Vince McMahon Already Back After Surgery, Made Big Changes To Monday’s Raw

Even though it wasn’t acknowledged on the air, this week’s Raw was tremendously important for WWE. The final episode of the McMahon era aired on Monday. Today marks the official closing of WWE’s sale to Endeavor, making Endeavor the company’s majority shareholder for the first time in its history. But if you believed it meant Vince McMahon wouldn’t get involved in WWE creative, you’d be gravely mistaken.

Vince McMahon Is Already Back

Even though he had spinal surgery just two months ago that was said to have changed his life, McMahon had a significant impact on Raw this week, making last-minute tweaks to the storyline. Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio (via Inside The Ropes) stated as much. Vince McMahon has returned. He made numerous adjustments to tonight’s show. Additionally, [Triple H] made a number of last-minute adjustments, Meltzer said on WOR.

“A lot of stuff, most of it, wasn’t advertised on the show, and the reason is that they were changing all day long.” Although McMahon wasn’t present in person at Raw, Meltzer noted that he still exerted his influence. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful has thrown some light on what specifically appeared different about the program once the changes were made.

Moving Matches To Main Event

Who launched the show seems to have undergone the most significant alteration. On Monday night, Jey Uso’s music instead of Cody Rhodes’ was the first to start playing. The Viking Raiders vs. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin and Zoey Starks vs. Natalya, two matches that were scheduled to air on Raw, were changed to last night’s Main Event taping.

Since his contentious comeback from retirement, McMahon has purportedly avoided all creative endeavors, but he hasn’t been able to stop himself. Before taking time out for spinal surgery, McMahon frequently intervened, entirely changing a SmackDown episode and removing three matches from its card that had been promoted far in advance.

Many WWE employees will experience uncertainty in the coming weeks, and not just because Vince McMahon is healthy enough to make last-minute adjustments to shows. Cuts are anticipated now that the sale has been completed, and the leading candidates for WWE’s new TV arrangements will start to emerge. My expectation was that after Endeavor took control, McMahon would return to the background and remain there, accepting the position of executive chairman of TKO, the new holding company that now includes WWE and the UFC. In practice, McMahon will probably become more active in the creative process than before.