Backstage Report On Kevin Dunn's WWE Departure

2023 went out with another big headline from the wrestling world as longtime WWE Executive Producer and Chief of Global Television Distribution Kevin Dunn announced his retirement at the age of 61. Mike Johnson of PWInsider first broke the news on December 30, and now Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer has provided more insight into Dunn's exit.

After it was assumed for years that Dunn would exit whenever Vince McMahon inevitably stepped down, it was surprising to some to see he stuck around during the early days of Paul "Triple H" Levesque's regime. However, it appears that Dunn's exit was directly related to Endeavor purchasing the company as opposed to Dunn working for Triple H.

Meltzer echoed what Johnson previously reported in that Endeavor started making budget cuts to the television production department in order to improve profitability. These decisions were made without Dunn's opinion or input, something that wouldn't have happened with McMahon at the helm. It was also noted that Dunn was expected to follow McMahon and John Laurinaitis out in 2022, however WWE higher-ups didn't want any other major executives to exit just yet with the idea that it could hurt the stock price at that time.

It was reiterated that Dunn was ultimately the one who made the call to step down, which was only seen as an inevitability. PWInsider has since reported that WWE Executive Vice President of Television Chris Kaiser is said to be tapped to replace Dunn as he's been "in the trenches" creatively in recent years.