Chad Williams from TheHollywoodReporter.com conducted an interview with Vince McMahon. The following are pieces from the interview:
THR: About three years ago now, your last national competitor (Time Warner-owned WCW) went out of business. Do you miss the competition?
McMahon: Hindsight being 20/20 ... I don't know that it may have been just a matter of time before we killed each other off. I don't know. Our understanding of the business on a long-range basis really gave us an advantage. We were overmatched in terms of assets, but they were overmatched in terms of work ethic and in terms of understanding how to build a brand. And in the end, our formula worked. Quite frankly, though, I was surprised when (they) threw in the towel. I didn't think that would ever happen.
THR: Following the collapse of WCW, you essentially went about creating your own competition by creating separate rosters for UPN's "SmackDown!" and Spike TV's "RAW." Are you committed to this strategy in the long term?
McMahon: I am committed to it very long term and ... it has worked out extremely well for us. We actually have a tour going on in Japan as we speak and one back over here. When we were going head-to-head with Turner, it was one big soap opera played out on Monday and Thursday, and it was just a matter of time before we burned out those stars or those story lines creatively. We just did a survey in which Nielsen told us that 70% of both "RAW" and "SmackDown!" viewers do not watch the other brand. Which means that we have a pretty large audience out there when you combine the two. Whereas before it was the opposite -- 70% of our audience watched both because it was the same story line. Now (that we've established) the brand separation ... we're gonna go the opposite direction and start promoting one to the other.
THR: In the last couple of years, you've bought up a lot of wrestling footage from defunct companies like ECW and the old American Wrestling Assn. Combined with the library that came with the purchase of WCW and WWE's own archives, you're now in possession of thousands and thousands of hours of footage. How do you plan to exploit that library?
McMahon: It could take any number of forms, and we're exploring that now. It could be a channel in and of itself in terms of a digital channel. It could be an analog channel, although they're very expensive. It could be an SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) type situation, which we think is a viable alternative, too. So we're looking into all of that, and we know that with all of the libraries and everything that it is a tremendously valuable asset. You can even exploit it on a tiered basis -- where if you start it out as SVOD you can eventually then move it onto a basic cable channel, etc. The other aspect of this is that it's really global in nature. When you think about our brand and the inroads we've made in so many different countries, that channel is viable in almost any language or any country because it's readily understood. I think we're poised for a lot of growth in the very near future on a global basis.
THR: The Rock has been the first WWE star to make the transition to major film star. How do you weigh the loss of a charismatic performer -- at least on a day-to-day basis -- against the benefit you get from having a mainstream star identified with your company?
McMahon: First and foremost, when you create stars, I think you want to hold onto them to a certain extent. At the same time, you want them to be able to go fly, and that's what we did with Rock. The Rock loves this business and will always be a part of it, but only on a sparing basis. He's graduated so quickly into successful film work, but he'll always want to come back. And as such that spot needs to be filled with someone else that's gonna come along and capture everyone else's interest and imagination ... and then at the same time probably do a little Hollywood work on the side and gradually get into that. So it's important to have a new young stable of stars, always ready, always pushing the envelope, so that you can capitalize on them. If you stop building stars, which we never do, you wouldn't be in business.
To read the entire interview, click here.