Backstage News On Triple H Taking Over WWE Creative
It's all change behind the scenes at WWE following Vince McMahon's decision to retire last Friday.
In major news revealed earlier today about the on-screen product, Paul Levesque (fka Triple H) will be assuming all responsibilities related to WWE's creative. It has now been reported by Fightful Select that there was a "general excitement" about the news amongst talent, many of whom worked closely with Levesque during his tenure running "NXT" between 2012 and 2021. It is also said that the USA Network — the broadcast home of both "WWE Raw" and "NXT" — has reacted positively to the news, calling it "an exciting change."
There had previously been some concerns in the locker room about creative being headed by Bruce Prichard while he was also holding the role of interim EVP of Talent Relations, replacing John Laurinaitis after Laurinaitis was named in a recent Wall Street Journal report regarding hush money payments allegedly made to several women to cover up sexual misconduct. Specifically, talent were said to be worried about having to request time off from the person who was also in charge of booking. Given that it was announced Friday morning that Levesque would be replacing Pritchard in the role of EVP of Talent Relations permanently, those same concerns could potentially still apply.
Prichard was still involved with the episode of "WWE SmackDown" that took place hours after Vince McMahon had announced his retirement. Fightful revealed that Pritchard and fellow writer Ed Koskey were largely in control of the live broadcast on Friday night, but it was said that producers were informed that Levesque would at least be the one to give final approval. Prichard will be remaining on the creative team going forward.
In an update on McMahon, it is said he will still be available to a limited extent during his transition away from the company. McMahon remains the majority owner of the company despite his retirement. McMahon retired from WWE in the midst of numerous investigations prompted by the original Wall Street Journal report and its follow-up, in which the amount of alleged hush payment money rose to more than $12 million.