WWE CEO Nick Khan recently appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast, where he discussed a variety of topics, including WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s return, the departure of former Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon, working with Chief Content Officer Triple H, and more.
Khan was asked if he thought the recent WWE corporate restructuring was insane. Coming from someone on the inside, he said he didn’t think so. Khan also stated that despite announcing his retirement last summer, he believes Vince will always return.
“When you’re on the inside, you see things that may be coming. My thought was that there’s only one boss in the company, and that ain’t me,” Khan said, referring to Vince. “I think it was always my point of view, Stephanie’s point of view he would come back. The way he played it to me was smart in that he went away for five, six months which people, meaning the audience, seems to like when somebody does that and he came back and took control back of his company as a company shareholder. So it is the public’s company as a publicly traded company. But with that, the controlling share gave him a lot of authority and he used it, and I applaud him for doing so.”
Khan was also asked why Vince would return if it could harm WWE’s image. He cited a similar situation involving Ray Rice and the NFL a few years ago, in which people asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to resign.
“Well, no advertiser has fled. Ratings aren’t down. The product seems to continue to build. Why would he resign? Why would he do that?,” Khan said, referring to Goodell. “I think it’s just a three-mile radius of LA thing. ‘Hey, step down. And you know, you have to sort of be punished for it.’ It didn’t used to be that way. So I think for somebody like Vince, and [referring to Simmons] you and he are two different people, but you’re both founder CEOs and I think founder CEOs are different from regular CEOs. So to me, WWE is Vince, Vince is WWE, and we’re going to do the best we can to keep building the company.”
Khan stated that during Vince’s absence, he and Stephanie were given complete freedom from Vince, as was Triple H, and that since Vince’s return, his sole focus has been on the potential sale of WWE and other Board of Directors business. Khan then stated that while Vince was “sitting out,” he paid him a personal and social visit.
“You know, when he stepped down, anyone who believed that was permanent didn’t know him,” Khan said. “That was never going to happen, but I’m appreciative of the fact that he gave it five, six months, let the dust settle a little bit, then came back in the way that he’s come back.”
Simmons said that people thought Vince brought back former WWE Co-Presidents Michelle Wilson and George Barrios to put people on the Board that he liked. The deciding factor, according to Khan, was bringing in two people who understand how Vince is the majority shareholder and will be in charge of facilitating a company sale.
“[As] the controlling shareholder, Vince is going to run that process. So to have board members who understood that with the controlling shareholder, ‘this is going to be the way it is’, and people who would embrace this, I think that was a determining factor,” Khan said.
Khan then addressed the common misconception that WWE had a Board of Directors that was puppeteered by Vince, which has since been disproven.
Khan responded that he doesn’t get involved in the family side of the business when Simmons questioned him about Stephanie’s leave of absence from before Vince’s retirement.
“I don’t get involved in the family business. That is rule number one,” Khan said.
Khan was later questioned about Stephanie’s decision to leave a second time after Vince’s return. He left the door open for Stephanie to return at a later date.
“At this moment in time, I think she felt her work was done for now. Nothing is permanent. Life is long, let’s see,” Khan said.
Regarding last week’s rumours of WWE being sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Khan stated that they were “100% fake, 100% made up.”
“So in this process, [Vince McMahon is] there to oversee it, it’s his controlling share. I’m involved in it. Triple H is involved in it. The board’s obviously involved in it with Triple H being on the board, as I have the good fortune of being in as well. And we’re going to see how it plays out. It should not be a lengthy process,” Khan said.
In response to the rumours, he stated, “If you’re looking at it, connecting the dots, it made absolutely no sense. In terms of what the actual process will be, we’re just starting it.”
