Vince McMahon’s influence over massive WrestleMania collusion revealed - Reports

Until a few years ago, nobody believed Vince McMahon would be gone from WWE for good. But perhaps it has finally come to that.

He claimed it was time to retire in 2022. However, his influence was felt throughout the WrestleMania 39 season. In early 2023, Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp reported that WWE talent had learned Vince McMahon was influencing the booking in the build-up to 'Mania 39. Those included several talents not featured on WWE TV and changes to the shows. New details have now emerged.

According to Fightful Select's latest report, Finn Bálor was scheduled to defeat Edge (aka Cope) at WrestleMania 39. However, Vince McMahon wanted Cope to pick up the victory, despite the WWE Hall of Famer insisting on putting over Bálor. The storyline was The Rated-R Superstar's creation, culminating on The Grandest Stage of Them All when he defeated The Prince's "Demon" persona. Creative and industry sources have claimed that the Irish star was originally scheduled to win, but McMahon pushed for the change.

There was also speculation that the oft-criticized finish to WrestleMania 39 had Vince McMahon written all over it. While McMahon wanted Roman Reigns to defeat Cody Rhodes in the main event, it was considered long before the former WWE Chairman got involved.

Furthermore, McMahon reportedly made sweeping changes to the RAW After 'Mania. One source at the time compared the man behind World Wrestling Entertainment to the Tasmanian Devil—running in, eating up the script, ruining the show, and leaving.

In January 2024, Vince stepped down from the TKO board after s** trafficking allegations.

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WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg talked about Vince McMahon's promise regarding his retirement match

In 2025, Goldberg will retire from in-ring competition after wrestling his final match on a WWE show. While conversing with Ariel Helwani recently, the former Universal Champion brought up Vince McMahon.

He said McMahon broke a promise before his match against Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2022. Goldberg lost, but he was to have another, which would have been his final in-ring contest. Da Man revealed he got past this bad taste after discussing it with current WWE CCO Triple H.

"Vince had promised me another match because not too many people know this, but I took the Roman match with like a month prior notice, and I had Covid. That’s not the way to go out," Goldberg said. "I always, in the bottom of my heart, wanted to go out and present myself in a little bit more positively than I was able to. I mean, Paul and I spoke and we came to an agreement that in 2025 I’d have my retirement match."

Watch the full Goldberg interview on The Ariel Helwani Show below:

As for his final opponent, Goldberg admitted he has a soft spot for a current WWE champion. He spoke in-depth of their long-standing relationship.