Stephanie McMahon Talks WWE Owning A Wrestler’s Likeness

In an interview with Bloomberg Business of Sports, WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon was asked about WWE talent adjusting to working during a pandemic. According to her, the talent hardly missed a beat.

“I can’t speak from personal experience. I can as a performer but I didn’t have to wrestle,” Stephanie said. “All I can say is how much respect I have for them. To be able to do that and not miss a beat, not break character. It was just unbelievable to watch.

“I know what it takes to put on that kind of performance. And I just couldn’t imagine it without a live performance. I just have so much respect, all the time for our performers, but especially for their performances during this difficult time.”

Stephanie discussed how WWE manages their talent. This was an interesting topic given some of the controversies involving WWE and third party restrictions in recent months. As expected, Stephanie’s answer mostly glossed over the more polarizing aspects.

“WWE is a bit different than other leagues and properties,” said Stephanie. “We own all the intellectual properties, because we create them. So it’s very different from how the leagues operate. We have a whole pop culture strategy outside of our business. We cast our superstars outside of WWE programming; whether that’s partnership endorsements, cameos, roles in Hollywood films, red carpets, you name it.  The goal is to get our stars out there as much as possible.

“We recognize there’s a huge percentage of the population that isn’t WWE fans that we want to attract. At the same time we also want to get athletes, pop culture influencers and celebrities into our programming for the same reason. The rising tide really raises all boats in terms of audience and growth.

“So we’re really excited; we have a few tricks up our sleeve for Wrestlemania. Bad Bunny has certainly been a huge part of our programming since the Royal Rumble. It’s a wild ride.”