Report: Triple H, Not Vince McMahon, Holds WWE Creative Control Going Forward

The Game is once again steering the ship.

By Liam Crowley

Concern grew earlier this year that Triple H's creative reign over WWE would be short-lived. The WWE Chief Content Officer took over the sports-entertainment giant's day-to-day operations in July 2022 following Vince McMahon's initial retirement. The next six months that followed was one of the most championed time periods by fans, as many praised WWE's refreshed roster, engaging storylines, and overall in-ring product. McMahon ended his brief retirement in January, using his shareholding power to re-elect himself to chairman of the board. Once WWE's sale to Endeavor Content was announced in April, McMahon's fingerprints were all over Monday Night Raw and WWE SmackDown once again.

The months that followed involved a lot of tip-toeing. Some episodes of WWE TV showed signs of Triple H leading the charge, while others had glaring signals that McMahon was puppeteering the show.

WWE's sale to Endeavor was finalized in September. For the first time in his WWE tenure, McMahon was now answering to a higher power rather than being that higher power himself. While Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel has made it clear that he wants to keep McMahon around in the TKO era, his involvement may be strictly from a business perspective.

Triple H "Knighted" By Endeavor to Run WWE Creative

TRIPLE-H-WWE-SMACKDOWN-GOODBYE
(Photo: WWE)

It's time to play the game. Again.

According to PWInsider, there is an internal belief within WWE that Vince McMahon is no longer involved in WWE creative. The report adds that WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque has been "basically knighted" by Endeavor to lead the creative charge.

Publicly, Triple H never lost his power. WWE CEO Nick Khan had said in multiple interviews earlier this year that the former WWE Champion's role was unchanged by the Endeavor sale or McMahon's return.

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"Specifically Vince articulated that Paul Levesque remains the sole chief creative officer. Sole," Khan said. "Paul and Vince have a family relationship, a relationship that stands back to the mid-90s. Paul's in charge of creative. If he wants input from Vince or Vince has ideas then he and Paul are gonna communicate, that's always going be the case. We're lucky to have Vince. We're lucky to have Paul in control of creative."

WWE returns to programming with Monday Night Raw, airing tonight at 8 PM ET on USA Network.

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