In 2008, WWE was pressured by the USA Network to improve their weekly ratings as the product was not doing as well as it was during the Attitude Era. Vince McMahon held court with his team to design something that would attract more fans and proliferate WWE’s fan following. Wrestling fans are no strangers to the genius mind of the former boss. After discussion, Bruce Pritchard pitched the idea of offering free gas for a year to fans as the nation was complaining about the increase in gas prices. However, Vince changed that idea into starting his own version of a sweepstake, Vince McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania.
The segment saw McMahon giving away a portion of a million dollars every week to the fans. Fans had to register to enter a prize draw and the lucky ones would receive a call from the boss and win thousands of dollars.
The only catch was that the fans had to be watching Raw and give out the password for the week that was disclosed earlier during each episode.
Initially, the idea attracted a lot of fans and the money was legitimately awarded to the lucky ones who received the phone calls. However, after a few weeks, the segment turned into a fiasco.
The disastrous end of Vince McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania Segment
The segment was enjoyable to watch as it produced a lot of funny moments on WWE TV. McMahon would don his old man glasses, dial the numbers, and connect with the fans. For some fans, the segment was the best thing that happened as they walked away with a huge sum of prize money.
Shockingly, one of the viewers went gaga on the phone after McMahon revealed that he had won $500,000. Although it was good news for the fans who made six figures by just watching Raw, WWE had to put a stop to the segment as they were losing more than yielding more money.
While the segment may have boosted Monday Night Raw’s ratings, it was not up to the expectations of Vince McMahon. WWE then decided to strategically end the segment by designing a kayfabe accident on stage involving McMahon. After McMahon collapsed on stage, he was stretchered out of the arena, and weeks later the segment was forgotten.
Vince McMahon tried launching a storyline-driven football league
Time after time, Vince McMahon has not held back from branching out WWE into other ventures. The former boss has been relentless in the past in his attempts to launch new WWE-esque ventures. The debacle of XFL was one of McMahon’s biggest failed ventures. The former chairman was set out to launch a WWE-based football league in 1999.
I need a Vince McMahon fat head like this. ASAP. @xfl2020 #XFLfootball #XFL pic.twitter.com/6x0dzoVhLc
— Carbo (@JCarbo) February 9, 2020
Your favorite uniform’s favorite uniform.#XFL2023 pic.twitter.com/geWelXydDS
— San Antonio Brahmas (@XFLBrahmas) December 7, 2022
The show produced only one season in 2001 after which it ceased as McMahon could not merge the sports entertainment aspect with football. The league did not last in the market with poor viewership and a mediocre inaugural season.
However, the XFL was relaunched in 2018 but this time without the influence of pro wrestling. The project kicked off again but the global pandemic rained on the parade of Vince McMahon and XFL eventually prematurely ceased. In mid-2020, Dwane Johnson and his partners Gerry Cardinale and Dany Garcia purchased the XFL from Vince McMahon for $15M.
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