– The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast on FOX Sports recently interviewed WWE’s Stephanie McMahon, who spoke on the upcoming brand extension return. Below are some highlights (transcript via WrestlingInc.com).
Stephanie on the return of the brand extension: “One of the reasons behind it is because with the proliferation of talent that we have now, especially with all of the up-and-coming stars on NXT, there’s an opportunity there to really grow our business and differentiate between RAW and SmackDown, which also gives us the opportunity from a business perspective to expand different lines of business and from a storyline perspective to really slow down our stories a little bit more and really focus and concentrate. When you’re going from RAW to SmackDown every week with your storylines, they burn out a little bit faster than they do when it’s weekly.”
Stephanie on how her father had planned the brand extension return for a long time: “It’s something that Vince [McMahon] had planned on for quite some time, but we hadn’t fully developed it until it got closer to SmackDown going live. It [has] been in the works for a little while now. But the Shane [McMahon] storyline certainly gives us a great storyline platform to promote it.”
On if the brand extension gives the company relief from injuries and wellness policy violations: “I don’t know that the brand extension necessarily provides relief from those unforeseen circumstances, but it is just another storytelling opportunity for us, really. It just expands the breadth and depth of our characters and our storylines and I hope that our audience engages and has fun.”
