Royal Rumble Was Easier Without Vince McMahon Running It
The process of planning the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble was easier without Vince McMahon in charge, according to a new report.
Coming out of the 2022 Royal Rumble which saw Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey emerge as Rumble match winners, there were all kinds of stories about how chaotic it was in terms of the planning of the show.
There were plenty of stories of Shane McMahon trying to look strong during the match, which angered a lot of people and led to his own father Vince McMahon refusing to use Shane again on camera again.
The 2023 Royal Rumble took place at the Alamodome in San Antonio and Vince wasn’t even there. Paul “Triple H” Levesque has been running WWE creatively as the Chief Content Officer since July 2022 when Vince retired and has made it clear that while he is happy Vince is back involved in the company, it is Triple H’s show from a creative standpoint.
It has been reported by Fightful Select that the atmosphere in WWE is much more laid back without Vince there. For some reason, there is still a backstage direction sign that says “Vince’s office” on it that points to a section of the backstage area that is completely different.
There was one source that told Fightful that most people really haven’t asked about Vince since Triple H, WWE CEO Nick Khan and longtime Executive Producer Kevin Dunn held meetings prior to Smackdown and Raw to assure the roster that Vince isn’t involved in the creative process or talent relations.
The Fightful story also noted that one talent said that the Royal Rumble event was the easiest in a long time without Vince because there were far less last-minute changes to the show. This year’s show was considered a “dream” compared to how things were like last year, which was considered a “nightmare” by some people.
Regarding the main event match and segment involving The Bloodline beating up Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Fightful described it as a “new age curtain sellout” with many people quietly around monitors watching it all unfold.
Lastly, Fightful noted that the only complaints coming out of the show were that the musical performance by Hardy cut into the time of some other things on the show. There were also some minor transitional things, but the current regime is likely going to get used to it.