1, 2, Is this on!?
1, 2, is this on?
In just one weekend the world of professional wrestling has changed. As we slowly faded into the weekend, perhaps some already well into their Friday afternoon Busch Latte’s, Vincent Kennedy McMahon quietly retired, via Twitter of all things.
This took many by surprise. The man often referred to as a control freak, was assumed to hold onto control of the WWE even until his death. Through the years there have been many reports of McMahon changing scripts right before a show, souring on characters he originally wanted to push, and going as far as whispering exact verbiage into the ears of on-air commentators.
In an even larger showing of his ego, it was announced Vince would appear on Smackdown immediately following the announcement of the WWE Board of Directors investigation into McMahons hush money settlements involving alleged sexual misconduct/affairs. Many assumed this appearance would spread light or give some sort of explanation into the allegations, or at the very least provide clarity on where Vince stood with the company. Instead, he merely came out and almost defiantly re-iterated the WWE’s current slogan: “Then, Now, Forever, Together”. Walking away from this, my assumption was that he would absolutely NEVER give up control.
However, as we now know, Vince is out, with conflicting reports over whether this is a “retirement” or a “resignation”. Regardless, as the allegations mount, one must be curious as to just how bad things are for McMahon to step down.
Many feel this will be great for the direction of creative, with Vince often being attributed with the inconsistencies, lack of long-term story building, and reliance on part time acts.
Where does the WWE go now? What does this mean? Or, maybe a better question is, “Yo, tell me whose time it is now?”
With Stephanie McMahon being announced as Co-CEO, and Paul Levesque (Triple H) stepping up as head of creative, the way this has played out is certainly right out of a WWE storyline. Also, with the recent reports that the WWE is moving away from the PG era, all of this has the 12 year old boy deep inside of me jumping for joy.
Triple H’s time leading the gold brand (NXT) gave us some of the best story telling and sports entertainment we have seen in the recent history of the WWE, and we all know how wild things got during the Attitude Era, arguably Triple H’s prime in ring years.
Tonight will be the first WWE Raw since the shakeup, and while we cant imagine it will be significantly different on night one, you would have to assume that you may notice certain changes. While I am not exactly sure where they will go, I can say one thing….
It’s time to play the game.
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