George Barrios’ WWE exit looked like a corporate bombshell from the outside, but behind the scenes, he says the fuse was already lit.
In January 2020, WWE stunned people when Barrios and Michelle Wilson were suddenly out as co-presidents. The stock took a hit, fans had questions, and the business world wanted to know what the hell happened.
While speaking to POST Wrestling, Barrios now says he was already planning to leave months earlier. He said he walked into Wilson’s office in the summer of 2019 and told her he wanted out because he wanted to run his own company. No more co-leader setup. He wanted the top chair. Then Wilson hit him with a twist. She was thinking the same thing.
“I remember walking into her office, it was probably June or July, and said, ‘Hey, look, I just wanted you to know, I want you to know I’m going to resign, you know, in August.’ And she’s like taken aback and she’s like, and I’m like, ‘Look, I want to go find a thing. I want to have my, you know, I want to be this, the number one guy, not the co-guy.’”
“In any event, in that thing she tells me, ‘Well, I’m doing the same thing.’ And I was like, ‘Oh s**.’ We talked about, well, how should we talk to Vince about this, and we decided, ‘Hey, let’s just go and tell him together.’”*
So they went to Vince McMahon together with a transition plan. They thought they could leave cleanly and give WWE time to prepare. Vince did not take it that way. Then Vince gave them a line Barrios still remembers as one of the biggest compliments of his life.
“So we go in. And yeah, we end up spending, I thought, you know, we say, ‘Hey, look, this is our, this is what we think we should do. We’ll do a nice transition. There’s a great team. You’ll have time to bring somebody in either from the outside cuz we’re willing to stay for however long you need us.’ So we had what we thought was a great plan. You know, he gets very emotional. Tears, saying, ‘You can’t do that.’”
“He said, I read one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said. He said, ‘I built this business for 30 years and I had to pull everybody along.’ And he goes, ‘For the last 10 years you guys have been pulling me along.’”
They stayed, but the vibe changed. Barrios said the final months were rough, with shorter tempers and more edge in the room. By January 2020, Vince decided it was done. Barrios wanted a transition. Vince wanted the bandage ripped off immediately.
“We had a board meeting January 30th or whatever day it was and late January before the earnings call and it was flat, you know, I wasn’t myself. I’m usually an energetic guy. I enjoy those things. I was phoning it in cuz I’m thinking I’m, you know, earnings call I’m out. And then, you know, we come out of that and Vince calls me to his office. He’s like, ‘Yeah, this isn’t working.’ I’m like, ‘I agree.’”
“So, why don’t we just figure out a plan, go back to the original thing, 6 month. He goes, ‘No, we’re doing it today.’ And I go, ‘Well, that’s not a good idea.’ And it wasn’t for me. In some way for me it was like liberating. He’s like, ‘All right, I’m done.’ But, I’m like, that’s not going to be good for the people who work here. It’s not good for business partners, investors aren’t going to react well to it, all that stuff. But, you know, and look, it’s one of the things I admire about him. He’s like, George, you know, when you make a decision, you got to pull the band-aid, and so, he pulled the band-aid.”
That explains why the exit felt so sudden to everyone else. Inside WWE, this had been building for months.
What do you think about Barrios saying he was already planning to quit before Vince McMahon fired him? Let us know in the comments and leave your feedback below.
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