WWE President Nick Khan spoke with staff in a town hall yesterday, with the big news being that WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque will continue in his role as head of WWE Creative.
"A number of us [TKO President] Mark [Shapiro], [TKO CFO] Andrew [Schleimer], others, were able to get Paul Levesque to extend with us in a multi-year deal," Khan confirmed. "We’re excited about that. He’s the head of creative, amongst other things and has been doing a great job for and with us."
Triple H could do no wrong for a while after taking over WWE Creative from former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. However, fans on social media have criticised many decisions in recent months, including Pat McAfee's insertion into Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes' feud with Randy Orton heading into WrestleMania 42.
Asked how WWE is addressing "concerns about over-commercialisation and creative direction," Khan said, "To me, if you make business decisions based on online sentiment, just know that you’re going to be making said decisions on a minority percentage of voices, a vocal minority."
"Allow me to give you an example," he said before reading a seemingly prepared list of old social media posts. Those featured complaints about Roman Reigns' 2015 Royal Rumble win, Bad Bunny's role in WWE, The Rock's WWE return in 2023, and John Cena's retirement tour.
Completely missing the point that many of those were valid criticisms (and that it took Reigns several years to bounce back from McMahon's bad booking in the mid-2010s), Khan used complaints about CM Punk's return as another example.
"I said CM Punk, Roman Reigns, as anyone who watched it [knows], stole the show," the executive stated. "Pretty good re-signing CM Punk, who’s been a model citizen here. So the most important thing is to have an open dialogue. Myself, Paul, the creative team, what’s working, what’s not working, who to push, who not to push."
It's not hugely surprising to hear someone like Khan dismiss fan complaints. Ultimately, the decline in ticket sales for this year's WrestleMania speaks volumes, as does the fact that WWE no longer touts sold-out arenas for RAW and SmackDown.
The TKO era of WWE is all about advertising and money, as well as celebrity appearances that have grown increasingly tedious. Ultimately, so long as the company turns a profit, it's fair to say that things will likely stay the same.