Nick Khan says things are looking up at WWE despite the recent allegations against Vince McMahon.
The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast recently welcomed WWE CEO Nick Khan to the show. Khan was asked about Vince McMahon‘s retirement due to sexual assault allegations and his return to the company. It was noted that WWE stock went up and ratings stayed strong in light of the allegations, and Khan credited the strength of their staff and shareholders for getting through it.
“The most important thing to us, John, the shareholders. Everybody stayed calm. We knew that there were some good folks in the pocket. And our employees, we have 1,000 employees worldwide and we wanted to make sure they stayed calm too. They did, the shareholders did as well. That made it a heck of a lot easier to keep everybody focused on the business, which is as you know at the end of the day, the most important thing,” Khan said. “So I think we collectively got through that because of the good folks we work with, because of the strong shareholder base that we have. And hey, fortunately, we’re on the other side of it.”
Khan was then asked how involved Vince McMahon was in the creative department. When he returned in January, McMahon said he was only there to help facilitate a sale of the company and negotiate the company’s next media rights deal. Since then, there has been speculation that McMahon has been involved in creative plans, but Khan says Vince has largely allowed Triple H to run things his way.
“Not that involved. Triple H, Paul Levesque, is the Head Of Creative. He was named the Head Of Creative in August,” Khan said. “Vince has respected that, he’s embraced that. It’s also his son-in-law, as I’m sure you know, so they have their own dynamic. And from my point-of-view, things have been terrific for the past couple of months since Vince returned.”
Fightful (via Fightful Select) recently reported that there have been concerns that McMahon could be more involved with creative than is being let on. Among the complaints, talent said there have been more re-writes on the day of a TV taping than usual, and some gimmicks have been changed to “a manner in which McMahon had previously preferred.” To the contrary, it was noted that there are other indicators that he’s not involved, including a lack of constant rematches and pushing talent he did not care for.
McMahon has been present for some television tapings, but WWE representatives have denied he was involved in creative again. McMahon was present for a March episode of RAW in Boston, reportedly because he was there to see John Cena. Some talent said he stayed out of the way but noted he was spotted near the Gorilla position.
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