Vince McMahon Heavily Involved in WWE Raw Production
Vince McMahon continues to inch closer towards all the power he held before his initial retirement. The long-time WWE executive returned to the board of directors this past January, citing that he wanted to assist with a sale of the company. This resulted in Vince being re-elected to chairman of the board after then-WWE Chairwoman and co-CEO Stephanie McMahon resigned. In the weeks since, Vince had laid low, strictly operating on the business side of WWE while creative control lied solely in the hands of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque. Despite his emphasis that he would not interfere in on-screen storylines, Vince had found his way back to Gorilla position at a March edition of Monday Night Raw as well as this past weekend's WWE WrestleMania 39.
Now, it appears that Vince's influence is permeating WWE programming once again. WrestleVotes reported that this week's Monday Night Raw had a "large Vince McMahon feel and presence to it" while Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful added that what fans saw on television was "categorically different than how it was laid out" just hours before the show went on the air.
These reports come just one day after Vince sold WWE to Endeavor, the parent company of UFC. Vince appeared alongside Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel on CNBC to shed light on what will happen to WWE following the sale, infamously saying "yes and no" when asked about if he will return to WWE creative.
"Yes and no. On a higher level, yes," Vince said. "In the weeds, which I always loved to get in the weeds in the past, no. Can't do that."
It was added by Wrestlenomics that Vince sent an internal email following WWE's sale to notify talent that "Paul Levesque will remain WWE's chief content executive." That email was sent before Raw went on the air, which would have also been before the reported changes to the broadcast happened as well.
Levesque kicked off Monday Night Raw this week, making a rare televised appearance. He thanked the crowd and the talent for making WWE WrestleMania 39 the success that it was before emphasizing that "the same WWE that you know and love is going nowhere."
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Vince McMahon's return to power, Paul "Triple H" Levesque's WWE future, and more.