When WWE announced Vince McMahon had returned to the company last month as its executive chairman, it was repeatedly stated publicly by McMahon, company officials and Paul Levesque that he would not be stepping back into his old role overseeing WWE’s booking on its Creative Team. And while speculation that he would try to gradually maneuver his way back into that position simmered throughout January, it suddenly reached a boiling point this week.
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It started with Dave Meltzer via Wrestling Observer Radio, who claimed McMahon “definitely” had creative input into the Bloodline vs. Sami Zayn storyline. Zayn, despite having a massive wave of fan support, came up short against Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber this past Saturday in his hometown of Montreal.
This lines up with previous comments Levesque has made about taking input on booking from a variety of people, including his father-in-law. But Levesque reportedly emphasized in talent meetings shortly after McMahon’s return that he still has the final say when it comes to booking and that McMahon’s focus is on WWE’s attempt at a sale.
“I want to reiterate just how excited I am and how much fun I am having in my role as Chief Content Officer. And I also want to add that having Vince around has been great. And I will tell you this, it will allow me to speak for our entire creative team, that we’re standing on the shoulders of giants. So having him back and involved, even at just The Board level, comes with his incredible insight, and he is a tremendous asset to this company…I look forward to continuing to build the business alongside this leadership team for the long term,” Levesque said during the latest quarterly investors’ conference call.
Then this week’s Monday Night Raw rolled around, which featured the announcement that Omos was challenging Brock Lesnar to a match at WrestleMania 39 this coming April. Online wrestling fans thought this might be a sign of McMahon stepping back in as this was the type of match he loved to book. This prompted a response from Meltzer on Wednesday.
Fightful‘s Sean Ross Sapp then tweeted out that a wrestler had reached out to him believing that McMahon was back to running creative, while also noting he personally hasn’t heard of Vince being at any of WWE’s shows since forcing his way back onto the WWE Board of Directors.
He then broke down the situation on Fightful Select‘s The List Goes On Podcast. He stated that a wrestler reached out to him claiming that another power struggle was going on behind the scenes and that McMahon and forced his way back to the Creative Team, but had nothing to verify those claims. Sapp then noted that a high-ranking WWE official responded by saying the claim was “absolutely false,” though WWE declined to officially comment on the record.
