Stephanie McMahon On How Long Vince Had Planned For The Brand Extension, Why They Are Doing It
Recently, Stephanie McMahon was a guest on The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast. Among other things, WWE's Chief Brand Officer spoke about the upcoming brand extension.
During the interview, Stephanie claimed that WWE RAW and SmackDown having unique characters and storylines once again is possible largely due to the increased number of talent available to fill spots on the red and blue brands.
"One of the reasons behind it is because with the proliferation of talent that we have now, especially with all of the up-and-coming stars on NXT, there's an opportunity there to really grow our business and differentiate between RAW and SmackDown, which also gives us the opportunity from a business perspective to expand different lines of business and from a storyline perspective to really slow down our stories a little bit more and really focus and concentrate. When you're going from RAW to SmackDown every week with your storylines, they burn out a little bit faster than they do when it's weekly."
According to 'The Vincess', the brand extension is something that her father has planned for a long time; however, it has been held off to coincide with SmackDown going live on Tuesday nights.
"It's something that Vince [McMahon] had planned on for quite some time, but we hadn't fully developed it until it got closer to SmackDown going live. It [has] been in the works for a little while now. But the Shane [McMahon] storyline certainly gives us a great storyline platform to promote it."
As for whether the brand extension will provide relief from wellness policy violations and unexpected injuries in the form of extra rest for performers, 'The Billion Dollar Princess' focused on the creative opportunities WWE will have with its two major weekly television programs airing distinct storylines.
"I don't know that the brand extension necessarily provides relief from those unforeseen circumstances, but it is just another storytelling opportunity for us, really. It just expands the breadth and depth of our characters and our storylines and I hope that our audience engages and has fun."
You can check out the interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit Wrestling Compadres Slamcast with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.