McMahon and Emanuel discuss WWE sale, McMahon’s creative involvement going forward, would McMahon have stepped down if needed, more

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon went into detail about the news that WWE had been acquired by Endeavor in an interview taped Sunday with Scott Wapner of CNBC.

McMahon revealed during the interview that he will remain involved at a higher level when asked about his involvement in creative moving forward. “Yes and no,” said McMahon. “On a higher level, yes. In the weeds, which I always loved to get into the weeds in the past, no – can’t do that.”

A report from Post Wrestling today stated that Vince McMahon sent an internal memo to employees stating that Triple H would retain his role as head of creative moving forward in relation to the news of the sale of WWE.

Elsewhere during the interview, McMahon was asked why he decided to sell now. He said, “It’s the right time. It’s the right time to do the right thing. It’s been the next evolution of WWE. I could probably do what Ari does right now with UFC; it’d take me 10 years. In that time, he’ll be 10 years ahead of me.”

McMahon was asked if Emanuel had to push to keep him in the fold moving forward. “Not that much” Vince said. “I love what I do. I love building WWE. All my life, it’s my passion. To have an opportunity to have it grow like this from an exponential standpoint. It can’t be better than that.” McMahon also stated that he would have stepped aside if needed to facilitate a sale.

Emanuel then stated that he didn’t want McMahon to step down and referenced their long relationship. “We’ve had a relationship for 23 years. There’s a trust and a friendship. When you’re going into business and going forward, that’s important. I’m glad he chose us because it was a very competitive situation.”

Wapner asked McMahon whether or not the sale of WWE was accelerated by the McMahon’s hush money scandal last summer. McMahon denied that was the case and that the sale would have happened anyway. “I have made mistakes, obviously, personally and professionally throughout my 50-year career,” said McMahon. “I have owned up to every single one of them and then moved on.”

Emanuel emphasized he wanted McMahon to stay with the company. “I would have bodyslammed him if he thought he thought he was going to leave,” said Emanual. “Here’s a man who has seen around the corner at every beat over the last 40 years of this business and has a vision of this business way before a lot of people see it. Him now being able to utilize what we’ve built in our flywheel… I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”