Although he’s attended less than a handful of WWE shows in person since returning to the company in January, Vince McMahon’s influence over these shows is causing frustration backstage.
On the June 19th episode of Raw, McMahon completely reworked the entire opening segment, scrapping a match between Seth Rollins and Tommaso Ciampa. However, the following episode of SmackDown was almost completely rewritten and a number of advertised matches were dropped from the show without explanation.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer addressed the situation and revealed that he’d been told everyone is scared to question McMahon when he insists on making changes. He added that “they” are trying to find a way to stop the Executive Chairman from making so many changes in the hours before shows go on the air.
“He re-did the entire show (SmackDown). I’ve heard a lot about this, and I know that there’s rumors that… everyone’s gotta be, like, treading on water. Because I am sure, logic will tell you, that there are many unhappy people. And Paul Levesque has to be one of them.
These are matches that were built up with promos, they’ve been promoted for a week, they did the angles last week, and then just take them away like nothing.
So it’s gotta be frustrating for the writers, it’s gotta be frustrating for Paul Levesque. But the thing is, it’s Vince, right? And you can’t say anything.
That’s what somebody brought up to me, if you’re a writer, you can’t say anything to Vince. Even if you’re Paul Levesque you can’t say anything to Vince because you’re f**ked if you say anything to Vince. So you can’t say anything.
They’re trying to figure out a way to have him not do this. One person noted to me like, it would be a lot better if you did it the day before, or two days before. But he’s doing it the day of the show.
“Last) Monday wasn’t bad, it was only he dumped the Seth Rollins and Ciampa match, and I knew a lot of people who thought it was for the better, because the Finn Balor attacking Seth Rollins, it adds more heat to the pay-per-view.”
Vince McMahon’s Influence Leading To Frustration
Continuing on, Meltzer said that McMahon has vastly different priorities when it comes to WWE television, and that has been the source of many of the changes, including dropping the match between Rollins and Ciampa, to run an angle instead.
“Yeah, you missed out on Seth Rollins and Ciampa, would have probably had a really good match. Ciampa would have lost but it would have been… I think he would have benefited a lot more losing to Seth than he would beating Miz. He didn’t get anything out of beating Miz. But, he’s not Vince’s priority.
Just like this week, whatever they were gonna do with Shotzi and Bayley, Shotzi and Bayley aren’t Vince’s priority. Cameron Grimes and Baron Corbin aren’t Vince’s priority.
They added that Rey Mysterio/LA Knight match for LA Knight to get a win, so obviously Vince has gotta be somewhat high on LA Knight, and in Vince’s eyes, Rey is a guy that you always beat because people will always get into his matches and he’s bulletproof and all that.”
Meltzer added that while there’s frustration, as everyone is scared to confront McMahon over the issue, he’s essentially able to do whatever he wants.
“When I saw that unadvertised match when I was watching it, before I had even heard, it was like ‘This is Vince. I know Vince’s MO with Rey’.
All these things that are advertised that don’t happen in the last couple of weeks, they’re always, or 90% of the time or more, they’re Vince. But this one was the most because it was three matches advertised all pulled hours before the show. So there was a lot of frustration. But it’s Vince.
I’m sure there’s gonna be people who are gonna try to ask him nicely, but it’s Vince, he’s gonna do what he’s gonna do.”
With regard to Vince McMahon’s influence, Ricochet recently confirmed that he’s involved in “everything.”
H/t to Wrestle Talk