Stephanie McMahon On WWE Creating ‘The Best Experience For Fans’ During Pandemic

WWE carried on through the pandemic and they didn’t skip a week of original programming. The company needed to figure out a lot of things in order to proceed as they found a new normal. Stephanie McMahon says they did it all for the fans.

While speaking to Insider, Stephanie McMahon spoke about WWE’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said they have a responsibility to their viewers and she spoke about wanting to provide an “escape” during the pandemic. That is why she said the company carried on as they had to split WrestleMania into two nights to provide such a unique experience.

“We had to quickly pivot to decide — A) does the show still go on? and B) if so, where and how? We decided that yes we have responsibility to our audience, and to our partners, to continue to produce our programming. We wanted to provide an opportunity for our viewers to escape. We still do. It’s our mission to put smiles on peoples faces. WrestleMania took place at our Performance Center over two nights in front of absolutely no people, and it was definitely a unique experience.”

“We were hoping to be back in arenas by now with fans in attendance but obviously that just wasn’t meant to be. All along we were really learning, playing with audio, different types of graphics packages — all different things. Then we realized we’re not going to be in different arenas and starting to travel again, so what are we going to do, and how can we create the best experience for our fans.”

“We really do want to create the best possible experience for our fans. One that’s worthy of their passion so we’re examining all kinds of things and you could see both. I think we’re going to see a lot in all businesses and in particular the entertainment industries and sports, a lot of combinations of the new learnings from all this technology, plus the fundamental foundational learning that we have to move our businesses forward. So it’ll be an intersection of what works best.”

They hope to be back in arenas with live fans soon. The ThunderDome lease is going to run out at the end of October and WWE has a lot of options in Florida, especially since the state rushed into phase 3 of reopening as they did.