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Earlier today, WWE's Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman appeared on stage in New York City as part of Bloomberg's Power Players gathering at their HQ.
On why WWE has done so well in recent years, Heyman noted, "If you read this morning on Wall Street, WWE's net profits have doubled since 2019. If you ask me why. I'll give you three answers. One, the business leadership of our President, Nick Khan. Two, the creative leadership of our Chief Content Officer, Paul Levesque....and number three, the fact that we are blessed to have the single biggest box office attraction in sports entertainment history. History, and that can be documented by the fact that our top star has been since 2019. This man, the tribal chief, Roman Reigns."
On WWE shifting to Netflix, Roman Reigns commented, "The thing that changes the whole landscape for us is that we've been on linear television for decades now, and we've been the leader of that episodically. So, to take our program and to put it on a streaming network like Netflix It's just unheard of. To go all the way back through our history to see where we are now and the growth that we've had really since 2020, when the world was upside down has just really been amazing. So it's a big opportunity for us to not only showcase our product, but just what we've mastered with live television."
On the idea that the company might lean more into edgier, mature content once that move is made, Reigns was not commital to that idea, responding, "If we allow Paul to do Hall of Fame speeches non-stop, we'll definitely push that envelope. But for me, I don't know. I have always enjoyed the challenges of being PG and no offense to our predecessors and the people who came before us and the ratings that they revolved around, but to me, it's a, it's more challenging to be able to tell these stories. It also allows you a broader audience to connect to which I just really feel like. It's always the goal. We want to reach as many people as possible. And I think there's a fine limit to when you can cross that threshold where you push people off from the product. So I think there's a nice, there's going to be a nice little range there that we can play with. And, push the envelope in certain senses. But I think we need to stick to our values and the morals that we've set in place in the culture that we have now."
Heyman explained, "It's all storyline dependent also. It's all storyline dependent also. Yeah. What does the story call for? There are stories on our show that call for a kiss at the end. There are stories on our show that call for a punch at the end. There are stories on our show that calls for a level of aggression that transcends into violence. So it really is storyline dependent. What is the intensity? What is the purpose? What is the theme of the story that we're trying to tell?"
On WWE getting access to Netflix's viewing data and how it may impact how the company tells stories and creates moments, Roman said, "I want all that data. I'd like to be able to look at all of this stuff and go through these algorithms and analytics. That way, because we're scripted, we can make this whatever's not only right for us, but what's right for the audience. And if we can keep our thumb on that pulse, it just makes the job so much easier."
Heyman followed up, "I actually think the biggest beneficiary of that is gonna be Netflix. And just. So that I back up what I'm saying, they just released, and I apologize to the author of the article that, that released it, because I don't remember where it was published, but they just released who has the most social impact in WWE, and Roman Reigns has been off social media since Wrestlemania, which was in early April. Off social media since April. Who has the biggest impact on social media in WWE? Roman Reigns and the nearest competitor was 15 to 18 percent behind Roman Reigns and he hasn't posted one thing since April. The enormity of the social media impact, of the digital impact that WWE offers and its top star can offer on a global basis can even take a streaming service and the world's biggest streaming service like Netflix and make it humble. It's a good perspective."
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