Newly released text messages (credit to POST Wrestling) have pulled back the curtain on the intense power struggle between Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Vince McMahon during the 2023 WWE-UFC merger.
The messages, made public through an ongoing lawsuit over the WWE-UFC merger, show that while TKO was publicly celebrating their $21 billion merged powerhouse of WWE & UFC, Triple H was privately “dreading” his father-in-law’s attempt to take back control of the show.
On September 11, 2023 (the night before the merger became official), Triple H texted WWE President Nick Khan, saying he was “expecting the worst” and calling the next day “D-Day.” The tension centered on Vince McMahon wanting to push his way back into the creative process.
Despite Triple H being the head of creative for a year, Vince was still trying to call shots on everything from wrestler releases to major match results (like Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39).
Nick Khan often acted as a buffer between Triple H and Vince. However, Khan has been accused of deleting many of his replies or moving conversations to encrypted apps like Signal to hide the paper trail.
Triple H credited Nick Khan with saving his job, texting him: “If it wasn’t for you, I would have been gone a long time ago.” This suggests his position was much shakier under Vince than fans realized.
In December 2023, Triple H was panicked to learn that Vince was flying to RAW on the same private jet as the then-recently returned CM Punk. He worried about the two of them being stuck together given their bad history. There were reportedly no issues between Punk and McMahon on the flight.
While executives told the media that Vince was “not in the weeds” of the creative process, these texts prove he was constantly meddling and causing major stress for the leadership team.
The power struggle only ended in January 2024 when the Janel Grant lawsuit (which accused Vince of horrific $exual misconduct and trafficking) forced him to resign permanently.
Since then, Triple H has been “knighted” by TKO leadership as the sole person in charge of the stories you see on TV. Even though Triple H later thanked Vince during his Hall of Fame speech, these texts show that behind the scenes, the two were locked in a cold war for the future of WWE.
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