More WWE stars have reached out to Fightful Select regarding Vince McMahon’s demeanor at Friday’s WWE SmackDown where he opened the show with a short promo about WWE signature “Then. Now. Together. Forever” tagline.
As noted, there are allegations made against Vince McMahon, who reportedly paid a former WWE employee $3 million to cover up an affair. There is an ongoing investigation by the Board of Directors regarding this and other misconducts.
One Smackdown talent said they were expecting an eventful day, but noted that nobody knew what Vince was going to say. However, he “wasn’t selling” the fact that he was being investigated, and was particularly jovial.
The person said that the show was a lot more relaxed than usual by the time it kicked off, with another adding that Vince was “happy” and it was cool to see considering that many expected a tense atmosphere. It was said that Vince was very hands-on Friday even more than usual. One longtime staff member said they thought that was McMahon’s way of establishing that he’s still running the show.
“He’s basically showing through his promo that he handles what’s in front of him and he’s not running” from it, another talent said.