Vince McMahon Reportedly 'Firmly Back In Charge' Of Creative During WWE Raw

Vince McMahon told CNBC over the weekend that he'd no longer be "in the weeds" as it pertains to WWE creative, and that he'd only get involved with "higher level" decisions. However, that wasn't the case during last night's "WWE Raw," the fallout episode from WrestleMania 39 and the first television taping since Endeavor's acquisition of WWE.

According to PWInsider, McMahon was "personally and heavily involved" with Monday's show, and ordered "a number of late rewrites" for the show about 15-20 minutes before "Raw" went live on the air. Furthermore, the changes were described as not a "feeling" that talents and staff had come to expect under the regime of Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

The report added that changes to the "Raw" script were made even after the show went on air and that they "came directly from McMahon," who had his own office, just as he did before his "retirement" last July. 

It was further noted that although last night's show began with Levesque on the headsets, McMahan became "more and more involved" as the point person running the show as the night progressed. For most of the night, McMahon was in Gorilla position, "directly overseeing the proceedings," PWInsider added. This was not the case during WrestleMania 39, where he was on the headset only producing a few segments, but not involved with all decision-making. 

Among talents PWInsider spoke with, there was a "negative shift in morale" as they realized that operations had reverted to "exactly where they were" before Levesque took over as WWE's creative team. One source said the "place felt nuked" and the feeling was that McMahon would likely be "overseeing everything again" going forward, leaving the creative to his "whims and sensibilities."  

Other talents were less disheartened by McMahon's return to Gorilla, noting that they always suspected "all roads" would eventually lead to his return to WWE's creative process. There was also optimism that McMahon's heavy involvement was likely a one-off, seeing as Triple H still holds the title of WWE's Chief Content Officer. Regardless, multiple sources confirmed to PWInsider that McMahon was "firmly back in charge following the Endeavor acquisition of the company." This was expected after Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel stated that he wasn't going to let McMahon retire and that he wanted the iconic promoter to remain at the helm of WWE.