How Vince McMahon tried to convince WWE legend to stay at the company

WWE legend B. Brian Blair recently recalled how Vince McMahon reacted to his decision to leave the company in 1988. Blair was promised a title reign by McMahon but it never materialised. He was part of one of the most prolific tag team pairs in the company alongside Jim Brunzell in the Killer Bees tag team between 1985 and 1988. It should also be noted that McMahon had promised the Kill Bees of a title reign thrice but the idea never turned into reality, prompting the decision taken by Blair. 

Blair recalled that McMahon tried to convince him to stay by buying extra-time and telling him that it would not be a good sight to see him leave the company. 

“He tried to talk me out of it… He said, ‘Talk about it for a minute.’ Vince is a good worker too, so you never know if he’s shooting. When I said that, he just kind of gave me a smile and he hesitated, a little smile, because I said, ‘Can I give you my two-week notice?’ He said, ‘Can you give me a month?’ He goes, ‘I really hate to see you go, Brian’,” Blair recalled on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling. 

Blair had spent over two months away from the company before he was convinced that he should part ways even though McMahon tried his best to change his decision. 

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“I said, ‘Vince, I see the writing on the wall – you’ve promised us the belts three times.’ He goes, ‘Well, maybe we can create a new scenario and you could possibly make more money.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s not just that, Vince. It’s burnout, we just worked 67 days in a row a couple of months ago. We haven’t had much time off.’”

The Kill Bees were known for their tag team domination in the 1980s which included the Demolition and The Hart Foundation. 

However, following his resignation at WWE, Blair continued to make his presence felt at the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He also owned at least four Gold’s gym centres with Steve Kerin. 

McMahon also added Austin Theory to the Royal Rumble match in the recent past. The other RAW stars for the event to be confirmed are The Street Profits, Rey and Dominik Mysterio, Big E, AJ Styles and Kevin Owens. Triple H had meanwhile formed a unit for the NXT which was supposed to be brought into the main roster after Vince McMahon made his way away from the brand.