Despite the somewhat controversial outcome of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship main event, WrestleMania 39 was mostly a critical success. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn captured the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships, Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair wrestled one of the greatest women’s matches in Mania history, and The Mysterios put on an emotional classic that will be remembered for ages.
All of these highlights were the culmination of nine months of storytelling crafted by WWE’s current Chief Creative Officer, Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Prior to Levesque’s creative reign, the company’s booking had been decided by Vince McMahon Jr., who made the decision to retire early last year after a slew of allegations was uncovered by the Wall Street Journal.
Following the announcement that Endeavor was acquiring WWE, and merging it with UFC, McMahon was named Executive Chairman of the new publicly traded company incorporating both combat brands. Along with the renewed power came the ability to put his fingerprints back on the WWE product, something that internally has reportedly caused chaos and low morale.
In an interview with LightShed Partner, WWE President Nick Khan addressed the current creative dynamic between Levesque and McMahon.
“Vince articulated that Paul Levesque remains the sole Chief Creative Officer, sole,” Khan said. “So how does it work? Does that mean, because I am technically involved in the business side of the business, that I don’t seek input from other people? I wouldn’t seek input from Vince McMahon? Who created this whole empire? That would be a mistake on my behalf.
“Paul and Vince, a family relationship. A relationship that spans back to the mid-90s. Paul is in charge of creative, if he wants input from Vince or Vince has ideas that he and Paul are going to communicate, that’s always going to be the case.
“We’re lucky to have Vince, we’re lucky to have Paul in control of creative, and, by the way, we’re lucky that the setup that Vince created where the company can continue to exist, even when Vince stepped out for that five-month period, the company kept flowing. We think that the best organizations are set up that way, and that’s the way we think Vince set up WWE.”
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling for the transcription