I don't buy into Vince being a genius. He was the first mass-marketer of pro wrestling/sports entertainment going against promoters who were tied into agreements not to compete against one another. He did not do it on his own . He had partners. Vince cried when someone who had more money (Turner) had him on the ropes. Funny when Vince financially crippled other promoters that was fine. When Turner sold his company and the new owners decided they didn't want wrestling in their portfolio Vince "won."
All his ventures outside of PW have been failures or break-even at the best. XFL. Minor league hockey. WBF. Eveil Knevil jump. Inoki/Ali USA promotion. Those horrid movies. Based on history, Vince is going to get his ass kicked again, in brutal fashion, with the relaunch of the XFL. His stated USP (unique selling proposition for non-marketing students), doesn't make any sense. Now if McMahon were to raid the NCAA players or high school grads to get his hands on talent first, that's a different story. Vince has not publicly stated anything other than highly questionable reasons that fans would want to give the XFL another chance (no criminals; standing for the national anthem, two hour games, etc.) There better be something more than that up his sleeve.
I agree with the non-wrestling people being involved, but that is Vince's doing. By wiping out the territories 30 years ago, he effectively limited the amount of wrestling people to draw from today. It's a shame that there weren't any wrestlers that had a mix of appeal, connections and business savvy weren't able to start a promotion of note.
And as far as the wrestlers that find their way into the industry now, they are a different breed of men. That may very well speak to the culture as a whole, but so many of the wrestlers in the WWE or outside the WWE would not have had a chance to even break into the business with what they bring to the table.
