Now that Vince McMahon has retired from WWE, many people within the company are open to speaking out about their experiences with the former Chairman & CEO, much more than they have in the past. There’s also a much clearer picture of the WWE creative scene being painted.
A new report from Fightful Select notes that many of the WWE creative writer’s assistants essentially needed to “filter” Vince themselves during meetings. Specifically, it was noted that assistants often had to know what to not write for Vince when taking notes for him. It was also stated that the “minutes (or notes recorded during meetings) are heavily edited.”
This has been the case for a long time. It ranged from Vince saying things that would appear insensitive or offensive, to “oh God, what did he just say?” moments, all the way to simple kayfabe things as well. Some of the stories included Vince constantly calling people the wrong names, or using terms that were not socially acceptable, and words that even Vince himself would have never allowed on WWE TV.
One former WWE production worker said, “If a live feed of Vince McMahon on a headset any given night ever made it out, that it would provide a picture of that production experience, especially for the announcers. There were plenty of times he was in a good mood, but he would blow up at the most ridiculous things and act like they ruined an angle that was far past its expiration date anyway.”
When asking those working in and near WWE creative about what they expected to change the most with new WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations Triple H now leading creative, one worker specifically said, “Recall of what we have and haven’t done repeatedly. There were so many things that Vince insisted on doing that I’m pretty sure he didn’t remember doing over and over again, even when people would tell him.”
