Stephanie McMahon on Listening to the WWE Audience, Says They Are Pushing for Second Evolution Event

– talkSPORT and Alex McCarthy recently spoke to WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon. She discussed listening to the WWE audience, pushing for a second Evolution event, and more. Below are some highlights.

Stephanie on being proud of the women’s evolution: “I just couldn’t be more proud of the women’s evolution that has taken place in WWE and really all around the world, but especially WWE. When you consider the stat that you just gave me and then you think about the fact that our women headlined WrestleMania, which is akin to our biggest championship playoff, and our women were the main event. And then you consider that our women were allowed to compete for the first time in history in Saudi Arabia just about a month ago, it is… proud is the word that comes to mind. I’m so incredibly proud. And these women deserve every opportunity not because they’re women, but because they’re some of the greatest performers in WWE.”

Stephanie McMahon on listening to the fans: “We are certainly doing our best to listen to our audience and give them what they want. I think we always need to be listening, we always need to be trying and we couldn’t be more excited to be launching in the UK on BT Sport for the first-time in history. Providing an experience to our fans that is hopefully easier to enjoy, including same-day prime time re-airs of RAW and SmackDown. Personalized highlights on the BT Sports app, original programming like the BT Sports acclaimed document series ‘No Filter’. It really is a huge opportunity for us and we need to make sure the content is worthy of our fans’ passion.”

Stephanie on women crediting her for helping with the women’s evolution: “It’s humbling that anyone would bring up my name for a movement so big, but in order to truly effect change it takes all of us working together. When you think about any one that has stepped foot inside what we call the squared circle throughout history, especially those pioneers, those women that stood in the face of complete adversity to try and make a name for themselves and make a stand. The men that supported them along the way; you’ve heard the names Fit Finlay, our first woman trainer and now head coach Sarah D’Amato, Matt Bloom and Triple H – especially in terms of our recruiting efforts, his entire team. Really, it takes everyone to make this happen, but most especially, the credit really goes to the WWE Universe. Without them demanding it, I’m not sure it would have happened as quickly as we were able to make it happen – and we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Stephanie McMahon on how they are pushing for a second Evolution event: “It is certainly something that we are pushing for. There’s no official announcement just yet and yes, there was a balls in the air and wheels in motion in terms of this year and, of course, one of the big focuses was on our event in Saudi Arabia and having our women being allowed to perform. I’m hopeful to have an announcement on an Evolution 2, but there is nothing official to announce just yet.”