Felix Upton on January 18, 2023
WWE has seen several big changes over the past few weeks. Vince McMahon’s return to the company was under the guise to prepare the company for a sale, and this sparked a huge conversation within the pro wrestling world.
Stephanie McMahon stepped down as co-CEO of the company, leaving Nick Khan as the company’s only CEO. With Vince McMahon making even more changes to the company bylaws, he can now push a sale through without shareholder approval.
Nick Khan recently appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast, where he addressed WWE’s corporate shake-up. In his mind, Vince McMahon was always going to return and take the helm of WWE once again.
“When you’re on the inside, you see things that may be coming. My thought was that there’s only one boss in the company, and that ain’t me. I think it was always my point of view, Stephanie’s point of view he would come back. The way he played it to me was smart in that he went away for five, six months which people, meaning the audience, seems to like when somebody does that and he came back and took control back of his company as a company shareholder. So it is the public’s company as a publicly traded company. But with that, the controlling share gave him a lot of authority, and he used it, and I applaud him for doing so.”
Nick Khan was then asked about Mr. McMahon possibly hurting WWE’s reputation with his return. Khan pointed out a situation with Ray Rice and the NFL from years ago. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked to step down during that controversy.
“Well, no advertiser has fled. Ratings aren’t down. The product seems to continue to build. Why would he resign? Why would he do that? I think it’s just a three-mile radius of LA thing. ‘Hey, step down. And you know, you have to sort of be punished for it.’ It didn’t used to be that way. So I think for somebody like Vince, and [referring to Simmons] you and he are two different people, but you’re both founder CEOs and I think founder CEOs are different from regular CEOs. So to me, WWE is Vince, Vince is WWE, and we’re going to do the best we can to keep building the company.”
In the end, Vince McMahon did return to WWE, and Nick Khan wasn’t surprised. Khan went on to say that he appreciated the fact that Vince McMahon took several months off to let the dust settle a bit before his eventual return.
“You know, when he stepped down, anyone who believed that was permanent didn’t know him. That was never going to happen, but I’m appreciative of the fact that he gave it five, six months, let the dust settle a little bit, then came back in the way that he’s come back.”
We will have to see what happens in this situation. Many are speculating that Vince McMahon has a buyer in line and the company will be sold in rabid fashion. In the meantime, talent was promised that Triple H is still in control of the company’s creative direction, and he will maintain his position through this corporate uncertainty.
What’s your take on Vince McMahon selling WWE? Sound off in the comments!
January 18, 2023 7:58 am
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