More than fifty years after he promoted his first wrestling card, and more than thirty-eight years after he launched WrestleMania, Vince McMahon finally passed away last week at the age of 76. His complex legacy will be analyzed and analyzed for many years, but in the short term, many wrestling fans were interested in the question of who would take over. His daughter Stephanie McMahon and CFO Nick Khan were quickly appointed co-CEOs, but for those of us who follow the product every week, the more important successor was creativity. Well, finally, we have the answer.
According to Fightful, Paul Levesque, better known to WWE fans as Triple H, has assumed all the responsibilities related to WWE’s creativity, which he will oversee in addition to his current role in talent relations. For years, many have speculated that he would eventually get the job if McMahon ever announced his retirement, given that he has been running WWE’s NXT development program for a long time, has a good relationship with talent, and is married to Stephanie McMahon. However, all this was called into question last year after he left due to a serious health problem, and things got even more complicated after Stephanie announced she was going on vacation earlier this year.
However, after these events, reports began to appear about Vince McMahon and the alleged history of non-disclosure agreements with female employees regarding sexual relations. Both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H returned to their ranks pretty quickly, and now they are arguably two of the three most important decision makers in the entire company. Together with Nick Khan, this is, in fact, their ship, and it will be interesting to see how things can develop, both in terms of style and storylines.
Vince McMahon preferred a very specific style of wrestling and, as a rule, preferred to put more famous wrestlers rather than those who are on the rise of their careers. With increased competition from AEW and a new decision maker at the helm, it will be interesting to see how much WWE will evolve in the future. Will Triple H accept the new TV-14 rating that Monday Night Raw is getting a little sharper? Will he stay with the sports and entertainment direction that McMahon has preferred for the past decade and a half? And will he be able to smooth over the problems McMahon had with some talents, most notably Sasha Banks and Naomi, who left earlier this year?
It’s also unclear what might happen to the most prominent members of the WWE writing team, most notably Bruce Pritchard. Will Triple H continue to work with individuals who have played a huge role in WWE over the past few decades, or will it decide that a new direction means adding new voices to the room? I honestly have no idea, and as a wrestling fan, it’s very interesting.
SummerSlam, the second or third biggest event on the WWE calendar, depending on how you feel about The Royal Rumble, will take place next weekend. It will be interesting to see how Triple H handles its first big card. I expect it to be basically similar to the WWE we’re used to, especially given the short processing time, but there’s a very good chance it will reverse a few booking decisions that Vince McMahon may have had. Ultimately, reserving is about putting the characters you believe in in more prominent positions and displacing those you don’t consider less important. It’s only natural that Triple H’s opinion of certain characters will differ from the opinion of his old boss, and it will be interesting to watch this.
