Vince McMahon's Retirement Is Going To Change Wrestling Forever

thegamer.com:

Vince McMahon has announced his retirement from the WWE. The man who came to define the modern era of professional wrestling and everything it has to come to represent, for better or worse, is calling it a day at the age of 77. We owe him a lot, but his departure in the midst of a controversial sexual harassment scandal has also been a long time coming.

This retirement feels definitive too, which is seldom the case in this industry. Superstars tend to have their ‘last match’ only to show up in a rival promotion or emerge at a random event, tarnishing their legacy by refusing to hang up their boots for good. Ric Flair has his actual last match this year, almost a decade after Shawn Michaels put the man on his back at WrestleMania. He needed the money, and would rather abuse that fact instead of respecting his impact on the profession before leaving it behind. I could rattle off countless situations similar to this, but when it comes to Vince it actually feels different.

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Without Vince McMahon, the global picture of professional wrestling would be completely different. Decades ago he brought a bunch of disparate promotions from multiple territories together, uniting them under one banner to create a company that didn’t have a single worthy rival until WCW came along. Even then, it eventually bought its competition and folded their existence into its own. It’s the big dog, and remains undefeated.

World Wrestling Entertainment is a powerhouse, arguably bigger than ever, and that’s all because of this one man. Granted, his abuse of power and absurd storytelling decisions have aged terribly, but without the Attitude Era stars like