Vince McMahon Comments On Releasing WWE Talent

Vince McMahon’s appearance on The Pat McAfee Show gave us a rare insight into how Vince ticks, with McAfee asking the WWE President all manner of questions about his life, career, and mindset.

During the conversation, McAfee asked McMahon about WWE releases, with McMahon commenting on his approach when letting wrestlers go, and in bringing them back:

"I'm always concerned about what's best for the audience,” said McMahon. “What does the audience want? If you have dead weight around you and you have situations where someone is not cutting it and you have an opportunity for someone else to come in, 'okay, that's probably the best thing.' It's one of the reasons with Hogan, and a lot of guys who left me at one time and why I brought him back. 'I'll never bring that son of a bitch back.' When you say stuff like that, you're really hurting yourself because you're not thinking about your audience. You're not thinking about your product. It's not about you and your ego. 'Yeah, maybe I really felt that way, maybe I didn't, but it doesn't matter.' What's the best thing for business. If the audience wants Hulk Hogan back, you bring him back. He has value that way.”

WWE gained negative press during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic for the mass cuts the company made to its active roster and backstage staff, citing ‘budget cuts’ despite garnering record profits:

"It's not personal, it's business,” continued McMahon. “Once I took the company public, it helped me be a better businessman because prior to that, I was running the business with my head, but mostly my heart. These decisions are so damn tough when you do that. You don't know who has kids, someone has cancer in the family, all that is in your head. When you're a public company, you go, 'stockholders.' It is the business end. You have to make an easier and better business decision. My heart, there is still some of it in there, there is. At the same time, it's business. There's nothing personal about it in terms of whether I like somebody or don't like someone or whatever. Sometimes, athletes, maybe more so in our type of business, are not given the opportunity, or even if they are and it doesn't work, people from all walks of life, seldom look themselves in the mirror and say, 'I'm the guy who f***** up. It's on me.' Instead, everyone has a million excuses as to why things didn't work, and generally speaking, the heat has to go someplace, the old blame game, and I'm the bad guy. That's part of the job.”

H/T: Fightful