It Got Weird: Ex-WWE Star Reveals How Vince McMahon 2023 Return Changed Backstage Environment

Vince McMahon’s 2023 return changed WWE for the worse.

The former WWE owner announced his retirement from the company in July 2022 in light of hush money allegations. This exile only lasted 6 months however, as McMahon forced his way back in the promotion in early 2023. He would go on to sell the company to Endeavor who merged it with UFC under the TKO banner.

During a recent interview with PWMania, former WWE star Doc Gallows talked about the environment of the locker room at the time. Gallows with his tag team partner Karl Anderson was one of the names brought back by Triple H during Vince’s hiatus. According to him, the backstage environment was very different when McMahon was not there:

“Yeah, when we came back in October of 2022, it felt great. It felt fresh. It felt new. Then, a few short months later, we’re in New York and we’re getting ready to leave the building and a limousine pulls up and we see a moustachioed man pop out and it was Vince McMahon coming back for the first time, we happened to see him in the parking garage.”

Doc Gallows explained that Vince McMahon’s sudden return changed everything and things got very weird because of all the transition that was happening:

“I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors there, but from that point on, everything certainly got weird. Whether it was the Vince thing and then the eventual sale to TKO, and however that timeline worked. But, you know, you could feel the winds of change.”

While the Good Brothers remained with the company even after Vince’s exit from TKO, their TV role was reduced by a lot upon his return. Gallows mentioned that it was like wearing golden handcuffs, as they were still getting paid without getting the chance to perform. The former champions were released from the company in February this year.