A note on the WWE creative process

During a recent PWTorch audio show, Torch senior editor Wade Keller said he spoke to two wrestlers who are pro-Vince McMahon over Paul “Triple H” Levesque. He said that the people he spoke with are “at least happy Vince was back contributing to creative.”

Keller continued, “The wrestlers who are more sympathetic or okay with or even somewhat happy with Vince returning — the wrestlers I talked to directly like Vince better but they also indicated [that] they are not alone [and] that there are people who are happy Vince is back. It’s natural that some wrestlers would think that they were getting a better push under Vince McMahon than Paul Levesque because every booker is gonna have their favorites that they like a little more than others and those people get a boost and others will be like, hey, I think I was in a better position under Vince. Some of it is just that. It’s purely based on self-interest that they were getting a better push.”

Keller continued, “One person I asked said they think that Vince McMahon is more focused on building strong babyfaces and Paul Levesque has more of a focus and an extreme interest in building heels…”

Keller noted how WWE has always relied heavily on babyfaces to carry the company. Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, John Cena, and others were pushed above and beyond everyone else.

Whether this is coming from Vince or Triple H, it is notable that we’re seeing more heels being given a bigger push. Gunther, Theory, and Roman Reigns are three top heel champions who are being protected more than a heel would have been in the past.