I think it is time to say it like it is. WWE was better without Vince McMahon for the last 9 months. He has proven time and time again that he does not care about this company that he built, nor does he care about his family. He only cares about greed and power.
Let’s recap for a minute what brought us to this point in the first place. In July of 2022, it was reported that Vince McMahon had paid over $12 million in hush money to multiple women during his time running WWE. These were women who all were working with/for WWE.
He was unceremoniously relieved of his duties and stepped away from the company leaving his daughter Stephanie and Nick Khan in charge of things while Paul Levesque (Triple H) took full control of creative. Things were looking good for WWE after that. They were no longer being run by a power-hungry old man who is out of touch with the fans and the reality of what he had been accused of, and on top of that, the program itself started to be better as well. The stories were more coherent and entertaining. Ratings were going up. Everything seemed like it was heading in the right direction.
That is until January 2023, when according to an article by Fightful, McMahon demanded in writing that he be reinstated as Executive Chairman or he would “hold the company hostage”. Even though he stepped down, he still held the majority of the voting power. Because of that, he was able to inform the board of directors that unless he had direct involvement as Executive Director, he would not support or approve any media rights deal or sale of the company. Of course, any logical person would realize that this doesn’t seem like something a “retired” man would do.
Now fast forward to WrestleMania weekend. An event that was widely viewed as a successful and enjoyable show was capped off by news that WWE had been sold to Endeavor; the same company that owns UFC. The company was sold for $9.3 billion dollars, which is a huge jump from the market value of $6.79 billion. The merger will create a new super company worth a whopping $21+ billion dollars.
Not only do the rich get richer, but a man who not only doesn’t understand his fans, but doesn’t understand how to treat his employees, family or anyone else for that matter, is back in charge of the wrestling side of the new company. He will now answer to a boss for the first time as Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel is still the top dog, but when it comes to wrestling, McMahon will continue as chairman of the board. Nick Khan will be president of the new wrestling company and poor Stephanie, who should have been next in line, has been completely passed over.
After the sale, rumors started swirling that Triple H would lose his position as head of creative, which made fans and wrestlers alike very uneasy. Those rumors quickly turned to facts as the Raw after WrestleMania (regularly the best Raw of the year) was reportedly almost entirely run by Vince and even had rewrites in the middle of the show. It lacked fun, excitement, NXT call ups or new signees. But at least we were given the return of Elias and Matt Riddle (please sense the sarcasm).
Raw after Mania is now the 3rd worst rated show ever on Cagematch.
A 0.52, woof. pic.twitter.com/XR1ebO6YEi
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) April 4, 2023
Only time will tell how involved McMahon will be in the creative process, but things look bleak based on the shows that have followed the Showcase of the Immortals. It has been said that backstage morale is down and the product is lacking once again. We are right back where we were before McMahon stepped down.
That is the least of the problems though. The lesson learned here is that if you are rich, you can get away with anything. Vince McMahon has shown the world time and time again that he is a bad man who only cares for himself and will do anything to anyone to stay in power. This man should be as far away from the public eye as possible and should be forced into an actual retirement in shame.
The sad thing is, there will surely be many people who are willing to look past the actions of Vince McMahon because he was “such a big part of them growing up”. There are plenty of people out there who think WWE can do no wrong, but clearly that is not the case. All wrestling fans should hope for the best as this story unfolds, but don’t hold your breath.
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