Things have been different on WWE Raw and Smackdown, in case you haven't noticed.
PWInsider reported what Fightful had mentioned on our WWE Raw post-show this past Monday -- that things had appeared a little different on the surface. They expanded, saying there's been a bit of a morale boost associated with a line of thinking that Triple H is largely directing creative again, not Vince McMahon.
We can confirm this is a significant, prevailing belief within the company, and that there's been a significant boost in optimism in recent weeks over the 8 or so months that preceded it. Locker room morale had hit an all time low at the start of 2022, largely due to McMahon's lack of creative direction, before recovering significantly under Triple H in the latter part of the year. Talent has not been outright told that Vince McMahon is no longer involved, and most of them were never outright told that Vince had been making changes after returning, though all of them knew it.
In December, Vince McMahon had internally declared his intent to push his way back into the company to seek a sale. However, by February, Fightful was told by talent that McMahon's creative forces were being felt.
It's worth noting that nobody within creative that we've spoken with worked directly with Vince McMahon in 2023, and he didn't sit in on creative meetings. Instead he would usually make remote changes, and submit them, often shortly before the show. One exception was Raw after Mania, which saw significant, sweeping changes to the show. We're told that over the last few weeks, even many of those late changes have stopped, outside of ones that happened due to issues with medical clearances. Even then, word that we've received was that Vince McMahon changes existed before then but were fairly minimal, especially as compared to how things used to be.
Regarding Vince being out "for good," unanimously there was an "I'll believe it when I see it" approach from talent and staff. WWE in an official capacity were adamant after McMahon's initial retirement that he would not be returning.
Fightful had long heard that Endeavor looked upon Triple H fondly.
Morale has been boosted over the last couple of weeks, starting with the September 25 episode of WWE Raw. Numerous WWE talent reached out to us after stories emerged today expressing that same sentiment.
One WWE higher up told us "I think you can take a look at the show -- Johnny Gargano is back after his return was nixed. Tegan Nox is on the show. Dragon Lee is all over the program. Carlito is finally factored in after being under contract for months. Cameron Grimes got back on TV. Bronson Reed is winning matches. Tag team titles and IC titles are getting long matches to end Raw. I'm not going to say that all of those are direct results of the situation, but all of those parts moving at the same time is a little too much to be a coincidence for me."
One WWE talent said that their feeling was that most people on the roster felt a sense of relief when McMahon retired from both a moral and creative standpoint. They said that answering for Vince McMahon's behavior isn't what most of them signed up for, and beyond that, there wasn't a lot of creative confidence in him.
McMahon settled a lawsuit with ex-ref Rita Chatterton, who accused him of raping her in the 1980s, which McMahon's lawyer claimed he did to avoid the cost of litigation. Between settlements and other NDA payouts regarding to personal conduct, McMahon has paid out over $30 million. After brazenly putting himself on television for no reason after that, he was encouraged to retire, and did for about five months before pushing his way back into the company. This carousel of McMahon himself also led to a carousel with his own daughter, Stephanie McMahon, leaving the company in 2022 while he was being investigated, only to return to fill the void he left. She also left in 2023, just mere weeks after Vince declared his intent to return to the company.
Fightful has been told that the decision was Ari Emanuel's, and that they believe Vince McMahon likely would not have pushed for the merger had he known the changes that would be made.
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