“New Stars Coming Up”- Vince McMahon Makes Major Announcement

WWE recently held its Annual Shareholder Meeting to discuss the progress of the company. The hot topic of discussion was WWE’s strategy amidst the smokescreen of the pandemic, which seemed to be affecting rating drastically. Vince McMahon was in the thick of the questions.

Among those present on the call were WWE General Counsel Brian Nurse who opened the call, Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, EVP Paul Levesque, Interim CFO Frank A. Riddick III, independent directors, and other executives.

The undeniable elephant in the room was RAW’s fall from grace in the rating chart. Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard have been unable to plug the leak, and now stare the shareholders directly in the eyes and explain what their strategy is.

The question that was brought to the light was, now that Brock Lesnar is out of the scene, would WWE focus on building new stars to raise viewership ratings or not?

To this question, Vince McMahon expressed these thoughts.

“Sure, I mean you want to continue to build stars no matter what time. It is so, as Paul just mentioned about NXT talent. He has done an extraordinary job of creating new stars, and as they continue to evolve, they’ll continue to come up to RAW and SmackDown,” says McMahon.

McMahon will be banking on the huge NXT talent list that is available in the brand. The likes of Adam Cole, Keith Lee, Rhea Ripley, Dakota Kai, Johnny Gargano, and many more come to mind. 

Vince McMahon will utilize the talent in NXT

“So there’s this influence of new superstars coming into both RAW and SmackDown, and in addition to that, the ways that we now promote talent in a more effective way, digital and social media, as opposed to the normal way,” explains McMahon.

RAW has had a hard time during the pandemic. It has lost more than a million of its viewers since the lockdown period began and is continuing to lose. 

Vince McMahon tried to get a creative change by replacing Paul Heyman with Bruce Prichard a the Executive Director, but that doesn’t seem to be curbing the fall that much.

“We do not have a live audience and of course that to us is paramount. They’re like the third performer in the ring, in terms of our interaction with our audience,” says McMahon. “So nonetheless it is a good time to continue with the digital and social imprint and this land grab that we have, which is substantial. We continue that. And again new stars coming up.”

To summarise, Vince McMahon is going to fill the void of the fans by massive digital advertising. Fans are the ultimate proving grounds for a new Superstar, but McMahon seems to have found an alternative in this age of technology. He intends to use it to his advantage.

It will be exciting to see new Superstar get the push to the top. The RAW roster could use some new faces and exciting roles. Vince McMahon was quite clear of his intentions and will surely act on it.

Source: Virtual Shareholder Meeting, Wrestlenomics