Today we are talking about eight questionable things
wwe(wwf) blew millions on during the attitude era
8) Building the Max Moon costume
When you look at characters such as Jushin ‘Thunder’ Luger,
it’s obvious there are clear parallels between pro-wrestling and anime.
Both rely on colourful, larger than life characters,
who wage epic wars of good vs evil.
But when the WWF tried to introduce their own anime hero in 1991,
a few years before the Attitude Era started,
things didn’t go to plan.
Signing Konnan to a lucrative deal,
the WWF christened him Max Moon,
giving him an uncomfortable neon-blue outfit,
complete with wrist mounted gauntlets that shot out fireworks.
Claiming that Moon was from another world,
the gimmick quickly died
with Konnan leaving to join WCW
where he had much more success during the Monday Night Wars.
Refusing to lose out on the thirteen-thousand-dollar costume,
the WWF quickly replaced Konnan with Paul Diamond,
who only received the role because he could fit in the suit.
He didn’t do well with it either,
and Max Moon was quickly sent back to his home world.
7) Opening WWF New York
There are few business projects risker than opening a restaurant, and that risk is only made bigger when you’re in a prime real estate like Time Square.
Never afraid to roll the dice though, Vince McMahon opened the restaurant in 1999, hoping to sponge more money for his loyal fans.
This plan worked, for a while, as fans crowded the bar as their establishment of choice for viewing RAW, SmackDown and Pay Per Views.
Unfortunately, for the rest of the week, the place was deserted, as when not showing WWF content,
the place was just one of several bars in Time Square where people could buy beer and wings.
Despite merchandise sales making over sixteen-million dollars from the location in i t’s four years, a bar that was only making money three days a week clearly wasn’t going to work
, as WWF New York lost an estimate $35.5 million during its tenure, money that Vince could’ve saved if he’d never entered the restaurant business in the first place.
6) Buying the rights to Gangrel
Despite never holding gold in the WWF,
the career of David ‘Gangrel’ Heath has lived on with fans,
due to his unique gimmick.
Appearing as a Vampire in the Attitude Era,
his demonic look and fiery entrance made Gangrel a huge star of the mid-card,
so it wasn’t surprising that he lasted with the company for so long.
What was confusing though is the character’s choice of name,
as the term Gangrel had already been
trademarked by White Wold Publishing, for use in role playing games.
This meant that any appearance of the name Gangrel,
whether it be on TV,
on merchandise or in video games,
would lead to the WWF paying White Wolf receiving an absurd amount in royalty fees.
All of this could have been avoided,
if Vince decided to name the Vampire literally any other name,
but McMahon clearly liked the sound of Gangrel, and stuck to it.
Now years later, Heath has said the serious hassle behind his name,
as well as the fortune it cost to use,
means he believes he’ll never be offered a legends contract,
a real shame given his popularity.
5) Giving Bob Holly his own Race car
The first mistake that the WWE made when giving Bob Holly the character of race-car driver
Thurman ‘Sparky’ Plugg, is thinking that any would think a race-car driver turned wrestler made the slightest bit of sense.
The second mistake was diving head first in trying to make the character work, with the WWE creating an actual WWE stock car for Holly to drive.
Seen in promos at various races, Holly would actually be flown with the car to several races for the All Pro Series, where he would compete with actual drivers.
When you include the cost of car repairs and the pitstop into all of this, it was clear that this was one of the WWF’s most expensive Superstars.
Worst of all, this all happened in 1995, one of WW’s most financially unstable years, which is probably why the character was quickly dropped,
Vince cut his losses and Sparky Plugg became Hardcore Holly.
Don’t feel to bad for Sparky though, as Holly was allowed to keep the car, for free, a very generous offer that probably helped build the Hardcore champion’s loyalty.
4) Trying to turn the Debbie Reynolds Hotel in to a WWE Casino
Despite the failure of WWF New York, the restaurant wasn’t the only example of the company trying to branch out into other properties.
In Late 1998, McMahon purchased the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel and casino, for a hefty $10.65 million.
Purchased during the height of the Attitude Era, the rumoured plan was that the venue would continue being a hotel and casino, with WWF logos plastered all over it.
According to Bruce Prichard, ideas circulated the WWE office, including daily matches, retired wrestlers as greeters, and even an Undertaker themed tattoo parlour.
Other potential ideas for the venue included a WWE Museum, or a physical Hall of Fame, which is why it was so shocking that the WWF didn’t do anything with the real estate.
Instead, McMahon sold the casino in 2000, and even though they earned over eleven million-dollars in the sale, the cost of upkeeps means this purchase was definitely a loss.
3) Doing whatever it took to steal Marc Mero
While Marc Mero was a fine mid-carder,
it’s clear in hindsight that he was never going to be the next top star in the WWF.
Working with WCW as Johnny B. Badd, Mero was a fine Television Champion,
winning the title on three occasions,
but wasn’t exactly known for setting the world on fire.
Despite this, when Mero’s contract was up in 1996, Vince was quick to snatch him up,
not realising that Mero hadn’t really trained to be a wrestler,
but instead had focussed his time to play the Johnny B. Badd character.
In one of the earliest steals of the Monday Night War,
Mero received the first guaranteed contract in WWE history,
which came at great expense to the chairman.
Debuting for the WWE at WrestleMania 12, things looked promising for Mero,
who interrupted Triple H at the pay per view,
and defeated Isaac Yankem
aka Kane the next night on RAW.
However, Mero would never reach anywhere close to the main event
and left the WWF in 1999,
and now works as a motivational speaker.
2) Mark Henry’s Insane Rookie Contract
Mark Henry and Marc Mero both joined the WWF with huge contracts, but the difference between the two
is that the Hall of Pain founded eventually
paid back McMahon’s investments.
After competing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta,
the Powerlifter was quickly signed to a $10 million,
10-year contract l with the WWF,
despite coming 14th out of 18 in the Super Heavyweight division.
Things got worse for McMahon though,
as not long after signing Henry to an unprecedented deal,
Vince quickly found out that the World’s Strongest Man couldn’t wrestle.
While the decade-long contract
did give the Texan plenty of time to develop as a wrestler,
the company clearly wanted to cut ties with him,
involving him in some embarrassing and offensive feuds,
hoping he would quit.
Instead, Henry would develop as a wrestler
and by the time he became World Heavyweight Champion in 2011,
the Super Heavyweight had become
one of SmackDown’s most entertaining
stars.
Even though Henry would eventually make Vince’s money back and then some,
there must’ve been many years where Vince thought about
how he could have saved his money
by never hiring the rookie in the first place.
1) Wasting Millions On The XFL
The XFL may go down in history
as one of Vince McMahon’s greatest failures.
After the massive success of the Attitude Era,
McMahon aimed to bring his own brand of Sports Entertainment to football,
describing the NFL as the No Fun League.
Feeling he could take on the biggest American Football organisation ever,
Vince partnered with NBC to broadcast the new league
paying around $50 million to fund the NFL alternative.
While initial viewing figures were high, the ratings quickly declined,
as fans began to realise
that all the players with actual talent
were already signed to the NFL,
leading to very boring matches.
Football fans also rejected
WWE-esque Sports Entertainment involved with the show,
with players encouraged to have characters,
such as Rod Smart,
who’s jersey had ‘He Hate Me’ plastered on the back.
After costing Vince $35 million,
the league was cancelled after just one season
and fans thought they’d seen
the end of the XFL.
That was until January 2018,
when McMahon announced a new XFL, scheduled for 2020,
which he sure hopes will right the wrongs
of the biggest financial blunder in his entire life.
Well guys, that's our list. Can you think of anything else that WWE Blew Millions on during the attitude era? If so, drop us a comment below and let us know
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