Today's P.T. Barnum presenting EgoMania XX

Recently, Vince McMahon has been going to house shows in order to try to boost lagging attendance. However, his presence hasn't really had any effect. A recent show in Boston only drew 5,000 people, fewer than the last quarter's house show average, despite Vince's appearance at the show.

What is the problem? Why isn't Vince drawing? Several years ago, he was the hottest heel in the business. His feud with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin brought the then WWF to its hottest period ever. Unfortunately for Vince, his "Mr. McMahon" persona will never be that effective again.

Well, two of the obvious reasons are overexposure and staleness of the evil owner storyline. Eric Bischoff was revealed as the leader of the NWO in late 1996. The person in charge screwing over the people he doesn't like has been a wrestling storyline consistently since then. In the last seven years, the fans have seen Eric, Vince, Ric Flair, Terry Funk, Vince Russo, Kevin Nash, Stephanie McMahon, Mick Foley, and many others as owners and commissioners. It doesn't work anymore because there haven't been any innovations to the storyline. Vince McMahon has also been part of the storylines for years with occasional removals, usually only lasting a couple of months. Between Raw and Smackdown that is hundreds of hours of Vince McMahon, but those aren't even the biggest problems.

Look at it from the storylines. Vince McMahon became the evil Mr. McMahon because he screwed over Bret Hart. From there, he went into the hot feud with Austin because he didn't want Austin as the world champion. But look at things now, Austin is not the champion and has suffered so many injures during his career he is no longer able to wrestle. As a matter of fact, Austin now works for McMahon, doing the same thing to Jericho and Christian that Vince used to do to him. Austin may have won some battles here and there but ultimately, Vince won the war.

It goes beyond that. Hulk Hogan beat Vince at WrestleMania. Shane and Stephanie brought in WCW and ECW. Ric Flair was the co-owner. Hulk's fired, WCW and ECW are history, and Flair's just a manager now. Let's face it, Vince always wins. It is very hard to get people to invest their time to watch when the outcome is never in doubt.

But what about a character arc? Is "Mr. McMahon" affected in any way by his feuds? There was when Trish Stratus was his mistress and Linda was committed in an asylum. Vince lost a match thanks to Linda and Trish. Did it change his cheating on Linda? No. Did all the attacks by Austin stop him from messing with his wrestlers? No. Everything the writers have done over the years has shown that Vince can and will do whatever he wants and he will never suffer any long term repercussions from his actions. He might lose a match but Vince will get his revenge eventually.

The apathy towards the Mr. McMahon character has even carried over to his family. The fans are not taking to Stephanie as a face because they know in six months she will again be "Daddy's little girl" because it has happened before. The only McMahon to stay consistent is Linda and she comes off as a idiot for staying with Vince after the way he treats her.

It is time for Vince to be removed from the storylines permanently. The "Mr. McMahon" character has become detrimental to the promotion as Vince ends up valuable television time at the expense of the other characters. But will Vince ever see it that way, before it is too late?

We just love to watch a rich guy self-destruct. Imagine immersing yourself into your very own soap opera two, sometimes three times a week. A staff of outstanding athletes working for less than they're worth, most of whom would do almost anything asked of them in order to get the story over with the marks. Balance that with the real world of failed investments (XFL, a theme restaurant in Manhattan, ever-sinking stock value) and mismanagement of gained assets (WCW, ECW, the Turner Library, NWA archives, etc.). Nooo, he wants to be the next Phil Spector and push some rock groups against the entrenched music industry. Vince needs to do a Wrestling Channel now while the public is amenable to new offerings and those libraries are under his control (and while he has decent health left. The Juicing.) McMahon deserves respect for dominating a fragmented, local-base industry and making it pay real money. Now he needs to get out of the talent's way and thank God for his blessings. NWA-TNA is doing great here in Nashville and often does better shows than WWE. It's where the dinosaurs and the unconnected go after dealing with Vince, plus they're raising a new crop of guys who have never had to work under that cloud of negativity.

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