WWE: Vince McMahon may be stepping away from role as Chairman

Reports have indicated Vince McMahon may be gradually becoming less hands-on in his duties as Chairman of WWE because it’s “the right move.”

For nearly 50 years, the one constant figure in WWE has been Vince McMahon. As superstars, megastars, and faces of the company came and went, McMahon has been the hand guiding the ship — or, depending on your viewpoint, the rock sinking it.

Recently, a report from our own Tom Colohue over at Sportskeeda indicated that McMahon is slowly stepping away from day to day responsibilities. Colohue’s story comes on the heels of Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reporting that McMahon was absent from this week’s Raw taping, leaving production duties to Triple H, Paul Heyman, and Kevin Dunn.

Rumors of Vince McMahon’s “demise” as head of WWE have been around for ages. First, it was his hubris at destroying the territory system that would cost him his business. Then it was his federal indictment on steroid trafficking that would be his undoing.

True competition from WCW was another threat. Taking the company public and having to answer to shareholders was supposed to hinder the ability to put on a quality program.

But like the cockroach who survives nuclear winter, Vince McMahon apparently can only be stopped by one thing: time. McMahon is about to celebrate his 74th birthday, and at some point, even the best-maintained machines just run out of juice. Three hours of Raw, two hours of SmackDown, and now two hours of NXT require dozens of additional hours of creative and prep time.

With the relaunch of the XFL inching closer, and McMahon supposedly having a substantial amount of control through his Alpha Entertainment company, how many hours a day can a man who should be ten years into retirement keep going?

But, as Colohue’s report indicates, Vince McMahon has put together a team of people he trusts to run his first baby, WWE, which is why he considers stepping aside now to be “the right move.” In charge of Raw is Paul Heyman, who did wonders in ECW as the head booker — and he did even better on SmackDown in 2002 when he had a reliable stream of revenue coming in.

Eric Bischoff, recently brought on board to run SmackDown, has had a mixed bag of success in his career. But he also has the experience of placating network executives necessary for the move to Fox.