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When Vince McMahon Booked Nuggets To Lose Against Lakers In A Spoof Match On WWE RAW For Petty Revenge
Find out how Vince McMahon took revenge against the NBA Denver Nuggets team owner Stan Kroenke, when he was denied a Pepsi Center arena in 2008.
There’s no denying the fact that Vince McMahon is vindictive. The former WWE CEO and Chairman is known for his brash conduct inside and outside WWE. He has a never forgiving, and never forgetting attitude.
For example, CM Punk was served his termination letter right on his wedding day, when Vince McMahon was in charge of the WWE. Similarly, McMahon’s constant ridiculing of former WWE commentator Jim Ross is another example of how ruthless he was.
At times, his pettiness crossed unfathomable limits, which just showed what he was. And then one day, Vince McMahon locked horns with Stan Kroenke, the owner of NBA team Denver Nuggets because the latter had offended him by booking an arena which McMahon had already booked for the Monday Night episode of RAW.
What Happened Between Vince McMahon and Stan Kroenke?
It just happened that Vince McMahon had once booked the Pepsi Center for the May 25, 2009 episode of RAW. This was way before the NBA 2008-09 season started. Around 10,000 tickets for the event had already been sold. And then, when the Denver Nuggets made it to the playoffs, they were given the arena for the May 25 date. This infuriated Vince McMahon to an extent, that he vowed to exact revenge against Stan Kroenke’s team in an episode on Monday Night RAW.
Vince McMahon brought all his anger down to Stan Kroenke whom he called a “horrible businessman” saying that he should be put in jail because of it. He went on to claim that Stan Kroenke did absolutely nothing to help out in the situation and basically said that Vince was on his own, which Kroenke proceeded to deny.
McMahon then booked the Staples Center in Los Angeles and decided on a storyline that was not anything less than showing a middle finger to Stan Kroenke.
How did Vince McMahon take revenge against Stan Kroenke?
The show started with a fake Stan Kroenke, along with other fake basketball personalities coming out to the ring, and then making fun of WWE and its fans. Then Vince McMahon appeared and said, “When you push the WWE Universe, they push you back,” and he shoved Kroenke to the ground. Still, that wasn’t the end of it.
McMahon booked a 10-man Tag Team match, in which he wore Lakers jerseys while heels wore Nuggets jerseys. The teams consisted of John Cena, Batista, MVP, Mr. Kennedy, and Jerry Lawler against the heels and then WWE Champion Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Big Show, and The Miz.
This was a completely glorified match in which the faces did showboating, while the fans were screaming on top of their lungs. And in the end, the Lakers won the match which was expected.
This was Vince McMahon’s way of teaching his business rivals a lesson. Stan Kroenke might be justified in booking the Pepsi Center arena, as the Denver Nuggets were expected to qualify, but then Vince McMahon didn’t take the humiliation lightly.
And now, 16 years later, Vince McMahon does not have the authority to call shots in the WWE. It’s his son-in-law Paul ‘Triple H’ Leveque who is now defining the new era of WWE. Vince McMahon has been removed from all the WWE promotions and has been wiped off from the WWE memory, ever since the sexual trafficking lawsuit filed by former employee Janel Grant struck him in January 2024.
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