In this WrestleTalk News, Vince McMahon’s return to WWE could be short-lived, an update
on WWE’s plans to sell, Shawn Michaels breaks his silence on Mandy Rose, and more.
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When it was reported Vince McMahon had forced his way back, sorry, I mean when Vince McMahon
was legitimately voted back in as Executive Chairman of WWE last month, a lot of the immediate
reaction from fans was to feel sorry for Triple H, who took over WWE’s creative team when
Vince announced his return in July last year.
But don’t worry, because it turns out Triple H loves having his father-in-law back in the
company, and the quote you’re about to hear is definitely not influenced by the fact that
Vince is the majority shareholder of WWE.
During yesterday’s WWE earnings call, Triple H spoke about a number of things, but wanted
everyone to know just how much he loves Vince.
He said: “I also want to add, having Vince around has been great…
Having him back and involved even at just the board level comes with his incredible
insight.”
Spoken truly like a man with a giant Vince McMahon shaped gun at the back of his head.
Just a reminder in case you needed it, Vince remains under investigation for his alleged
sexual misconduct, with new reports suggesting WWE is facing a “horrifying” new lawsuit
in relation their beloved chairman, who allegedly paid over $15 million in hush money to women
he allegedly sexual assaulted in the 1980s.
But if you’re not a fan of Vince, well perhaps some good news for you, because according
to WWE CEO Nick Khan, who also spoke during yesterday’s earnings call, Vince will step
down from his role as Executive Chairman following a WWE sale, should it benefit the company’s
shareholders.
When asked whether Vince would step down after a sale, Khan said:
“Yes.
Without question.
He’s declared it to the board.
He’s declared it to us in management.
It’s all about shareholder value.
Obviously, he is a shareholder.
So it’s not about what role he’ll have.
It’s about maximizing that value opportunity.”
He really did his best to reassure everyone that Vince really does have the company’s
best interests at heart, by adding.
“A partner that has more than simply deep pockets.
So a partner that understands the media business, that’s in the media business, that understands
how to further monetize the media business.
“[Also, a partner] that certainly understands our product, our intellectual property, what
we’re doing with it, what can be done with it.
Media rights, both domestically and internationally.
We see the international growth opportunity is huge.
And it seems there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for the shareholders this year,
because WWE has once again recorded record profits.
I sure hope you like big numbers, because you’re about to hear one.
WWE has announced record profits for the 2022 financial year, with the company announcing
$1.3 billion in revenue, the highest in the company’s history, and an increase of 18%
from 2021.
According to the earnings report, a large part of this increased revenue came from WWE
returning to a full live event schedule, something the company hadn’t been able to do for two
years due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Also to thank was WWE trips abroad, with the report specifically mentioning Clash at the
Castle, which was held in the UK in September last year.
There are a hell of a lot more big numbers in the full financial report, which you can
read via the link in the description below.
Interesting that there’s no mention of all the budget cuts the company has made over
the past year in that earnings report…
It’s pretty safe to say that after a pretty horrific Royal Rumble event in 2022, WWE bounced
right back with this year’s edition, delivering a pretty great pair of Rumble matches, excellent
winners and of course maybe the best WWE PPV conclusion in recent memory.
The stark shift in quality in just a year is pretty jarring considering it’s the same
company and many of the same talent from the year prior, however, as we know there was
one pretty significant change from 2022 to 2023… there was no Shane McMahon there to
cock everything up.
Oh and his dad wasn’t there either, I guess that’s pretty important.
Yes, while 2022’s Rumble was pretty notoriously an absolute nightmare behind the scenes, with
many of Vince’s trademark last minute script changes and of course the whole Shane-O-Mac
situation, this year’s event was pretty much the opposite across the board according
to Fightful Select.
An anonymous member of WWE’s talent roster told Fightful that "the process of the Rumble
itself was easiest in a long time without Vince McMahon at the helm, and that there
were way less last minute changes."
With the same talent adding that "this year's [Rumble] was a dream compared to last year's
nightmare"
As well as the Rumble event itself running a lot more smoothly, another WWE source told
Fightful that things are overall just “much more laid back” at shows under the Triple
H regime.
But what about NXT?
Has Vince secretly been laying low in Florida?
I mean they do have a guy called SCRYPTS down there?
And we all know how much Vince loves those.
Well no, thankfully he has not.
According to HBK himself, speaking at the NXT Vengeance Day media call, he said “Vince
has probably got bigger fish to fry than us down here in NXT”.
HBK did however, give thanks to Vince for his help in building his version of NXT, and
later heaped the same praise on his best pal Triple H, saying:
“He [Vince] was very good with us down here.
They helped us, in a certain way they guided us on how they wanted it to go, but after
that, it was hands off.
And Hunter, the same thing.”
“They understand this is in a different environment down here.
So we’re very fortunate to kind of be independent no matter who is running the ship up there
in Stamford.”
While NXT can occasionally fly under the radar, one piece of NXT news that garnered it’s
fair share of media attention was the shock dismissal of former NXT Women’s Champion
Mandy Rose back on December 14th, following Rose releasing explicit content on her FanTime
page.
Speaking on the decision, HBK made it clear that he had no final say on the decision to
let Rose go, saying: “I didn’t fire her.
I can’t fire anybody.
Only thing correct about any of that was I handled creative.”
HBK called the whole situation “unfortunate”, but did take time to heap praise on Rose and
her time in NXT, however, he did say that while her release did speed up creative plans,
Roxanne Perez was always planned to become the next NXT Women’s Champion regardless.
Moving on to another NXT alumni now and the IC Champ GUNTHER has become one of the most
dominant forces WWE has seen in quite some time, and is clearly a favorite of Triple
H. Perhaps no greater evidence of this being his record-breaking performance in last week’s
men’s Rumble match where he lasted an hour and eleven minutes.
So yeah safe to say Trips has big plans for the Austrian coming up to Mania season, and
now we can reveal what those plans may well be, and hold onto your hats boys and gals
cause this one’s a doozy.
According to Wrestlevotes WWE’s plans for the IC Title involve a triple-threat-match
between GUNTHER and the Banger Bros themselves Sheamus and Drew McIntyre.
Ooft my chest just gets sore thinking about it.
Not only that, but according to Wrestlevotes, those that are pushing for the match within
creative are also pushing for it to take place near the top of the card.
And quite simply why wouldn’t you want that?
Ok so not long ago, I was heaping praise on everything great that happened at this year’s
Royal Rumble, but of course it wasn’t all good in the hood as we all know.
Yes and that’s pretty much solely down to the glow in the dark birthday party match
between Bray Wyatt and LA Knight.
While it had some cool looking visuals, it was all a bit of a mess.
Especially that Uncle Howdy spot at the end.
So, let’s just all agree that we shouldn’t do it again right WWE?
Oh… you’ve got something even better planned?
For WrestleMania?
Involving… breakfast cereal…???
Oh yes, if you thought the Mountain Dew partnership was egregious just you wait, as according
to WWE Senior VP and Head of Sales and Partnerships Craig Stimmel, who spoke to the Hollywood
Reporter, we may have an even better match coming involving none other than everyone’s
favorite Cinnamon based cereal Cinnamon Toast Crunch…
While Stimmel didn’t outright confirm this he did state that there will be “surprises”
at WrestleMania and gave a particular shout out to the cereal.
Also saying:
“I don’t want to give away too much, but it’ll be around a match, and the sponsorship
of that match, and what they’ll be able to bring to that match,” he says.
“So we’re going to do things that fit inside of our storyline as well.”
Oh yes, because nothing says blood feud like a good bowl of cereal.
It’s worth noting that other sponsors for the event include Pepsi, Take-Two and Snickers
so it’s safe to say there are options on the table…
We don’t get Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the UK so comment down below if it’s any good.
Many thanks.
Finally moving away from WWE and its silliness now, and AEW may be set for a hugely significant
next step for its TV content distribution.
According to Bloomberg, an unnamed source who is described as “a person familiar with
management’s thinking” has revealed that AEW is considering working with their current
TV Network Warner Bros. Discovery, to provide an AEW streaming service in the future, however,
no further details on a release timeframe are available at this time.
The idea of a streaming service has been batted around within AEW before, with President Tony
Khan revealing in an interview with Barstool Sports back in October 2021 that discussions
between himself and Warner had taken place regarding the idea.
While a streaming service would undoubtedly provide a massive boost to the company, they
may not actually need it, if 2022’s annual profits for the company are anything to go
by.
According to Bloomberg, AEW recorded $100 Million in revenue in 2022, the first time
the company has managed to reach that figure.
Tony Khan’s purchase of Ring of Honor in March 2022, one that comes packaged with its
entire tape library means an AEW streaming service would also have that in its locker,
something that undoubtedly boosts its appeal and value.
Unfortunately we must end today’s video with some sad news.
And that is that ‘The Genius’ Lanny Poffo has unfortunately passed away at the age of
68.
News of Poffo’s death was broken on Thursday afternoon by ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan via
his Instagram page.
Poffo, the brother of ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, (whom he inducted into the WWE HOF
in 2015) began his wrestling career in the 1970’s appearing for promotions such as
the NWA, Mid-South Wrestling as well as his father Angelo’s promotion International
Championship Wrestling.
The mid-80’s would see Lanny compete in the WWF, where he would stay for seven years
before moving to WCW in the mid to late 90’s.
As well as wrestling Lanny was known for authorary skills, something he would also incorporate
into his wrestling persona.
He would go on to publish multiple books, act in numerous movies as well as start his
own podcast the “Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo”, which often had other wrestling
legends as guests.
We at Wrestletalk would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the Poffo family
as well as all those affected by his loss.