WWE News: Backstage Update On Vince McMahon’s Current WWE Status


Vince McMahon proves year after year and week after week that he has no intention of slowing down. There’s nothing else on TV like the WWE, as we’ve heard ad nauseam how it’s the longest-running weekly episodic show on television. They run 52 weeks a year with monthly pay-per-views, and despite recent suggestions to scale back in order to adhere to the “less is more” theory, Vince has decided to add more live programming and an additional pay-per-view per month in lieu of the brand extension.

Vince has maintained the disposition through all these years, more than 1,200 episodes of RAW, and 17 years worth of SmackDown that he isn’t slowing down and he remains as in charge as ever. There finally seems to be a succession plan in place for when McMahon finally does decide to retire, with Stephanie set to take charge of the corporate side of things and Triple H poised to take over the in-ring product and creative.

[Image via WWE]

However, Vince still has final say even though Triple H continues to earn more and more influence, and the two have butted heads on certain talent over the last year or so. And with that final say comes showing up week after week after week on Monday and, now, Tuesday nights, with a few exceptions. The Inquisitr recently reported that Vince had missed the previous two weeks of television and wasn’t scheduled to return until Sunday’s SummerSlam.

In an update to that story, Vince McMahon did return a week ahead and was backstage Monday in Corpus Christi, Texas, for RAW, according to Daily Wrestling News. It has yet to be revealed why Vince missed two weeks worth of programming, but he was as involved as ever, perhaps even more so. It’s been noted that during his two-week absence, he was on the phone with agents during production meetings and WWE officials throughout the day micromanaging every detail that went into the RAW and SmackDown broadcasts.

Triple H took over the captain’s chair in McMahon’s hiatus, which is not the first time he’s taken the lead for a show or segment. During the few times that Vince has appeared on TV in 2015 and 2016, Triple H takes his seat in the production room to produce those segments until Vince returns to his chair. Vince is notorious for barking out directives to his broadcast teams, so some folks have gone back to watch the two previous weeks of shows to try and detect a difference in the commentating without McMahon there live in the arena on headsets.

[Image via WWE]

The durability of Vince McMahon and the entire WWE crew will certainly be put to the test this week, and many more in the future as well. Coming off this week’s TV lineup that features three hours of RAW and two hours of SmackDown, Sunday’s SummerSlam is scheduled for six hours, with a two-hour kickoff show followed by the pay-per-view slated for four hours, and it’s rumored to even go beyond that.

It’s still extremely early to determine whether Vince’s reincarnation of the brand split is a success, but they’re certainly intent on putting out massive amounts of programming. A true indication will come when the WWE holds brand-exclusive pay-per-views, beginning September 11 with the blue brand’s Backlash. There have already been reports of WWE officials being unhappy with some of the roster decisions that could lead to more crossover, which ultimately led to the demise of the first iteration of the brand extension.

In any event, Vince McMahon is back in command after missing two weeks due to unknown reasons. His over-the-phone micromanagement may have made it feel like he was never gone, but his larger-than-life personality will next lead him to the biggest party of the summer in Brooklyn.

[Image via WWE]

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