Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon set a strange in-ring return at WrestleMania 38. In most entertainment companies, a top corporate executive taking part in the onscreen product would be seen as eyebrow-raising at best, yet McMahon has been doing it since his earliest days in charge. From the mid-1980s to 1997, McMahon appeared on TV as a play-by-play announcer before the infamous "Montreal Screwjob" involving Bret Hart made the fact that he actually owned WWE apparent to the general audience.
McMahon smartly used the ill feelings against him from the audience for "screwing" fan-favorite Hart to evolve his TV character, becoming the tyrannical Mr. McMahon just in time for the rise of anti-authority hero "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Since the birth of the Austin feud, McMahon has occasionally stepped into the ring for an actual match; although these usually devolve into brawls (as he is not a trained wrestler). Still, McMahon allowing his employees to go toe-to-toe with him in the ring allows the attending audience to vicariously get revenge on any domineering bosses they might have in real life.
Unsurprisingly, McMahon hasn't emerged the victor in most of his matches, instead getting beaten by wrestling legends such as Austin, The Undertaker, and Ric Flair. Yet, McMahon's matches are always spectacles, and his und return against former NFL player Pat McAfee at WrestleMania 38 was no different. While McMahon was clearly no match for McAfee physically, he employed his usual Mr.Vince McMahon match tricks to win the day. In doing so, McMahon now holds a WWE record, as he's far and away the oldest man to ever wrestle a match for the company.
Vince McMahon is 76-years-old, making it highly likely that he'll hold the record for oldest male WWE competitor for years to come. His closest competition for the title is Jerry "The King" Lawler, who last wrestled for WWE at age 62 but suffered a heart attack during the match and nearly died. Interestingly though, not even McMahon has a hope of breaking the record for oldest WWE wrestler overall. Late WWE Hall of Fame inductee Mae Young holds that distinction, having wrestled a match for WWE in 2010 at the age of 87.
As the average life expectancy and the average age of professional athletes continues to increase, though, perhaps McMahon will one day be unseated as the oldest man to wrestle a WWE match. Even if that happens, it likely won't take place until long after McMahon finally cedes the reigns of WWE and retires. Former WCW stalwart Sting is currently wrestling semi-actively for AEW, and at a fairly high level to boot, at age 63. While he remains an outlier, it may one day not at all be surprising to see someone in their 70s lace up the boots and step into the WWE ring. If and when they do, though, they still have a long way to go to outperform Vince McMahon's impressive WWE WrestleMania 38 display.