Why Vince McMahon was removed from WrestleMania in 1999

Former WWE writer Vince Russo has worked closely with chairman Vince McMahon and has observed his growth over the years. He also knew that McMahon was not going to grab the eyeballs at WrestleMania 15 after being booked to win the Royal Rumble in 1999. It should be noted that the champion of Royal Rumble usually challenges the World Championship at WrestleMania. But things turned out differently for McMahon as the story line needed to be different and more appealing for the audience. 

“The important creative there was obviously Vince can’t wrestle Austin at WrestleMania. That’s not going to happen. So we’re going to have the shocker of Vince winning the Royal Rumble, but then, bro, you have to have really good storytelling in getting Vince out of that match before WrestleMania,” Russo told Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Dr. Chris Featherstone. 

“What I loved about Vince was, whatever Ed and I wrote for him… bro, he did it,” Russo continued. “He didn’t concentrate on himself. Like when we were going over the Vince part of the show, it was just like we were going over DX [D-Generation X]. When it was Vince, it wasn’t, ‘Okay, let’s talk about Vince now for two hours.’ It was just like he was another character on the show,” he added. 

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Russo was infuriated by a segment of chairman Vince McMahon with former NXT star Austin Theory. The segment opened up mixed emotions for the fans and drew flak as McMahon was seen challenging Theory to beat Finn Balor once again. He also mentioned that if he failed to get the better of Balor in the contest then he should still beat him black and blue. Russo felt that there was clearly something wrong with the WWE Chairman as he made some of the most insensitive remarks on RAW. He was also surprised that the punchline of the segment ended differently than anticipated. 

Russo further believes that the character shown by McMahon makes him look like a bully. However, at the match, Theory went on to defeat Balor and then attacked the former NXT Champion to stay loyal to the advice given by the WWE Chairman. It has been naturally seen as a way to impress McMahon and earn his faith. 

Theory also mentioned at the backstage interview that he would have made his mentor proud and he is now aiming to win the Royal Rumble besides the main event at the WrestleMania.