Insight Into How Vince McMahon Still Ran WWE During First Retirement

Vince McMahon's final two years in WWE were turbulent. The longtime WWE Chairman resigned from the company this past January after former employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit that accused McMahon of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. While this particular lawsuit was enough to get McMahon to resign almost immediately, prior controversies were not as successful. Spring 2022 saw the beginning of McMahon's end when WWE launched an internal investigation into sexual misconduct claims against him. While this was going on, McMahon stepped down from his positions as Chairman and CEO but maintained creative control over WWE's management team. When it was made public that McMahon had been using company funds as hush money payments to his various affairs over the years, McMahon announced his retirement from WWE altogether.

When that day came in July 2023, company reins were handed over to tenured WWE staffers. Stephanie McMahon took over as Chairwoman and split CEO responsibilities with Nick Khan. Paul "Triple H" Levesque assumed creative control of WWE's main roster. This led to some of WWE's most critically-acclaimed content for the next six months. 

Despite what corporate titles said at the time, former WWE star Ronda Rousey revealed that McMahon never truly left his post.

"He was never gone while I was there," Rousey told Cageside Seats. "He was just phoning it in through Bruce Prichard."

Bruce Prichard is a longtime professional wrestling backstage talent. He held producing positions in companies like TNA and MLW before returning to WWE in February 2019 in a creative capacity. Within that first year back, Prichard took over as Executive Director of WWE SmackDown. Come June 2020, Prichard also took on that position for WWE Monday Night Raw. Today, Prichard is simply known as the company's Executive Director.

"My agent who works at WME (Endeavor, WWE's parent company), he was telling me, 'You know, he's completely gone now, I swear,'" Rousey continued. "I'm like, 'I'll believe it when I see it, because everyone said he left before.' He never left. He was there by text message."

Prichard has been described as "the most powerful person in WWE" that does not have a familial tie to the McMahons. In 2021, backstage reports noted that "everything flowed" through Prichard from a creative standpoint and that "his word" was described as "very much the Gospel" to Vince.