“You have to be able to look
yourself in the eyes in the
mirror, you know, and know
that you're a good person.”
McMahon: The number one quality is charisma.
You have to be able to connect with the audience.
That is that magic "it" factor that designates a star
from someone who is just never going to be a star.
You can't teach charisma. You can draw it out of
people if it's there and they haven't quite figured
out how to utilize it yet, but it's just one of those
things, that's why they call it the "X factor".
O'Reilly: Beyond charisma, you need to be
seriously athletic.
and reach across so many different platforms, it's not only a
privilege to give back in those ways, but I think it's a
responsibility as well. Use your powers for good, to use an old
superhero analogy.
O'Reilly: If I, overnight, wanted to change my career and quit
this journalism lark and become a WWE wrestler, what would
I need to do?
(WE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon (L) and
husband/WWE Wrestler Triple H attend the 'Scooby Doo!
WrestleMania Mystery' New York Premiere at Tribeca
Cinemas on March 22, 2014 in New York City. Mike
Coppola/Getty
Images)
McMahon: You would need to try out. We do have tryouts, we
hold them at the Performance Center, which is based in
Orlando, Florida. This was really my husband's creation, the
Performance Center, because he himself is one of our biggest
stars and he looked at our performance centers and opportunity
and said: "If I were just starting off, what were the things that I
would need to be successful?"
He really has created an elite team of trainers, there is a medical
staff there, we have a partnership with Joe DeFranco for his
strength and conditioning program, so we have certified trainers
under that program. We are also training commentators, we are
training editors, we have a whole digital crew there as well as a
television production crew, so it really is the epicenter of
learning all of these different facets. We then also have a
partnership with Full Sail University, which is a for-profit
university in Orlando, to shoot a show for our network called
NXT, which started off as our developmental property and has
now become a global brand in and of itself, utilizing only social
media to promote its live event tours that sell out.
McMahon: You have to be very healthy. It's not
that you have to have a particular body type but
you need to be healthy because you have to be
able to sustain the lifestyle. When you consider
that we are live for 52 weeks a year, there is no
off-season so you need to be in the best shape you
possibly can physically and mentally in order to
maintain that schedule, as well as the physicality
and the athleticism in the ring. You have to be an
athlete and you have to be able to speak well — a
lot of what we do is conveying character. While
they are not necessarily actors, per se, you are
playing a role and you do need to get the audience
to invest in you, to want to relate in you, to care
to see if you win or lose. That's the magic model,
if you don't care about the match, you're not
invested in it, why would you watch? You need to
care about these performers to want to see them
win or lose. So you have to be articulate.
O'Reilly: Over the years, your husband aside,
perhaps, who has been your favorite superstar?
McMahon: My favorite superstar of all time is my
friend Andre the Giant. I grew up with Andre, he
was always my friend and I think he taught me a
long time ago, regardless of how people judge you
for what you look like, you need to be true to
yourself. My father has this expression that you
have to be able to look yourself in the eyes in the
mirror, you know, and know that you're a good
person. If that's true and you feel good about
yourself then that's all that matters no matter
what other people's perceptions are.
O'Reilly: What are the best qualities of your superstars? What
are the qualities you look out for in these tryouts?
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