Note On Backstage Reactions To Vince McMahon Announcing Intent To Rejoin WWE Board

Vince McMahon has announced his intent to return to WWE, and a new report has details on reactions backstage and when people found out about it. As noted earlier, McMahon announced that he has submitted a written consent to the WWE Board electing himself, George Barrios, and Michelle Wilson to the board, which will require the removal of three current board members. Fightful Select has spoken with dozens of people in WWE, noting that everyone involved was “floored” by McMahon’s announcement.

The report notes that no one in any department including talent, production, creative, and general staff was given a heads up in any way either before or in the immediate aftermath of the news breaking. One talent said that they were told “Not one bit, but considering some people from his regime were kept this long, they must have known it would happen. We’ll see if they talk to us tomorrow [at the Smackdown taping].”

Another top talent in the company said that they weren’t given any information and had asked what the possibilities of McMahon returning to creative would be. That concern was prevalent the talent spoken to. The two people in creative that spoke with the site had not been informed of any change to their responsibilites and were in fact sent notes for Smackdown just before the Wall Street Journal published its story on McMahon’s declared intent to return. Employees in the production department were also not told of anything.

The unanimous reaction from those the site spoke to was that the situation was bad news or “above their paygrade” and something that they would not worry over until they needed to. One mamber of the roster said, “Finding out online is scary, and it’s Vince, so I don’t believe a word he says. I hope current management and everything doesn’t change, but only time will tell.” They said that they greatly respect Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. One more talent said they thought there would be serious issues in the roster if McMahon returned to his position in creative. A recently signed talent said, “I would be blown away if he returned to creative.”

One higher-up in the company said, “I can’t count how many interviews I’ve read or people I talked to outside the company that said ‘Vince liked me, but I got fired.’ He didn’t like you, he didn’t like any of them. He fired or they wouldn’t have been fired during a pandemic.”