Stephanie McMahon appears on WWE SmackDown, leads ‘Thank You, Vince’ chant
A new era for WWE began with Stephanie McMahon opening Friday night’s episode of SmackDown.
Just hours after her father announced his retirement, Stephanie appeared at the start of Friday’s SmackDown and addressed the crowd. She welcomed the fans to the show and gave a brief speech, bringing up that Vince McMahon wanted to make sure that he thanked the “WWE Universe” and everyone associated with WWE in his retirement announcement. Stephanie said this was their moment to thank Vince together, and she ended her speech by leading the crowd in a “Thank You, Vince” chant.
Stephanie McMahon addresses the WWE Universe.@StephMcMahon | #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/wsgZleCKTh
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) July 23, 2022
The live crowd booed when Stephanie mentioned her father’s retirement. The fans began to chant “Thank You, Vince” before being prompted to by Stephanie.
Stephanie is WWE’s new chairwoman and is one of WWE’s new co-CEOs alongside Nick Khan. Stephanie had been serving as interim chairwoman and interim CEO since Vince McMahon announced last month that he was stepping away from those roles during the WWE Board of Directors’ investigation into his alleged misconduct.
WWE has yet to announce who will be in charge of creative following Vince’s retirement.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.