2023 has been a wild year for WWE fans regarding Vince McMahon. As the calendar rolled over to the new year, Vince McMahon was in a self-imposed “retirement” following several scandalous allegations and articles. With McMahon out of the picture, Paul “Triple H” Levesque firmly controlled the company’s creative direction as they headed into WrestleMania 39. However, the road to WrestleMania took a turn when reports began to circulate that the sports entertainment juggernaut may be sold to Endeavor, owned by Ari Emanuel, during the big show’s weekend.
On the Monday after Mania, things became clearer, as it was confirmed Endeavor was acquiring WWE. Along with the acquisition came the return of Vince McMahon, who appeared backstage at Raw and reportedly caused chaos with multiple last-minute changes. At that point, the clock began to countdown to McMahon’s removal from the creative process. The eccentric billionaire began to work remotely and was no longer present at every show but did attend some. Once the merger was completed, Emanuel re-empowered Levesque as the company’s Chief Content Officer, removing McMahon’s ability to have the final say on creative decisions.
Sports Illustrated reports that despite McMahon losing power in WWE’s creative department, he has no intentions of leaving the company anytime soon. This update also comes on the heels of McMahon selling off more than $700 million of his TKO stock, which raised some eyebrows. It was noted that McMahon sold 25% of his stock because he needed a lot of liquid capital. The reason for his need to have that much cash on hand was not given. It is worth noting that McMahon is the subject of a Department of Justice and SEC investigation and was recently served with a federal grand jury subpoena.
It was reiterated that McMahon has no plans to stop working for WWE even though he has been moved away from the creative process. McMahon now works on assignments given to him by Emanuel, and it was said the two men have a positive relationship.