Vince McMahon is not a Manga aficionado.
While the genre of graphic novels has wide following throughout the world, the chairman of WWE has unsurprisingly not set time aside to check out the comic books.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon Confused By Anime Series
Multiple WWE Superstars have taken inspiration from creative sources as part of their ring attire for big events, with Johnny Gargano frequently cosplaying as a Marvel superhero and Alexa Bliss choosing Disney, DC and horror movies to be paid homage to.
While competing in the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble, Zelina Vega would come to the ring with attire based on the Manga series Naruto. Vega would be inspired by the character Madara, who is one of the main villains in the Manga series.
Speaking on the I Hear Voices podcast, the winner of the first ever Queen’s Crown Tournament would describe the antagonist to Vince McMahon.
Following initial confusion, McMahon would understand the reference when Vega compared the anime series to WWE:
“The way I had to explain Madara [from the anime Naruto] to Vince was my favourite thing in the world. I told him, well, I want Neil Kaplan [English voice of Madara] to do my entrance for the Royal Rumble. Vince was like, why? Well, he is the voice of Madara Uchiha. ‘Who’s that?‘ I was like, OK. Do you know what Crunchyroll is? He’s like ‘a sushi, yes.‘ … Roll back. So, Crunchyroll is like the Netflix of anime. He’s like ‘okay, I get that.‘ So Naruto is like the WWE of anime. He’s like ‘okay, I like Naruto. This is good.‘ Madara is kind of like what Paul Heyman is to Roman! He was like ‘okay, we need it.‘ Speaking his language, you know.”
The 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble match was won by Ronda Rousey, who made a surprise return to the company at the event:
H/t to EWrestlingNews for the use of transcriptions.