Kevin Dunn, closest ally to Vince McMahon dating back to 1980s, departs WWE, details on circumstances and lead-up to his decision

By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

January 1, 2024

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Kevin Dunn, age 68, one of the most influential contributors to the visual appearance and overall presentation of WWE televison for decades, ended his tenure with WWE as of the end of 2023.

Nick Khan issued a statement internally to WWE staff today. “After 40+ years of helping to build WWE and, hands down, the best production and media unit in the entire sports and entertainment business, Kevin Dunn, will be leaving our company as of today,” he wrote.

Khan detailed Dunn’s contributions including producing WWE TV even before the first WrestleMania, being part of the evolution of the distribution of WWE’s product in syndication and cable and closed-circuit and cable PPVs.

Khan said they are “forever grateful to Kevin” and that he would always be part of the WWE family.

Meetings were planned earlier today to discuss the changes with the WWE staff and wrestlers.

PWTorch has heard that a final replacement for Dunn hasn’t been determined yet, but Bryan Fadem will probably occupy his seat in the truck with Marty Miller involved in the directing of the show.

PWTorch is also told that there was no falling out and that this was more of a decision that seemed inevitable if not imminent after the departure of Vince McMahon from WWE creative. Dunn was as close to McMahon as anyone in WWE over the years. With McMahon out of power, Dunn’s influence on the product diminished and the validating feedback from Vince was absent under TKO management.

For years, we have reported that if Paul Levesque ever took over control for Vince McMahon, Dunn would likely not last long. Dunn and Levesque were not considered tight, but this wasn’t a situation where Levesque pushed or forced Dunn out, as Levesque’s approach has been to run a steady ship and have as much continuity as possible as to avoid seeming like he was making decisions based on personal issues and to avoid any downturn in business being attributed to controversial personnel decisions he made in his early months in control.

Insiders in WWE often saw Dunn as an enabler of McMahon’s more controversial, tawdry instincts when it came to more edgy aspects of the product and the cosmetics of on-air talent. He often on headsets would make comments to McMahon about the appearance of wrestlers, male and female, to get McMahon to laugh or just to express his opinion on their worth to the product. If Dunn liked a wrestler or disliked a wrestler, his opinion carried weight with McMahon. He also had strong influence over announcing decisions, both who was at the broadcast table and the style of how matches were called. He and Jim Ross were considered rivals, not allies, over the years.

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