Kevin Dunn recently resigned from WWE after serving as one of the company’s most important and pivotal figures.
Dunn was one of Vince McMahon’s most trusted employees, and after decades with the company, he was one of the most influential people behind the scenes. Dunn was in charge of the television production.
Dunn allegedly informed the company of his intention to leave during the Christmas season, with the changes implemented internally since TKO took over following the merger playing a significant role in his decision.
Vince McMahon wields less power than ever before in the company, with Nick Khan in charge of business and Triple H in charge of creative. According to a source, Dunn was “never going to do anything that was dictated” to him. He didn’t want to change the production style from how he saw it, and it was a case of the two sides having opposing viewpoints.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, they spoke with “several shocked talent, who had no idea of the move. Some in WWE think that his role will likely be divided, as several have trained in aspects of Dunn’s role.”
People they spoke with said Dunn’s influence had dwindled over the last year or so, with McMahon no longer in charge, and that whoever took over those roles would likely lack the power Dunn once possessed.
Dunn had also missed more shows than usual, and some in the company believed that some of WWE’s older guard would be scaled back in the future, believing that this was a major chip to fall.
Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that Dunn has officially left WWE.
Meltzer stated, “He will be done officially tomorrow at midnight [January 1] like a lot of other contracts that are up at the end of the year and not being renewed. The word would be retirement, you know? But look, when [Paul] Levesque came in, there were, essentially, when Levesque came in….Kevin Dunn for years, for years, I was told, essentially, like, ‘As long as Vince is there, Kevin Dunn will be there. And when Vince is gone, Kevin Dunn will be gone and Paul Levesque will bring in somebody else.’ And then when Vince was gone the first time in July, it was kind of like, and Kevin Dunn was not the only name, you know, I mean, there’s several names that were told to me and, I go like, ‘Does that mean Kevin Dunn’s gone? Does that mean the other people are gone?’ For stock reasons, the idea of Paul coming in and emptying out a lot of people at once would not go well, stock market-wise, so it’s going to be a slow process this will happen, but it will be one at a time, and it will not be soon. Then Vince got back into power. So now Vince does not have that power. And it was the end of the year.”
He added, “I mean, he’s a wealthy, wealthy man and, you know, so whatever. So he’ll be done in the wrestling business. And we’ll see when the new production comes in if we notice a difference. I mean, we’ll see. But he’s done now. Yeah, officially.”
