Backstage News On WWE Staff Trying To “Vince Proof” Raw & SmackDown
Vince McMahon is firmly back in charge in WWE, and some backstage have reportedly taken steps to mitigate his last-minute changes.
Vince McMahon’s retirement in July was short-lived, and in January, he announced that he was on his way back to the Board of Directors in order to facilitate a sale of the company. In April, it was announced that WWE would be merging with UFC to form a new $21+billion entity under parent company Endeavor, and while McMahon insisted that Triple H remained in control of creative and talent operations, McMahon’s influence shows no signs of slowing down.
The Chairman of the Board has only been backstage at Raw on a handful of occasions, but that hasn’t stopped him from making changes to the company’s programs remotely, with many of his changes coming hours before the shows are broadcast.
A recent report from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio detailed the frustration of those backstage, and noted that many people are trying to figure out a way to stop McMahon from making changes so late in the game.
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Now, an update from Fightful Select sheds more light on the situation, making mention of the fact that WWE matches are often being announced a week or more in advance. According to their sources, this could be an effort to stop McMahon from making so many last-minute changes. Though there are exceptions, McMahon is said to generally want to “make good” on matches that have been promoted ahead of time.
Fightful Select specifically notes matches that were promoted on the June 9th episode of SmackDown as an example of this strategy, though the June 23rd episode did see sweeping changes to multiple matches. The report notes that Raw had previously been more subject to last-minute changes than SmackDown, and the reason for this is unclear.
The report also confirms that the changes to Raw and SmackDown in the last week have seen a “ton of frustration” at “almost every level of WWE.”