The Undertaker discusses Vince McMahon‘s retirement, his subsequent return, and Triple H‘s run as the head of creative.
“The Phenom” had a legendary 30-year career, and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022. Throughout his time with the company, he formed a close relationship with WWE CEO Vince McMahon, who retired on July 22, 2022 amid a WWE board investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and hush money. Following his retirement, Triple H was named as the head of creative. McMahon later returned to WWE on January 6, and he was voted the Executive Chairman of the Board on January 10, 2023.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport, The Undertaker was asked whether he was surprised to see that McMahon had come back. He gave Helwani a look that clearly meant that wasn’t the case. Helwani then brought up WWE CEO Nick Khan’s previous comment that anyone who thought McMahon would retire in a tweet didn’t know him. When asked, The Undertaker stated that he agreed. He then noted that he spoke to McMahon the day before he announced his retirement, and he thought the then-CEO was ribbing him.
“Oh, absolutely,” The Undertaker said. “He called me the day before he announced it. We got in an argument because I thought he was ribbing me. I said, ‘There’s no way. There is absolutely no way you’re stepping away.’ He’s like, ‘No, Mark, this is what I’m gonna do.’ I’m like, ‘Why are you..this is me.’ We ended up kind of going at it a little bit.’ Finally I was like, ‘Alright.’ Sure enough, the next day, [he retired]. But I knew there was no way he would stay away.”
The Undertaker continued by stating that it’s hard to imagine a WWE without McMahon, and everyone will have to wait and see what happens with the TV deals and other negotiations.
“Even in this role, I think it’s gonna be challenging for him,” he said. “That’s his baby, man. He’s the one that created this whole thing. I know he wants to make sure that these TV deals and everything are done the right way, and right now I think that’s his sole motivation. But it’s Vince McMahon. I don’t know. We’ll see where it goes. But a WWE without Vince is just hard to imagine.”
When asked whether he see a scenario where Vince McMahon isn’t part of the company after a potential sale, the WWE Hall of Famer stated that he had a hard time imagining that outcome. He explained that he doesn’t think a potential buyer would run the company the same way it is currently operated.
“I would have a really hard time imagining that there wouldn’t be some kind of contingency where he has some type of control there,” The Undertaker said. “I don’t think, even if the company was to get sold, which, I don’t have any feeling one way or another whether that’s gonna happen or not, but trying to… I just can’t imagine somebody coming in and buying the company and running it the same way with the dedication to detail, the way it’s run now.”
The Undertaker also shared his thoughts on how Triple H has been doing as the head of creative by praising him and his creativity. He noted that Triple H always had great ideas, even when he was a full-time wrestler.
“I think he’s done great,” he said. “He has always been such a creative force, even when he was just talent. He always had great ideas, and it was a perfect position, I think, for him. I think he’s done a really, really good job in a really difficult, too. I can’t imagine what he and Stephanie and everybody… I’m kind of glad that I’ve stepped away a little bit during all this period because I would have probably been crazy about a lot of this stuff. But I think he’s done a great job. Obviously it’s different, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, too. I think he’s a little bit more more in-tune with our audience and where the product is. I think as a whole, I think he’s done a really good job.”
Triple H previously commented on a potential sale of WWE. Check out his comments here.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to WrestleZone for the transcription.
