Triple H Changes Vince McMahon WWE WrestleMania Rule

WWE WrestleMania XL was the first ever WrestleMania produced without any input from Vince McMahon at any level, with the shamed former WWE Owner not even present at the two night event in Philadelphia.

All weekend WWE were looking to cement this as a new era for the company, from having Stephanie McMahon return to the company on Night Two and announce this current era as the ‘Triple H era’, to Corey Graves announcing that ‘pro-wrestling is back’ after Cody Rhodes lifted the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Long-term fans will have also noticed another change to WrestleMania’s presentation, with the show opening with a performance by Coco Jones of the US national anthem ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. Whilst Mania has always opened with a show of American patriotism - Toronto’s WrestleMania VI and X8 aside - the show traditionally opens with a performance of ‘America the Beautiful’ rather than the national anthem.

Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio this was a deliberate change by Triple H:

“Vince hated the national anthem, that’s just Vince he hated it. He liked America The Beautiful and now that Vince is gone I guess it’s changed,” revealed Meltzer.

H/T: WrestleTalk