VINCE MCMAHON PREPPING TO LAUNCH NEW ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY, SEVERAL WWE ALUMNI ALREADY WORKING ON PROJECT
By Mike Johnson on 2024-10-29 15:31:00
Vince McMahon is working on setting up a post-WWE company, PWInsider.com can exclusively confirm.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed McMahon has been in the process of setting up what has been described as a new "entertainment hub company" that would financially back, develop and produce film and television productions. The belief among those we've spoken with is that there are no plans for this company to launch anything similar to WWE and they would instead focus on fiction and non-fiction projects.
PWInsider.com is also told that several WWE alumni are already working with McMahon to get the company prepped with the idea of officially unveiling it if/once his legal issues are resolved.
Brad Blum, WWE's former Chief Operating Officer, has long been a McMahon loyalist, and is confirmed to be working on the project. Blum was McMahon's Chief of Staff when he reigned supreme in the company and first joined WWE back in 2006 before taking on greater responsibilities in 2020. Blum had originally departed WWE after Vince McMahon's first "retirement" in the wake of the Wall Street Journal articles that later led to the Janel Grant lawsuit being filed. When McMahon returned to sell WWE to Endeavor, Blum quickly followed. After McMahon's second exit, Blum remained for several months before resigning in May. At the time, his exit led to a lot of eyebrows raising as it was assumed he was leaving to work for McMahon in some capacity.
We are also told that Kristen Prouty, who was WWE's liaison to the Hollywood world before being let go earlier this year, is also on board. Prouty came to WWE's attention as the original Casting Director for the initial Diva Search won by Christy Hemme back in 2000. After working independently with the company for five years, she officially joined in 2005 and at the time of her departure, held the title of Senior Vice President, Entertainment Relations. Prouty's position was to engage with the entertainment world and bridge the gap for talents to join different TV series, red carpet events, etc. She's credited with finding lots of talents who came into the company, including The Bellas and The Miz and would have been the person booking Raw Guest Hosts and locking in celebrities for storylines. She was let go by WWE this past May as part of the post-Endeavor takeover cutbacks.
PWInsider.com is told the company is expected to be based out of the Los Angeles area if and when it officially launches.
It should be very interesting to see if any networks or distributors would be initially interested in working with McMahon given the toxicity surrounding the nature of his WWE exit and the lawsuits that have been filed, but Hollywood can be a very upside down world.
Before anyone asks, we are told that Kevin Dunn has not been involved in this new venture at all.
Putting a lot of money into a company like this could help him keep it safe from the lawsuits. On top of that they could copy the Warner method, spend money and then write it off for tax breaks which moves money around.
Money opens pretty much all doors. Like Katy pointed out... the Saudi-WWE deal, Saudi-PGA deal, Saudi-NASCAR rumors... all companies that vowed not to work with countries like this and claimed to be super patriotic... then the money came along.