Backstage Reaction Over WWE Sale Process & Rumors of Vince McMahon Taking Over More of Creative

As noted before, WWE is currently in the process of potentially selling the company to a new owner that could take place as early as this Spring. The progress of WWE’s sale talks is currently believed to have reached a “hot and heavy” level in terms of interest from potential buyers.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that the current belief within WWE is that they expect “business to pick up” after this weekend’s WrestleMania 39 event in regards to potential sale talks.

In regards to Comcast, it was reported that their sources stated that while the company has a long working relationship, via their ownership of NBC and USA Network, with WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon, they currently have no interest in the idea of keeping McMahon on board if they were to purchase the company.

It was reported that several potential buyers currently are interested in wanting to bring back former WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon if they were to purchase the company. One source at Disney reportedly stated that “these companies are doing their due diligence, they’re following the news cycles, regardless of their public levels of interest. They’re aware of the things that would make audiences and staff happy. She seemed to bring a lot of positive to the company.”

It was also reported that the current feeling from potential buyers is that WWE has had effective teams in place that a purchase would be a major shot in the arm for whatever connected streaming service is involved due to the current timing of all of WWE’s upcoming rights deals.

In regards to Vince McMahon, it was reported that while McMahon has publicly stated that he is open to the idea of leaving WWE if needed in order to complete a sale, the current belief backstage from both talent and staff is that he has become even more entrenched and involved in WWE’s creative process. These rumored red flags reportedly include creative plans have recently featured more rewrites the day of shows than had been the case earlier under Paul “Triple H” Levesque control. Another red flag reportedly involved gimmicks/characters being tweaked to a manner more of what would be McMahon’s preferences that had been previously relaxed or changed under Levesque. Another red flag reportedly involves extensive creative plans that had been laid out were being changed at the last minute. These red flags reportedly have caused backstage morale to be negatively impacted.

In regards to the rumors of McMahon having direct involvement in WWE’s creative, it was reported that none of the talent spoken to stated that they have seen McMahon being in direct control beyond offering some creative input. Those spoken to within WWE Creative insisted that they have not had any direct contact with McMahon nor have been told of any changes that came from McMahon directly.

It was also reported that both WWE officials and McMahon himself are currently aware how much of a negative blow to talent morale would be if McMahon were to publicly be involved in creative again.

It was also reported that these concerns from WWE’s talent and staff have been openly discussed to such a degree that it has recently made its way into AEW’s locker room as well.