Triple H has seemingly now ended a long-standing rule that was put in place by Vince McMahon.
Triple H is now very much in charge of WWE and whatever’s happening within the promotion. The roster is working under him with the creative direction of the star taking them to new levels. Before him, Vince McMahon mostly controlled everything that was happening within the company, and this included making quite a few rules.
It’s known for a while now that Vince McMahon didn’t really like the National Anthem for the United States and preferred America the Beautiful. As a result, this is the song that’s started most WrestleManias in the past when the former chairman was still in charge.
However, with him no longer in charge, it appears that Triple H decided to put that tradition to rest and had the celebrity singer and Grammy winner Coco Jones perform The Star Spangled Banner, the US National Anthem, instead. While there were a few occasions where Vince McMahon had The Star Spangled Banner sung, it was heavily focused on America The Beautiful.
This is one of many changes that the company has seen now that Triple H is in charge, and it appears that it was a decision made to end this Vince McMahon rule, according to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio.
"Vince hated the National Anthem. That’s just Vince, he hated it. He liked America the Beautiful, and now that Vince is gone, that’s changed." (21:04 - 21:14)
Triple H has announced the start of a "NEW ERA" in WWE
With Vince McMahon now gone and The Game in charge, he kicked off WrestleMania 40 by announcing that a new era had arrived in WWE.
He specified this new "ERA" was one that would see a lot of change and that WrestleMania 40 was just the beginning.
It appears that the National Anthem being sung to open WrestleMania was the first of such changes implemented.
With WrestleMania 40 seemingly marking the beginning of the "NEW ERA," the WWE Universe is in for a grand spectacle if the events of Night One was any indicator of things to come.