There is some speculation within the wrestling industry that Vince McMahon may start a new wrestling company following his WWE exit. McMahon of course resigned from WWE and TKO following the filing of a lawsuit against him, WWE, and John Laurinaitis by Janel Grant accusing him of sexual assault and sexual trafficking. McMahon has been selling off his stock in TKO since and registered his remaining shares of stock for sale last week.
While McMahon is clearly done with WWE in any capacity, The WON reports that there are some major players in the industry who believe there is a good chance McMahon will start up his own company when he is legally able to. From a legal standpoint, McMahon has a one-year non-compete clause with WWE that ends in late January of 2025.
To be clear, none of the information in the report says McMahon has made or discussed any plans to start such a company. Further, Dave Meltzer notes that the majority of those he talked do believe that McMahon is done, something Meltzer himself also believes. The report is specifically regarding some in the business, described as “major players,” who believe that he could or will start a company once he is able to.
The report lays out a number of factors working against McMahon in this capacity, the most obvious being his reputation following the lawsuit as well as the failure of his last startup (the XFL), a likely inability to get television deals and sponsors, the scarcity of talent who aren’t under contract and more. His age is also a potential problem. That said, McMahon has a lot of money that he could use to try and outbid for talent and it’s speculated that he could get exposure on a streaming platform to run a company at the level of a TNA or NWA.
The sources who believed McMahon may or will start up a company said that they believed wrestling was too big a part of his life to let it go, with one noting that enough contracts come up every year that he could offer enough money that some talent would take it. Even those in WWE who believe there’s no chance of McMahon starting a new company acknowledge that if he tried, his ability to outbid on contracts would be formidable.
One other source who believes McMahon will try to start a company argued that while WWE is now referred to as the Triple H Era, McMahon was the person who got the Bloodline going and who convinced Cody Rhodes to leave AEW for WWE, as well as giving Rhodes the opportunity to become WWE’s top babyface.
Again, there is no information indicating that McMahon is making moves to start a company other than perhaps his stock sales, but there are some people in the business who do believe he will eventually do so when he is able to do so.
