How Vince McMahon Saved WWE During COVID Pandemic
Vince McMahon supposedly saved WWE during the covid pandemic according to one notable Hall of Fame star.
The COVID pandemic infamously shut the world down in March 2020 with events all over the globe cancelled and WWE forced to hold WrestleMania 36 behind closed doors for the first time ever.
For almost a year WWE was forced to hold events in the ThunderDome, an empty arena filled with screens showing a virtual audience watching the action from the safety of their own home all around the globe. While it was a novel and innovative solution, it’s not an era that will be looked back on fondly by fans or the company as the live crowd was badly missed.
But according to WWE Hall of Famer JBL, it all could have been so much worse and Vince McMahon is to thank for saving the company during this time.
Vince McMahon Saved WWE Claims JBL
Speaking on the Something To Wrestle podcast, JBL revealed how a phone call from Vince McMahon brought him back to the company during that dark time:
During COVID, Vince called me and he said, ‘I need an old voice on television. Are you coming?’ ‘You know I am.’ I said, ‘Where are you?’ He goes, ‘We’re in Orlando. We got no audience. I need an old voice, the old commentary, somebody that people recognize.’
JBL continued noting that everyone wanted WWE to shut down production entirely but Vince McMahon was scared of losing his TV contracts so persevered, something JBL thinks helped save the company:
I can tell you, almost everybody in the company was against Vince running. Everybody was against it. All the press was against it. Everything, it was, ‘This is horrible. How dare he do this?’ [McMahon] said,’ If I don’t, I will lose all my TV contracts.’ Those TV contracts of live events became worth exponentially more.
You thought they’re gonna be worth exponentially less, is what you thought during COVID, because we didn’t know if the world was ending or not. Everybody wanted out of those TV contracts. But because he did that, he got these billion dollar TV contracts out of it. He saved the freaking company with that.
Money In The Bank 2021 was the first premium live event held after WWE left the ThunderDome as the company returned to a full touring schedule once again.
WWE signed a multi-billion dollar deal with Netflix before Vince McMahon was forced to step down as TKO Executive Chairman amid allegations of sexual abuse from a former WWE employee.