Vince McMahon is apparently out of WWE perhaps once and for all, but even after "stepping away" in 2022, several of his changes and adjustments were felt throughout the year in 2023.
In early 2023, Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reported on The Hump that WWE talent had learned that Vince McMahon's influence was being felt in the months leading up to WrestleMania. Among those included several talent not being featured on WWE TV, changes to shows, and the like. We’ve heard of one of those significant changes that was made to WrestleMania 39.
Fightful has learned that originally, Finn Balor was scheduled to defeat Edge (aka Cope) at WrestleMania. However, Vince McMahon wanted Cope to pick up the victory, despite Adam Copeland pushing to put over Finn Balor. This was a match that featured the "Demon" version of Finn Balor, helping culminate a feud with Judgment Day, which Cope had created. Creative and industry sources have claimed that Balor was originally scheduled to win, but McMahon pushed for the change. We aren't even sure if the talent themselves were told of the original plan or shift, as usually that gets relayed the day of the show in WWE.
There was a lot of speculation that the oft-criticized Cody Rhodes loss to Roman Reigns was a Vince McMahon call. While Vince McMahon was in favor of the decision, we're told that had been the plan pretty well all the way through.
The next night, McMahon made sweeping changes to Raw After Mania. One source at the time compared McMahon to the Tazmanian Devil, running in, eating up the script, ruining the show and leaving.
Author's note: Since publication, there have been asinine talking points that "Cope leaked the story." I personally don't care whether or not Cope puts anyone over, wants to, or doesn't. If the details came from him, it'd be reported as coming from sources close to him. I've never spoken to Cope, or anyone representing him. He's well known for not talking to "dirt sheets," and we were even told to not expect him to do interviews with us for that reason.
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