Stephanie McMahon On What Fascinates Her About Gaming

WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was recently a guest on the Sports Business Journal's I Factor with Abe Madkour. McMahon opened up about her family life, and she discussed Vince's work ethic throughout the pandemic.

"It's amazing. Sometimes he brings his trainer on the road with him," Stephanie revealed. "He's still on the road every single week. Even during the pandemic, we never stopped producing our live program, and he was there every single time. Every night that we produce television, he is there."

WWE has had their hands in many different areas of media and entertainment. Stephanie discussed the places that she is keeping her eyes on.

"Definitely live sports rights, how it's looking for linear, the evolution for streaming. Content in general, the demand for content," McMahon stated. "You keep hearing all these brands talk about 'the metaverse' and the intersection of physical and virtual. That's a lot of what we did during the pandemic. We had what we called the ThunderDome. We partnered with a group called The Famous Group, and we brought in nearly 1000 fans every night, digitally, virtually. We've had now almost a million people all over the world who participated in that audience experience.

"We're very happy to have our live audience back. Certainly looking at live audience trends as well, the pent up demand, what's happening there. It's going to be a new world, a more customized world. One of the beautiful things about gaming that I think is so attractive to individuals, A, you don't have to have, necessarily, athletic ability. I'm not saying that it's so easy to game, but you can be a different person. You can take on a new identity. You can create whatever world you want to create. It's a creator driven economy right now, and I think that's only going to grow and I'm fascinated by it."

McMahon later discussed what is next for her going forward. She noted that is tied to what is next for WWE, and she explained what that entails.

"What's next for me is really what's next for WWE, and it is very much tied to our international growth strategy, whether that's through media rights or creating our localized performance centers and local content. Nothing but opportunity there," McMahon said. "It's definitely content in general, in ring and out of ring. Scripted series, unscripted, you mentioned my father's Netflix docu-series that's coming out and then of course, "The United States vs. Vincent Kennedy McMahon", which I lived through, and I was in high school during that time. So content in general, and sponsorship is a huge focus for me personally and for WWE."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit SBJ I Factor with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.