Vince McMahon‘s decision-making is still the talk of WWE.
During the July 17th episode of Raw, fans were quick to notice that announcers Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves were leaning heavily into giving nicknames to a number of Superstars. This led to sections of the commentary feeling forced, a noticeable difference from when Vince McMahon was away from the company. Naturally, social media was then awash with speculation that McMahon was flexing his creative muscles once again.
Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that the nicknames did come directly from McMahon. However, he added that their use was quickly scaled back.
“It was confirmed to us that all the alliterative nicknames on the 7/17 Raw were a directive from Vince McMahon. It wasn’t pushed nearly as hard on Smackdown on 7/21 or Raw on 7/24, so it looks like it was just an idea he had (and that most thought was bad) and he gave up on it after. They are still doing new nicknames of course, but not so many that it got silly, with Dirty Dom and Big Bronson Reed and such, but not to where the announcers just sound so fake with one alliterative nickname after another.”
Does Vince McMahon Run WWE?
Since returning to WWE in January 2023, McMahon’s influence over creative has only grown, while the Executive Chairman now makes changes to shows remotely on a regular basis.
Although Triple H remains in charge of creative, it’s been reported that Vince McMahon has the final say.