Vince McMahon had very specific instructions for what was to happen if he ever died backstage during a show!
Former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon shocked the world when he announced his retirement from the company on July 22nd amidst an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and hush money payments. Despite having previously stepped down as CEO due to the investigation, many believed McMahon would die before giving up control of the company he built into a sports entertainment empire.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Shawn Michaels, who currently runs NXT as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative, spoke about his shock that Vince McMahon left the company prior to his death.
“No. You can talk about it, but I never envisioned the time when Vince wasn’t there running stuff. All of us who have known him and worked with him for as long as we have, everyone knows, and I mean this lovingly, but he wanted to pass at his desk. That’s who he is. That’s how he’s built. I had every reason to believe that’s exactly what he was going to do.”
Continuing, Michaels noted that Vince McMahon had very specific instructions for what was to happen if he ever met an untimely demise while running a WWE show.
“He always made jokes that, ‘If I die at Gorilla position, the show has to go on. Don’t move me. We got to get to seg 10 and 11 and finish the show.’ You can talk about it, again, there’s lots of big talk in our line of work, but very rarely you see it get delivered on, but he’s always done what he’s felt was best for business.”
In the wake of Vince McMahon’s retirement, Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named co-CEO’s of the company, while Triple H took over as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations as well as head of WWE creative. His title has since been upgraded to Chief Content Officer.
h/t WrestlingNews.co