— WWE CEO Nick Khan appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast and went into great depth over the recent changes within WWE – including the return of WWE, the resignation of Stephanie McMahon as well as talking about the rumors of a company sale. Below is a recap:
On Vince’s McMahon’s Return to WWE
“When you’re on the inside, you see things that may be coming. My thought was that there’s only one boss in the company, and that ain’t me,” referring to Vince McMahon. “I think it was always my point of view, Stephanie’s point of view he would come back. The way he played it to me was smart in that he went away for five, six months which people, meaning the audience, seems to like when somebody does that and he came back and took control back of his company as a company shareholder. So it is the public’s company as a publicly traded company. But with that, the controlling share gave him a lot of authority and he used it, and I applaud him for doing so.”
On whether Vince’s return is good for WWE & Comparing to Roger Goodell of the NFL
“Well, no advertiser has fled. Ratings aren’t down. The product seems to continue to build. Why would he (Goodell) resign? Why would he do that?. I think it’s just a three-mile radius of LA thing. ‘Hey, step down. And you know, you have to sort of be punished for it.’ It didn’t used to be that way. So I think for somebody like Vince, and you (Simmons) and he are two different people, but you’re both founder CEOs and I think founder CEOs are different from regular CEOs. So to me, WWE is Vince, Vince is WWE, and we’re going to do the best we can to keep building the company”.
More on Vince’s Return
“You know, when he stepped down, anyone who believed that was permanent didn’t know him. That was never going to happen, but I’m appreciative of the fact that he gave it five, six months, let the dust settle a little bit, then came back in the way that he’s come back. The controlling shareholder, Vince is going to run that process. So to have board members who understood that with the controlling shareholder, ‘this is going to be the way it is’, and people who would embrace this, I think that was a determining factor.”
On Stephanie McMahon’s departure from WWE
“I don’t get involved in the family business. That is rule number one. At this moment in time, I think she felt her work was done for now. Nothing is permanent. Life is long, let’s see.”
Possible WWE Sale & The False Rumors of a Selling to the Saudi Arabia PIF
“So in this process, Vince is there to oversee it, it’s his controlling share. I’m involved in it. Triple H is involved in it. The board’s obviously involved in it with Triple H being on the board, as I have the good fortune of being in as well. And we’re going to see how it plays out. It should not be a lengthy process. If you’re looking at it, connecting the dots, it made absolutely no sense. In terms of what the actual process will be, we’re just starting it.”
On Whether He Feels Threatened By Tony Khan of AEW
“I don’t feel threatened by anyone on anything. It’s just not how I do business. I don’t care what anyone else is doing. I care what we’re doing. And as long as we can have the best product on with the best talent and the best writers, I think we’re going to be in good shape.”
