Interview: Vince McMahon on WWE, FOX TV Deal, Talent Asking for Rest Time, WCW, More

Variety held a recent interview with several WWE executives and talent discussing a variety of topics. One of those interviewed was Vince McMahon who gave his thoughts on WWE itself, the recent television deal with FOX, criticisms of WWE’s grueling work schedule, competing with WCW in the 90s, and more.

On the topic of WWE itself, McMahon stated he feels the company is very different than what people assume a wrestling company would be.

“So few people understand what we do and how we do it. We’re different than anything else that’s out there. The respect factor is here, and now it’s global.”

On the topic of the recent television deal with FOX, McMahon stated that they will be taking an integrated approach with FOX to help promote SmackDown and this new partnership.

“WWE talent will be appearing on [Fox] programming. It’s going to be a totally integrated approach. We’ve never had a platform like this in terms of promotion. Fox is going to go all-in, and they’re great promoters. NBCU is going to step up as well to the equivalent of what Fox is going to do.”

On the topic of the criticisms of WWE’s grueling work schedule, McMahon stated that the company does not have any issues with their talent asking for time off to rest nor punish those who do ask for whatever reasons needed.

“Anybody who wants time off can get time off. That’s easy. In addition to that, it’s easy to weave a talent in and out of a storyline. If they get injured, you’re not expecting that. Or if they have a family matter. Our characters are real people with real problems. It’s a revolving situation where this talent will work these dates, that talent will work those dates.”

On the topic of the Monday Night War with WCW in the 90s, McMahon stated WCW’s successes was due to Ted Turner spending a lot of money to buy up WWE’s talent and felt very confident that WCW would eventually fall.

“Ted Turner opened his checkbook and spent a lot of money buying our talent. We knew they’d do OK for a while, but we knew they couldn’t stand the grind.”

Other topics discussed included if he would ever consider selling WWE and not wanting to take WWE’s successes for granted.