Is Vince McMahon The Next Al Davis?

[Matt7584]

Al Davis died today at the age of 82. His legacy will be remembered as an innovator. However he will be also known as a guy who didn’t know when to retire. He hired the first black NFL coach and first female president of an NFL team. The media and fans will remember his terrible contracts/ draft picks, losing seasons, and a feeling that he lost reality. They will say that the Raiders were more failure than success in his tenure.

If you don’t respect VKM then you don’t respect wrestling. Mark Madden and other guys might in insult his business tactics today and their right at times, but in the 90's they weren’t cool enough or even smart enough to hang with the wwe. Vince hasn’t done anything interesting in the business for close to a decade. I love the wwe but maybe he needs to step down. When you look at the product today there isn’t any innovation or change, it’s the same product recycled with the more flaws.

Is Vince turning into Al Davis? And if so is it too late for change?

 

[Swarles Barkley]

Davis stubbornly stuck to his philosophy. Hence the drafting of JaMarcus Russell (Davis loved strong-armed QBs) and Darius Heyward-Bey (he loved speed). But he also drafted Darren McFadden, who currently leads the NFL in rushing.

In a lot of ways, he and Vince are similar. Vince also stubbornly sticks to his philosophy. Hence the signing of guys like The Great Khali, Mason Ryan and other large muscleheads.

Both have also been extremely successful. Fans on here know of Vince's success, but Davis is the only owner to have a team play in the Super Bowl in four of the five decades it's been around. (The Raiders played in the Super Bowl in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 00s.)

The Raiders also look to be turning things around. They finished last season 8-8, which was their first non-losing season since they went to the Super Bowl in 2002. They have a good young nucleus of players, and could be a threat in a few years. This team was put together by Davis.

WWE is the best it's been in quite some time. CM Punk is compelling; Zack Ryder is starting to finally get some TV time. Guys like Daniel Bryan and Evan Bourne ("Indy guys" that old Vince never would have pushed) are getting serious TV time.

People have been saying for years that Vince is out of touch. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. The same has been said of Davis for the last decade. It looks like both the Raiders and WWE are turning a corner, and both Vince and Davis had a big hand in that.

RIP Al Davis. Just Win Baby! (And no, I'm not a Raiders fan.)

 

[CM Steel]

Al Davis died today at the age of 82. His legacy will be remembered as an innovator. However he will be also known as a guy who didn’t know when to retire. He hired the first black NFL coach and first female president of an NFL team. The media and fans will remember his terrible contracts/ draft picks, losing seasons, and a feeling that he lost reality. They will say that the Raiders were more failure than success in his tenure.

If you don’t respect VKM then you don’t respect wrestling. Mark Madden and other guys might in insult his business tactics today and their right at times, but in the 90's they weren’t cool enough or even smart enough to hang with the wwe. Vince hasn’t done anything interesting in the business for close to a decade. I love the wwe but maybe he needs to step down. When you look at the product today there isn’t any innovation or change, it’s the same product recycled with the more flaws.

Is Vince turning into Al Davis? And if so is it too late for change?

Hold on Hold on Hold on! What are you talking about with this statement? Vince McMahon is already in the same leasgue or what with Al Davis as far as being powerful owners man. But all in all Vince McMahon is Vince McMahon, and Al Davis was Al Davis, simple as that!

I'm from the city of Oakland (eastside), and Al Davis's death was the sad thing of today. So people are in mourning right now out here. But when Vince McMahon passes, the whole country if not the world will be in mourning bub. So you really can't compare the two icon owners.

It's just been a week of death. First Steve Jobs, now Al Davis. Don't jinx Vince McMahon, if you have a heart?

 

[HKnux5112]

It is a sad thing that a human being has died, but it also means the Raiders will finally improve and start winning.

Mr. McMahon is obviously not like Al Davis. The WWE is still pretty damn big in today's world and it couldn't of been that way if it wasn't for Vince and the superstars of today.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The similarity between them is that both are authoritarian owners whom it's extremely difficult to work for. I don't know if Al Davis existed in the constant state of rage that we hear Vince McMahon operates, but we read how Davis stifled the efficiency and creativity of the people who functioned under him, which is surely something McMahon is also guilty of.

Their past successes speak for themselves, but Davis failure to adapt to the changes that occurred in pro football have kept his team in a down cycle for a long time. No one really knows whether the business of pro wrestling has passed Vince McMahon by; the only way we'll know is when he retires.......or like Al Davis, dies.

 

[tonykegger]

Al Davis died today at the age of 82. His legacy will be remembered as an innovator. However he will be also known as a guy who didn’t know when to retire.

Huh? Al Davis was an owner. Professional sports owners keep control of the team until they die. They never retire unless they decide to sell the team which they will never do if they have family members that they can pass the team to.

 

[Daniel]

I don't know who Al Davis is. You say this fellow's American football team deteriorated badly under his ownership and he didn't retire? Fine. But the fact is, WWE is currently in a great position financially. Not deteriorating at all. Sure, PPV buyrates aren't as high as they were previously. Same goes for TV ratings. But WWE is making more money than it has since the Attitude Era. McMahon is smart, he knows wrestling and you've got to believe that he will until he retires (yes he will retire at some point).

 

[Dagger Dias]

I suppose a comparison can be made between McMahon and Davis. Vince will always be rememered for bringing us Wrestlemania and a nearly endless list of innovations in the wrestling business. It remains true though that he just does not know when to step away. The kayfabe'd firing by Trips should hopefully end up being permanent, but knowing how Vince has acted before it might not be. The torch has to be passed eventually. Even if he refuses to do so in his lifetime, it will happen when he passes. Vince needs to step down for the good of his company but he probably won't because he doesn't know when to walk away. It's not too late for a change if that change involves Vince staying offscreen on a permanent basis.

 

[RicoLen]

Heh, I didn't see this thread, but I just talked about this in the thread regarding how will you feel when Vince dies.

I think Vince saved his legacy by passing control to others and allowing guys like CM Punk to become stars instead of burying them.

For those of you who don't know Al Davis, He's the guy that was the driving force behind the AFL/NFL merger, he saved American Football, and own the AFL team the Oakland Raiders. He made them champions 3 different time, and was a hero for everything he did, but in his old age he lost touch and basically destroyed the team he brought to prominence.

Vince up until recently had a very similar path. Taking Pro-Wrestling under his wing, taking it to new heights, and finally losing touch with things and bringing it down with him as well. But Vince has passed a lot of the power off to others who are more in touch with things and as a result I think he's saved his legacy.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I definitely see how people would view them as similar, but unless Vince goes through some major changes as he gets older and spirals out of control then no I don't believe he is. The big difference between Vince and Al is that both guys are hardnosed buisinessmen, but Vince still makes rational decisions with the company and has not hurt it in any big ways repeatedly like Al. We all know that Al Davis trashed several coaches just because the team didn't have a good season, is that rational? Well even though Al did some good things for the team back in the day, he will always be remembered for hurting the raiders more than helping them. Vince has done so much for WWE it's crazy, and even though he's got a history of getting fired up, what guy or gal with irish blood hasn't? But Vince is a good guy, from what I've heard superstars say he's rough but he's like a dad who just wants to do what's best for you and the superstars of the WWE are his kids. So unless Vince McMahon loses all his marbles and makes a bunch of very big bad decisions then he is safe from being called the next Al Davis.

 

[Bigrog25]

I can see how some might compare the two in the sense of their love/obsession for their respected sports, and the impact they both had on said the state of those sports we see today, but that's about it. As was already stated, sports owners don't "retire," they either sale or are in control until they pass, why in the fuck would Vince McMahon or Al Davis sale their "teams" the WWE and the Oakland Raiders are both worldwide entities.


Oh and everyone talking shit on the late great Mr. Al Davis, if you actually watch the raiders you would see that they are getting better and better and have great upside. They realistically can win their division this year, McFadden was drafted by Al, heyward-bey finally looks to be coming around, another Al pick, this team was put together by Al and is much better than some of you realize, and have the opportunity to be very good in the next couple years. And this is coming from someone in Kansas city, so not the easiest thing for me to say. RIP AL Davis 1929-2011, did more for the game of football than any other you could argue.

 

[wrestlingfanusa]

Al davis didnt really lose it he just made a few bad decisions. But he picked right guys like jason campbell, darius heyward bey, darren mcfadden, sebastian janikowski(the best kicker ever), trading for richard seymour. All those guys and many more were right decisions. Also he got it right with the firing of lane kiffin bc look at all the trouble with him at tennesee. Although Vinnie mac has made bad decisions like the xfl, hes brought us the rock stone cold and hulk hogan and undertaker. He also gave us raw and smackdown and wrestlemania. So they are sometimes out of touch but also get it right occasionally.