The political landscape of WWE was rocked on January 5th when Vince McMahon announced that as majority shareholder, he was electing himself back to the WWE Board of Directors.
This announcement came just shy of six months after McMahon announced his retirement from the company amidst an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and hush money payments. Back in December, the Board of Directors rejected his proposal to return, stating that “while government investigations into your conduct by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and SEC are still pending,” his return “would not be prudent from a shareholder value perspective.”
Days after McMahon was announced as back in the company, his daughter Stephanie McMahon, who had been serving as co-CEO alongside Nick Khan, announced her resignation from the sports entertainment giant. Soon after her resignation was made public, it was revealed via press release that her father had been unanimously elected Executive Chairman of the Board.
Vince McMahon has been the subject of multiple lawsuits since coming back from retirement.
“He’ll Do Whatever Is Best For Business” – WWE CEO Nick Khan On Vince McMahon
During a recent appearance on the Bill Simmons Podcast, CEO Nick Khan opened up about the return of the Chairman of the Board. When asked about Vince’s decision to retire, Khan expressed that McMahon saw that decision as “best for business” at the time.
“I didn’t see it as a force. I think Vince saw sort of the tonnage of things that were coming at him and us. And he thought — one thing he’s always said, and you know this as a long time fan, he’ll do whatever is best for business. And I think at that moment… he saw what was best for business was for him to step away for a while, so he did.”
Continuing, Khan made it clear that Vince McMahon really did step away from the company during his retirement, giving those running the new regime “total freedom.” He also noted that the Chairman has zero to do with the creative decisions in the company, which are left to Triple H as Chief Content Officer.
“And he really did step away. So there was no ‘Hey, why are you doing this?’ or ‘I wouldn’t do it that way.’ It was in my opinion, total freedom to Stephanie, myself, and Triple H on the creative side. It’s only been a week [since he returned], but he really — I believe what he said publicly about ‘Hey, I’m here to engage in strategic alternatives and the media rights.’ So far the engagement has been that, and other board issues. And zero [on creative or the like]. None.”
Nick Khan also expressed his belief that nobody should have believed McMahon’s absence from WWE to be permanent as he believes Vince always planned to come back after letting the “dust settle” regarding his numerous allegations and legal trouble.
“No, no. That’s Vince. Anyone who knows him who thought with a tweet — because I think he tweeted, ‘Hey, I’m 77 now, time for me to call it a day’ or something to that effect. Anyone who believed that was permanent didn’t know him. That was never going to happen. But I’m appreciative of the fact that he gave it the five, six months, let the dust settle a little bit. And then coming back in the way that he’s come back.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Khan praised Vince McMahon for being “very honest” and also gave his thoughts on AEW owners Shahid and Tony Khan.
h/t eWrestlingNews