10 People Most Likely To Succeed Vince McMahon As WWE Owner Ranked

5. Bob Chapek 

For those who've never heard the name Bob Chapek, he is the current Chief Executive Officer of Disney.

It was announced last year that Chapek was to take over this role from Bob Iger, with that transition playing out into 2021 as Iger oversaw the company through the initial months of the global pandemic. With Disney forever named as a potential suitor should WWE be put up for sale, that would mean Chapek would be the person at the top of the mountain should such a deal ever come off.

Disney was impacted hugely by the pandemic, with the organisation reporting a $1.4 billion loss solely for the second quarter of last year. Following WWE's pandemic lead, the company fired 28,000 employees before announcing the loss of a further 40,000 jobs later in the year.

The point being, despite the House of Mouse eager to snap up any IP with name value in recent years - from Marvel Comics, to everything under the Lucasfilm banner, to 21st Century Fox and all that comes with that - one would have to imagine that major acquisitions may be somewhat on hold right now.

Still, Disney would presumably be in the race should WWE be offered to the highest bidder in, say, five years.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.