In this WrestleTalk News, Vince McMahon jealous of Triple H, major WWE returns in the worlds
ahead of the Royal Rumble, loads of IMPACT surprises and more.
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Most documentary series these days have about two hours of actual story stretched out to
a ten episode run.
So it’s almost refreshing, in a way, to watch producers attempt to wrangle just Vince
McMahon’s packed last year into a documentary series, let alone his entire life, which was
meant to come out in 2022.
Before Vince decided it was finally time to take a well-earned break from the pro wrestling
biz / was shamefully forced out kicking and screaming due to mounting allegations of sexual
misconduct in July 2022, Netflix had a “massive docuseries” being made by sports producer
extraordinaire and founder of The Ringer, Bill Simmons.
That project coincidentally went totally quiet following Vince’s departure.
But now he’s triumphantly returned to the company he founded / ruthlessly forced his
way back in via shady corporate dealings, the docuseries is being talked about again.
Speaking on his podcast, Simmons revealed he’s still working on the Vince documentary
series, which he tactfully describes as “evolving”.
‘Evolution is a mystery!’
The series is actually a co-production between Simmons and WWE, so it’ll be very interesting
to see how they present the Succession-level drama of Vince’s January boardroom massacre.
It was first announced in October 2020, and Khan noted in 2021 it was already shaping
up to be one of the most expensive in Netflix history.
They might as well buy WWE too then.
Two years into the project, Simmons is acutely aware of the psychology motivating Vince McMahon,
and speaking his own podcast, he explained why he thinks Vince came back.
“I think it really probably did bother him though that things were going so well without
him…
This guy has been doing this since 1976.
This is his.
This was a local promotion that he blew up into a whole thing.
I think he honestly kind of lost it, that it was doing well without him.
You have something for five decades and then, ‘Oh, it’s gonna fall apart now.’
No, actually, it’s not gonna fall apart.
It’s doing better.”
It’s an insight anyone who lived through the glory days of NXT would understand.
During the 2015-2017 run, NXT would often be chanted for on main roster shows.
Perhaps because of that, Vince would bury every single NXT call-up, repackaging their
gimmicks from the ground up rather than taking what Triple H had carefully constructed in
developmental.
Dave Meltzer has written that these tensions are unsurprisingly still there with McMahon’s
2023 return behind-the-scenes, describing Nick Khan as “a buffer who kept things smooth
between…
Vince and Levesque.”
But everything is ok.
Fightful reported that at the Friday 13th episode of SmackDown, Triple H held a “calm
down meeting” with the locker room, reassuring them that Vince is only there to help sell
the company, and not to get involved in creative.
Executive Producer Kevin Dunn even added Vince “hasn’t said to a peep” to him since
his return.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter also added McMahon hasn’t attended any TV tapings since
his comeback, and hasn’t even been working from his WWE HQ office in Stamford.
It’s a bit difficult to take all that at face value, though, because Stephanie McMahon
said pretty much the exact same thing in a backstage meeting on the 7th January, and
she resigned four days later.
And now more reports are coming out about Vince gaining more influence and power behind-the-scenes.
Fightful had already noted a rumour that Vince had been sending word to “some departments”
that they’re “doing things wrong” . Which is a bit beyond just trying to sell the company.
Even us here at WrestleTalk, we’ve been sent a note by Vince.
What does it say…
‘Charlotte win Charlotte blonde’ Despite the Observer’s report, it seems
the situation has already changed.
Ringside News have reported McMahon has actually returned to work from his office, and is “suggesting
changes” to departments in the company.
It’s not specified which departments, but we could take a wild guess and say it’s
to creative and to stop pushing Sami Zayn.
Dave Meltzer has since corroborated this, noting Vince really is physically back in
the place where WWE is run day-to-day.
Which makes it a matter of time before he’s doing the day-to-day running himself.
A further warning for that, and for Triple H’s autonomy, is Ringside News reporting
Vince has rehired his Chief of Staff Brad Blum, who was actually fired by WWE “about
a month-and-a-half” ago.
That would’ve been a firing made during Vince’s hiatus, and was hopefully explained
to him as budget cuts.
A chief of staff role is often to help manage all the personnel an Executive, who is Vince
in our example, doesn’t have directly reporting to them.
This is potentially a very aggressive move behind-the-scenes for Vince, inserting another
one of his allies back in the company, building his faction, and, crucially, one that the
regime that tried to force Vince out - of Triple H, Nick Khan and Stephanie (who literally
unanimously voted against him returning in December) - had purposefully gotten rid of.
It’s probably worth keeping track of the two opposing factions wrestling for control
of WWE right now.
In the Vince side we have his former cronies brought back in as directors Michelle Barrios
and George Wilson, along with his returning Chief of Staff Brad Blum.
Seemingly on the other side are just Triple H and Nick Khan - with Vince managing to get
rid of six of the eleven directors who had previously voted against him, including his
own daughter.
Interestingly, a previous report from Axios claimed Stephane and Triple H “had opposed
a sale” of WWE.
Dave Meltzer now denies this is the case, reporting that they were “open to all possibilities”
, and are in fact possibly even in favour of a sale.
They see Vince’s 81% control of voting stock in the company as “an albatross”.
If Stephanie and Triple H ever realistically wanted Vince out, it would involve someone
buying all his shares, and thus the company.
But Vince’s isn’t the only major WWE return in January.
It’s Royal Rumble season, the most wonderful time of the year, and there’s actually some
wrestling to cover.
Cody Rhodes is the current favourite to win the men’s Royal Rumble match, returning
from a bad case of purple nurple he suffered back in June.
Fightful is reporting Rhodes was spotted in the Performance Center in late December with
his family and team, where he hand picked NXT stars Carmelo Hayes and Joe Gacy to train
in the ring with him.
Cody is apparently “factored” into WrestleMania 39 plans, but the exact nature seems to depend
on what The Rock is doing.
Sanity is another rumoured return, given how Triple H has brought back every other NXT
act Vince released.
Eric Young seemingly finished up with IMPACT by being written out via BEING STABBED TO
DEATH in December and his stable mates Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dane remain free agents.
Nikki Cross has remained in the company, and has recently reverted to her Sanity gimmick.
Wolfe, wrestling under Axel Tischer, has told the Ten Count podcast that he’s aware of
the rumours, and has given the template reply of “never say never”.
Sanity Royal Rumble entrant no.
14 return confirmed.
Matt Riddle may also be nearing his WWE return.
He was written off TV with an injury, which was reportedly a kayfabe cover for him going
to rehab after failing a drugs test.
The six week timeframe he was written off for has now expired, and he’s posted that
he’s “happy to be back with his family”.
WWE have also wished him a happy birthday on their official Twitter account.
It’s unknown whether he’ll return on an episode of Raw, or it’ll be saved for the
Rumble.
The biggest return, though, is reports of John Cena’s Road to WrestleMania 39.
And according to Fightful, it’s already taken place.
Cena made a one-off cameo return to WWE for the last SmackDown of 2022 on December 30th,
where he tagged with Kevin Owens against Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn in the main event - popping
one of the biggest TV ratings of the year.
That show took place in Tampa, Florida.
On the exact same day, the Raw brand was scheduled to have a non-televised live event in Toronto,
Canada, with Seth Rollins taking on United States champion Austin Theory.
But Theory was suddenly pulled from the house show without explanation.
This was apparently because Theory was taken to Tampa to record a segment with Cena.
This supports long standing reports that Theory will wrestle Cena at WrestleMania 39, with
whatever segment they shot being a way to build that match.
WrestlingNews.co had also previously reported that there were “loose plans” to wrestle
Logan Paul at Mania, but Paul’s ACL injury could rule that out.
Or it could all just be something for WWE’s latest video game release, WWE 2K23.
Insider Gaming have revealed 2K, the publisher of the WWE video games, will hold an event
in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday 28th January.
This is the same date and location as the Royal Rumble.
The report notes this will provide a first look at 2K23 game, along with the announcement
of a new game mode - following MyGM being reintroduced in 2K22.
Go watch our two series of MyGM battles on PFK!
Link’s in the video description below.
IMPACT’s first pay-per-view of the year Hard to Kill took place on Friday 13th, which
saw the debut of Santino Marella - who has signed as the promotion’s Director of Authority
- Mickie James winning the Knockouts Championship from Jordynn Grace, and the return of Frankie
Kazarian, who shockingly announced he had quit AEW.
Kaz was an AEW original and the promotion’s inaugural tag team champion with Scorpio Sky.
Kaz’s last appearance for AEW was a December 26th loss on Dark Elevation to Takeshita.
During his Hard to Kill promo, he explained in AEW “I was surrounded by strangers I
thought were my friends, and something just didn't seem right” - either a kayfabe jab
at his former onscreen allies, or a more shoot comment on AEW’s locker room problems.
Vince is back, but what could that mean for WWE?
Watch on now for Adam Blampied counting down x things Vince McMahon could change…