Last month, Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman, appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast to discuss a myriad of topics, such as CM Punk, Macho Man Randy Savage, the future of WWE and their relationship going back to the late-90’s. In an effort to create a buzz about something non-wrestling, both men succeeded in that regard.
McMahon said many things during that podcast that can be seen as controversial, especially when the two legends were talking about what guys needed to step up. The conversation came up when Austin said that when he was wrestling for WWE, every guy was hungry to take that next step and steal the show.
Today, it doesn’t feel the same way it used to. Austin simply compared the state of today’s WWE to that of the WWE in 1999. Situations were different, yes, but nobody should act complacent.
McMahon then spoke about which guys needed to step up. In doing that, he might have caused a few problems backstage. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that the locker room morale is bad, and McMahon’s comments might be the reason why.
“It’s said that morale in WWE, which wasn’t good before, has been noticeably different since Vince McMahon’s live interview with Steve Austin. The feeling is that Vince “crapped on just about everyone in the locker room” except for Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. There’s also a feeling that Vince made it clear those were the only ones he sees that have top star potential. Triple H actually gave a speech to the WWE roster after morale got bad due to the interview. His speech was described as an attempt at damage control that backfired.”
It’s also being said in the report that the NXT roster absolutely loves Triple H, while the main roster isn’t quite his fan. Whatever he said in the speech cost him a lot of credibility with some of the wrestlers who have been there a long time.
HHH will take over for Vince McMahon when the current-WWE Chairman steps down from his post. The day that finally happens will mark a huge day for WWE. McMahon built the company to what it is today; a global wrestling / entertainment empire that has little-to-no competition.
After McMahon’s podcast, another meeting was held backstage with the wrestlers after NXT R Evolution out-performed TLC by a landslide. John Cena was the man behind that meeting, and he wanted to get his point across that everyone will have to step up or NXT will outshine the main roster on a weekly basis. Clearly, this backstage morale deficiency is still a problem, and the worst may be yet to come.
[Image via wrestlingnewsreport.com]