The WWE Universe has been rocked to its core as Stephanie McMahon has announced her official departure from the company. New reports are now shedding light on how her decision is being received, the factors that led to it, and how the change will affect others' roles.
Stephanie McMahon's decision to resign from her post leaves Nick Khan as the sole CEO of WWE. Additionally, the company's board of directors simultaneously and unanimously elected Vince McMahon to become Executive Chairman of the Board.
Stephanie McMahon has resigned from her role as co-CEO of WWE pic.twitter.com/AZiY6gaSWy
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) January 11, 2023
According to a new report from Fightful Select, the decision for the former Women's Champion to leave WWE came as more of a continuation of her previous leave of absence, which came prior to her stepping up to the co-CEO role this past summer. The report notes that Stephanie was "well-liked" by the talent the outlet had spoken to.
Further, the report outlined that Nick Khan will now take over more responsibilities as the "solo" CEO. Meanwhile, Triple H will remain as Chief Content Officer and will continue to be head of WWE creative moving forward. The report noted that multiple sources "stressed" this point over and over again.
Finally, the report stated that it had spoken to several WWE talents, all of whom expressed various responses to tonight's breaking news. Overall, the general consensus is simply that nobody knows exactly what the future holds.
Ah. Vince McMahon is Executive Chairman of the Board again pic.twitter.com/q603lE8Soj
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 10, 2023
One talent reportedly stated that the return of Vince McMahon as head of creative would lead to tremendous backlash from members of the roster. At the same time, another talent remarked that they hoped this move by Stephanie McMahon is a pretext for a future sale of the company.
A recent report says that some talent in the WWE locker room are "worried" about Vince McMahon's return to the company
It's not an exaggeration to say that the past few weeks have been some of the most chaotic times for WWE in recent history. Despite Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon's efforts to quell any fears in a company-wide meeting last week, reports are emerging that Vince McMahon's return is being met with some anxiety.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, some talents are concerned about the changes that may come with McMahon's return and the prospect of a sale of the company. Namely, the concern of potential layoffs is especially worrying.
"The morale was much better [without Vince McMahon]. Now, everyone’s worried again, because it’s like 'if Vince is in charge and they’re trying to sell, does that mean they’re going to start doing cuts again?'" (H/T PWMania)
WOR: Dave still thinks it'll take about seven billion dollars to buy WWE, Bryan doesn't seem interested. https://t.co/mYdKSjV7fmhttps://t.co/mYdKSjV7fm pic.twitter.com/2mC6T01YqU
— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) January 10, 2023
In today's report from Fightful Select, it was revealed that on the January 6th company-wide meeting call, Stephanie McMahon stated that she understood there was some "angst" about Vince McMahon pushing his way back onto the Board of Directors.