Vince McMahon relinquished his role as CEO and Chairman of WWE in 2022 following reports of hush-money allegations.
Although McMahon remained involved in and influenced the creative process, he departed the company in September after the WWE-UFC merger, when he assumed the role of Executive Chairman of TKO.
The 78-year-old billionaire ultimately resigned from TKO earlier this year following severe allegations made by former WWE employee Janel Grant.
Grant filed a lawsuit against McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE, accusing McMahon of sex trafficking, rape, and more.
WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash, a close associate of Triple H, recently mentioned that Triple H would have left if McMahon had regained full creative control and not resigned.
During a recent edition of his “Behind the Turnbuckle” podcast, Jonathan Coachman concurred that there might be some truth in Nash’s remarks.
Coachman elaborated that Vince was unhappy with the popularity of Triple H’s NXT project because it wasn’t his concept. He noted that McMahon refrained from promoting NXT stars because he didn’t want people to think Triple H was more intelligent than he was.
According to Coachman, McMahon preferred to receive acknowledgment for everything, even if it came at the cost of others’ success.
He said, “What did Vince hate the most when it came to Triple H? He hated something new that people liked; that wasn’t his idea. Vince hated something working that wasn’t his idea. Triple H came up with NXT. And you notice NXT stars would never be pushed. Now what do you see? What did you see tonight on Monday Night RAW? You’re seeing NXT stars all over the place. Yeah, that’s Triple H. That’s his baby. His best friend Shawn Michaels runs NXT. Vince hated that.”
Coachman added, “And that was one of the weak points of Vince McMahon. As much as he says, Tommy, ‘I did things that were good for business,’ if he came up with the idea should’ve been the complete sentence of that because he didn’t wanna give anybody credit, much less his son-in-law, so people would think potentially Triple H is smarter than him.”
Regardless of the leadership changes, WWE’s business is flourishing, courtesy of Triple H’s creative vision and McMahon’s absence. The same holds true for NXT under Shawn Michaels’ guidance.
