What is Vince McMahon planning?
“If I were him, I’d want creative control, too”
The Week in Wrestling is published every week and provides beneath the surface coverage of the business of pro wrestling.
Contents for The Week in Wrestling:
Vince McMahon’s future has more questions than answers
An inside look at the past week in wrestling
Upcoming match between Cena/Punk holds significant stakes
Tweet of the Week
Vince McMahon not finished in sports and entertainment
Do not expect Vince McMahon to go away quietly.
There are constant reminders that McMahon is returning to the world of sports and entertainment.
Or, perhaps, sports entertainment.
Just recently, he made a move to purchase controlling interest in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
David Feldman, BKFC’s founder and president, confirmed that a meeting occurred–and that McMahon is resolute about a return to promoting.
“He’s a great guy, his whole team is great, but the timing wasn’t right for us,” said Feldman, who was not willing to relinquish full control of BKFC. “He’s Vince McMahon–if I were him, I’d want creative control, too. He was awesome, very complimentary, and he was very serious to do business.”
More than a year has passed since McMahon effectively left WWE. He has been silent on leaving the industry, and for good reason: his focus is an ongoing lawsuit.
But if McMahon, 79, is determined to rewrite his own finish, then time is of the essence.
Speaking with several executives in combat sports and pro wrestling, the belief is that McMahon will ultimately find himself involved again in professional wrestling, an industry he revolutionized over the last 40 years. There is no denying that major investors would be more likely to invest money in a McMahon-led project that is centered around wrestling.
But figuring out how that would look is particularly complicated.
McMahon was the executive chairman of the TKO Group–WWE’s parent company–but resigned a year ago after former employee Janel Grant accused him in a lawsuit of sexual assault and sex trafficking. The Justice Department began its own federal investigation into the allegations against McMahon, but its stay on Grant’s lawsuit expired in late 2024. The civil case, filed in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, remains ongoing. While he still owns stock in TKO, his non-compete clause concluded earlier this year.
In October, Mike Johnson of PWInsider broke the story that McMahon’s post-WWE venture will be a new “entertainment hub company”. Surrounding McMahon in his newest venture, multiple contacts confirmed, is a team of executives who largely began leaving WWE in February of 2024.
Those with inside knowledge are not sold on the idea that McMahon’s investment firm, 14TH & I, is going to suddenly develop television shows or movies, a process that generally takes years to materialize. Perhaps this is a creative way of describing his parent company, similar to how WWE had a parent company in Titan Sports.
Plenty of questions still linger, beginning with Grant’s lawsuit. As for wrestling, there are also an abundance of questions, starting with a broadcast deal. Speaking with wrestlers off-the-record, there is a great deal of support for McMahon, as many note that McMahon is still held in high regard. But every major wrestler is under contract, so who would he build his wrestling shows around? Would it be weekly programming, or large-scale events? Once you start looking at the details, it feels like an insurmountable task, especially with WWE dominating the landscape. It would have been easier for McMahon to buy an existing property (like TNA), yet very few are available.
Prior to this past year, WWE and McMahon were interchangeable. It was fairly common to hear someone describing working for WWE as “working for Vince”. McMahon’s name will forever be linked to WWE.
If there is ever a wrestling announcement from McMahon’s new group, it will undoubtedly highlight that WWE is enjoying record-breaking success on Netflix, Peacock, and NBC–and stress how none of it would have been possible without McMahon.
But a return to the space–one where McMahon was once the end-all, be-all–feels like a losing battle. Perhaps that will only further motivate McMahon, who has connections with television executives, advertisement agencies, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
McMahon’s interaction with Feldman, and his desire to become heavily involved with BKFC, is telling. Nothing we know about McMahon suggests that he will gently disappear into the night. Clearly, he has plans to be back in a prominent position.
His track record in the wrestling space is proven. But attempting to recreate his age-old formula in the modern era will be the most difficult task of his career.
This past week…
Bill Goldberg is back. But unless he is putting his career on the line, what is the logic of him receiving another title shot?
LA Knight helped Jey Uso advance in the King of the Ring tournament. Uso will wrestle Cody Rhodes, who was also part of the match’s aftermath, next week on Raw in the semifinals, while the Sami Zayn-Randy Orton semifinal will take place this Friday on SmackDown.
Asuka advanced in the Queen of the Ring tournament. She is scheduled to face Alexa Bliss in a semifinal bout on SmackDown.
But a major concern within WWE is the shoulder injury Liv Morgan suffered during Monday’s Raw.
Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega added a whole new element to their upcoming match at All In with Okada’s attack last week on Dynamite–and his alignment with Don Callis. Okada wrestles Mark Briscoe tonight on AEW’s “Grand Slam” edition of Dynamite from Arena México.
Tonight’s Dynamite also includes MJF vs. Místico, as well as Mercedes Moné seeking to add more gold to her collection when she challenges Zeuxis for the CMLL women’s championship.
How will the Cena/Punk match finish at Night of Champions?
John Cena wrestles CM Punk at Night of Champions.
The two share a long history. Cena and Punk first wrestled each other in a televised singles match in 2009 on Raw, which Cena won. Including that bout, here are all of their televised singles matches:
Cena defeats Punk on Raw (11/23/2009)
Cena defeats Punk on Raw (12/14/2009)
Cena and Punk wrestle to a no contest on Raw (6/7/2010)
Punk defeats Cena by DQ on Raw (1/17/2011)
Punk defeats Cena by DQ on Raw (2/7/2011)
Punk defeats Cena on Raw (2/14/2011)
Punk defeats Cena on Raw (6/13/2011)
Punk defeats Cena for the WWE title at Money in the Bank (7/17/2011)
Punk defeats Cena in a match for the undisputed WWE championship at SummerSlam (8/14/2011) – following the match, Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat Punk
Cena defeats Punk in a #1 Contender match (8/22/2011)
Cena defeats Punk on Raw 1000 (7/23/2012)
Cena and Punk wrestled to a draw at Night of Champions (9/16/2012)
Cena defeats Punk on Raw (11/12/2012)
Cena defeats Punk on Raw (2/25/2013)
Along with the two draws, Cena has six wins. And Punk has six wins. That adds a tremendous amount of weight to their match at Night of Champions.
Something tells me this will not be their final match, but even if it is, I could see it ending in a time-limit draw. The crowd in Saudi will have a different reaction than say, a crowd in Philly, so WWE has the venue working in their favor if there isn’t a decisive winner.
I just hope this doesn’t end with Cena hitting a low blow on Punk before finishing him off with the title. That is the formula Cena is using to win matches, but this match deserves more than a weak finish we’ve already witnessed too many times.
With such a storied past between Punk and Cena, there is added pressure to deliver at Night of Champions.
Tweet of the Week
Happy anniversary to this momentous occasion, where Jay Lethal did a better impersonation of Ric Flair than Flair himself.