Typically, at this time of year, WWE is in the midst of putting together its biggest event cards to build up to their most prominent one, WrestleMania, upcoming at the beginning of April. Starting with the Royal Rumble, everything will be about building towards the major event that seemingly takes over the wrestling community during that time. But the most significant match being put together at the moment is WWE attempting to distance themselves entirely from former owner Vince McMahon and the astounding legacy he built with the company.

Of course, the reason Endeavor, the company that acquired WWE back in April of last year, wants to sever all ties from McMahon is due to the latest sex trafficking allegations that surfaced involving a former employee. McMahon has since resigned from WWE, but the ramifications are still at large.

The match of Vince McMahon versus WWE is much grander in scale than that of any Hulk Hogan and Andre “The Giant” from WrestleMania III or Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock from WrestleMania X-Seven. At least in those matches, the opponents were more evenly matched. There was also only a championship on the line in those bouts. McMahon against WWE is a man against his creation that has taken a life of its own now, moved beyond him—or at least trying to—becoming much bigger than he ever was.

But how do you completely divorce the creator from the creation on a large scale?

Separating Vince McMahon and WWE from each other will be a lifelong wrestling match

The name WWE and Vince McMahon are so synonymous with each other that when mentioning one, the other quickly follows. To ask that they now be divorced from one another is a tall order for anyone, especially Endeavor. Really, it would be like asking someone to separate Disney from Walt Disney. Sure, entities like WWE and Disney have grown much larger and wider in scale than their creators who created them, but to forget their origins is impossible.

Since becoming a wrestling empire starting in the late 1980s, McMahon took a mere territorial wrestling company to heights that no one could have possibly imagined. He made an old-timey, silly, overdramatized concept that involved theater and athleticism and somehow pushed it mainstream to become a sustainable, profitable commodity.

The thought for the longest concerning McMahon's eventual absence from WWE was how someone of his expertise was going to be replaced. How was his genius, business acumen, creativity, vigor, overall venture for success, approach to adaptability—how was all that going to be replicated and represented somehow in the next leader of WWE? Now what once used to be the greatest fear of others has become its greatest hope.

Now there's this underlying fear that for all those perceived good qualities that earned WWE and McMahon decades of success were all crudely and abhorrently acted out, all in the name of triumph and power. Maybe that was always a fear, but we believed that what we didn't know wouldn't hurt us. Well, now we know, and every WWE loyalist, down to the ones who spent their hard-earned money to buy a ticket to an event, is hurting, fearing what they may have supported all these years.

That is, in large part, why Endeavor and CEO Ari Emanuel are now seeking distance. But that will have to be all about the future, not the past. WWE has tried for years to avoid some of its greatest faults by simply eradicating them from their different forms of media and the company in general. That includes former performers like Chris Benoit, who killed his wife, young son, and himself in a double-murder suicide back in 2007.

Benoit was a large part of the WWE program back then and had been going back all the way to 2000. He's on countless hours of past WWE television, including major events like WrestleMania XX where he won the World Championship. To this day, it's still difficult not to mention Benoit for his wrestling talent or not find him when seeking past events. That's still a battle that WWE fights. Now imagine the endless plight to remove McMahon.

His literal name may not be on everything like that of Walt Disney's, but his fingerprints are for sure. McMahon was not only part of the creation of the most successful wrestling company known to man, but he was also a performer and was in some of the company's most historical moments.

Vince McMahon was and still is the tradition of WWE

Vince McMahon in different eras of WWE

McMahon was and still is the tradition of the company. While the presumed end of his days in WWE won't be kind to remember, he'll often be remembered and imitated even for things like, “Welcome to WrestleMania III,” and “Ms. Aretha FRAAAANKLIIIN,” that he proudly announced in the middle of the ring standing in front of 90,000-plus in the Pontiac Silverdome.

He also won't quickly be forgotten for, “YOU'RE FIRED,” that he said countless times on WWE television. Then there's all the endless amounts of Stone Cold Stunners he took from Steve Austin during what has been deemed one of the best feuds in wrestling history. And who could forget his famous obnoxious strut he walked to the ring with? That's just to name a few. He was also an announcer, both backstage and at the announcers table. But now, the fear of even mentioning his name on WWE television is taboo.

“I don’t think that anyone’s going to mention [Vince McMahon's] name on any shows, maybe ever again, at least not, you know, for the foreseeable future,” Dave Meltzer said on his Wrestling Observer Radio show. “I mean, it is, you know, and probably for all good reasons. I don’t see any point in ever mentioning his name, you know, other than it’s in like a historical piece because, unfortunately, you know, when it comes to the history of WWE, you can’t tell the history of WWE up until the last month or two and do a fair job without mentioning Vince McMahon because his fingerprints are everywhere. And he’s the key guy in history.”

McMahon is the history of WWE, having built the company to where it is to this day. Now, unfortunately, he's just history.