Company insider discloses surprising backstage reason why Stephanie McMahon stepped away from WWE
Stephanie McMahon announced in May that she would be stepping away from her role as the Chief Brand Officer of WWE.
The Billion Dollar Princess cited the reason as wanting to spend more time with her family. Her husband Triple H suffered a major health scare last year that led to his official in-ring retirement. A company insider has potentially disclosed another surprising reason that may have inevitably led to Stephanie stepping away.
Stephanie McMahon has held various roles over the years, both on and off-screen. Over the last few years, she began appearing less on-screen to focus more on her backstage role. After what was presumably a roller coaster of a year in 2021, she announced that for the foreseeable future, she would be giving up her role.
As of tomorrow, I am taking a leave of absence from the majority of my responsibilities at WWE. WWE is a lifelong legacy for me and I look forward to returning to the company that I love after taking this time to focus on my family.
According to an article by Business Insider, a "company insider" has revealed that WWE wasn't seeing the expected growth under Stephanie:
"Family or not family, we’ve got to get the right people in place. We weren’t seeing that growth. When someone is moved out of a company, it’s usually the result of something not working. We took stronger control of that a few months ago.” (via Fightful)
It's a bit surprising, but this isn't the first time that a McMahon has stepped away from a backstage role. Shane McMahon walked away from his Executive Vice President role in 2009 citing creative differences.
Vince McMahon is likely harder on Stephanie McMahon than anyone else in the company
Happy Mother’s Day to all who are celebrating!!! #blessed…And now time to watch #WMBacklash! https://t.co/P6G2Rl9uij
On the Pat McAfee Show, Vince McMahon admitted that he is harder on his children than anybody else in the company. As mentioned, Shane McMahon departed in 2009, and that was due to him not wanting to ruin his family relationships for the sake of business. He would return to a backstage position as a producer in 2019.
Triple H was assumed to be the successor to Vince McMahon. But the hiring of Nick Khan as WWE President has led to some rumors that he will be the one to take the throne instead.
It's hard to tell how things will play out with WWE in the future. However, there is no doubt that Stephanie McMahon had more pressure and expectations on her than anybody else in the company. What's also not in question is the fact that she deserves a break to spend time with her family.