Vince McMahon's return to WWE in January of this year caused the promotion to reevaluate its talent hiring process, leaving some possible signings "out in the cold."

McMahon strong-armed his way back into WWE on January 6 by threatening to vote against any potential sales or media rights deals.

This week, McMahon approved the sale of WWE to Endeavor and the $9.3 billion purchase is set to be finalized later this year.

After McMahon retired due to the hush-money scandal last July, Triple H took up some of the important roles in WWE.

The Game was appointed Head of Talent Relations (replacing the terminated John Lauriniaitis) and hired back many released talent.

Triple H's tenure has also seen the arrival of established stars, albeit new to WWE, including Karl Fredericks/Eddy Thorpe, and Dragon Lee.

While several Superstars received contracts in 2022, 2023 has been a much different time for WWE.

Talent that Fightful has spoken with have claimed there’s a “hiring freeze” and suggested that McMahon's return was the reason.

The report adds that WWE was interested in Jay White before the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion signed with AEW this month.

The Authors of Pain have been another team on WWE's radar, but sources indicated that AOP was in talks with WWE before McMahon's return.

The team are former NXT and Raw Tag Team Champions and attempted to launch their own promotion 'Wrestling Entertainment Series UK' last year.

Triple H was said to be "high on Nick Aldis" but he was one of the many "left out in the cold when McMahon returned."