Analysis of Sean Waltman's Comments About Triple H Really Taking Over WWE from Vince McMahon

As reported earlier, Sean "X-Pac" Waltman says on his Twitter page that the last five minutes of Raw was legit - that the WWE Board really did relieve Vince McMahon of his duties.

"The text he sent me today makes much more sense now," he wrote. "That was the real deal, that last 5 or however many minutes." A few minutes earlier he wrote: "They should be careful that this doesn't really affect the stock price."

Analysis from pwtorch.com:
Obviously what was presented on TV in and of itself was a storyline meant to add interest to WWE. Does it parallel real happenings, though, earlier today? That's what Waltman - who is close with Triple H in real life - seems to be indicating. It seems, as a publicly traded company, such a stock-altering announcement could not be presented as a part of an otherwise scripted show or with a scripted imitation of real life. Triple H is being groomed to take over should something happen to Vince McMahon, but McMahon recently stated that he's never retiring from his role as leader of WWE and they'll remove him from the headquarters in a bodybag and no sooner.

So did Waltman mean the last five minutes was the "real deal" in the sense that Hunter is eventually going to be appointed by the Board to take over for McMahon? Or did he mean that it already happened - and somehow it happened on TV in a skit before any formal announcement was made to stockholders.? He is right in observing that this type of thing can affect stock, scripted or not, and how Wall Street reacts to this type of fiction-confusing-real-life - as happened when Donald Trump "bought" WWE from Vince McMahon on TV - is going to be interesting to watch. It'll be even more fascinating if they took the "real life" removal of McMahon from power to live TV in the most dramatic fashion possible. That would explain McMahon's flowing tears. But I'm not buying it right now as anything but a TV storyline and therefore I'm assuming X-Pac meant his Twitter post to be interpreted differently than many see it, or he's jumping to conclusions or confused himself.

Triple H may be simply taking on more duties behind the scenes, stepping up his responsibilities and taking over more storyline oversight or company decision-making, while McMahon reminds with his current title. That, we know, has been somewhat of a possibility for a while and within the company seen as inevitable - that being that Triple H would be the heir to McMahon's power. That's one of the main reasons Shane McMahon left. So if this is an indication of a radical sudden increase in Triple H's power and Vince McMahon stepping back from day-to-day decision-making, that's news. If Waltman meant this is just reflecting that Triple H now is taking over some of the roles he has been groomed for, it's not earth-shattering, but still noteworthy.