Last night was the second Live With Chris Jericho Podcast on the WWE Network. Jericho interviewed WWE Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie McMahon. Here are 6 takeaways from the interview.
1. Thoughts on Working with Her Dad
Jericho asks Stephanie how it is to work for Vince. Stephanie says it’s very challenging. She talks about having to redo promos if she did nail it the first time. Jericho says Stephanie is just like Vince on TV. Stephanie says her brother Shane McMahon calls her the “Vincess.” I think Vincess is the perfect nickname for Stephanie. Just like her father she is awesome authority heel.
2. Stephanie’s Friendship With Andre The Giant
The McMahon household has been host to several wrestlers including the late Andre the Giant. Stephanie tells a story about meeting him at age 3 and stepping into his hand. She says she noticed people always treated Andre different and that bothered her. She says when people found out she was Vince’s daughter as a kid, they treated her different also and she could relate to Andre.
3. Stephanie and Triple H
Vince forbid Stephanie from dating wrestlers because he thought it was bad for business. Despite thinking that he would often make comments that Stephanie should date someone like Triple H. She talks about how once they started dating, Vince told them they couldn’t date, but they got together about a year later and eventually it all worked out. When their relationship was public knowledge, a lot of the agents were not happy and expressed their concerns to Vince. I knew Jericho was going to bring up Chyna, but I’m curious what Stephanie has to say about Chyna and if she feels she homewrecked the Chyna and Triple H relationship.
4. The Future of Ronda Rousey in WWE
Jericho talks about the segment with Rock, Triple H and Ronda Rousey from Wrestlemania 31. Jericho asks where that angle is going. Stephanie doesn’t know what the overall plan is and we’ll see if anything ever happens but talks about how fun it was. She brings up how the fans started chanting for Ronda before the angle happened and they had the feeling it was going to work well. She talks about how she’s a big fan of Ronda and says it’s awesome how Ronda is drawing main events for UFC. Stephanie says Ronda is inspiring and she wants her daughters to look up to someone like that. She says Ronda is paving the way for women and is a legitimate badass. Stephanie calls Rousey incredible. Jericho brings up a possible match and Stephanie says she has thought about it, but it’s not a plan right now. They both acknowledge the recent comments from Dana White on Rousey not being able to wrestle a match, but she kind of brushes it off. I loved the Rousey’s involvement at Wrestlemania 31. From what I’ve been reading it sounds like Rousey can’t wait for another opportunity to step into the squared circle. There’s plenty of time for WWE to find a way to get Rousey on Wrestlemania 32.
5. Give Divas A Chance Campaign
Jericho asks about the #GiveDivasAChance campaign and she says it’s an organic campaign started by fans that trended for three days. She says it was so important that Vince tweeted about it. She says it’s something that definitely needs to happen. Jericho brings up when AJ Lee called Stephanie out over equality on Twitter a few months ago. Jericho says she responded diplomatically but asked if it pissed her off. She says it didn’t piss her off as much, but she had to respond diplomatically. She believes the hashtag started at the same time as AJ called her out and AJ was responding to her tweet about Patricia Arquette, but AJ’s response wasn’t really commenting on the hashtag campaign. Stephanie says she’s fully behind the movement. They both praise the NXT Divas and hopes it transitions to the main roster. Stephanie believes we could see Divas main event RAW again, but it’s got to be the right story and they’ve got to make it happen. The main roster diva’s division definitely needs an adrenaline shot of NXT.
6. Stephanie’s Favorite Match
Jericho asks Stephanie about her favorite match. Believe it or not she says her favorite match was her SummerSlam match with Brie Bella. It’s her favorite because it was her first match in 11 years and all three of her daughter were in the front row watching. She was also proud that she and Brie had several segments that main evented Raw. I thought the match with Brie was good, but I wish the whole storyline around it followed through. The whole purpose of the match was to turn Nikki against Brie and now they’re back together,
Other Topics Mentioned:
WWE Staff Party
Eisenhower Fellows Trip
Stephanie’s Favorite Wrestlers
Relationship with Shane McMahon
Vicki Guerrero
You can watch the full interview on the WWE Network. Just a reminder that the WWE Network is free this month for new subscribers. You can subscribe to the WWE Network by clicking here.
