Vince McMahon’s presence in WWE’s WrestleMania 39 advertising has been removed. The company unveiled special match graphics for the upcoming two-night event last month featuring its top stars on Hollywood-esque movie posters. At first, this seemed like a nod to the show’s Hollywood theme as it’s taking place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood (Los Angeles), California. However, eagle-eyed online fans were able to spot the text printed at the bottom of each poster, which had the last line reading “Directed by Vince McMahon.”
This caused immediate concern. When McMahon forced his way back onto the WWE’s Board of Directors last month both he and other high-ranking officials repeatedly stated publicly that he was merely back to oversee a sale of the company rather than return to all of his previous roles — including head booker. But various reports about McMahon returning to WWE Headquarters and offering his input on various company matters have led to speculation that McMahon lied and was gradually returning to his booking role.
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Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful then dropped a report late last month saying none of the speculation was accurate. Fans then noticed WWE updated its WrestleMania graphics recently and removed McMahon from the “director” role on the movie posters. His name was replaced by “Selma Tinware.” That’s not actually a person’s name, but rather an anagram for WrestleMania. Why WWE felt the need to initially include McMahon or make this subtle change is unknown.
Will Another Vince McMahon Allegation Be Made Public?
The main reason behind McMahon’s departure from WWE last year had to do with a number of allegations directed at McMahon regarding sexual misconduct and millions of dollars paid in non-disclosure agreements that weren’t properly documented in WWE’s financial reports. However, WWE CEO Nick Khan told Bill Simmons back in January that he doesn’t believe any more McMahon allegations will emerge.
“It feels like whatever happened, happened, and it’s out there and people know. I’ve always found him to be a very honest broker with this stuff. Even when the process started last summer, there was nothing that he hid, nothing that he covered up. He was very honest about it, I appreciated that, and I think a lot of other folks did too,” Khan said.
