Agreements, Disagreements with Vince McMahon's Comments on Stone Cold's Podcast

Vince McMahon appeared live on the WWE Network (subscription required) for Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast, as the pro wrestling podcast continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.

In addition to feeding the ongoing drama with CM Punk, McMahon provided insight on the current product as well as his opinion on past, present and future stars.

As is usually the case with McMahon, not everything he said could be accepted as gospel. And while some comments made complete sense, others created grounds for skepticism.

Agree—"At the moment...[Cesaro] lacks 'it.'"

Cesaro should feel bittersweet about McMahon's criticisms toward him. Austin thought he was important enough to discuss on a must-see podcast, and while both McMahon and Austin agreed about his extraordinary potential, they also came to the conclusion that he is not connecting with fans. 

Cesaro seemed on the verge of doing just that after winning the Andre Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, but he was simply outshone by Paul Heyman in the ensuing weeks. Heyman actually did more harm than good to his character each week by singing the praises of superior talent, and fellow client, Brock Lesnar before focusing on Cesaro.

While one cannot entirely blame Cesaro for his steady fall from grace, Cesaro's back-seat role to Heyman was evidence of a lack of stage presence and the "it" factor McMahon was talking about. Heyman has always been risky as a manager since he's only effective with major stars like CM Punk and Lesnar.

Not only has Cesaro failed to reach that level of stardom, he isn't even close.

In his two years in WWE, Cesaro has had three managers. WWE clearly lacks confidence in his ability to stand out on his own, and it's justified in those actions as he tends to flounder without the benefit of playing off of a dynamic character.

Cesaro will forever be a beacon of the fractional Internet wrestling fanbase. But he'll need the support of Vince McMahon to become a bona fide star.

[Read more on Cesaro's struggles here]

Disagree—"Don't p-ss anybody off."

This was the most non-Vince McMahon comment made by the WWE Chairman on the entire podcast. McMahon dryly offered up this response after Austin claimed the WWE locker room was afraid of ruffling feathers for fear of losing their jobs.

McMahon's insistence that talent reach for the brass ring is implicit of taking risks and stepping on toes in order to get to the top. In both art and life, main event-caliber pro wrestlers are notorious for drawing heat. 

It's no coincidence that some of the biggest stars in WWE history, man (or woman), were involved in a scandal or controversy at some point. There's a certain psychological makeup of a top WWE Superstar. The mixture of self-confidence, combativeness, egoism and delusions of grandeur combines to create a borderline sociopath fitted for a brass ring.

If all pro wrestlers lived by the credo of "don't p-ss anybody off," WWE's Hall of Fame would be empty.

Agree—McMahon on CM Punk: "I hope that one day we'll be able to get back together again."

In his fence-mending career, McMahon has buried hatchets with Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Sable, the Ultimate Warrior (again), Brock Lesnar, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan (again). And that's the short list.

Don't be fooled by the 300-plus f-bombs, Punk will one day be a part of this list.

Disagree—"No one on the roster" was ready to beat The Undertaker

Vince McMahon defended his decision to book Lesnar to end Undertaker's streak by insisting that nobody on the roster was ready to beat him. That's a highly questionable statement.

The Shield, the Wyatts and Daniel Bryan were among newcomers to WWE's main event scene during a WrestleMania XXX pay-per-view that adopted a tone of looking toward the future. In a perfect world, the dark and brooding Bray Wyatt would have at least received a WrestleMania match against the tenured phenom. In fact, WWE boasted an impressive crop of main eventers on the rise who should have been seriously considered to beat Undertaker.

Injury aside, many fans had been itching for a legitimate world title run for Bryan dating back to that year's SummerSlam. Given proper underdog booking, he could have been believable as the one to end Undertaker's streak, especially considering how hot he was at the time.

By WrestleMania XXX, Roman Reigns had already delivered historic performances at both Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. WWE had enough faith in Reigns to book him to break an elimination record that stood for over a decade. Had he branched off from The Shield at that point, having him end Undertaker's streak would have been a calculated risk at worst.

Agree—Vince McMahon on Sting: "His character is one you don't need to see a lot of."

Sting's crow character is the polar opposite of his colorful, charismatic Hollywood surfer gimmick. Some of the best business he did in WCW came when he remained silent and was only seen in limited segments for nearly a full year.

Both Sting's character and his advanced age are conducive to a less-is-more approach when booking him in WWE. With an over-saturation of content and an always jaded millennial audience, it won't take much for the Sting character to become bastardized.

WWE would be wise to save him for major pay-per-view appearances. His absence from WWE since Survivor Series makes that pay-per-view, and others like it, more valuable. 

Disagree—"No heat" between Vince McMahon and Jim Ross

Vince claimed there was no heat between him and Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross, and he left the door open for a possible return. 

Based on McMahon's history of on-camera bullying, and an exit that was virtually a forced retirement, it's hard to imagine that there is no ill will between the two parties.

Austin's comment that Ross is one of the "greatest wrestling minds in the business" is one that I truly believe McMahon has always been threatened by because he knows it to be true.

Ross may be one of the few individuals on the planet who knows more about wrestling than McMahon. That, combined with his southern roots juxtaposed against McMahon's metropolitan and hyper-competitive tendencies, has led to a love-hate relationship over the years.

Ross has been drafted to WWE's B-show without prior notice (from Jrsbarbq.com), fired without prior notice (from F4WOnline.com h/t WrestlingInc.com) and openly mocked for his real-life bout with Bells Palsy as part of segments that did not further storylines.

Ross has been critical of WWE's current product on social media and in his blog, and Raw announcers—who are often fed lines by McMahon—routinely take veiled pot shots at the former voice of the WWE.

McMahon claiming there is no heat between him and a former colleague was the WWE Chairman telling his investors "there's nothing to see here."

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