Despite Inking a Deal, Lou Ferrigno and Vince McMahon Failed to Get Any Traction on an Ambitious Promotion Outside the WWE

Vince McMahon is the brain behind turning WWE into the massive success it is today. What started as a regional wrestling promotion is now an International wrestling giant. Several WWE Superstars such as Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, Bret Hart, and many others were equally responsible for turning WWE into such a successful organization.

While the WWE superstars were the faces of the company and helped increase its popularity, it was Vince McMahon’s brains that turned them into such huge stars. However, apart from WWE, McMahon had opened a couple of other sports entertainment promotions but unfortunately, they were unsuccessful.

In the year 1999, XFL was founded by Vince McMahon as an alternative to NFL. However, after its first season in 2001, the promotion shut down. Currently, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia have relaunched the promotion and are scheduled to hold its upcoming season in 2023.

Similar to XFL, McMahon had also launched a bodybuilding promotion, called WBF. WBF was supposed to be an alternative to the famous IFBB. However, unlike IFBB, WBF would be more entertainment and fiction-oriented. The bodybuilders here would have their Kayfabe names, and grand entrances and often would cut promos.

Read more: John Cena Makes Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Biceps Look Like a Wooden Stick In Rare Photo

McMahon had signed Lou Ferrigno to the promotion to use him as a money-making machine. Ferrigno would even appear on The Tonight Show and express his desire to appear on the promotion. He would even state that WBF had the strictest drug testing policy. However, that was not true.

The promotion performed no steroid testing for their inaugural event, and just before the second event, McMahon would announce steroid testing policies. It came as a shocker to the bodybuilders. The 1992 event saw many bodybuilders facing suspension due to them failing these drug tests.

And soon, Ferrigno would pull out of the event as well, needing carpal tunnel surgery. The next event saw several bodybuilders out of shape, and the event became a major failure and only sold 3000 pay-per-view buys.

WWE commentator Michael Cole speaks about how WWE has changed since Vince McMahon left

Michael Cole is one of the most popular WWE commentators currently. He has been with WWE for more than 20 years now and has become a regular on the commentary. He started under Vince McMahon but is currently working under his new bosses, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan.

Cole recently appeared on the Pat McAfee show, where he spoke about working in this new condition. Cole said, “Everything’s been great. It’s been a great change of scenery the past couple of months. Things are going wonderfully. Ratings have been good, and stories have been great. It’s a different world.”

Cole further stated how he had worked under Vince McMahon for 25 years, and how he had grown up in this company. Although McMahon’s retirement came as a shock to them, they have moved on from it, and the show is going on.

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