Triple H Thought Vince McMahon Was ‘Keeping Himself Busy’ Before WWE Return Was Official

Vince McMahon retired as WWE CEO on July 22, 2022 amid sexual misconduct and hush money allegations. With McMahon stepping down, Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan became Co-CEOs of the company while Triple H became Chief Content Officer, leading the creative direction of WWE. 

On January 5, Vince McMahon announced that he was taking action to return to the WWE board to help with the media rights negotiations as he had majority voting powering. On January 6, McMahon return was made official. 

On January 4, Joe Otterson of Variety spoke to Triple H, who didn’t know what Vince was up to in his retirement. 

 “F–k if I know,” he said, when asked how McMahon was biding his time since leaving WWE. “I didn’t know what he was up to every day when he was here! I’ll be honest, I don’t know what he’s doing. I think he’s keeping himself busy.”

Since Vince has returned, Stephanie McMahon has resigned from her position as Co-CEO. Triple H has held talent meetings to assure them that he still leads the creative direction of the company.

“[Vince was] always thinking long term,” he said. “Whether it gets executed that way or whether it wasn’t, I don’t know. But for me, it’s how I think because it’s how I was taught by him. I’m always trying to think about the long-term storyline. I was at SummerSlam and one of the first things I talked to the team about is ‘Okay, where do we want to go for Wrestlemania? What’s that goal?’ Obviously it’s going to change, but what’s the target goal? It’s like a GPS. As long as you put in the destination, the GPS will keep rerouting you if it needs to. If there’s an accident, it’s going to move you this way. If you miss a turn, it’s going to take you another way, but you’re gonna get to your destination. And as long as we are aware of where we want to get to, then we can get there. We’ll adjust along the way. And the destination might change we might decide halfway that we want to go in a different direction, but at least you constantly are aware of your of your target, and I think without that, you’re just floating around in the ocean.”

On January 12, WWE announced that they were engaging with outside advisors to review strategic alternatives. Upcoming media rights negotiations were the reason given for WWE going to outside advisors, but reports indicated that WWE was also preparing to sell the company.

WWE is set to hold its Royal Rumble event on Saturday, January 28. Fans can find the current lineup for the event by clicking here.