When Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to abdicate his throne as the emperor of France in 1814 and was banished to the island of Elba, his exile was intended to be permanent. But only 10 months later, he returned—undaunted—to reclaim his crown. His demise came shortly after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, when he was sent to the remote island of Saint Helena, officially marking the end of his reign of dominance.
Fascinating history lesson aside, it raises the question: Is Vince McMahon currently plotting his comeback from Elba, or has he already arrived in Saint Helena?
McMahon resigned from his position as CEO of WWE in July, amid a growing scandal surrounding previously unknown payments made to women who reported sexual misconduct by McMahon and the nondisclosure agreements the women signed. He still owns the bulk of shareholder voting power as WWE’s largest shareholder, meaning he remains the most powerful individual in the company. But he rules from a place of anonymity, a true island of irrelevance. So it should come as no surprise that McMahon is in the process of planning his return to the company.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon is making arrangements to return. McMahon believes he followed misguided advice and should not have stepped down, and that the public blowback would have already subsided had he remained as CEO, according to the Journal. That was not the only McMahon-related news of the week. In that same story, the Journal also reported that McMahon is facing a new sexual assault case and has been contacted by a lawyer representing Rita Chatterton, the former WWE referee who said in a 1992 television interview that McMahon had raped her in the back of a limousine, seeking $11.75 million in damages.
Also of note: WWE stock dropped over the last week, directly coinciding with the rumor of McMahon considering a return. If McMahon follows through on this reported brazen idea to return, he is set to collide with an opponent he cannot defeat: Wall Street.
Wall Street will never take McMahon back.
On multiple levels, a return for McMahon would be disastrous. WWE’s broadcast partners, Fox and NBCUniversal, do not want to deal with the fallout of accepting McMahon back as the head of creative or CEO. Networks are extremely wary of that type of publicity.
What is the selling point to Wall Street for a McMahon return? How can stockholders be convinced that, after successfully weathering the dramatic transition of leadership, the new plan is to go back to the embattled 77-year-old chairman? That is how Wall Street would view it.
Someone from McMahon’s camp floated the idea that he wants to return. Sports Illustrated has spoken with multiple people close to the situation, and all believe McMahon legitimately feels he received bad advice to step down. But this is not a Monday Night Raw script that McMahon can tear up and rewrite on the fly. The succession, though it happened under duress, has been a success. WWE, led by Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque and Nick Khan, continues to generate record-setting profit.
Despite a leak over the summer from the McMahon camp that the company would struggle to operate without McMahon, that has obviously proven not to be the case. A return would now constitute a backward move, and analysts do not look favorably upon a company regressing. How can anyone envision a scenario in which McMahon’s behavior would be deemed acceptable to the point where he would be allowed back? There would be a shareholder revolt.
There are multiple ways this can unfold, but no option exists where Wall Street will ever allow McMahon back. A successful return by McMahon is not one of the options. Yet that does not necessarily mean he cannot come back.
There are high-level stock options and millions of dollars at stake. WWE is on the precipice of a major television rights deal that will make extremely wealthy people even wealthier. (Its U.S. rights agreements with Fox and NBCUniversal expire in late 2024.) Could McMahon stand in its way? What if he returned and tanked the company? That option isn’t entirely out of the question.
Can McMahon replace the board? Theoretically, yes. Whether McMahon can do so without multiple lawsuits thwarting him is a whole other matter. In a publicly traded company, there are rules in place to prevent one man from making all the decisions and being accountable to none because that is not in the best interests of the shareholders.
If McMahon managed to come back, the stock would crash, advertisers would walk and the networks could even drop the show. Perhaps the USA Network would stick with McMahon, but WWE could not survive solely on USA. McMahon would keep the deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but $100 million a year doesn’t replace a billion-dollar television deal. And WWE’s stock is driven by the TV rights deal.
This is one of the most fascinating stretches in WWE history. Naturally, McMahon is at the front of it all. What if this is all a power play from McMahon? Is this all a game because McMahon wants to be bought out? Maybe it is his way to feel out loyalties.
WWE is far from done with the drama.
Does McMahon view himself as Napoleon on Elba? Absolutely.
Is he going to make a play to come back? Without a doubt.
Will he be successful? Unfortunately for McMahon, he has no chance at a return.
Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
