The news that Vince McMahon was backstage at WWE RAW broke hours before the show aired on the USA Network.
Backstage, the word was that he was only there to see John Cena, who had returned to set up his WrestleMania Goes Hollywood match with Austin Theory. McMahon was spotted sporting a moustache.
Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio noted McMahon was in the Gorilla position (where wrestlers enter from the backstage area to the stage) throughout RAW.
“He was in Gorilla all night. What does that tell you? He wasn’t barking orders at people or anything like that but he was in Gorilla all night. I was told that they tell you that he’s only there to visit John Cena, that’s the story, but there’s more to it than that.”
Bryan Alvarez introduced announcers who referred to Johnny Gargano as “small” and Chad Gable as “the little ugly guy.”
“That’s not necessarily Vince, but I can’t say that’s not Vince either.” Meltzer added. “Omos is wrestling Brock Lesnar on the pay-per-view. He’s going to be killing people. That would be the case whether Vince is there or not. The Omos presentation is exactly what I thought it would be.”
Meltzer noted that the announcers referred to Gable, which fits into Shorty Gable, a gimmick Vince devised for Gable a few years ago.
“He’s doing more than they’re letting on,” Meltzer said. “The person who was in control tonight was Levesque, so it’s not like he [Vince] was in charge and doing stuff but it’s not like he was just visiting John Cena and saying hi to a few people and left. That didn’t happen, either. So the truth is a little bit in the middle, most likely. For sure it is, actually.”
Triple H is still in charge of the creative process. According to WrestleVotes, McMahon’s presence in Gorilla did not affect what was planned for RAW, “While Vince McMahon was in gorilla the entire show, and said to be in a pleasant mood, I’m told his presence backstage didn’t impact anything ‘script wise’ last night.”
While Vince McMahon was in gorilla the entire show, and said to be in a pleasant mood, I’m told his presence backstage didn’t impact anything ‘script wise’ last night.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) March 7, 2023
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
