVID-19 have arisen, I'm talking about the last year or so now). This isn't me being an NJPW, AEW, RoH indie snob; I LOVE the WWE. Undertaker remains my favourite wrestler of all time and I have been following it all since the early nineties. I just can't watch these main roster shows because I know that the event will have weird booking, tone deaf pushes and nonsensical storytelling. The more we hear about people leaving WWE for AEW, the stories they tell about the culture in WWE at the moment... It just makes me not want to support it. When NXT is as good as it is, I get my WWE sponsored content through the lens of Triple H and Regal and the rest of the amazing team on that production and it makes me sad that people who care about great storytelling and fantastic wrestling builds aren't able to have creative freedom to make the main shows of WWE as good as they can be. It's telling that I'd rather watch a Cultaholic PPV reaction to a WWE PPV event than the PPV itself. Also, fantastic video Sam as ever. These mini-docs are just awesome and you and everybody else on the team that helps create them is doing a bang up job.

[@kpllc4209]

He is the reason I haven't watched it in 30 years

[@kpllc4209]

@@cletusvandamme145 I had to check out what they consider Vince's ultimate act of pettiness. I might of voted for him running shows against the AWA in 89 when the AWA couldn't draw 200 people.

[@jerryjanik480]

Hey guys you guys should do a documentary about a Stampede Wrestling the Hart family and the Hart family dungeon

[@MrJobelp]

Take a shot every time he says the word versus