Triple H No Longer Has Full Creative Control In WWE

By AG

Posted on April 22, 2026

• Triple H No Longer Has Full Creative Control In WWE

After Triple H took over as WWE’s Chief Content Officer in 2022, business saw a major upswing, driven by stronger storytelling and more engaging matches that brought fans back into the product.

However, over the past year, a section of the fanbase has felt that WWE is no longer as compelling as it was during Triple H’s early run in charge of creative. Much of the criticism has centered around increased celebrity involvement, a heavier focus on advertisements, and less emphasis on in-ring wrestling.

While speaking at a University of Alabama class, TKO President Mark Shapiro revealed that TKO Group Holdings now has full control over WWE’s creative direction.

“First of all, (TKO) has complete control. So we’re responsible, good and bad, fact or fiction.

Having Hollywood tie-ins and celebs and stars, and Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, Mark Wahlberg shows up and does his thing, Tyrese Haliburton last year got in a fight in the ring with Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, that’s not new. It’s just on a larger stage.

And we’re spending a lot more money to market the brand and market the content. And when you do that, you’re gonna win some folks over, but you’re also gonna chase some folks away.

They don’t like this or they don’t like that. This is too expensive or, ‘Oh my God, to watch the WWE, I gotta buy Netflix which costs this much, I gotta watch SmackDown on USA, I gotta do that, I gotta have CW so I have to have cable. And now I have to pay for ESPN.’ And you can make some enemies really quickly.”

It had been reported following Pat McAfee’s return that TKO has been heavily involved in pushing celebrity appearances, with WWE’s creative team having heat with higher-ups due to interference in WrestleMania main event storylines for two consecutive years.

• WWE’s Original Plan For Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar lost to Oba Femi in the opening match of WrestleMania 42 – Night 2 and seemingly retired after the match. According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE originally planned on doing a proper feud between Brock and Oba with multiple matches. They also noted that Lesnar will likely come back:

“Based on people in WWE, they believe he’s not retiring yet, although he is retiring probably at some point this year.

This might be one of those things where everything is being kept quiet like the Seth Rollins (injury) thing. A couple of people have mentioned it, that’s the belief.

At one point, they were actually going to do a (full-fledged) feud with Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, but that was dropped weeks ago. At one point, this was not going to be a one-and-done.”

On RAW after WrestleMania 42, WWE aired a tribute video for Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman then went off on WWE’s production team. Heyman wants WWE to remove Lesnar from the “Now” in the opening intro of the show and put him in the “Forever” part because The Beast will forever be the baddest mf’er in WWE history.