Triple H Doesn't Think Vince McMahon Gets Enough Credit For Changing With The Times
As previously noted, WWE COO Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were interviewed by Sports Business Journal. During the discussion, Stephanie revealed that WWE's long term goal is to have a business plan similar to Disney's. Triple H also took some time to talk about Vince McMahon's part in the company's progress over the years.
Stephanie believes that WWE can appeal to both children and adults because of the "sophistication" in their writing. She hopes that WWE's content appeals to families the same way that Disney films can reach a wide range of audiences.
"I think that's just sophistication in the writing process," Stephanie said. "You think about Disney, it definitely appeals to families and kids but it appeals to both adults and kids at the same time because of the different levels of the writing. And we can always improve and always do better, and that's what we always strive to do."
Steph recognizes that such growth can't happen overnight, however, she sees a business plan similar to Disney's as the long term goal within WWE.
"We've always said, 'Why can't WWE be as big as Disney?' The reason acquisition of course puts that off a little longer, maybe 20-30 years from now, but I do think that's an important perspective: the long term strategy and thinking," Steph explained. "But also, all of our lines of business, they really are more akin to Disney. We are a media property with the consumer products, television studio, film studio, etc. We have all of the different aspects of that wheel."
When addressing what makes WWE's product different, Triple H mentioned how they put heaps of attention and effort in to their non-televised, live WWE shows. At these events, the WWE superstars sometimes don't have to stay within the narrow confines of the storylines while they perform.
"Sometimes our live events happen to be more fun. And that's what we try to do, is make them more fun and give you some stuff that you would never get the opportunity to see, maybe at Monday Night RAW or WrestleMania even, because it's non-televised and we can go out and do that extra thing because we're not having to stay as dead on to a particular storyline, or episodically [keep everything] motivated, Triple H explained. "We can give you that crazy thing that you thought you would never see in a million years and then it happens in that live event and you were there. That's the difference for us, so we're always trying to re-imagine how we create that experience."
Triple H gives Vince McMahon a lot of credit for how the company has continued to evolve and stay relevant for so long. He even went as far as to recognize when Vince restructured the entire PPV model of the company to adapt to the advancing services that the internet can provide.
"It's one of the things that Vince has done so successfully and he's not given enough credit for a lot, is being able to shift with the time and being slightly ahead of it," Triple H said. "As he sees the shift happening, he's able to morph, whether that be with the character, whether that be with the television show and production, whether that be tearing up your PPV model that your business is built on and saying I'm going to start this over and I'm going to go to an OTT model because I can see the world heading in that direction."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Sports Business Journal with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.