Reports have surfaced this morning that Vince McMahon was running Raw and its creative last night.
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reports: “He was running TV tonight. He’s back. It’s what it was. It will be what it was before. And if people think that was bad, it will be bad. And that’s just the way it is.”
According to various accounts last night’s Raw plans, scripts were torn up and new approaches instituted.
Word is that two matches were totally scrapped last night. Those were: Liv Morgan vs. Dakota Kai vs. Piper Niven and Candice LeRae vs. Raquel vs. Iyo Sky.
Bayley was also pulled from WWE TV. She was supposed to be in Damage Control’s corner during their match.
Meltzer says that although the broadcast began with Triple H calling the shots, Vince McMahon slowly but surely took over things.
About a week ago, WWE CEO Nick Khan spoke to the The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast and said about McMahon’s input in creative: “Not that involved. Triple H, Paul Levesque, is the Head Of Creative. He was named the Head Of Creative in August. Vince has respected that, he’s embraced that. It’s also his son-in-law, as I’m sure you know, so they have their own dynamic. And from my point-of-view, things have been terrific for the past couple of months since Vince returned.”
In July of last year, Vince McMahon announced his retirement from the WWE after becoming embroiled in a scandal in which he was accused of paying four female WWE employees not reveal any details about his sexual relationship with them.
“As I approach 77 years old, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE. Throughout the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire you, thrill you, surprise you, and always entertain you. I would like to thank my family for mightily contributing to our success, and I would also like to thank all of our past and present Superstars and employees for their dedication and passion for our brand. Most importantly, I would like to thank our fans for allowing us into your homes every week and being your choice of entertainment. I hold the deepest appreciation and admiration for our generations of fans all over the world who have liked, currently like, and sometimes even love our form of Sports Entertainment,” he said in a statement.
At 77, time for me to retire.
Thank you, WWE Universe.
Then. Now. Forever. Together. #WWE#thankful— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) July 22, 2022
In January of this year, McMahon returned to the company as part of their board of their directors.
Speaking on the Bill Simmons Podcast, Khan said he always knew McMahon’s absence was a temporary one.
“My thought was that there’s only one boss in the company and that isn’t me. I think it was always my point of view, Stephanie’s point of view, that he would come back. The way he played it to me was smart in that he went away for five, six months which people, meaning the audience, seems to like when somebody does that and he came back and took control back of his company as a company shareholder. So, it is the public’s company as a publicly-traded company but with that the controlling share gave him a lot of authority and he used it and I applaud him for doing so.”
“When he stepped down 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 five, six months, let the dust settle a little bit, then came back in the way that he’s come back,” he continued.
Since that time, WWE announced that McMahon paid $17.4 million as reimbursement for the costs incurred to conduct a special investigation into his activities that resulted in revisions being made to the historical financial statements.
Last Friday the WWE announced that Vince McMahon had signed on as Executive Chairman for a term of two years and will be subject to automatic extension for additional one-year terms thereafter unless either the WWE or McMahon provides at least 180 days notice of non-renewal. It was revealed that McMahon will receive an annual base salary of $1.2 million.
Yesterday, when the Endeavor deal was announced, Vince McMahon was given a new role in the new company.
“The new company will be led by Emanuel (Chief Executive Officer), who will also continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor, McMahon (Executive Chairman of the Board) and Mark Shapiro, who will be President and Chief Operating Officer of both Endeavor and the new company. Dana White will continue in his role as President of UFC and Nick Khan will serve as President of WWE. The Board of Directors will consist of 11 members who will be appointed at a later date, six of whom will be appointed by Endeavor and five of whom by WWE,” said the company in a press release.
Last night’s edition of Raw was introduced by HHH who said: “The same WWE that you love, the same WWE that put 161,000 people to the rafters in SoFi Stadium, is going nowhere.”
https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/04/03/raw-theres-got-to-be-an-evening-after/
