Vince McMahon was in the Gorilla position the entire time Raw took place, despite the rumours that circulated backstage at Monday’s WWE Raw that he was there to see John Cena. According to reports, there is more going on than WWE is letting on.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, McMahon’s presence at the show caused more of an uproar online than in person among those in attendance because talent believed it was only a matter of time before he was backstage at a show after his return as the Executive Chairman of the WWE Board of Directors in January.
McMahon’s “physical appearance that turned heads” was said to be because he had dyed his hair and had a slight moustache that several talent described as resembling Gomez Addams from The Addams Family.
His presence at the event was a hot topic of conversation. It was “more drastic and a shock than him getting his head shaved,” according to a WWE employee who has known McMahon for 20 years.
Although there are numerous pictures of McMahon online with his new appearance, no actual pictures have yet to be released.
McMahon was in Gorilla position the entire night, according to Fightful, which also noted that McMahon “was not shy about saying hello and greeting talent.”
Nobody on the staff or in the talent claimed to have seen McMahon issuing orders or feedback to anyone.
According to talent, McMahon attended the event because Cena was booked and to enjoy the show. This was a “ stark contrast to when Vince McMahon forced himself back into power in December, and there seemed to be panic,” or when he would show up at TV events when the initial Wall Street Journal stories broke last summer and were met with disgust by the former CEO and Chairman.
“The big tell will be if he’s at SmackDown,” one talent stated. McMahon’s presence was unexpected and was not announced in advance to those in attendance. Additionally, a number of higher-ups were not informed beforehand; however, one individual expressed the desire that they had been informed given the events of the previous nine months.
A few wrestlers said they avoided interacting with him on purpose, even though they knew they would have to deal with him in the future.
According to a higher-up, “this was also a case of McMahon testing the waters of showing his face at WWE events and how the talent and staff would react.”
