Vince McMahon Has “Backed Off” In WWE
More has been said about Vince McMahon’s influence – or lack of – on WWE’s creative direction.
As of September 12th, WWE and UFC have officially merged into a new corporation called TKO Group Holdings under parent company Endeavor. Endeavor head Ari Emanuel serves as CEO of the new corporation, while Vince McMahon is Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque is not part of the new TKO Board of Directors.
Triple H may no longer be on the Board of Directors following the Endeavor takeover, but according to a new report from Mike Johnson on PWInsider Elite, he still has plenty of power and influence in the company. Johnson notes that McMahon is not expected to be heavily involved in creative going forward, as the belief backstage is that Triple H has been “knighted” by Endeavor and expected to handle 99.9% of all creative operations.
This isn’t to say that McMahon won’t give his opinions or make suggestions, but according to the report, Levesque will be the one “in the weeds” on a day-to-day basis when it comes to creative.
Vince McMahon situation is one that could change very quickly
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave his thoughts on the situation and noted that if Vince McMahon wants to take over creative responsibilities he’ll be able to do that as he pleases:
“Nothing’s up with Vince. Nothing. I mean, as far as the story going around regarding creative and it’s essentially the case Vince has backed off on creative for now. You know, that’s how it was described to me for now. He’s backed off. I mean, he still has the power if he wants to change something, he will. But right now, he’s pretty much backed off on that.
“So right now, what you’re seeing right now is pretty much what I was told 99% or whatever, 95% Paul Levesque. I mean, he’s still around. But you know, and there’s probably going to be input when it comes to main event programmes and things like that going forward. But right now, you know, it is mostly the Paul Levesque show now, as far as like, what’s going on in TV and everything.”
Meltzer’s co-host Bryan Alvarez pointed out that things might change in terms of McMahon’s involvement and Meltzer added that it’s likely to happen:
“It always does, it’s like whatever. How many times have we been told this? Probably a dozen times and it always does at some point. I’m presuming this will probably change at some point as well.”
If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJR Wrestling for the transcription.