An end to a long chain of events

[Guest JaKyL25]

As of last night's Raw, Vince McMahon now has 100% ownership of the WWE, something he has never had in the storylines.  This marks the culmination of a (probably unintentional) chain of events leading back to early 2001:

 

1) Vince cheats on Linda with Trish

 

2) Shane McMahon is so appalled by this that he turns against his father (with whom he had been allied with the last time he was there, if I recall correctly), and purchases WCW out from under his nose, selling his 25% WWF stock to Flair.

 

3) Shane convinces Steph to buy ECW to help combat Vince.  She does by selling her 25% WWF stock to Flair.

 

4) Vince and the WWF defeat Shane, Steph, and WCW/ECW.  

 

5) Ric Flair makes public the news that he has been secretly 50% owner of the WWF for months.

 

6) The war between Vince and Flair gets so heated that the shows need to be split into two. (Yeah, I know that's a load of bull, but that's what Linda said.)

 

7) Finally, without any on-air provocation, Vince just randomly shows up on Raw and beats Flair, thus gaining COMPLETE control of his company, something he has never had in the storyline.  

 

Rather anti-climactic, wouldn't you say?  I guess the moral of the story is that committing adultery and hospitalizing your helpless wife will pay off in the end if you have enough patience.  And now his enemies are nice and neatly divided into two shows, so he doesn't have to worry about any concentrated assault.

[Guest]

Rather anti-climactic, wouldn't you say?  I guess the moral of the story is that committing adultery and hospitalizing your helpless wife will pay off in the end if you have enough patience.  And now his enemies are nice and neatly divided into two shows, so he doesn't have to worry about any concentrated assault.

Some morality.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

God, the only storyline more horrific than the "Ownership of the WWF" saga when put on a timeline is Taker/Kane, and that's really saying something.

 

No offense, but you didn't even scratch the surface when all this bullshit started. Here's how I remember it:

 

*We're lead to believe Vince owns everything, though it's never actually said.

 

*Shane and Linda debut, and it's revealed that Linda owns 50%, and Shane and Vince each hold only 25%, meaning Vince only owned a 1/4 of his company the entire time.

 

*Linda gives her 50% to Austin to spite her husban, because all shrewd millionares would do the same, right?

 

*Austin Vs. the MchMahons in a ladder match decides who has full ownership, and an un-named person screws Austin by raising the briefcase he must grab to win. It's never revealed who did.

 

*The ownership is supposedly split between Vince and Shane, but when it comes up in storylines a while later, it's magically been re-distributed between Vince, Shane, Linda, and Stephanie, of all people.

 

I wonder if they ever stepped back and looked at this, because even without going that deep into it, most people would be able to realize how little sense it makes. Then, Vince is a geninus, so why bother arguing, eh?

[Guest Sakura]

Steph had 25% too. She gave her part with Linda when they made Austin CEO.

[Guest JaKyL25]

Yeah, I realize that all of that stuff happened before the point where I started my timeline, I'm just pointing out that Vince cheating on Linda with Trish was the catalyst that eventually led us to the roster split, and to Vince regaining complete control.  Before that, the ownership situation was at a relative stasis for awhile with, as you said, the ownership being split 4 ways again.

 

Now to do my best to clear up the plot holes:

 

1) When Vince was the only McMahon on TV, looking back one could say that he had complete control because Shane, Steph, and Linda weren't taking an active role with their ownerships.  He never had COMPLETE control, but they seemingly didn't care enough at the beginning of the Mr. McMahon saga to do anything.

 

2) After the ownership was re-split between Vince & Shane after King of the Ring 99, one could infer that, since Vince turned face that autumn, he gave 25% back to Linda, and Shane gave 25% to Steph maybe as a wedding present when she was gonna marry Test later that year.  

 

That's the best explanation I can come up with.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Steph had 25% too. She gave her part with Linda when they made Austin CEO.

Hmm, sorry, bad angle, can't bother be bothered to remember everything...I think I purposefully blocked Steph from memory until the heel turn, since she was such a waste of space before that.

 

Yeah, I'm sure there are decent explanantion out there, but none were ever given.

[Guest]

Hah! Nice try, but you left out the most important players: Linda and her all-powerful board of directors, the ones who originally split the company in two and made co-owners Ric Flair and Vince McMahon dance like puppets (OK, maybe Ric just sat there the whole time without moving or saying a word). So, it doesn't matter if Vince has 25, 50, 100, 125% or more of "his" company, according to established plot points he still has to do whatever they say.

 

And, yeah, I doubt we'll ever hear from the board again either.

[Guest]

I think I purposefully blocked Steph from memory until the heel turn, since she was such a waste of space before that.

I recommend totally blocking her from memory AFTER the heel turn, too.

[Guest buffybeast]

) Finally, without any on-air provocation, Vince just randomly shows up on Raw and beats Flair, thus gaining COMPLETE control of his company, something he has never had in the storyline.  

 

Rather anti-climactic, wouldn't you say?

 

Absolutely.  I was shocked when they announced the Vince/Flair match.  It came out of nowhere.  I still do not understand the on screen motivation behind it.

 

Austin Vs. the MchMahons in a ladder match decides who has full ownership, and an un-named person screws Austin by raising the briefcase he must grab to win. It's never revealed who did.

 

I still want to know who raised the briefcase.  I had heard the person was supposed to be Jericho.  But the powers that be (read Trips.  Hehe) felt that Jericho should not be put in a main event match right off the bat.  he should work his way up the card.

[Guest dreamer420]

i always assumed it was the big boss man who raised the briefcase.

 

i hope that with vince back in full control things will get back to normal.  first they should kill the brand extension.  it was more of a storyline than anything and with smackdown putting on far better shows than raw since the draft took place.

[Guest]

I think I purposefully blocked Steph from memory until the heel turn, since she was such a waste of space before that.

I recommend totally blocking her from memory AFTER the heel turn, too.

At least Steph had a reason to be there after the heel turn. She was HHH's accomplish when he was the "evil owner." Don't forget she was the center of the (in)famous love triangle storyline between Triple H and Kurt Angle. Then after that she just was there but it wasn't until HHH was injured that (IMO) she didn't need to be there anymore.

 

Remember when no one use to complain about the McMahons?

[Guest]

That's only when Vince was the only one on TV, and when his character was fresh instead of completely run into the ground with 328 turns like today.

[Guest Ash Ketchum]

i always assumed it was the big boss man who raised the briefcase.

OH COME ON! YOU KNOW IT WAS HBK!

[Guest dreamer420]

why do you think it was hbk?

[Guest Brian]

Unless they Flair had Dawn sign over Vince's former half of the company? Very russofied.