By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE issued the following press release on Friday to announce Vince McMahon’s retirement as as Chairman and CEO of WWE.
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Vince McMahon today released the following statement:
“As I approach 77 years old, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE. Throughout the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire you, thrill you, surprise you, and always entertain you. I would like to thank my family for mightily contributing to our success, and I would also like to thank all of our past and present Superstars and employees for their dedication and passion for our brand. Most importantly, I would like to thank our fans for allowing us into your homes every week and being your choice of entertainment. I hold the deepest appreciation and admiration for our generations of fans all over the world who have liked, currently like, and sometimes even love our form of Sports Entertainment.
“Our global audience can take comfort in knowing WWE will continue to entertain you with the same fervor, dedication, and passion as always. I am extremely confident in the continued success of WWE, and I leave our company in the capable hands of an extraordinary group of Superstars, employees, and executives – in particular, both Chairwoman and Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and Co-CEO Nick Khan. As the majority shareholder, I will continue to support WWE in any way I can. My personal thanks to our community and business partners, shareholders, and Board of Directors for their guidance and support through the years. Then. Now. Forever. Together.”
Powell’s POV: Even with the board investigating Vince and the various stories about his NDA’s, it’s still a shocking moment that McMahon has opted to step aside. This raises a lot of questions regarding the future of the company on the business side as well in terms of who will be running the creative end of things. For those who missed it earlier, Paul Levesque was named the Head of Talent Relations again earlier today. Will Pruett and I are recording Dot Net Weekly right now and so we will have a lot to say about this development when the show is released later today for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons).
Update: ProWrestling.net has confirmed that Vince McMahon has retired from each of the positions he held in WWE.
Holy shit. Never thought he’d actually move on without being forcibly removed.
Apparently there’s a full WWE staff meeting at 5pm ET.
VINCENT MCPERSON IS ALL ELITE!
I doubt it…once this whole issue is over with…he will return…. as their motto is never say never
Officially quit for the purposes of shareholders doesn’t mean his fingers are out of the pies. Russo/TNA anybody?
No matter what offense(s) he committed and no matter how out of touch he had become, there would probably be no pro wrestling today without him.
I’m actually pretty shocked. Even with everything going on, I figured he’d stick around and just eventually die as chairman and CEO. We’ll see if he’s really retired though or if it’s a Dan Snyder situation where he’s ‘not running the show’ but nobody actually believes he’s not.
Now to see if the Lesnar stuff is true. This could be a really wild ride.
Best news I’ve heard in years! Now Stephanie needs to figure out a way to force Nick Khan out before he completes his hostile take over. Then she can start undoing all of the stupid things that Vince has done over the past 2+ years.
The “stupid” things Vince has done the past 2+ years have led to the first upturn in ratings in a decade, 3 million viewers on Peacock every week, 5-6 million PPV viewers on Peacock, and ticket sales higher than anything WWE has seen in years.
Citation needed on those ticket sales records.
Considering they’ve had to move shows to smaller venues and run less live events than they did in the past, it seems a bit counter-intuitive.
I’m excited for the future of WWE now, honestly. I will probably start watching again to see if there’s a big change on the creative side.
They literally moved one show, MITB, and they should have been running an arena for that instead of a stadium anyways. They sold 150,000 tickets for WM weekend this year. They’ve got two shows coming up with over 60,000 tickets sold. They’ve been running fewer live events because of a monther fucking pandemic you dipshit, and even with that they’ve got 75 live shows scheduled through Survivor Series with several weekends where they’re running two shows on both Saturday and Sunday.
They’re doing just fine.
What a healthy, well-adjusted attitude to have when challenged to back up a claim with facts.
I almost hesitate to volley back that even before the pandemic the company was de-emphasizing their live event business in both investor calls and scheduled dates.
THEGREATESTONE, It’s good to have differing opinions. That’s where a dialog comes from (Of course too many people try to shove theirs down your throat, sad). Yes, Vince had a boost in ratings and ticket sales but I don’t care about that stuff. I’m talking about things that have happened that have affected my enjoyment of the product. I could list all of those but it would take way too long. Some examples: Allowing Charlotte Flair to run Toni Storm out of WWE, releasing Tegan Knox and Hit Row before they ever had a match on TV, releasing Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, and Tom Phillips for no apparent reason, putting Rick Flair’s “Woo” back in the opening of each show considering he’s a sexual deviate, turning a lot of the good NXT talent into statues or fools. I could go on and on but hopefully you get my point. It’s not about numbers, it’s about enjoyment.