Vince McMahon’s reported lack of influence over WWE’s creative explains a lot

WWE programming is enjoyable again. Vince McMahon is reportedly leaving creative alone. That’s probably not a coincidence.

I don’t know about you, but I have been having a lot of fun watching WWE’s product lately.

The stories make sense, the stars are over, the matches are great, and the fans are invested. You can’t really ask for much more. Heck even Fastlane, a pay-per-view I don’t think I have ever cared about, was actually good this year.

But it somehow also feels weird. I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed Vince McMahon’s vision of wrestling to this extent. In all honesty, it could be decades. Has McMahon re-conjured the magic of his prior booking days?

Am I going to have to praise McMahon’s booking after years of having a great disdain for it? The mere thought of it gives me anxiety.

But that changed when Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp posted this Monday on X.

Minutes later, Sapp posted this nugget:

And just like that, my anxiety quickly washed away. That’s because it finally dawned on me that I apparently wasn’t even watching a McMahon production.

It was widely reported earlier in the year that once McMahon returned to power within WWE, he went right back to being hands on with the television product again despite it improving exponentially during his nine-month “retirement.”

McMahon was never really looking to slow down before his forced exit in 2022, so it was natural to assume he was still plugging away like he has for the last 40 years. But reportedly, that is not the case, and I could not be happier.

I don’t think I am alone when I say that I am not a fan of McMahon’s booking, especially in recent years. Based on what a slew of people that worked behind the scenes have said on the record in interviews, podcasts, etc., McMahon doesn’t necessarily foster an environment for creativity. He more or less fosters an environment where people come up with ideas that merely satisfy the musings of the boss over the paying audience.

Bottom line: What McMahon wanted, he got. He is the boss, after all, and he has that right. However, it routinely flew in the face of the fans’ enjoyment of the product. 

You could make the case that McMahon’s style didn’t really hurt business. The company still boasted multiple billion-dollar television contracts and the brand was as strong as ever. With that said, I don’t think it was a coincidence that WWE began to break all sorts of financial records AFTER McMahon “retired.”

I don’t think it was a coincidence that the fans’ anticipation heading into this year’s WrestleMania — the first that did not involve McMahon in the creative process — was as high as it has been in decades. 

I also don’t think it is a coincidence that my enjoyment of WWE’s product is at such a high level when McMahon reportedly has very little influence over it. 

But one question still remains: If McMahon truly has removed himself from WWE’s creative process, will he actually stay away and truly ride off into the sunset of an objectively tremendous career as the greatest wrestling promoter of all time? 

I have watched professional wrestling long enough to know that you can never say never. One thing I do know: I’ll be OK if I don’t have to watch a McMahon-led wrestling program ever again.