The decision to remove Vince McMahon from WWE creative was taken by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.
PWInsider first reported on October 9th that Vince McMahon’s role in WWE has been greatly diminished while Triple H has been basically “knighted” as the main creative force in the company.
McMahon was said to still have some say, while the week-to-week decisions were now entirely in the hands of The Game.
This report was backed up by Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer went one step further, saying McMahon was out of the creative process, although that is only “at the moment.”
According to Meltzer, although McMahon still has ultimate power as Executive Chairman, Triple H is now running creative, while Nick Khan is making the business decisions in the company.
Sports Illustrated has now weighed in on the matter, revealing that Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel is behind the changes to McMahon’s role as he is said to be “a firm believer” that making an organisation as effective as possible includes making sure people are doing “the job they are assigned.”
The report also notes that McMahon will be able to keep himself busy in his own job, as he is currently focused on the media rights deals for Raw and NXT following the confirmation that SmackDown is heading back to USA Network.
Dave Meltzer recently stated that despite Vince McMahon not being in charge of WWE creative, smaller wrestlers still struggle to find their footing on the main roster.
Vince McMahon Partially Responsible For TKO Stock To drop
The deal for SmackDown is worth a massive $1.4 billion over five years. Despite this, when the news was announced, the stock price for TKO – which now includes WWE – actually dropped.
Ari Emanuel has since said that there were three reasons for this, one of which was the presence of Vince McMahon.
“One, the reason the stock is down is they thought Raw was the best package. I saw 40 percent increase which was in line with expectations…
“Two, the P.F.L. situation and three, probably Vince (McMahon) in our deal, wanted to be able to put, at any point in time, his stock.
“He’s 78 years old. He’s been working at this for decades and decades so, I think those three back-to-back issues…”
In a new update following the change in personnel, it has been revealed that Vince McMahon was overruled by higher-ups within TKO Holdings.
H/T to POST Wrestling for the above transcription.