Vince McMahon Reportedly Backstage at WWE's MSG SmackDown

By Matthew Aguilar

Tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown is taking place at New York's Madison Square Garden, and a new report says Vince McMahon is in attendance. PWInsider is reporting that McMahon arrived at Madison Square Garden not too long ago, and that would appear to mean he will have some effect on the show. The last time he was backstage for a show was last month, but that one took place in Hartford Connecticut, which is also the home of WWE Headquarters, so that was an easy appearance to make. Before that, McMahon made an appearance backstage at the Raw after WrestleMania 39, which many criticized for feeling different from more recent episodes of Raw in the Triple H era.

While McMahon has submitted rewrites and changes to shows in between those appearances, he typically does those remotely now and hasn't set up shop backstage outside of those particular appearances. Those two appearances were also for Monday Night Raw episodes, so this is the first time he's been present at a SmackDown.

Hopefully, this doesn't result in any major changes to the show, which has an intriguing lineup of matches and segments. The biggest event of the night is Tribal Court, which will feature The Usos putting Roman Reigns on trial after taking him down at Money in the Bank. Then there will be a United States Championship match between Austin Theory and Sheamus, as well as a new episode of The Grayson Waller Effect featuring Edge.

During WWE's Q1 earnings call, Triple H talked a bit about character development and storytelling and how they approach it at the moment, and he highlighted that character development is a priority within the company. "As far as what we're focused on, we're focused on character development. I think you see that across storylines where our fans are super engaged in the talent," Triple H said.

"Let's take Sami Zayn and the Bloodline over the last, couple of years really, but especially in the last six to eight months, where that story and the character development has reached a whole new level. It has our fans invested and excited in the content like they haven't been in a long time," Triple H said.

"For us, extending the planning of the event horizon. Looking out year over year, where we want to be next year and then back tracking from there, so that we're always ahead of the curve and always thinking ahead," Triple H said. "That allows us to have better planning and then it's just trying new things and getting outside of a box of what we do and seeing what works and what doesn't. I don't consider something not working a failure, I consider it learning. [I'm] really excited about the future and where we can take all of this."

Up next is SummerSlam, which is in Detroit. McMahon hasn't been backstage for other premium live events, but with an event as big as SummerSlam, it is possible he could make an appearance. SummerSlam takes place on August 5th, and will be available to stream on Peacock.

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