5 Wrestlers Vince McMahon Fell In Love With In 2019 (& 5 That He Gave Up On)
Vince McMahon has an unpredictable nature when it comes to which talents he will have a belief in. The mind of McMahon changes quickly for better or worse depending on the performers. Many of the wrestlers that have Vince’s support get the biggest pushes. Names like John Cena, Edge and Charlotte Flair made the most of McMahon’s faith in them to become big stars.
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We will look at the past year of support and lack of support from Vince in 2019. A few new wrestlers left a strong impact on McMahon to earn his love in the year. Others would see him give up on them in different ways. Each story shows the landscape of WWE and Vince’s view on certain talents. These are five wrestlers Vince McMahon fell in love with in 2019 and five that he gave up on.
10 Fell in love with: Viking Raiders
The main roster call-up of the Viking Raiders saw them move from NXT to Raw. Name changes to Ivar and Erik saw them playing the same characters from NXT with some small adjustments. Vince McMahon has clearly protected the Viking Raiders in their booking.
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The only wrestlers to score any pin fall victories over the duo in tag team action are Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. No other team has put up a realistic fight against Ivar and Erik. McMahon clearly believes in the Viking Raiders to have this much faith in them.
9 Gave up on: Luke Harper
Luke Harper has reportedly been on Vince McMahon’s bad side for a long time. Many fans liked Harper most from the Wyatt Family faction, but he was the only member of the group that couldn’t win over McMahon to get pushed.
The return from an injury in early 2019 saw Harper request a release when WWE decided to not use him. Harper did get booked for a short return teaming with Rowan. They would get split up in the draft, and McMahon stopped using Harper again. WWE finally granted Harper his release to end the year since they weren’t doing anything with him.
8 Fell in love with: Keith Lee
The use of NXT during the Survivor Series build and event helped introduce a lot of talents to Vince McMahon for the first time. Keith Lee was the wrestler that most won over McMahon from his appearances on Raw, Smackdown and the PPV event.
The larger size, shocking agility and effortless charisma of Lee all played a role in him getting booked strongly. Lee pinned Seth Rollins and went toe to toe with Roman Reigns until the end in the men’s Survivor Series match. Expect a huge push for Lee when placed on Raw or Smackdown in the future.
7 Gave up on: Humberto Carrillo
WWE had big plans for Humberto Carrillo when getting moved from 205 Live to Raw in the draft. The hope was that he could become a rising star on the face side with noteworthy performances against top names AJ Styles and Seth Rollins.
Carrillo started losing his consistent television time and a match against Styles was canceled with Rey Mysterio replacing him. Vince McMahon reportedly gave up on Carrillo and made the call to remove him from that equation. The work of Humberto lost Vince’s faith before 2019 ended.
6 Fell in love with: Baron Corbin
Vince McMahon has always been a huge supporter of Baron Corbin, but he went even further with it in 2019. This was the year that McMahon fell in love with Corbin as a top heel. It all started when Corbin was selected over John Cena and others to face Kurt Angle in Angle’s retirement match much to the anger of WWE fans.
Corbin won the match and continued getting pushed. The King of the Ring tournament saw Corbin win to get his new gimmick as a king. McMahon even showed stronger faith in Corbin by having him score a rare pin fall victory over Roman Reigns to end the year at TLC 2019.
5 Gave up on: The IIconics
The Iiconics had their rise and fall as a top women’s tag team division duo in 2019. WWE gave them the ultimate moment when Peyton Royce and Billie Kay won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35.
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The heel run saw them struggle to get consistent television storylines to make the new belts matter more. WWE eventually went with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross defeating them. Royce and Kay have rarely been featured on television since losing the titles.
4 Fell in love with: Matt Riddle
Matt Riddle was one of the NXT stars to make an impact with Vince McMahon during his time in the Survivor Series 2019 build. The talent of Riddle already had him coming off as a top star in the NXT brand with huge expectations for his future.
McMahon saw the potential of Riddle and delivered his own comparison. The reports indicated Vince called Riddle a “young Shawn Michaels” when it came to his skills in the ring and personality outside of the ring. Riddle isn’t afraid to step on the toes of others which may win him over with Vince.
3 Gave up on: Cedric Alexander
WWE gave Cedric Alexander a short-lived push on the Raw brand in a feud against AJ Styles. The matches against Styles, Buddy Murphy and Drew McIntyre were quite impressive, but they didn’t do enough to win over Vince McMahon.
Reports indicated that McMahon was the one to make the call and end Alexander’s push. 2019 ended with Cedric struggling to get television time or a relevant storyline. The future of Alexander can be saved, but it will take a lot of work to change Vince’s mind.
2 Fell in love with: Rowan
The push of Rowan as a singles star was a big surprise to most wrestling fans. Rowan found success early in the year as the enforcer and follower of Daniel Bryan. A storyline of someone attacking Roman Reigns would see Rowan revealed as the culprit against Bryan’s wishes.
Rowan feuded with Roman Reigns and held his own to win the support of Vince McMahon. The draft saw Vince separate Rowan and Luke Harper again to push Rowan as a singles star on Raw. Rowan is expected to have a major role on the show in 2020.
1 Gave up on: Finn Balor
The year started off well for Finn Balor in 2019 with a strong Universal Championship title shot against Brock Lesnar and winning the Intercontinental Championship from Bobby Lashley. Balor however struggled to keep the momentum going as the year went on.
Vince McMahon has always been reported to not have a strong opinion of Balor. That showed when Finn lost the IC Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura and was squashed to put over Bray Wyatt’s Fiend character. Balor moved back to NXT to end the year, which would never happen if Vince viewed him as a star.
