Stephanie McMahon Guarantees Surprises For WWE SummerSlam, Predicts Better TV Ratings Once Fans Return
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WWE SummerSlam is expected to be one of the company’s biggest shows of the year, and in a recent interview, Stephanie McMahon promised fans that WWE has some major surprises planned for the event.
During an appearance on Yahoo Finance, McMahon teased that WWE has “a lot” of exciting developments in store.
“I guarantee for SummerSlam, there’s gonna be a lot of surprises.,” said McMahon.
In the same interview, McMahon also discussed the television viewership numbers for WWE RAW and SmackDown, and she argued that the numbers will go up once live fans are back in attendance.
“Like everything, we saw our ratings hit when we were first producing our content with absolutely no audience, virtual or otherwise,” said McMahon. “And when we invested in the ThunderDome, we absolutely saw our ratings increase, you know, for both SmackDown and RAW. So we think live fans absolutely, that’s gonna be what puts us over the top.”
“The live event is where our event really comes to life,” WWE Chief Brand Officer @StephMcMahon says. “When you think about WWE superstars, they are akin to superheroes, except they’re real, genuine, authentic, you can come see them in person.” pic.twitter.com/OwMOKyjzI4
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 16, 2021
McMahon also explained the reasoning behind the recent consolidation of several departments within WWE. (The company merged its digital and TV departments, a move that produced many layoffs. She stated that this move was a reflection of the company’s mission to increase efficiency.
“I think like a lot of media companies, we’re in the process of transition and evolution,” said McMahon. “And when you consider the fact that we had three different media teams really doing a lot of the same work, we realized that there was a lot of duplication and inefficiency. So it’s really just being more prudent businesspeople and looking at our business in a different way.”
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