Vince McMahon spoke with Brian Fritz of the Orlando Sentinel after the WrestleMania 33 press conference. Here are the highlights.
What’s it like for you to see John Cena miss WrestleMania for the first time since 2003?
John is Babe Ruth, he’s everything to us. And a real warrior. I don’t know how long he’s going to pursue this … I don’t know if it’s going to be 70 like me, but he’ll try. It’s just in him and he loves it so much, even when he was a little kid. I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the videos where he’d have a mini-championship belt made out of cardboard and all that kind of stuff. And on top of it, he’s a hell of a guy.
You’ve been back on TV as a performer leading up to this year’s WrestleMania. What’s that been like for you, because we haven’t seen you out there in a while.
“I much prefer to produce and direct, much prefer that. This storyline allowed me that opportunity and sort of pushed me that way. I don’t know how much you’re going to see of me because I’d rather be producing and directing. Again, there are only so many bumps and so forth that anybody can take. I’m willing to take them obviously. I always said to talent that I would never ask you to do anything that I wouldn’t do, which I’ve lived up to.”
Now, your son Shane is back. (He left WWE in 2010 to start his own business ventures after disagreements with Vince about his role in the company.) What’s it been like having him back performing?
“It’s been awesome. I was hoping that one day we might get back together. It’s difficult. Fathers and sons sometimes, in the same business at a certain stage, it can be very difficult. You love each other just as much but you see things a little differently. You have the old bull and the young bull and the old bull is not ready to give it up, his horns are still sharp. It’s great that Shane is back. Whether or not there’s a corporate place, we’ll wait and see. From a performer standpoint, I so enjoy performing with him. And when the three of us are out there, Stephanie and Shane and me, and throw in Paul because that has happened in the past, oh my God! We could stay out there and entertain each other, much less the audience, for an hour. It would be easy. It’s just so much fun because we can ad-lib and entertain ourselves. I think if you are entertaining yourselves and you’re having fun, that projects and the audience is having fun with you.”
You can read the entire interview here.
