‘Vince McMahon got wrestlers to dress in Lakers uniforms and beat Nuggets dressed wrestlers’: When WWE boss got back at Stan Kroenke for scheduling error

A scheduling error in May 2009 led to a WWE fight and an NBA game to be scheduled simultaneously at Pepsi Center. Vince McMahon was livid.

In 2009, the NBA playoffs left Vince McMahon dribbling with rage. The Nuggets were set for Game 4 of their series against the Lakers. But an unfortunate scheduling conflict arose, which would see WWE evicted from the Pepsi Centre to make way for the game.

Monday Night Raw had been penciled in months in advance to be hosted at the Pepsi Centre. But arena owner Stan Kroenke – who also owna the Nuggets – stepped in to boot Vince and co. from the venue.

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Vince McMahon and the WWE were justifiably peeved by the discourtesy, but their response was really petty.

What Vince McMahon did to vent his frustration at Stan Kroenke and the Denver Nuggets

The WWE baron did some of the most petty things he’s ever partaken in: he shifted the event too Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Not coincidentally, this is the home of the Lakers.

WWE spent the entire broadcast deriding the Nuggets. The show even culminated with a match pitting a group of faces bedecked in Lakers uniforms kicking the paint off their opponents, dressed in Nuggets colours.

Vince McMahon on E. Stan Kroenke Nuggets owner during the NBA playoff/raw mishap: I don’t trust anyone with an initial for a first name.

Vince McMahon in the 80s: and here’s one half of the Killer Bees B. Brian Blair. 😕

— Josh (@joshtowne) May 13, 2020

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The pettiness didn’t stop there. McMahon wanted to rub it in to Kroenke as badly as he could. This meant that he attacked the Nuggets sporadically, whenever he had the opportunity to, on live TV.

Vince McMahon even went as far as to appear on American TV, telling journalist Mike Wilbon that Kroenke “should be arrested for impersonating a good businessman” before challenging Arsenal’s majority shareholder to a cage match to settle the dispute.