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As you might imagine, the news that Vince McMahon is (at least temporarily) stepping down as CEO and Chairman of the Board for WWE has resulted in a LOT of mainstream media attention, including stories on CNN, Deadline.com, NBC News, ESPN, The New York Times and many, many more. Interestingly, many of them have seemed to miss that McMahon would be remaining in his role as head of the company's creative.
Vince McMahon has not yet arrived at tonight's Smackdown taping, but it is early in the day, so that's not unusual.
There are a lot of people in the company waiting to see what happens today when McMahon appears "in character" on Smackdown tonight and what, if anything, he'll be able to say about the investigation. We've heard from a few in the company who felt McMahon appearing tonight in the wake of the investigation was "right on point for Vince McMahon" as he's always bucked any sort of authority infringing upon him but others have scratched their head about the decision. Obviously, with everyone talking about McMahon, it's designed to be a ratings ploy and to get everyone watching and talking about the company. Whether it's a wise idea, we'll only know in hindsight.
We've spoken to a few Raw talents who actually wish they were actually working the taping as there had been whispers yesterday that McMahon would be privately addressing the troops, something we have not been able to confirm. Some talents feel McMahon will just act as if it's another taping on the road and "not sell" anything. Some are waiting to see whether Stephanie McMahon is present, but others don't believe she'll be there in person.
For those who have asked, we have not heard whether John Laurinaitis will be present at tonight's taping in Minneapolis. That is a big question the talents have been asking since official text messages from the company are usually signed with Laurinaitis' name but the announcement of the investigation was not accompanied by any signature.
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