Last week
www.nzpwi.co.nz interviewed Shane McMahon. really interesting read. Or you can watch it at
http://www.nzpwi.co.nz/home/index.ph...80&Ite mid=88
Dion McCracken: So welcome to New Zealand anyway Shane it’s a…
Shane McMahon: Thank you very much for having me.
pleasure to have you here.
No-one can accuse you of being a trust fund baby can they…
Sure they can.
Well I’m sure they can, but they’d be wrong, wouldn’t they? You were cleaning the Cape Cod Coliseum at eleven, packing boxes in the warehouse at thirteen…
Wow.
In the ring crew at nineteen, stint as a referee… Vince really made you work your way into the industry didn’t he?
He always gave me the choice. But yes, he always instilled a hard work ethic and everything else.
I’m curious how you got that Cape Cod Coliseum information. That’s pretty uh… see that? That’s why you’re the man, right?
Well, just quietly, between me and you.
And thousands of others. [points to video camera]
What’s your first vivid memory of the pro-wrestling industry?
Um… really just, I’d been going to the matches since I’ve been two years old. And my first one was at the Worcester Auditorium, in Worcester, Massachusetts. And I remember I was so excited, because I’d been watching with my dad, you know because my dad was on TV, from when I was, at that age, so I would sit there and I couldn’t really figure it out, I would look over at him, I’d look at the TV, and I’d look over at him – this was told to me by my mother – and I’d say “two da-da’s”.
Hah!
You know, so it was… but I always loved that aspect of it. Really, going to my first match, I was so excited because my dad was going to introduce me to Andre the Giant. And when I met Andre, and we just hit it off, I was always going to be Andre the Giant’s tag team partner, that’s what I always wanted to do, and I said, “Dad” – having no idea as a kid I said– “I’m gonna grow up to be big like Andre and not small like you.”
Hahaha…
So that’s probably my most vivid memory, and my first one.
When did you decide that you wanted to be part of the business?
Pretty much all my life. You know, I just always wanted to be a part of it, I love it, and I’m a huge fan myself. You know, the passion – that’s why we do it. You know… if you’re not passionate about whatever it is that you do, you shouldn’t be doing it.
You’ve been off-screen for a couple of years now, until just recently, and concentrating on your role as Executive VP of Global Media?
Correct.
What does that entail?
Ah, it’s really the overall general direction of the company. I wear a lot of different hats. You have your merchandising and your licensing, and from outside the camera you have television production, again, merchandising, licensing, your live events division, marketing, consumer products. You have so many things wrapped into one, so it’s a pretty big… it’s a pretty big magilla, to make sure that goes the correct way.
Everyone’s working so hard on the road. All the athletes are literally breaking their backs for the company, and they’re in there every single night and touring and it’s a real hard life that way.
With the creative storylines, my sister’s in charge of the creative writing team, she manages that group. But my dad’s the be-all, end-all creative genius. So, that end’s being taken care of, and constantly worked on, we’re going to make sure that the back end is really doing it, and being a public company as well now is extremely time-intensive, and my mom is really handling a lot of that aspect.
Has the internet changed the way that you have to do business?
Absolutely.
How?
Well I mean, as you know, if something happens it’s all over the world. It’s a global medium, a global forum, so you can’t have surprises anymore. You know, if you… we used to do something, if we did it exclusively for the in-arena audience, it would stay there. You know, word of mouth or on the telephone or things like that would happen, but now if Batista got a hold of Triple H, once the cameras went off, which sometimes happens, and getting Batista-bombed and really beat the crap out of him, that’s now global. Because all the fans in the arena now are posting on boards and they’re doing their own blogs, and sending certain things out, etc.
Are you excited about being part of the show again?
It was, I think I did more of a cameo. You have to uh… tune in next Friday night, here… to find out who is the new GM… or if there’s going to be a GM, or what’s going to happen.
Let’s say hypothetically…
Hypothetically? Okay.
If you became the RAW GM, would you enjoy that?
Of course. No, I mean there’s nothing like performing, in front of a crowd. And that’s what all the guys, that’s what they feed off of. You know, we have a relationship with the fans. And that’s why we do it.
As long as everyone’s loving, or loving to hate you, that’s really the fun of it. And we feed off each other, you know… the fans know. You’re a fan. I’m sure you’ll be going to the show here in March.
Absolutely.
And there’ll be so many people holding up their signs, it’s a sea of expression. And that’s what we encourage all the time. Everybody knows, I look at WWE as one huge family. Whether it’s people working at the office, or whether it be the superstars, or the fans, we all make it work. And it doesn’t work without those parts.
You’ve jumped in the ring yourself of course, and only had a handful of pay-per-view matches, but…
Right.
…they’re all incredibly memorable. Jumping off the TitanTron against Steve Blackman at SummerSlam 2000, the elbow drop on the Big Show, Backlash 2001, going through the glass at King of the Ring 2001 with Kurt Angle – which is on the Don’t Try This At Home video – two questions…
And you should NOT try that at home. Ever. None of those things.
Two questions: one – are you nuts? And two – what drove you to do those spots?
Um… I don’t know if, I’m not nuts to me.
When I was a kid, I used to, my grandmother lived in North Carolina. And ever since I could climb a tree, I would climb up those huge Carolina pines and I would jump from one to another. So it’s really kind of where my daredevil aspect started, you know, skateboard, motorcross, anything dangerous, I did, I loved to do that, so that’s just how I’m wired, that’s just how I’m built, so… I don’t think… I don’t think I’m crazy.
There’s a huge risk to it. Especially when you’re that high. If you’re, anytime you get above twenty feet. When I dropped the elbow on Big Show at fifty feet… you really have to know what you’re doing. Because you can very easily over-rotate and break your neck and you’re dead. And that’s the reality, that’s why you leave it up to the pros. Stuntmen and things like that… or myself, etc.
What do the guys backstage think about those bumps you took?
They think I’m nuts. [laughs]
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