A new report indicates that Vince McMahon retained significant control over WWE creative storylines far longer than the public was led to believe. According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McMahon held the final say on creative decisions “until well into 2023” following his return to the company. While Triple H (Paul Levesque) and the writing team were responsible for developing the initial scripts, McMahon had the authority to revise them and was the “final decision maker” for much of that year.
Dave Meltzer’s report indicates that the dynamic shifted only when Ari Emanuel, the CEO of TKO, stepped in. Emanuel reportedly “decreed that Levesque in fact was actually going to be in charge of creative,” a move likely driven by “complaints about McMahon’s changes to the shows at the last minute most weeks.” Meltzer also highlighted the irony regarding the current creative direction, noting that while Cody Rhodes is viewed as a “Levesque guy” in this new era, it was actually McMahon who cut the deal to bring Rhodes back and created the storyline in 2022 that drove WrestleMania 39 and WrestleMania 40.
This reporting aligns with newly revealed documents and text messages obtained by Wrestlenomics and Post Wrestling from the ongoing WWE shareholder lawsuit. The suit, which accuses McMahon of breaching fiduciary duties to remain in power, brought to light a text message from current TKO executive Mark Shapiro, sent on July 22, 2022—the very day McMahon initially announced his retirement. Shapiro, then a higher-up at Endeavor, correctly predicted the future to CFOs Andrew Schleimer and Jason Lublin.
“Nick and Stephanie are going to take over the WWE for the next nine months,” Shapiro wrote in the text. “Vince [will] be back with a new board, or he will take the company private, or he will sell it/coming to us. The race is on. The courtship is on.” Shapiro’s prediction proved accurate: McMahon returned to the board less than six months later, in January 2023, to facilitate the sale to Endeavor.
The disclosed documents further confirm that McMahon was involved in the creative process leading up to WrestleMania 39. This contradicts public statements made by WWE CEO Nick Khan, who stated on CNBC at the time that McMahon had no involvement in creative because he was no longer in an executive role.
