The history of employees working directly with Vince McMahon in creative roles is hit or miss. Vince is known for being hard to work with since he has a temper and changes his mind often. Various names have joined the creative team, booked the shows, or were his right-hand men behind the scenes in WWE.RELATED: 10 Wrestlers That Vince McMahon Is Friends WithThere is a reputation for the people close to Vince becoming “yes men” who blatantly agree with everything he says, regardless of their own opinions. Others have found a way to provide their own thoughts and go toe to toe with the boss if he didn’t like their ideas. The stories have seen success and failure on each side. WWE has a combination of yes men and personalities brave enough to challenge Vince.
10 Yes Man: John Laurinaitis
The power of John Laurinaitis in WWE was surprising to many people backstage when his status grew quickly. Laurinaitis joined the company in a backstage role after WWE purchased WCW and he helped as a middleman between WWE management and WCW talents.
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Vince McMahon developed a liking to Laurinaitis and replaced Jim Ross with him to run talent relations. Names like CM Punk, Jim Cornette, and dozens of others have buried Laurinaitis for his sucking up to Vince coming at the expense of the talent.
9 Challenged Vince: Jim Cornette
The mentality of Jim Cornette was drastically different from Vince McMahon, which led to them butting heads. Cornette was part of the inner circle who put together the shows in the mid-90s, along with his on-screen gig managing a few different heels.
McMahon eventually grew tired of Cornette questioning him and removed him from the backstage duties. Cornette felt that Vince Russo burying him was part of the reason for this, but he also acknowledged that he challenged McMahon more than most.
8 Yes Man: Shane McMahon
Vince McMahon not giving Shane McMahon more input in the creative direction of WWE was a bit surprising. There used to be a belief that Shane would be the one running WWE by the time he was 50, but he didn’t even stick around before losing his role to Triple H and Stephanie.
Shane was considered a “yes man” for always backing up Vince, even when he was viewed wrong. Future interviews saw Shane blaming Bret Hart for the Montreal Screwjob and even standing up to other wrestlers like Jeff Jarrett or Brock Lesnar to defend his father in business and personal matters.
7 Challenged Vince: Paul Heyman
WWE used Paul Heyman in a creative role on multiple occasions in his career. Heyman is known for being outspoken about his opinions, which can be a blessing and a curse. Talents like Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio broke out in the early stages of SmackDown due to Heyman vouching for them.
The opposite scenario has seen Heyman losing his role faster than expected for clashing with Vince McMahon. Heyman was removed from the ECW 2006 role due to always butting heads with Vince and Stephanie. Even though the recent stint as lead creative mind on Raw ended professionally, McMahon clearly didn’t like being challenged with Heyman booking to create new stars he didn't believe in.
6 Yes Man: Kevin Dunn
The production work of Kevin Dunn has seen him right there with Vince McMahon since the mid-80s. WWE witnessed Dunn and McMahon each follow the family tradition after their fathers worked together beforehand.
Dunn’s influence is known to be quite toxic in WWE and he’s not fond of many fan favorites. Reports of Dunn being against Becky Lynch in her first push, hating wrestlers with accents, and trying to sabotage Triple H’s NXT made him a hated “yes man” of Vince.
5 Challenged Vince: Triple H
Triple H taking a smaller role in the future of NXT may be partially due to health reasons, but the decision to switch things up was made beforehand. A huge reason for the diehard fans of NXT loving Triple H’s vision was seeing how different it was to the main roster.
RELATED: 5 WWE Wrestlers Both Vince McMahon & Triple H Love (& 5 They Disagree On)
Triple H fought for talents like Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and the entire women’s division to get bigger roles. None of those would have happened with Vince McMahon on his own. Triple H challenged Vince enough to change his way of thinking on a few occasions.
4 Yes Man: Michael Hayes
WWE witnessed Michael Hayes rising up the ranks of the backstage corporate ladder after he transitioned outside of the broadcasting role. Hayes became a producer and one of the most important creative minds, despite a lot of negative reports attached to his name.
Vince McMahon’s opinions are often parroted by Hayes whenever he can add his two cents. Hayes even admitted he was fighting for Bobby Lashley to win the ECW Championship over CM Punk in 2006, which resulted in Paul Heyman leaving the company.
3 Challenged Vince: Vince Russo
The knocks against Vince Russo by wrestling personalities and fans are fair, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his own voice. Russo got a bigger creative role leading the writing team during the Attitude Era by being the one to challenge Vince McMahon.
The bold comments from Russo declaring WWE badly needed to make changes led to him getting the opportunity. Russo became a favorite of McMahon for a few years by challenging the boss. This eventually wore out when McMahon refused to give Russo a family-friendly schedule.
2 Yes Man: Bruce Prichard
The return of Bruce Prichard to WWE has seen his reputation return as the ultimate Vince McMahon yes man. Prichard hosting his own podcast after leaving WWE showed just how true that reputation would prove to be.
Almost every objectively bad or negative WWE memory saw Prichard fighting for it. Even the infamous racist promos from Triple H towards Booker T were defended by Prichard for Vince’s vision. The two working closely together again has seen Bruce become the top right-hand man to McMahon once again.
1 Challenged Vince: Jim Ross
The decisions of Jim Ross during his time as the head of talent relations saw him pushing Vince McMahon to expand his thinking at times. Ross had a traditionalist wrestling mind that wasn’t always welcomed by McMahon backstage.
Mick Foley was a signing Vince only approved to make Ross learn what it feels like to have his heart broken by a talent. JR signed some of the all-time greats and challenged McMahon to utilize them once seeing their value prove him wrong.
