Report On What WWE Staff Was Told By Management Regarding Vince McMahon’s Return
There was a meeting between WWE management and staff with news coming out of that noting that it is “business as usual” for the sports entertainment giant.
Following the somewhat shocking (or perhaps not surprising to some people) news of Vince McMahon returning to WWE Board of Directors in an attempt to sell World Wrestling Entertainment, there was a meeting between top WWE executives and their staff.
The meeting was conducted by WWE Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon, Co-CEO Nick Khan and Frank Riddick, who is the President & CFO of WWE.
It was reported by WrestleVotes on Twitter that the meeting was considered business as usual. They wrote:
“Sources state the all employee WWE meeting has concluded, with nothing of note taking place. Meeting was conducted by Stephanie, Nick Khan & Frank Riddick…. “Business as usual” was the message.”
In the original story regarding the meeting, it mentioned that it was just for staffers, but not necessarily the wrestlers in the company. There is a Smackdown taping in Memphis, Tennessee that could lead to WWE’s superstars/wrestlers being told more about what this Vince McMahon move means for them.
There is a more detailed report of what was discussed by Mike Johnson of PWInsider, who noted that the meeting was supposed to start at 3:30 PM ET, but didn’t end up starting until 3:45 PM ET and it lasted about ten minutes. The below highlights were reported by Johnson as well.
* It was officially announced that Vince McMahon was back as part of the WWE Board of Directors.
* Employees were told that there would be no changes to management and their responsibilities at this time. That meant that Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) and Frank Riddick will remain in their current jobs. The day to day operations of the company will not change.
* The move was pushed as a big positive and was made to give WWE everything they needed to make the most of their future TV rights revenue sales, which is in reference to Raw and Smackdown TV deals expiring in October 2024, but expected to be renegotiated in the first half of 2023. They were also told that they can gauge the market of a potential WWE sale now that Vince McMahon is back. One of the people on the call said that now that Vince is back, they are all on the same page regarding WWE’s potential going into the future.
* A key idea that was mentioned is that WWE look at potential sale offers ahead of any rights negotiations so they can try to do the deal that is a greater benefit (meaning more money) instead of just selling rights as they have done in the past. The report by Johnson noted that it was “greatly emphasized that a sale may not happen and it should not be assumed it would. The final say would go to Vince McMahon.”
* There was also a comment during the meeting that a “possible avenue” is for WWE to take the company private if it was the best thing for the shareholders.
* The meeting was also described as a “rah-rah meeting” to try to lift the spirits of everybody that took part.
Lastly, they did not take any employee questions.
Tonight’s episode of WWE Friday Night Smackdown takes place in Memphis, Tennessee.