Interview with Stephanie McMahon from 2007

Now, I said in my previous blog that I would go into more detail about an interview that took place. I first heard about it this morning when checking the wrestling news on a site that I go to and it said about an interview with Stephanie McMahon done in 2007. The interview was conducted by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in response to, basically, the Benoit murders. If you are not sure about what I mean by that, click here.
It was also done, stemming from that, as part of the "...committees investigation into allegations regarding the abuse of steroids and illegal drugs in professional wrestling." (ref. pg. 3).
It starts with a little bit, actually, a lot, about what Stephanie McMahon does in terms of working for the WWE. She has three main roles in the WWE. She is the Executive Vice President of Creative Writing, Talent Relations and Live Events. She has held that position for a couple of months. It talks a little about what she did prior to her current positions. She then is asked to explain about what she does in each of the positions that she has. As part of the creative team, she is in charge of all the script writing that goes on for all the three different brands in WWE (RAW, Smackdown and ECW). She talks about how it works and how many staff that she has with her doing the writing and how the ideas process works into actually making it to the TV. She also explains "babyfaces" and "heels" and what their roles are in terms of main events and their own individual storylines. She talks about her other roles (Talent Relations & Live Events) and what she does there as well. She mentions her dad Vince McMahon and how they interact in terms of business. "I call him Vince in business......At home he is Dad. And Linda is the same way; in business she is Linda, and at home she is Mum." (ref. pg. 14)
There is reference to a little of the history of WWE in terms of buying WCW and ECW and how ECW has a cult following (ECW information here).
It then goes on for a few pages about the talent and how the other two brands (RAW and Smackdown) differ and interact.
On page 22 it starts to talk about Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan and how these two had so much going for them and thats what made them as famous as they are today. Stone Cold "....changed his character." and made himself a "....self-made superstar." (ref. pg. 22) whereas Hulk "was a terrible wrestler, and he still is." (ref. pg. 24) but because he could tap into the audience and was charismatic, thats what made him a star.

On pg. 58 we start to get some reference to the Benoit tragedy. She mentions in an answer to a question that "Chris is such a tragedy, but he did force us to look at our business in a different way." and "So Chris Benoit, while a tragedy, I think has helped in some wasy because it's helped us to look at our talent and how we can treat them better (ref. pg. 58) She says that the company is look at how they treat their performers in a "....how can we help? What can we do as a company?" (ref. pg. 60) She says that there have been educational seminars with the talent to try and help them and to try and get them to get health insurance and to have financial planning.

It then goes on to talk about developmental territories and scouting and on pg. 72 the question is asked, "Are you aware of whether any scouts have ever reported back that a potential hire was rumoured to be a steroid user?" In response to the question, Stephanie says that if the decision was in fact to hire someone like that then they, like everyone else, would have to go through the precontact screening.

Now getting to the part which attracted my attention on the site I go to (click here to see), the question is asked "...When was CM Punk made champion?" to which Stephanie replies "I'm really not sure. I would say within the last year. It was recent."
It is then asked whether it was because of the death of Benoit and she replied "Yes, it was. Ironically, Mr. Benoit was supposed to become ECW champion that night, but he didn't show up at the pay-per-view because he was dead." (ref. pg. 81).
I would like to add here, personally, that this is not the case. Because of Benoit not turning up to Vengeance that night (the Pay-per-view) Johnny Nitro was brought in to replace Benoit and subsequently won against CM Punk. Punk won the ECW Championship later that year.

After alot more about the talent and the running of things in WWE, on page 44 it starts to bring up the topic of steroids/prescription drugs/illegal drugs. It comes about in asking about whether the topics play a role in who to promote or not. Stephanie explains that it only ever becomes an issue to her when the talent has been suspended and they need to get the people off of television. She talks about how after November 2007 that the names of wrestlers who were suspended were being made public, that the company needed to rechange the policy.

It goes on to talk about the wellness policy that WWE has in place and then starts talking about whether Stephanie has heard anyone talking about using, or talking about other people using steroids or illegal substances. She says that she has not witnessed it but "...I am the bosses daughter in real life. So I think people are a little careful how they might speak around me as well." ( ref.pg. 90)

It the goes on for a little while longer about what happens in terms of injuries and who is at ringside for the performers if they are hurt. It also talks about concussions and what goes on with certain moves and props.

It also talks about an incident which happened on October 22nd, 2007, where Candice Michelle (WWE Diva) was knocked unconscious in the ring and the referee "....appeared to have directed the other wrestler to pull her by her neck and her underarm to the....middle of the ring for a pin to end the match." (pg. 127) Stephanie replies that the referee was severly reprimanded for that incident and that they have the ability to end the match and that that is reinforced constantly.

Towards the end it starts to talk about health insurance, injuries and time off. The interview is conclude with Stephanie being thanked and interview concluded.

That is the end of the blog. There are references throughout this blog but if you would like to read the full 138 pages of the interview with Stephanie McMahon click here and it will take you to the interview. Thank you for reading.