Vince McMahon Reportedly Planning WWE Return Alongside 2 Ex-WWE Presidents

Vince McMahon is one step closer to his attempted takeover of WWE as the former Chairman is reportedly planning to pursue a sale.

“Vince McMahon, the majority owner and former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment plans to return to the company following his retirement last year amid a sexual-harassment scandal to pursue a sale of the business, according to people familiar with the matter,” wrote Lauren Thomas of the Wall Street Journal.

“Mr. McMahon, who has majority voting power through his ownership of WWE’s Class-B stock, has told the company that he is electing himself and two former co-presidents and directors, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, to the board, the people said. The move to reinstate Mr. McMahon, which the board previously rebuffed, and the others will require three current directors to vacate their positions.”

Barrios and Wilson were shockingly fired in 2020 shortly after being promoted to co-presidents of the company. The company’s stock plummeted over 20% within an hour of WWE axing the respected executives.

The article went on to note that McMahon communicated to the board that unless he has “direct involvement as executive chairman from the outset of a strategic review, he won’t support any media-rights deal or sale.” McMahon had reportedly sent a letter to the Board of Directors in late December detailing his desire to return. The Board responded, noting it would initiate a review process.

WWE has been the subject of for-sale rumors since the final years of the Vince McMahon Era, which featured scores of cost-cutting among both wrestlers and front-office employees. Triple H has undone many of the firings from the Vince McMahon Era, with former WWE, NXT and front-office talent returning to help Triple H create what may end up being a temporary vision.

Essentially left for dead after being ousted from WWE due to mounting allegations of sexual misconduct and hush-money payments, Vince McMahon appears to be playing hardball en route to forcing his way back to WWE. Due to McMahon’s signature pugnacity and competitiveness, some doubted McMahon was ever really out of the picture to begin with, while others assumed that Vince fighting to win back his company was only inevitable. The inevitable seems to have come to pass as McMahon enacts a plan to once again become Chairman and CEO of WWE.

With WWE in the final year of its current television rights deals with NBCU and Fox, Vince McMahon looks to be using these lucrative deals as leverage. Like Logan Roy of Succession, McMahon is using shrewd parlor tricks to regain power after being forced out of his own company.

McMahon has developed a legacy of always landing on his feet despite seemingly career-ending scandals. McMahon’s cat-like existence was even the subject of a recent Vice TV documentary entitled The Nine Lives of Vince McMahon.

With news of a potential return, McMahon looks to have added a 10th life.