New Backstage Details On WWE Chairman Vince McMahon's Spinal Surgery

Vince McMahon recently underwent spinal surgery and new details have emerged about the procedure.

Fightful Select is reporting that McMahon underwent five hours of successful back surgery which was described as "major," as well as "life-altering." No other details were given about the nature of the surgery, and WWE sources were unclear about how McMahon's surgery may have affected WWE programming. McMahon reportedly underwent the surgery last week and has been recuperating ever since.

This past Monday, not only was McMahon absent from "Raw," but WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque was also absent from the TV taping, leaving Bruce Prichard in charge of this past Monday's edition of "Raw." No word on why Levesque was not in attendance for "Raw."

McMahon's surgery comes at a fraught time for WWE, as the company is currently negotiating its media rights fees for its weekly programming. As it stands, Disney has reportedly shown an interest in possibly bringing WWE programming to FX. Though it is also likely that FOX and NBCUniversal will retain their rights to "SmackDown" and "Raw" respectively. NBCU also airs "NXT."

Disney-owned ESPN already airs programming from WWE's soon-to-be-sibling company UFC. McMahon returned to WWE after his July 2022 retirement to aid in the merger of WWE with UFC under parent company Endeavor. McMahon reinstalled himself as company chairman, utilizing his significant leverage as the company's largest shareholder.

McMahon initially retired amidst an investigation into his use of company finances to silence former-WWE employees that alleged sexual abuse and harassment at the hands of McMahon and former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis.