Ever since Vince McMahon returned to WWE in January there have been questions over his true involvement in creative.
During McMahon’s ‘retirement’ from July 2022 until the first week of January 2023, Triple H headed up creative for the main roster in his role as Chief Content Officer. However, with McMahon back in the fold many wondered whether he was now going to be the man pulling the strings.
Although this was initially denied by both McMahon and WWE, the Executive Chairman confirmed on April 3rd that he is involved in creative “higher up.” The comments came after WWE announced a deal with Endeavor that would see the company merge with UFC.
To hammer home McMahon’s influence on the episode of Raw that took place on the same day, he effectively took charge of the show making changes immediately before and during the broadcast. On the show, Triple H opened the episode by declaring that nothing would be changing with WWE’s output and that the company was here to say.
However, for more recent shows McMahon has only been involved in creative discussions remotely.
During an appearance on LightShed Live recorded on April 7th, Nick Khan opened up about the dynamic between McMahon and Triple H.
“On Monday [April 3], when this deal was officially announced, Vince sent out a company-wide email to our thousand or so employees, including myself, and in the email he laid out the structure of the NewCo. Specifically, he articulated that Paul Levesque remains the sole Chief Creative Officer. Sole.
How does that work? Does that mean that technically because I’m in charge of the business side of the business that I don’t seek input from other people. I wouldn’t seek input from Vince McMahon, who created this entire empire?
That would be a mistake on my behalf. Paul and Vince, a family relationship, a relationship that spans back to the mid-90s. Paul is in charge of creative. If he wants input from Vince or Vince has ideas that he and Paul are going to communicate, that’s always going to be the case.
We’re lucky to have Vince. We’re lucky to have Paul in control of creative. We’re lucky that the set up that Vince created, that the company could continue to exist, even when Vince stepped out for that five month period, the company kept flowing. We think the best organizations are set up that way and that’s the way Vince set up WWE,”
Details Of Vince McMahon’s New Contract
Just days before the deal between Endeavor and WWE was announced Vince McMahon signed a new employment agreement with the company.
The employment agreement was backdated to January 9th, which was when he was reinstated as Executive Chairman. As part of McMahon’s new WWE deal, he will have to adhere to the company’s Conflict of Interest Code of Conduct.
McMahon’s return in January came after he ‘retired’ back in July 2022 surrounded by allegations of sexual misconduct. It was alleged that McMahon made a series of “hush money” payments to multiple women to suppress the claims.
H/t to Fightful