Long time owner, Chairman, and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Vince McMahon has announced his retirement.

Mr. McMahon, the son of Vincent J. McMahon, purchased the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) from his father in 1984. The company would drop the word “Wide” and become the World Wrestling Federation (WWF.)

Mr. McMahon would revolutionize the industry by taking his company from a regional company, operating mainly in the northeast USA, and transform it into an international company.

This change started when he hired many young wrestlers from other promotions, including a young wrestler known as Hulk Hogan. On the back of “Hulkamania“, Mr. McMahon would use Hulk Hogan and the other wrestlers to make the company a national household name, and would also take the company to other countries.

He would oversee the company running up to 12 PPVs per year, including the ‘core 4’ of the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, and the Survivor Series, starting with Wrestlemania in 1985.

Mr. McMahon would take the company public but would retain control of the company, including owning stock representing over 80% of the voting power when he retired.

After winning the “Monday Night Wars” against Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (WCW), he would go on to purchase his main competitors: WCW in 2001 and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2003.

Recently, Mr. McMahon has been dealing with allegations of miscondact involving female employees, and was charged with dealing steroids to wrestlers but was acquitted of all charges in 1994.