Merst Sports: WWE Chairman Vince McMahon

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon

Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon (born August 24, 1945) is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE. Upon acquiring World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), McMahon's WWE became the sole remaining major American professional wrestling promotion (until the national expansion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor).

As an on-camera character, he can appear on all WWE brands (though the majority of the time, he appears on Raw). McMahon plays a character known by the ring name Mr. McMahon, based on his real life persona. In the world of WWE, he is a two-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship and ECW World Championship. He was also the winner of the 1999 Royal Rumble.

Vince is the husband of Linda McMahon, with whom he ran WWE from its establishment in 1980 until she resigned as the CEO in September 2009.

McMahon's father, Vincent James McMahon, had left the family while McMahon was still a baby. McMahon did not meet his father until age 12. Vince spent the majority of his childhood living with his mother and a string of stepfathers. According to an interview with Playboy, he attended and graduated, in 1964, from Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia. McMahon claimed that one of his stepfathers, Leo Lupton, used to beat his mother and would attack him as well when he tried to protect her. He said, "It is unfortunate that he died before I could kill him. I would have enjoyed that." In his early life, McMahon also overcame dyslexia.

McMahon married Linda McMahon on August 26, 1966 in New Bern, North Carolina. The two met in church when Linda was 13 and Vince was 16. At that time McMahon was known as Vince Lupton, using his stepfather's surname. They were introduced by Vince's mother, Vicky Lupton (now Vicky Askew). They have two children, Shane and Stephanie, both of whom have spent time in the WWF/E both onscreen and behind the scenes. Shane left the company as of January 1, 2010; while Stephanie continues to be active in a backstage role.

McMahon has a $12 million penthouse in Manhattan, a $40 million mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, a $20 million vacation home, and a 47-foot sports yacht named Sexy Bitch. Forbes has noted McMahon's wealth at 1.1 billion dollars, backing up the WWE's claim he is a billionaire for the year of 2001, though he is reported to have since dropped off the list.

McMahon has six grandchildren: Declan James and Kenyon Jesse McMahon and a grandson born in 2010, sons of Shane and his wife Marissa; and Aurora Rose, Murphy Claire & Vaughn Evelyn Levesque, daughters of Stephanie and her husband Paul "Triple H" Levesque.