Stephanie Mcmahon - WWE's Branding Powerhouse

Stephanie McMahon is Chief Brand Officer of WWE, a publicly-traded (NYSE: WWE) global media company. In this role, she is responsible for WWE’s Brand, Community Relations, and Pop Culture strategy, which includes celebrity integrations and partnerships within the entertainment industry. Stephanie represents the company as its global brand ambassador, and also plays a character who appears regularly on WWE programming. Among her many contributions, Stephanie has been the driving force behind WWE’s women’s evolution, which has given female performers an equal share of the spotlight both in and out of the ring. Prior to being named Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie was Executive Vice President, Creative and was responsible for overseeing the Digital and Creative Departments. She was also the first woman to lead WWE's Talent Relations, Talent Brand Management and Live Events businesses. She is a member of the 2017 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute and is also a member of the 2015 Eisenhower Fellowship class. Adweek has included Stephanie in their list of the Most Powerful Women in Sports for the past three years. She was named a Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award Honoree at the 2017 ESPN Humanitarian Awards and was selected as part of Sports Business Journal’s 2017 class of “Game Changers: Women in Sports Business.” In 2014, Stephanie and her husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, established Connor’s Cure, a fund dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer. In partnership with The V Foundation and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Connor’s Cure has raised more than $2 million to date. She is a mother of three daughters ages 11, 9 and 7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 P.M. And my third day, 6:00 P.M. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time, too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it waiting weeks on a big bank for capital. Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

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• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent. Welcome to the Ed Mylett Show. The place for leaders, dreams, and champions.

• 1:41Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out with Ed Mylett. I have a special program today. And a lot of you have asked me, can you please feature more prominent, beautiful businesswomen? And I have, I think, one of the great marketing minds, man or woman, in American business today. Marketing, branding, business, digital media, television media, print media. Sitting to my left here. And so, this is, if you don't recognize her, although most of you already do, this is Stephanie McMahon. So Stephanie, thank you for being here.

• 2:09Speaker 03

  Thank you for having me.

• 2:10Ed Mylett?

  I'm real excited about this, like...

• 2:12Speaker 03

  But I do have a complaint, though.

• 2:14Ed Mylett?

  What's that?

• 2:14Speaker 03

  In spite of that incredible introduction, that we are not at your house in front of the beach with the beautiful blue water in the background.

• 2:21Ed Mylett?

  I agree. And so, we need to make maybe a part two of this.

• 2:24Speaker 03

  It's well branded.

• 2:25Ed Mylett?

  It is well branded, everybody. Which we're gonna talk a lot about today.

• 2:28Speaker 03

  So...

• 2:28Ed Mylett?

  But I would prefer to be at the ocean, too. And so, by the way, that's a great intro. Speaking of branding, that's what this lady does. She is the chief brand officer for WWE, which is a huge global brand. And so, we're gonna talk about that today. And that's why my introduction about her background in business and marketing and branding fits, because she's the CBO of one of the biggest brands in the world. But she's also a mother. She's a wife. She's very philanthropic with all of the different work that you and Paul, her husband, Triple H, do together. So we're gonna talk about all of those things today. This is a very unique woman. And she's gonna bring you a lot of value today, and hopefully some inspiration, too. So, you ready to roll?

• 3:09Speaker 03

  I'm ready.

• 3:09Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 3:10Speaker 03

  Thank you. I hope I live up to that.

• 3:11Ed Mylett?

  You will. You will. So, I'm curious about you growing up, because it wasn't normal, right? So...

• 3:17Speaker 03

  It was my normal.

• 3:18Ed Mylett?

  It was your normal.

• 3:19Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 3:19Ed Mylett?

  And so, what did that look like, though? So, you grew up in this company, right? And so, you're around, you know, all of these brand names that I grew up with as heroes. Your dad's one of those brands as well. Your mom and dad worked in the company. What was it like growing up around all this?

• 3:33Speaker 03

  So, there's never been a boring day in my life, ever, you know? And I tell the story all the time. I'll just...

• 3:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 3:41Speaker 03

  Andre the Giant. So, he was, you know, one of my best friends.

• 3:45Ed Mylett?

  That's amazing.

• 3:46Speaker 03

  And I know, for me, it was the norm, right? So, my mom actually had told me this story originally, when Andre, for the first time, came into our driveway, the first time we ever met. And he had this customized van, because of how big he was, right? He gets out, and he's so big, it's almost like his head blocks out the sun. I'm like three, jumping on the trampoline.

• 4:11Ed Mylett?

  He's three years old.

• 4:12Speaker 03

  And he's walking towards me, and it's as if the ground is shaking, you know? Here comes this giant. And it's so funny because I just wasn't scared.

• 4:22Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 4:22Speaker 03

  Not scared of him at all.

• 4:23Ed Mylett?

  Why do you think that was?

• 4:25Speaker 03

  I think we were meant to be friends. And I think, I don't know, it just, he never scared me.

• 4:31Ed Mylett?

  Huh.

• 4:31Speaker 03

  And, and it actually was one of the reasons for our connection, you know?

• 4:37Ed Mylett?

  Because other people responded in a different way to him?

• 4:38Speaker 03

  Yeah. And he held out his hand, and I stepped into his hand.

• 4:44Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 4:44Speaker 03

  He brought me up to his cheek, and I gave him a kiss on his cheek.

• 4:48Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 4:49Speaker 03

  And my mom always referred to him as Mike Gulliver.

• 4:51Ed Mylett?

  Look at your face even when you talk about it.

• 4:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, I love Andre.

• 4:54Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 4:55Speaker 03

  And the documentary on HBO is awesome.

• 4:57Ed Mylett?

  I was gonna ask you that, relatively accurate then.

• 4:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh, it is. And it's, I don't think he would have wanted it to end the way that it did. That's just my personal opinion, but it was, it was how it ended, you know? And it was, it was a beautiful story, it was so well done. Bill Simmons really did a great job.

• 5:15Ed Mylett?

  I love Bill.

• 5:15Speaker 03

  Jason Ayer, and it was awesome.

• 5:18Ed Mylett?

  But, so it was your normal, but were you aware, had to become a point where you knew this wasn't normal, right? Was there a point where, I assume you're going to some shows, you're around the talent from time to time? Was there a point where you went, hey, this is not like every other kid's at my school's life? I don't know, was there a point where you realized that?

• 5:36Speaker 03

  You know, I suppose. I don't know that there's ever one moment, you know, kids in school, they would always ask me questions about wrestling. You know, I was, either kids love me, or they hated me.

• 5:49Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 5:49Speaker 03

  WWE's always been very polarizing.

• 5:51Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:52Speaker 03

  Just because of who my father was. And it's actually interesting because I used to feel really bad about that. And I'd say to my dad, like, you know what, I want people to like me for me.

• 6:02Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:03Speaker 03

  You know, and some people don't like me without ever knowing me. And my dad always told me... You know what Steph? Not everybody's gonna like you. And as long as you're a good person and you can look yourself in the eyes in the mirror and know that you're a good person.

• 6:19Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:19Speaker 03

  That's all that matters.

• 6:20Ed Mylett?

  Was your dad a big influence on you? This is great because I think a lot of the fans of WWE only see the character version of you, right? Which we'll talk about.

• 6:28Speaker 03

  Mostly, yeah.

• 6:28Ed Mylett?

  We're gonna talk about that, but it's interesting. I think it's a great peek inside just what's turned you into this force you are in business too, right? So what kind of influence was your dad? Your dad is this larger-than-life figure, obviously, right? He's a hero of mine for a lot of reasons, but not the least of which is, I'm serious, is your dad's fitness level at his age. It's something that I aspire to.

• 6:48Speaker 03

  He's 72.

• 6:49Ed Mylett?

  I know, it's amazing. And he's a stud, right? At least from not knowing him on the outside, I'd look at him as like, that's what you want. He's got business, he's got a great family, he's been married to the same woman, he's super fit, he's went from rags to riches. But for you, how did your dad have an influence over you when you were growing up?

• 7:04Speaker 03

  You know, it's funny because I actually talk about my dad all the time and the influence that he had on my life, to the point where some people say, "Well, what about your mom?" You know, because my mom is a force of nature in her own right.

• 7:14Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 7:15Speaker 03

  But I idolized my dad, you know, growing up for sure. And, you know, well into my adult life, I just absolutely idolized my dad. And he, he's my dad. And I don't know if, if, you have a daughter, right? That dad-daughter connection, there is just something so special about it. And just to tell a personal story, he now has, because we have three girls, as you mentioned, we do this daddy-daughter dance every year. And because of how close in age my kids are, there's always two going to the same dance. And my dad comes and he'll take the daughter that my husband's not going with.

• 7:57Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 7:58Speaker 03

  And there's this beautiful song that they played, that they play all the time. Actually, I recommend people look it up, it'll make you cry, about Dancing with Cinderella. And he dances with my little girls and he has those moments with them that they will never forget. And to me, that's what it's all about, you know?

• 8:15Ed Mylett?

  That is what it's all about. I'm really glad you shared that with me. I don't know why that gets me emotional.

• 8:20Speaker 03

  Because you're thinking about your little girl, probably.

• 8:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I do. Wow, that's a great story. So you're like helping lead into all these questions I have because I think our past sort of gives us some future, you know, prediction of where we're going. And you come from this, you mentioned your mom. You actually come from, at least that I'm aware of, three generations of super hardworking women.

• 8:39Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 8:39Ed Mylett?

  Your grandmother was a working woman in the 40s.

• 8:43Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 8:43Ed Mylett?

  When that was not the norm.

• 8:45Speaker 03

  Not just a working woman. She was a budget analyst for the Navy.

• 8:48Ed Mylett?

  I didn't know that. Wow.

• 8:50Speaker 03

  Yep. And she had to prove herself in that role. And I asked her one day, I said, "How did you do that, Mema?" We call her Mema, M-I-M-A. And that's what my brother named her when he couldn't pronounce grandmother. So it became Mema, and she's still Mema to me. And she said, "Well, I just learned how to do what my boss did, and I did it better than they did."

• 9:11Ed Mylett?

  Wow. Wow, that's awesome.

• 9:13Speaker 03

  So she had all the answers.

• 9:14Ed Mylett?

  She was, I've watched some of your social stuff, like she was a real influence in your life too, right?

• 9:19Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. My grandmother. I love my grandmother. She's so strong. You talk about strong, she's no filter. She'll say anything to anybody, and it can come off rude to some people. We've been out to dinner before, and she'll say something, and to the waiter or waitress, I'm like, "Shh."

• 9:38Ed Mylett?

  You're explaining her. Isn't that kind of interesting for all of you guys that see her character, to know that she's the one explaining away the intense behavior? I think that's pretty cool. So you got, I'm loving this. So there's grandma, who didn't just work, but did something very substantial. And then your mother, even when your mom started building a company with your dad, your mom, that was not necessarily the norm in the early 80s for women to be working to that extent outside the home all the time too. And so you've really followed in mom and grandma's footsteps now into this role that you're in now. Was there a point where you knew, "I'm gonna step into this business"?

• 10:11Speaker 03

  So, two things I want to say on that. One is, I think it's so important for girls today to see women in leadership positions. Whether it's in business, media, sports, entertainment. Because then, they know that they could do that, if they wanted to. And oftentimes, you don't necessarily think of something that you can do if you don't see someone else doing it. And I think because of my grandmother, and because my mom was the CEO of WWE, it never occurred to me that I couldn't, you know, be a leader.

• 10:41Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 10:42Speaker 03

  I assumed, actually, that that's what I was supposed to do. Right? So it was quite the opposite, just because my mom was in that position. And in terms of working for the company, I've always wanted to be a part of the business.

• 10:53Ed Mylett?

  You did?

• 10:54Speaker 03

  Always. I have watched since I can remember. And that's where, you know, you mentioned, as a little kid, right? I just thought everyone's dad was on TV. This wasn't the case.

• 11:06Ed Mylett?

  Right, right.

• 11:07Speaker 03

  But, you know, that's, I just grew up loving our business. And the other thing is, because my parents were building our company, you know, my dad took it from a regional business into a global phenomenon.

• 11:18Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 11:18Speaker 03

  And dinner conversations were always about business.

• 11:21Ed Mylett?

  I'm sure.

• 11:22Speaker 03

  Right? So I was always listening to them, always, listening to them talk about business. And we didn't have nannies or anything like that, so I was always with them.

• 11:29Ed Mylett?

  Is that right?

• 11:30Speaker 03

  You know, oh yeah, Saturday mornings, I'd go with them to the office.

• 11:33Ed Mylett?

  No kidding?

• 11:33Speaker 03

  Yep. And I'd sit with the receptionist most of the time, I'd draw pictures. My mom still has this framed picture of a dog that I drew in the art department. And I named it Scruffy. And she framed it and to this day has it in her office.

• 11:49Ed Mylett?

  So it was sort of like, there was gonna be this path. You were gonna end up here, probably, right?

• 11:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, but I didn't, you know, the funny thing is, I didn't picture myself in any particular role.

• 11:57Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 11:57Speaker 03

  You know, I didn't say, "Oh, I'm gonna be on TV," or, "Oh, I'm gonna, you know, do this or do that." I just wanted to be a part of it.

• 12:04Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 12:04Speaker 03

  And I think part of the reason why is because, to me, it was a way to give back to my family. You know, I wanted to be a part of what they loved so much and what they were growing, and what they were doing. I wanted to be a part of it. You know, and I loved it too.

• 12:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 12:19Speaker 03

  So we, we share this passion for this business.

• 12:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you have to forgive me on something. I really watch people when they talk.

• 12:25Speaker 03

  Right.

• 12:26Ed Mylett?

  And your face changes every time you talk about your family.

• 12:28Speaker 03

  Yeah?

• 12:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, it does. Like, there's a deep love in your family that I sense, and it's on your face even now. Like, when I talk to you, I don't know why that like affects me when I see it on people, because I love mine so much too.

• 12:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 12:39Ed Mylett?

  And I think that's one of the secrets of WWE. And, because we have mutual friends, Kristen and other people, and so I'm familiar with the company. It's this really interesting thing. I think people see this.

• 12:48Speaker 03

  When you say Kristen, you mean Kristen Proudie?

• 12:50Ed Mylett?

  I do.

• 12:50Speaker 03

  Okay, I'm just getting her name out there.

• 12:52Ed Mylett?

  Kristen Proudie. Let's give her a shout out. She might be in the room right now, everybody.

• 12:54Speaker 03

  She might be. She might be sitting right there, behind the camera.

• 12:56Ed Mylett?

  But she doesn't want to be in front of the camera, but yes.

• 12:59Speaker 03

  And JJ, I have to say, because she's also sitting right there.

• 13:01Ed Mylett?

  She's coming up to the lake this summer. You know that she's never been in a lake, just so you know, in her life.

• 13:05Speaker 03

  Ever?

• 13:05Ed Mylett?

  So she's gonna jump in my lake this summer. It's actually not my lake, but it's in front of my house, so I call it my lake. So she's coming there. But, you can see even in the environment in the room, everybody. And so, one of the things I've learned about WWE is that although it's became this publicly traded thing, it's this big, huge entity, it really is a family business, and there's a family environment in the business too. And I think, for all of you fans that are watching this, like, this has to be so insightful for you, but I love great American business stories. And so what you said about being a prominent woman, it's why I do the show. I want more young business women to see people like you and to know, she's not in the number 27 position in the company. This is a woman helping drive this company. She'll be humble about what she does, but she's helping drive this company. This is one of the most front and center.

• 13:49Ed Mylett?

  She's a character on the show. She's the branding officer. She's this kind of global ambassador for the entire organization. And so, but the seeds of the company, I think, tell you a lot. I was reading about your mom and dad, and like, when you, your mom and dad, when your mom was pregnant with you, your parents were broke. They were BK.

• 14:05Speaker 03

  They declared bankruptcy.

• 14:07Ed Mylett?

  They declared bankruptcy.

• 14:08Speaker 03

  So, this is actually a great story. My mom is eight months pregnant with me. And she was on her way to go meet my dad at the courthouse. And she walks out of the house and there's a boot on her car for unpaid parking tickets or whatever it was, because they really just had no money. And the tow truck comes to get the car and my mom said, can I, can I please ask you to just drop me off?

• 14:30Ed Mylett?

  Mine's pregnant.

• 14:31Speaker 03

  We need to declare bankruptcy, would you mind?

• 14:33Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 14:34Speaker 03

  So this tow truck driver was really nice and drives down. So now can you imagine my dad, who's now mad because she's late, right? And then up drives this big tow truck and my, my mom with her big belly waddles out of the tow truck, you know, like, can you imagine?

• 14:49Ed Mylett?

  No, I cannot imagine.

• 14:50Speaker 03

  And they had my brother, you know, who was about six.

• 14:53Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 14:54Speaker 03

  So.

• 14:54Ed Mylett?

  And when you see this, you guys, you watch the different TV shows, you see the big stars, you see The Rock and his movies and to think that it came from a time, just for those of you, I want hope because there's entrepreneurs out there.

• 15:05Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 15:05Ed Mylett?

  And they're thinking, you know, I'm close to BK, I'm broke, I've got these family issues. Picture this eight-month pregnant mother of hers, right? Picture this. She's going to the courthouse to file bankruptcy and it turns into what you see today with all of these offshoots, this global brand, it's this, and it's got the feeling still and vibe. In other words, as, this is another key for businesses that have grown, as it's gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, they've worked very hard to maintain its culture. Because as companies get bigger, as brands get bigger. So speak to that just for a second from a branding perspective too, and how focused you are on the culture of the company, not just the, the inner workings, the show, the talent, all that, but just the culture.

• 15:44Speaker 03

  It's incredibly important.

• 15:45Ed Mylett?

  So what do you do to do that and how do you stay focused on it?

• 15:47Speaker 03

  So a few different things. One, I'll talk about, you know, the notion of family and, and that culture as it relates to our audience, and then I'll talk to it as it relates to, you know, our talent.

• 15:58Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 15:59Speaker 03

  But as it relates to our audience, we actually call our, our audience the WWE Universe, right? And they are fans, but fan seems to be an exclusive term, whereas the universe is inclusive. And I've taken that term even more broadly because I think it's not just our fan base. I think it's also our talent. I think it's also our employees. I think it's anybody who loves or touches our brand, our business partners, anybody who's a part of WWE is a part of the WWE Universe. And you can feel it when you come to a show. I, I did a few interviews to talk about WrestleMania this past year where I wrestled Ronda Rousey, by the way.

• 16:39Ed Mylett?

  We're gonna talk about that.

• 16:40Speaker 03

  She won. Yep. Yeah. Anyway.

• 16:43Ed Mylett?

  I don't want to say anything to be ashamed of.

• 16:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, no, no, no. I'm just hamming it up. It was such an incredible opportunity. It was amazing. But what I talked about is why WrestleMania is so important to me and what it means to me because that is where everyone comes together to share this passion.

• 17:03Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:04Speaker 03

  You know, and it's so unique. And so, for example, this past Monday, we announced our partnership with Special Olympics in support of the USA Games. And our entire audience got to their feet when these athletes came out. It was Team Texas because that's who they are.

• 17:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:23Speaker 03

  You know, and it is this inclusive, supportive, amazing environment. I mean, in spite of what you may read on Twitter as it relates to storyline.

• 17:31Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:32Speaker 03

  You know, they really are this amazing group of people. And I believe in humanity, I really do. But that's the family environment.

• 17:41Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 17:42Speaker 03

  You know, and that's what WWE is. So from a branding perspective, even calling them the WWE Universe, making sure they feel included, giving them the opportunity to have that standing ovation for those athletes. Because how does that feel to them?

• 17:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:55Speaker 03

  Where you feel good when you support somebody else, right?

• 17:58Ed Mylett?

  No question, yeah.

• 17:59Speaker 03

  It's a gift to be able to be there for someone else. It is.

• 18:02Ed Mylett?

  That's wonderful.

• 18:03Speaker 03

  And from a talent standpoint, my husband has taken great care, actually, to cultivate this culture, even in our performance center where we're developing future stars. You know, it's all about professionalism. You know, the way you dress, you shake people's hands, you look them in the eye, you pick up trash, you know, you support one another. He's looking for emergent leaders. You know, he's looking in talent tryouts, you know, not just are you going to make it physically, right? But then, once you're really worn down, who are the ones who are in it for themselves and who are the ones that try to pick other people up?

• 18:39Ed Mylett?

  Really? Yeah. That's part of the culture inside the company.

• 18:42Speaker 03

  Part of the culture grown from the very beginning.

• 18:45Ed Mylett?

  I wonder because you grew up around it that you just have this maybe unique respect and admiration for. It's almost like in WWE there aren't really, you're right about the fan thing, the more that you said I was thinking about. It's almost like we're all in on this together.

• 18:57Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 18:58Ed Mylett?

  It's kind of, even on the storyline stuff too, it's like we're super entertained by it, but we kind of both know what's happening, yet we buy in and love it so much too, so it really, that is unique and I never thought of it that way before.

• 19:07Speaker 03

  And if you ever come to a show, anybody, whoever comes to a show and you ask a question to anyone sitting around you, like, "So who's this guy or who's that girl?", you will, suddenly five people will turn around and give you like the full background of the whole storyline from their beginning.

• 19:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, that's totally true.

• 19:23Speaker 03

  Because we want you to be a part of this.

• 19:25Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, is there something about, someone watching this who's, because there's the raving fans that are watching this and they're going, "Wow, I'm so excited and inspired to hear this side of you", but then there's people that are watching this that know of WWE, but may not know much about it either, right? And so what would you, what is WWE? Like, let's not assume everybody knows that, like, what would you say WWE is what?

• 19:47Speaker 03

  So, well, WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, for those of you who really don't know, you might not even know the acronym. But it's like a live action adventure soap opera. And when I'm out there and I'm speaking to influencers, brands, you know, potential partners, and I need to give a little bit of an education and an overview, I say, "We're really no different than a great opera, ballet, you know, play, TV show, sitcom, movie. It's protagonist versus antagonist with conflict resolution."

• 20:17Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 20:17Speaker 03

  Only our conflicts are settled inside a 20 by 20 foot ring with some of the greatest live action that you can see anywhere in any sport or entertainment. You know, that's how I talk about WWE.

• 20:30Ed Mylett?

  And if I would add, even though I know 1%, 1 million to 1% of what you do, some of the greatest athletes I've ever seen in my life.

• 20:36Speaker 03

  They're amazing.

• 20:36Ed Mylett?

  The combination of, it's interesting, WWE's got these, that's why I love it. It's got this combination of all of these different elements to it, and even the characters themselves, they're great athletes, they've got to be able to perform, they've got to be able to inspire, they've got to have quick one-minute things they say that get things, they got to do it in a ring in front of a live audience. It's also got to translate through a camera. It's really unbelievable, some of the talent and the way that you create it.

• 20:57Speaker 03

  It's actually really interesting, I just heard Jodie Foster say about wrestling, how it's a great foundation for anybody who wants to perform in film. She was talking about Hotel Artemis, which is her new movie coming out. And Batista's in it.

• 21:13Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, oh, I saw that.

• 21:15Speaker 03

  Yep, yep, and am I saying that correctly? Yeah, okay, great, I'm just making sure.

• 21:18Ed Mylett?

  You get it right.

• 21:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, and it's gonna be, you know, if you want to watch the video, it's gonna be on our dot com site, I'll get the plug in there. But, but it was really interesting to hear her say it unprompted, you know, about how it really gives you all of the tools you need to be successful in any genre, really.

• 21:35Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 21:35Speaker 03

  And when you think about it, if you ever hear Rock or John Cena, who now have transcended, you know, what we do, you hear them talk about those tools, right? Because think about public speaking, right? You're speaking in front of thousands of people all the time.

• 21:51Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 21:51Speaker 03

  Right, so you, you get your chops, you know, from doing that. You need to show up on time, you have to be professional in WWE, or you're not gonna make it, right?

• 21:59Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 21:59Speaker 03

  You know, if you have lines, they're memorized.

• 22:01Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 22:01Speaker 03

  You know, you come prepared.

• 22:02Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 22:03Speaker 03

  Plus, you have been doing interviews, and media interviews, even from the time that you're a developmental talent. Because we're training you constantly, in all different platforms, and all different avenues, we're training you to build your brand in social media, we're training you to do other types of media interviews, radio, TV, etc. We're training you at the local level, and then we're training you at the national level, and then the global level.

• 22:24Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, unbelievable.

• 22:25Speaker 03

  So it's, you come, when you are a WWE superstar, you are one of the most well-rounded business people, and entertainers, and athletes that you could possibly be.

• 22:36Ed Mylett?

  It's so true, and they love it. When you hear Dwayne talk about the WWE, he still has a heart for it, he still loves it, or John, the Bella Twins on my show.

• 22:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, the Bellas as well.

• 22:45Ed Mylett?

  They just love it, and what you said is really, they exemplify that, too. They're just really unbelievable women, they're great business women.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  They are.

• 22:52Ed Mylett?

  They're great branding women, and they love this, right? They have a heart for it, there's this passion for it. And that kind of leads me down a road I want to talk about, because this is, I didn't, we didn't just feature a woman on the show just because she's so successful, but also you've helped, you may not take credit for it, but when I used to watch wrestling, it was a totally male-dominated enterprise, right? And I gotta believe that you had something to do with this transition, the last, call it decade or so, where frankly, some of the most well-known people are the Bellas, are the female talent, are Ronda Rousey. So, did you consciously start to take the company in that direction, or did that just sort of the, the market dictated it?

• 23:29Speaker 03

  I've been a part of it. You know, so definitely I've had a voice, you know, for a long time. But, and not just by myself, you know, there's been a lot of other voices, right? A lot of other female voices trying to fight for this, and some male voices as well. But it wasn't until our fans spoke that we were able to truly affect the change.

• 23:53Ed Mylett?

  You mean speak with ratings, like we like this?

• 23:55Speaker 03

  Social media. So there was a match with the Bellas, with actually Nikki Bella, and it lasted all of 30 seconds.

• 24:03Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  And unfortunately, that was the norm, right? And this was in 2015.

• 24:09Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 24:09Speaker 03

  It was supposed to be a tag match for 30 seconds. And our fans had just had enough, and they started a hashtag called #Givdivasachance. And it trended worldwide for three days.

• 24:20Ed Mylett?

  Wow, I didn't know that.

• 24:21Speaker 03

  Specifically asking for more athleticism, longer matches, better character development, better storylines, specifically demanding those things. And my father, the chairman and CEO, responded, "We hear you. Keep watching #Givdivasachance." Then that WrestleMania, which is like our Super Bowl, which was our biggest live audience ever, over 101,000 people at AT&T Stadium, we had Hall of Famer Lita go out and announce the rebranding of the Divas division to the Women's Division. She unveiled a new championship belt, which was more akin to the men's, but still feminine, and announced that we'd be rebranding our women, we're now going to be called Superstars,

• 25:06Speaker 03

  same as the men.

• 25:07Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 25:07Speaker 03

  And since that time, our women have been more regularly main eventing television and pay-per-view events. And this is an awesome story.

• 25:17Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 25:18Speaker 03

  Just this past, well, and then, you know, of course, we signed Ronda Rousey, one of the world's greatest athletes.

• 25:24Ed Mylett?

  Yep, that's right.

• 25:25Speaker 03

  You know, I mean, because of all of this, right? And she then now wants to take it to another level.

• 25:30Ed Mylett?

  Hmm, that's so good.

• 25:31Speaker 03

  It is. It's awesome, and I can't wait to see what we're gonna do.

• 25:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 25:36Speaker 03

  Together, you know, but when I say together, I mean with the audience. I know. Because they are so much a part of making that happen. They are just as invested in the women's evolution, if not more so than anybody else. It's something they believe in. Yeah. And our women are, they are rising to the top. You know, they're just being given an opportunity, but they're then taking that opportunity and a lot of the time stealing the show. My husband also, it was a lot of what he started to do at NXT, which NXT, for those of you who don't know, started off as our developmental show and is now really evolved into a third global touring brand in and of itself and is one of the most watched programs on WWE Network, which is our OTT service.

• 26:19Speaker 03

  But my husband started recruiting elite athletes, men and women. And he started training the women same as the men and giving them the same opportunities because like anything else, repetitions are how you're gonna get better, right? So at our live events that we do, our local live events, which is where our talent often, non-televized, where our talent often learn, you know, the skills. That's where they hone the craft, the live audience gives reaction, that's how you learn what's working, what's not working, and worse, what they don't care about. Right. Yeah. The silence. Silence. Crickets are bad. I hate those crickets. But, so he started giving them those opportunities and then our audience responded in kind

• 27:01Speaker 03

  because these women were so awesome and they started chanting, "This is wrestling and women's wrestling." What a cool movement. Right? And I get goosebumps talking about it. So then, when that, so here's this huge movement happening in NXT. So then when that 30-second match happened on Raw, our fans were like, "No, we see what can happen and we want that." Whoa. We want that opportunity for these women, men and women. And they started that hashtag. So now my story, in December, for the first time ever, our women competed in Abu Dhabi. Were allowed to compete in Abu Dhabi. I saw that, okay. And they had to wear different gear because they had to cover a lot of their skin and that's totally fine, actually their gear was so cool.

• 27:46Speaker 03

  And the audience started to chant, "This is hope." Oh my goodness. "This is hope, men and women in Abu Dhabi." And then Sasha Banks, who was wrestling Alexa Bliss at that time, said she saw tears in the eyes of little girls in the audience. I mean, can you imagine that?

• 28:08Ed Mylett?

  No, that's transformative.

• 28:10Speaker 03

  It's transformative, it really is.

• 28:12Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 28:13Speaker 03

  The kind of impact that that can have.

• 28:14Ed Mylett?

  I didn't know that. I did not know that. I knew that the event happened, but I didn't know that to that extent that it changed things. My gosh, like, what's it, wow, what's it like for you? I mean, this is having a real impact on culture.

• 28:28Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 28:28Ed Mylett?

  Right? I mean, and by the way, great companies listen to what the market's telling them, and so.

• 28:33Speaker 03

  Great companies listen to their fans.

• 28:35Ed Mylett?

  Their fans, right.

• 28:35Speaker 03

  Or their consumers, or what have you.

• 28:37Ed Mylett?

  And most don't, and so, kudos to you guys for responding too. And then to know that it's making that kind of transformation worldwide, that's just incredible. Those of you ladies out there, that whether you're Stephanie, or you're Ronda Rousey, or you're the divas, or you're a woman who's got a bakery in your town, just know that you really do make a difference. You are transformative. You're more of a hero and a role model than you realize.

• 29:01Speaker 03

  Than you realize.

• 29:02Ed Mylett?

  For the girls who come in there and see you. They see people like them winning, and they know that they can then go do it, and so.

• 29:08Speaker 03

  I'll tell you one other quick sidebar on that, because when my oldest daughter was two, so, you know, this is nine years ago.

• 29:16Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 29:18Speaker 03

  I went to the two's class party, right?

• 29:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 29:21Speaker 03

  And it was right around the time we were getting ready for Halloween. And one of the other moms, who was about 10 years older, she asked, you know, "Oh, well, what's your daughter gonna be?" And I said, "Oh, she's gonna be a doctor." And this other mom said, "Oh, how interesting that she's gonna be a doctor and not a nurse." And I thought, "Oh, how interesting that you would even say that."

• 29:43Ed Mylett?

  Hello.

• 29:44Speaker 03

  Right? It was so surprising to me. But then I thought about it, and my oldest daughter's doctors had always been women.

• 29:50Ed Mylett?

  You're old, that's interesting.

• 29:52Speaker 03

  So that was her perspective, and that's exactly the point.

• 29:55Ed Mylett?

  Yep, it is.

• 29:56Speaker 03

  It is so important for women to be in these roles.

• 29:59Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 29:59Speaker 03

  You know, for girls to see that.

• 30:00Ed Mylett?

  And for you ladies that watch this too, to know like, that metaphor applies to you, like you do really give hope.

• 30:07Speaker 03

  You do.

• 30:08Ed Mylett?

  That's a big scale when you're hearing about them abroad and that the, you know, the women are still wearing their different, you know, traditional guard, but to be able to create hope like that, but you do that in your way. You businesswoman, when you get up and speak, or you walk into a business meeting, it's transformed the globe the last few years. And so I hope you're proud of that, and I hope you hold on to that, even in the times where maybe the money's not coming in like you'd like it to, and people are telling you to go back where you belong, go back and get a job, or go back to just doing what you were doing before. I want to encourage you to remember, you're giving more people hope than you realize. Just your effort gives people hope, and so for you, I'm curious what it's like.

• 30:41Speaker 03

  Uh oh, here it comes.

• 30:42Ed Mylett?

  Well, you play a character that's like, totally believable to me. So that's what's a little bit, that's like, that's like really weird about today for me.

• 30:50Speaker 03

  I guess I'm doing my job then.

• 30:51Ed Mylett?

  I meet you, I'm like, man, I love her, she's like a great mom, unbelievable businesswoman, but I'm like, I'm seeing this other person on TV forever, right? So what's it like for you to be like, this great mom, businesswoman, even though you won't accept any of the praise?

• 31:04Speaker 03

  I'd like to believe I'm a great mom.

• 31:05Ed Mylett?

  I, from, everyone else says you are, and I know you wouldn't say it about yourself, and we're gonna talk about how you balance that in a second too, by the way, but what's it like playing a character that's kinda like a villain all the time?

• 31:15Speaker 03

  Kind of?

• 31:16Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, well, it is a villain, she is a villain, right?

• 31:18Speaker 03

  I mean, I've been, our audience wanted me to be a villain from day one.

• 31:21Ed Mylett?

  They did.

• 31:22Speaker 03

  They did not like the super sweet vanilla little daddy's girl, it never worked.

• 31:27Ed Mylett?

  Is it weird for you to do that?

• 31:29Speaker 03

  No, so much fun. I love being the heel. I love it. I love interacting with our audience and them getting me and me getting them, I mean, that's what it's all about, you know? And, you know, to me, it's way more interesting and fun to be the bad guy.

• 31:43Ed Mylett?

  Does it change your energy? I'm just curious, because I don't get to ever do that. What, is your energy changed, like when you're done, are you still like, kind of that person for an hour afterwards?

• 31:49Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 31:50Ed Mylett?

  Or like, you're just done?

• 31:50Speaker 03

  No, I, I can go in and out.

• 31:52Ed Mylett?

  You can?

• 31:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, I've been doing it for a long time.

• 31:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 31:56Speaker 03

  A really long time, but basically... You know, unfortunately, there's a lot of stereotypes in this world, right? I just play in to the stereotype. That's all I do.

• 32:05Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 32:06Speaker 03

  Right? And have fun.

• 32:08Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 32:08Speaker 03

  I mean, and that's when I think we're at our best in our business. We're having fun, because our audience can feel it. When you talk about the energy.

• 32:16Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 32:16Speaker 03

  There is no greater energy on earth than interacting with a live crowd of hundreds of thousands of people. Like, it is...

• 32:24Ed Mylett?

  It's just gotta be a rush.

• 32:25Speaker 03

  It is amazing. Amazing.

• 32:28Ed Mylett?

  People ask me all the time, I love doing the podcast, but it's not the same as when I get to speak in front of 30 or 40,000 people.

• 32:32Speaker 03

  Because you feel it.

• 32:33Ed Mylett?

  One thing about your character, I just want to say to everybody too about WWE, that they do sometimes, and this is a positive thing that you wouldn't notice about the company that I like. You do play into stereotypes. And sometimes when those stereotypes are magnified like that, it actually takes away its power in society to be validated. Does that make any sense to you?

• 32:53Speaker 03

  Also because, this is one of the things I do love about playing the bad guy too. Ultimately, I will always get beat.

• 33:00Ed Mylett?

  Right, you do.

• 33:01Speaker 03

  Right?

• 33:01Ed Mylett?

  So speaking of that, you just did this match that everyone, you just did this thing with your husband.

• 33:05Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 33:05Ed Mylett?

  And, so your tag team deal with your husband and Rhonda. And there was like a message attached to that.

• 33:12Speaker 03

  And Kurt Angle, yeah.

• 33:13Ed Mylett?

  And Kurt, and there was a message attached to that whole kind of story behind that too. Can you tell them about that?

• 33:18Speaker 03

  Yes, oh gosh, the whole storyline. So, as a, you know, first and foremost, it was such an honor and a privilege to be a part of. You know, my husband is arguably one of the greatest of all time. He's Triple H, right? And to actually team with him in such a high-profile match. I mean, this is WrestleMania, it's the first time I ever competed at WrestleMania.

• 33:41Ed Mylett?

  I didn't know that.

• 33:42Speaker 03

  Yep, and WrestleMania is the event my father created, and mortgaged everything he owned and my mom owned to make it happen. WrestleMania I.

• 33:51Ed Mylett?

  Was that a turning point in the company, by the way?

• 33:53Speaker 03

  Absolutely. And it was available on closed-circuit television, which ultimately pioneered the whole pay-per-view industry.

• 33:59Ed Mylett?

  Wow!

• 34:00Speaker 03

  Yep. Yep, and then, we were one of the first to launch our OTT direct-to-consumer platform behind Netflix and Hulu. So, really, you know, my father really is a visionary and in terms of entrepreneurship, his message is always to take risks, but take calculated risks.

• 34:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, if you paid attention, WWE, the McMahons, is one of the great American business stories of the last two or three decades in our country is this family's business. As an absolute fact, it's one of the great American business stories. But then, the daughter comes along and did modernize and evolve the company as well, even though you won't take the credit for it. So I'm just gonna say it, she won't respond to it. That's an absolute friggin' fact. Even the platform you're watching this on right now, they're embracing by being here today.

• 34:47Speaker 03

  So I take direction well, okay? And, you know, my father really saw social media because he, back in his day, when he first started promoting, actually, my grandfather never wanted my dad to be in the business. And when you talk about growing, right, my dad grew up in a trailer park.

• 35:05Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 35:06Speaker 03

  And, um, yeah, and he didn't meet my grandfather until he was about 13.

• 35:10Ed Mylett?

  I saw that.

• 35:11Speaker 03

  Um, but, you know, to go from a trailer where they didn't have any running water, my dad said the outhouse, he doesn't know if it was worse in the summer or the winter. So you let your imagination go wild on that one.

• 35:22Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my God.

• 35:23Speaker 03

  But, and then to become who he...

• 35:25Ed Mylett?

  Unreal.

• 35:26Speaker 03

  Who he is.

• 35:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 35:27Speaker 03

  You know, and what he built.

• 35:28Ed Mylett?

  It's one of the great American...

• 35:29Speaker 03

  With passion and believing in yourself and surrounding yourself with great people and not being afraid to take calculated risks and staying true to who you are, all of those elements, right? Um, and building that culture. But he, so my grandfather didn't want him to ever be a part of the business. And then finally, one day, he said, you know what, I tell you what, if you can promote Bangor Maine and make that a success, then I'll let you in the door.

• 35:53Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 35:54Speaker 03

  So my dad took over Bangor Maine and he made it a success.

• 35:58Ed Mylett?

  What a unique...

• 35:59Speaker 03

  Right? But so, that local promotion, that grassroots promotion, that's what social media is. It's direct to consumer and he saw that before anybody else. And at that time...

• 36:11Ed Mylett?

  What a great point.

• 36:12Speaker 03

  At that time, I was running digital. And I had gone out to a conference and I had listened to someone, I wish I could remember who it was, but he said, you know, social media, the speaker, he said, "Social media is not 100% of one person's job. It's 1% of everybody's job." So I brought that to my dad and he goes... Nope. He said it's 100% of 100%. And then he issued throughout the company, every single department had to every week, give a report to Vince specifically, to the chairman and CEO about what they did on social media to promote their line of business.

• 36:55Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 36:56Speaker 03

  And it was met with great resistance because people didn't know the platform, or they didn't want to do a report. I mean, who wants to do a report?

• 37:02Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 37:02Speaker 03

  You feel like you're in school, but the chairman asked for it, so we're all gonna do it. And thank God we did.

• 37:08Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 37:09Speaker 03

  You know?

• 37:09Ed Mylett?

  I relate to that in my own company. So your dad did have the vision.

• 37:12Speaker 03

  He did.

• 37:13Ed Mylett?

  And then you continue to take it to the...I'm just gonna give you some credit.

• 37:15Speaker 03

  Well, I appreciate it.

• 37:16Ed Mylett?

  So you take it to the next level. But by the way, it's such an inspiring story to me. And then the company's done with all of it's good, we're gonna get into in a second, but I'm not letting you get out of here.

• 37:27Speaker 03

  Okay, great. So now here's the Rhonda story.

• 37:29Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 37:30Speaker 03

  You know, we've had our eye on Rhonda forever. And Rhonda's a huge WWE fan. And it goes back to also, well, she's been a fan all of her life, but WrestleMania 31, when we were at Levi's Stadium.

• 37:44Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 37:44Speaker 03

  And my character goes out with my husband Triple H, and we're of course gloating and taking credit for all of the success of WWE when, surprise, surprise, The Rock's music hits. And he comes down to the ring and we kinda get into it.

• 38:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 38:01Speaker 03

  He and my husband have a little tit for tat, and then I get into it and I slap Rock as hard as I possibly can. It's actually the hardest I've ever slapped anybody. My adrenaline just must have been through the roof. I didn't mean to slap him so hard, but it was a good one.

• 38:14Ed Mylett?

  You're really whacking him.

• 38:15Speaker 03

  And then he turned and he looked at me, and I said, "What are you gonna do, Rock? You're not gonna hit a woman." And I said, "Go ahead. Go ahead, DJ. Get to stepping." You know, like, so evil.

• 38:24Ed Mylett?

  You go right into this person again, by the way. She has chains in front of me.

• 38:27Speaker 03

  It's just fun. But it's so evil, right? And then, what does he do? He goes, "Well, you know what, Steph? You're right. I would never hit a woman." But I know somebody who would.

• 38:36Ed Mylett?

  Oh, that's so good.

• 38:37Speaker 03

  And then he gets out of the ring and who's sitting front row? But Ronda Rousey.

• 38:41Ed Mylett?

  That's badass right there.

• 38:43Speaker 03

  And then the whole crowd, 76,000 people start chanting, "Ronda's gonna kill you." That was the chant.

• 38:50Ed Mylett?

  That's so good.

• 38:51Speaker 03

  As she's getting into the ring and it was, it played out perfectly. Wound out with her like hip tossing my husband and then putting me in the arm bar, but I got, I get away and they have their great moment, right? So now, we're really actively watching Ronda. And we had been for a long time anyway. But, you know, could, could it ever work? Would it ever work? We, you know, we would each have conversations. She wanted to, you know, but how, how is it gonna fit in with her fighting? And, you know, in her movie career and all that great stuff. And then finally, for whatever reason, the stars aligned, the opportunity was there.

• 39:26Ed Mylett?

  So good.

• 39:27Speaker 03

  And, and my husband was really the one who made it happen. And Ronda signs with WWE. You know, it just, it was so incredible because, and now take a step back, right? Out of storyline, here's Ronda Rousey. You know, a woman who has built her own empire. I mean, you talk about empowerment.

• 39:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 39:46Speaker 03

  Just by being who she is, by the way. She does, she is, there's nothing false about her. She is who she is. She speaks her mind. She stays true to herself. You know, she's a shining example for girls everywhere, for boys, I mean, for everyone. She really is.

• 40:02Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 40:02Speaker 03

  And she's signing with WWE. She's taking a transition into some, a world she's never been a part of. And she is gonna have her first ever match, ever, at WrestleMania, our biggest platform, our Super Bowl.

• 40:17Ed Mylett?

  It's big.

• 40:17Speaker 03

  Can you imagine the pressure?

• 40:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, no, no.

• 40:19Speaker 03

  What she, but she thrives on it though. She thrives on pressure. You know, she's, I think she's at her best when she's under pressure. And she just trained and trained and trained and trained and so did I because, I mean, like, okay, I'm, you know, 41-year-old mom, like, I work out all the time, but come on.

• 40:38Ed Mylett?

  You do work out all the time.

• 40:39Speaker 03

  I'm not in the same league as Ronda Rousey.

• 40:41Ed Mylett?

  Maybe the greatest female athlete the last decade. One of her and Serena and a couple others, right?

• 40:45Speaker 03

  Absolutely, absolutely, hands down. So I have to at least get in good enough shape to give her a good show. You know what I mean? Like, I had to, you know, and I was there. I was, I was there.

• 40:54Ed Mylett?

  That's pressure on you, girl.

• 40:55Speaker 03

  It was a lot of pressure on me. Yeah, because that was the story, right? And that's where, going back to the villain. Ultimately, I helped kick off her WWE career.

• 41:07Ed Mylett?

  Do you guys call that heat? Is that what that's called? What do you call that?

• 41:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's when you're a bad guy.

• 41:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 41:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's heat.

• 41:11Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 41:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, I got a lot of heat.

• 41:13Ed Mylett?

  That's fascinating.

• 41:14Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 41:14Ed Mylett?

  You've been a part of so many cool things. Like, what a life.

• 41:17Speaker 03

  I'm really blessed.

• 41:19Ed Mylett?

  You are blessed.

• 41:19Speaker 03

  I am so grateful for my life in so many ways.

• 41:23Ed Mylett?

  Talk about your life for a second. So you, because everyone's watching this, that they know about you, but there's this, now there's the you. That's the character. Then there's the you. So I'm curious, because people watch this, navigate life too. So you are a mom.

• 41:35Speaker 03

  I am.

• 41:36Ed Mylett?

  You have three young daughters, right? And you're a businesswoman, and you're a character on the show. How do you, do you have strategies you use to navigate all of this stuff? Plus, you, we're in California now, but I know you're back east too. So there's just a, you would I call a big life, right?

• 41:53Speaker 03

  It's a big life.

• 41:53Ed Mylett?

  So how do you navigate all of that?

• 41:55Speaker 03

  You know, it's challenging, right? But I think it is for anybody. You know, I think it is for women who, you know, stay at home. Or dads that stay at home. When you couple that with traveling and that kind of thing, maybe that's what makes it different. But life is hard for everybody, right? And different aspects. And I think the best strategy really is to prioritize, right? Because my mom taught me a long time ago that pendulum is never going to be in the middle.

• 42:24Ed Mylett?

  I agree with that.

• 42:25Speaker 03

  It's always swinging.

• 42:25Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 42:26Speaker 03

  So it's not a balance as you would think. It is a balance in essence, but it's always shifting.

• 42:32Ed Mylett?

  It's never balanced.

• 42:33Speaker 03

  It's never balanced. It's never even. And I just do everything I can, me and my husband both do, to maximize our time with our kids, to prioritize each other as well. We went on a date the other night, and unfortunately, it was like the first date night we've had in four months.

• 42:51Ed Mylett?

  Oh, boy.

• 42:51Speaker 03

  Since before the holidays. So it was.

• 42:53Ed Mylett?

  Special night, but too infrequent.

• 42:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, which we need to do a better job of that. But, you know, being there for our kids, putting them down at night, taking them to school in the morning. Taking them to school is one of my favorite things to do. The only thing that tops it is picking them up from school.

• 43:09Ed Mylett?

  Seriously?

• 43:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, and sometimes I'll leave work just to go pick them up.

• 43:13Ed Mylett?

  Just for that experience?

• 43:14Speaker 03

  Just for that. And they love it.

• 43:17Ed Mylett?

  You're kind of a badass, though. Like, you're downplaying you. Like, I'm watching your social media, you're working at like midnight.

• 43:22Speaker 03

  That's the only time we have to train. People often ask, like, is there some type of biological, you know, like, no, there's no advantage. I don't recommend it.

• 43:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 43:30Speaker 03

  Sleep is important.

• 43:32Ed Mylett?

  But that's crazy, like, you're so humble. It's striking because it's totally different than your character, right? But like, like, guys, just so you know, this woman is crazy. Just, I mean, we're talking about-

• 43:43Speaker 03

  Crazy alone.

• 43:44Ed Mylett?

  We're talking about, we're talking about, I mean, a totally devoted mother. You can hear how much she talks about her husband, so you're getting a sense of the relationship there. This massive enterprise of WWE and then fitness, right? Because she's a character on the show too. And I'm telling you, if you go to her Instagram, you're gonna see midnight workouts, and so-

• 44:00Speaker 03

  But even if I wasn't a character, I'd train at midnight.

• 44:02Ed Mylett?

  Why?

• 44:03Speaker 03

  Because it's, it's a part of what makes me me. I feel good about myself when I train. I think that the more in shape you are, the more you can do.

• 44:12Ed Mylett?

  So do I.

• 44:13Speaker 03

  Um, and just in general, I think it clears your mind. Training is my church, you know? And I think also, this is just, I don't know, I think, human nature. I think it is important to accomplish goals.

• 44:27Ed Mylett?

  So do I.

• 44:28Speaker 03

  Right? I think you feel good about yourself. It builds confidence when you set goals and you can achieve them. And even though it's a, you know, it's a set, it's a rep, it's whatever it is, whatever that goal is that night, no matter how simple it might be, I'm killing my goals.

• 44:43Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 44:44Speaker 03

  You know what I mean? And pushing myself past where I think I can go, and I love that. It's, training is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

• 44:52Ed Mylett?

  Totally agree.

• 44:53Speaker 03

  You know, and I love that feeling.

• 44:54Ed Mylett?

  I love this interview.

• 44:58Ed Mylett?

  I'm serious.

• 44:59Speaker 03

  It's hot under this light.

• 45:00Ed Mylett?

  It is, I know. I'm gonna make you sweat a little bit more.

• 45:02Speaker 03

  I'm really like, oh, my microphone, sorry.

• 45:05Ed Mylett?

  There's all of these points, though. Guys, in one interview, we've covered, you know, this great American business story. We've covered branding, we've covered marketing, we've covered, there's really no balance, but you seek balance. And then we've talked about fitness and the storylines and the respect for culture. There's a lot here today, right? For you all to be taking notes and hear this a couple more times. But there's this other element of you that I love because it's a big part of my life too, which is that, it's probably the part of my life, other than my family, is the fact that like, I wanna pay forward all these blessings that have come my way. I have a blessed life too. Totally different life than yours, but a blessed life. And so, you know, Stephanie's had all kinds of different awards for philanthropic stuff that you won't get her to talk about. But like, there's the Stuart Scott Award, the humanitarian awards, all these different things, but, and there's all the work you've done.

• 45:49Ed Mylett?

  But this thing that you've done with Connor's Cure- And there's the little boy, everybody, and I want to make sure I say Conor's name right, because I knew about this before I met you, I remember this, but Conor Mahalik.

• 46:00Speaker 03

  Mahalik, yeah.

• 46:01Ed Mylett?

  And Conor was a little boy suffering from a very unique type of tumor, but he ended up passing away from brain cancer. Prior to that time, his fan, his hero, was Brian.

• 46:12Speaker 03

  Daniel Bryan.

• 46:13Ed Mylett?

  Daniel Bryan.

• 46:14Speaker 03

  Brian Daniel, yeah.

• 46:15Ed Mylett?

  And I know Brian the other way, right? But Daniel Bryan, the character of Daniel Bryan. And it became something that just got into the hearts of WWE Universe, not just you and your husband, but you and your husband then did something about it. And so can you talk about the little boy and how precious that causes to you?

• 46:37Speaker 03

  Yes. So I met Conor backstage after the Royal Rumble, which is one of our big pay-per-views in Pittsburgh. And one of our referees, Justin Roberts, introduced him to me. And I saw him, and I could tell he was sick from his physical appearance, because he had a scar up the back of his head. He was bald, he had a big lump up here. But he was talking to Batista when I walked over and I met him. And Justin said, "Conor, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Stephanie McMahon." And he looked up at me. And he started telling me about the shirt he was wearing, which was Sheamus's shirt. Sheamus, who's like 6'5", 300 pounds, had come back from the ring and given Conor his shirt.

• 47:22Speaker 03

  So the shirt was dragging on the floor. And he starts to tell me, very excited, that this was his Sheamus shirt. And underneath that shirt, he had his Skylander shirt on. And underneath that shirt, he was wearing Daniel Bryan's t-shirt, and how proud he was. And I thought, "Oh, my goodness, you're the cutest little thing I've ever seen." He was so vivacious, and he is the same age as my oldest daughter, and I just fell in love with him. And I asked him for a hug. And he said, "Oh, no, I can't do that." And I said, "Oh, why?" And he said, "Well, because I give choke-out hugs. And I don't want to choke you out." And I was like, "Try me, buddy." And he came over and gave me, like, the most wonderful hug.

• 48:04Speaker 03

  And then, as I was standing up, his dad leaned down, and I can't help but cry every time, because I just remember it so vividly. And he said... You know, we'd like to come back when you guys are in Pittsburgh in June, but Connor's probably not gonna make it till then. And I couldn't believe he was that sick. Just because of his life force, you know? I mean, he looked sick, but he didn't act sick. And then I started just watching him. He's shadow boxing and he's just, he's having a great time. And I went to say goodbye and I gave him a kiss on the cheek and it startled him a little bit. And I'll never forget how soft his little cheek was. And then he looked at me.

• 48:50Speaker 03

  And we said goodbye and he started to walk away. And then he looked back at me. And I swear, this is gonna sound crazy, but I swear our souls touched in that moment. And I just feel like it all happened for a reason. And that night, we were on our bus, my husband and I, and I just, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking like, what can we do for this little boy? And there are a lot of kids like Connor. But what can we do for him? How can we, how can we help him? How can we help him hang on? And we came up with the idea to invite him to WrestleMania. So we did. And we did that all through Justin.

• 49:32Speaker 03

  And the doctors had said, I didn't know any of this, the doctors had said Connor would never make it. That he would never make the trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. And if he did, it would really be hard on him, that he wouldn't be himself. They said, they really recommended against it. So we brought him to this event in Washington DC ahead of that, ahead of WrestleMania. And he wasn't doing very well. And at that time, he made for me and a few other people these necklaces that took him eight hours to make. They were very similar to these bracelets. They had round beads and they had square beads and they all had different messages. He did all of that because of his surgeries, his small motor coordination was off, but

• 50:16Speaker 03

  he did that. And he came in and we gave him a full entrance. He came out with Daniel Bryan, to Daniel Bryan's music. He came down the ramp, this was during the day, all of the superstars were surrounding the ring. My husband was in the ring. He jumps off headset, my husband gets into the ring and he says, "Come on Connor, hit me. Hit me here." And Connor's like, "I'm not gonna hit you, I'm not gonna do that." And he goes, "Come on." And Connor hauls off and gives him a little punch and my husband goes down and a referee who was standing on the side, Mike Yoda dives in the ring and he counts one, two, three and everybody cheers and they go nuts. And Connor said to my husband, "Gotcha."

• 50:59Speaker 03

  Isn't that so cute? So, fast forward to WrestleMania, he made it. And not only did he make it, his dad told me, he was able to feed himself. He was, he was himself again. And this little boy had had cancer since he was four. And he said, Steve said, that's Connor's dad, he said, "It was like I had my little boy back." And after Daniel Bryan won the championship that night, Daniel Bryan was the whole story of WrestleMania that year. And he had overcome the authority after like, storyline, you know, after six months of oppression and ultimately he defeated Triple H ironically and then went on in a triple

• 51:44Speaker 03

  threat match against Batista and Randy Orton to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. And he got out of the ring and the first person he went over to was Connor. And he said, "You helped me win this. You keep fighting." And...

• 52:03Speaker 03

  Connor died in his dad's arms a couple of weeks after that. And again, I was struck with, what can we do? How can we help? And that's when we decided to start Connor's Cure. And it started off as a fund with Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, because that's where Connor was treated. And just to tell you a lighthearted story about Connor, his favorite nurse's name was Stacy. And when she would come in to give him his chemo, he would boo her. It went great. This little kid just booing her. It just called everything out for what it was, right? Made her laugh, made him laugh. Like, it just, it sucked, right? There was no getting around it. And he just called it out for what it was. But, so that's how we started Connor's Cure.

• 52:47Speaker 03

  And then, to your point, because he was a WWE fan, because there was just something so special about him. I truly do believe he came to WWE for a reason that we could help. And we've now partnered with V Foundation, and we've raised over $2 million. We've helped over 200 families with things like parking vouchers, food vouchers, things you don't anticipate you're gonna need, you know? Because children should not get cancer. They should not be sick with cancer. And, anyway, that's my story.

• 53:27Ed Mylett?

  Wonderful story.

• 53:28Speaker 03

  That's Connor's story.

• 53:29Ed Mylett?

  Thank you for being willing to tell everybody about Connor the Crusher, by the way.

• 53:32Speaker 03

  Of course. I'll talk about Connor the Crusher all day long. I love that little boy. And so do so many people. And, you know, hopefully, we'll be able to make a difference. And I'm actually, like, this is a very premature kind of thing, but I'm a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. I'm right in the middle of my seminars. And part of what you have to do when you're a Henry Crown fellow is start a venture. And my venture is around pediatric cancer and it's bringing together, I want to disrupt what's happening. I want to get people out of their silos and get people thinking differently because only 4% of dollars allocated by the government for cancer is, goes to pediatrics. 4%.

• 54:14Ed Mylett?

  Is that right?

• 54:15Speaker 03

  4.

• 54:15Ed Mylett?

  It's horrible.

• 54:16Speaker 03

  There have only been 10 drugs in the past 40 years that have been approved and developed for kids.

• 54:23Ed Mylett?

  For children.

• 54:24Speaker 03

  With cancer. They are given adult doses. They are given the same, and because of that, it's just over 90% of kids who do survive cancer in 30 years will develop some other type of disease because of the treatments that they're given.

• 54:38Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 54:40Speaker 03

  And everyone's trying, right? Everyone's working on it. But what can we do differently? How can we incentivize pharma?

• 54:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 54:47Speaker 03

  You know, to, to, to look at their models, to, to create these drugs that these kids need. You know, how can we leverage biotech?

• 54:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 54:56Speaker 03

  You know, how can we look at all of these different things? And by the way, if you solve cancer for kids, that applies to the entire population. We look at it backwards because more of the adult population is affected than kids. So that's who, that's where the dollars go, right? It shouldn't go there. It should go to kids who have their whole lives in front of them. You know, so that's, it's, there's nothing formal to announce yet.

• 55:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, okay.

• 55:20Speaker 03

  You know, but we're in our initial stages and I have my first, um, meeting, bringing together experts in all of these different fields at the end of June.

• 55:30Ed Mylett?

  Wonderful.

• 55:30Speaker 03

  So.

• 55:31Ed Mylett?

  Thank you. God bless you.

• 55:31Speaker 03

  There's more to come on that, but.

• 55:33Ed Mylett?

  God bless you and Paul.

• 55:34Speaker 03

  I might tag you in, you know, to see if you can help in some way.

• 55:37Ed Mylett?

  I want to tell you that. So I want to say that, and I want to say that to everybody watching too. I want to know how I can help you. And so please ask me.

• 55:42Speaker 03

  I will. I will.

• 55:43Ed Mylett?

  And our audience too as well, and you WWE fans that are watching this as well. I know you're aware of Connor's story and he's such a beautiful young man that the thing that you'll see in Connor when you go to the site too, is this the passion this little boy had that you? Brought to life here.

• 55:56Speaker 03

  For life.

• 55:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 55:57Speaker 03

  He had a passion for life.

• 55:58Ed Mylett?

  So, and I, but I want to just tell you, I think it's so wonderful that you're honoring his life by doing this.

• 56:03Speaker 03

  That's what we're trying to do.

• 56:04Ed Mylett?

  And you are. And so, by the way, is there a place they can go to get more information on Connor?

• 56:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, sure. I mean, it's ConnorTheCrusher.org. You could go to V Foundation. You could just Google Connor The Crusher.

• 56:13Ed Mylett?

  Such a wonderful story.

• 56:14Speaker 03

  Oh, and yeah, and the bracelets. Thank you, Kristen.

• 56:17Ed Mylett?

  Such a wonderful story.

• 56:18Speaker 03

  All of the proceeds of bracelets, these bracelets that are purchased, go directly to Connor's Cure. And the thing that I love about V Foundation is every single dollar goes to research.

• 56:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 56:28Speaker 03

  They have a separate endowment fund. So, all of the money that you give goes directly to research. It doesn't go to salaries or overhead or any of that kind of stuff.

• 56:36Ed Mylett?

  We call that a pure foundation, everybody. The money goes purely to the cause. And so, it's not very common and special. So, that is an important thing that we're pointing out here. Thank you so much for doing that, and I do want to help you.

• 56:48Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 56:48Ed Mylett?

  Any way that I can. So, this has been, we're all, we're, you know, I'm speechless to some extent because of just the breadth of what we cover.

• 56:55Speaker 03

  But, and let me just say, right, like, so WWE does do a lot of philanthropic work.

• 57:00Ed Mylett?

  I know. Yeah, go ahead.

• 57:02Speaker 03

  But the reason is because that's just, I think it's a privilege. We reach so many people, you know, we're in 180 countries and 25 different languages. You know, across all different platforms. You have nearly a billion social media followers. We have this huge universe, right? This huge audience. And I think it is so important to do everything you can to give back. And I just think it, I think it's what life is really all about.

• 57:29Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 57:29Speaker 03

  I really do.

• 57:30Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 57:31Speaker 03

  It's like you with this podcast, right? It's about helping other people. There's no, you know, financial incentive to you. It's about helping other people, helping your audience and giving them tools, you know, to be successful. I think that that's what life is all about. We're here to help each other. And WWE's mission is to put smiles on faces. Simple. You know, whether we do that through our entertainment or we do it by giving back. And you think about, you know, Connor and, you know, I said, I've said many times, even if for those few hours, he forgot that he was sick and forgot about his treatment or what he was going through. And his dad told me, Steph, it lasts a lot longer than that.

• 58:14Ed Mylett?

  That's so special.

• 58:15Speaker 03

  But what a privilege it is to be a part of a company that can do that.

• 58:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 58:21Speaker 03

  It is a privilege.

• 58:23Ed Mylett?

  And in small and big ways, you guys do that all the time. There are people that just come home from work and they're just not happy in their life.

• 58:29Speaker 03

  Right.

• 58:29Ed Mylett?

  And it's an escape for an hour or two for them. And I just think it's wonderful. You know, I knew a lot about you because we do have some mutual friends and I read about you, but meeting you is so much more impressive and inspiring too. So, I had a lot of people knew you were coming on and we're running out of time too, unfortunately.

• 58:45Speaker 03

  We are.

• 58:45Ed Mylett?

  This flew by. You said you were hot, so I'm giving you a break.

• 58:47Speaker 03

  No.

• 58:48Ed Mylett?

  I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. But a lot of the ladies knew you were coming on and there was some excitement about you coming on the program. And I'm a man and you're inspiring me, so I don't think this is gender specific by any means. However, whether you admit it or not, you are one of the more prominent female businesswomen in the country. And the reach of what your business and brand does reaches millions of people, as you've said, around the world. And has reached billions of people in its totality if you added up the collective reach. And so, you've got three little girls.

• 59:20Speaker 03

  I do.

• 59:20Ed Mylett?

  You're a girl. We've talked about your mom, we've talked about your grandmother. And there's just women watching this, young women that are watching this. They've got dreams and hopes and ambitions and I'm wondering if you were speaking right to them, what would you tell them about, they got a dream in their heart they want to chase too, these ladies that are out there. And men, you're allowed to listen in on this because all of it's going to apply to you too. But to these young women out there, what would you say to them? If they got a minute with Stephanie McMahon, they said, "I have this dream, whatever it is, I want to be an actor, an actress, I want to start my own business. My dream's to be a mom of three little girls." Whatever that dream is, what would you say to those ladies that are listening to you now?

• 59:56Speaker 03

  So I'd say turn your dream into a goal. And first and foremost, because goals you can achieve, it's just the way you think about it, the way you formulate it. If you turn it into a goal, then you can develop your plan and your strategy to get there, to achieve it. You have a goal, make it happen, right? How are you gonna make it happen? I would also say to them, to believe in yourself. You know, confidence is, I think I've heard this quote, that confidence is like 90% of the journey, if you have the confidence to get there, you know, and then the skills on top of that. But confidence is huge. Also, passion is so important. You know, do what you love.

• 1:00:39Speaker 03

  Believe in it with everything you are, and make it happen. You know, because if you don't, it might not happen. You know, you've got to bring your whole self and then some. You know, I think that those are really, you know, those are really the building blocks. And believe in yourself. Know that you belong. You belong anywhere you want to be. You belong in the room. I don't care who it is. I was in, you know, I've been trying to build the WWE brand, not that it hasn't been built on its own, but that's my job, right? And I was at the Milken Conference a year ago. And I had the opportunity to be a part of a private conversation with many different commissioners of the sports leagues. Now, this was a male-dominated room.

• 1:01:23Speaker 03

  I mean, it was all guys, except for some of their wives, right? Who were sitting on the sideline. And originally, when I came in, I was seated at a table with, you know, some of the wives, who were wonderful. But we were having this conversation, I said, "Excuse me, I'm gonna go to that table." So I went to the bigger table. And you know what? It's my job to have a seat at that table. It's my job to speak up, and that's exactly what I did. So when the time was right, and it made sense, I didn't speak just to speak. You know, I had the opportunity to say, "So..." You know, I'm sorry to interject, we were talking about fan engagement, which is what I believe WWE does best, and something I believe very much in. And I said, "So guys, I just want to say, in terms of WWE, I'm Chief Brand Officer,

• 1:02:07Speaker 03

  you know, we have the number one sports channel on YouTube, we're the second most viewed YouTube channel in the world, you know, we're in 180 countries." So like, I rattled off all our stats, and I said, "And I'm not giving you these statistics to be competitive, I'm telling you them so you know why I belong in the room and why what I say is going to matter." And then I explained, you know, what it was. And, you know, it was really interesting, and I won't get into the sidebar conversations I had after, some appreciated my comments, some did not. There was this woman, from the WWE, you know, but there were a lot of really very positive things that came out of that, that are still coming out of that. So the point is, have a seat at the table, you know?

• 1:02:51Speaker 03

  You have to do it, stand up for yourself, you know? Say what you believe, say what you feel, have a voice. You know, it's so important to have a voice.

• 1:03:02Ed Mylett?

  Are you guys getting this? Are you kidding me? Like, you see my camera guys, like, the reason it's real, I love congruency. So, someone says something that they are, and that they embody, and that they do. So, I look at you, and you're talking about not just have a dream, have a plan. Clearly, you're constantly executing plans, right? And this confidence thing, earlier in the interview, I just want to add to something. You said, "One of the things that I get out of my fitness is..." Essentially, what you said was, "I'm building myself up, I'm keeping a promise I make to myself." I really believe self-confidence is built through keeping the promises you make to yourself. That's how you build it, right? And then, you're talking about the fact of having that passion, giving all of you to something. It is obvious to me that you don't like WWE, you love and live it, right? It's like, it's part of who you are, literally.

• 1:03:45Ed Mylett?

  So, there's this passion level that it actually is infectious. I'm already a fan, but like, I like, love the company more. Like, I have an appreciation for the nuance of the company more now, the ancillary things about it. And then, like, you clearly belong at the table. The question is whether or not I belong at the table today.

• 1:04:01Speaker 03

  Oh, come on.

• 1:04:02Ed Mylett?

  No, but seriously, it's... It's, um, it's, I, I just, I want everyone to have heard that. It's one of these parts of the interviews, everybody, where if you're driving, you go, I'm gonna note, I'm gonna come back and play that part again. Everything that you just said right there was so spot on. And so, a couple of things about you. I'm just curious about myself.

• 1:04:20Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:04:20Ed Mylett?

  Cause like, you're this like, driven, successful, you seem to have it all together. Do you get down?

• 1:04:26Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:04:26Ed Mylett?

  And like, would you be willing to share with me a moment where you were down?

• 1:04:30Speaker 03

  Oh, so it happens all the time, actually.

• 1:04:32Ed Mylett?

  Can you give us one? And how do you turn it around when you do get there?

• 1:04:34Speaker 03

  Sometime, I don't know. I actually am not sure if I don't have a mild form of depression sometimes. Um, though I, I can't say that I have symptoms to the level of that I've read about, that I've seen people. So I wouldn't classify myself like that, but I, I potentially could. Um, sometimes I get really down. And I, I really struggle. And I don't feel like doing anything. And I wanna be a recluse and I wanna climb into like, a one little corner of my room. But I don't let myself do it. And this is why I say I don't think I'm clinical. You know, because I am able to kick out of it myself. Um, but it takes time, sometimes. And, um, you know, and I keep it inside. I don't talk about it. And that also is not good.

• 1:05:17Speaker 03

  Um, cause then it can feed and, and fester in on itself. And I find when I do finally tell my husband, um, you know, he can't relate to what I'm feeling, but he gives me great advice and he, he helps pick me up. But it's still, it's something I have to ride out. And I can't explain it. You know, I've, I've never gotten help before and maybe I should. But I think that there, you know, nobody is ever black or white. You know, we're, we are all conundrums of all different things. And I can be so positive and so confident on one hand and, and not on the other. And I just think that, you know, that's a part of human nature too.

• 1:05:56Ed Mylett?

  Thank you for sharing that. I gotta, um...

• 1:05:58Speaker 03

  I've never publicly spoken about that, I don't think.

• 1:06:00Ed Mylett?

  Thank you for sharing that. Can I say something to you?

• 1:06:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:03Ed Mylett?

  Just to be interesting for you to know, me too.

• 1:06:05Speaker 03

  Yeah?

• 1:06:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. And it's interesting when people look at someone like you and I, our lives, um, I almost feel guilty when I have it sometimes.

• 1:06:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, me too. Cause who am I to feel this way, right?

• 1:06:14Ed Mylett?

  You know, I think, my gosh. And then I think, boy, what if life wasn't as good? Where would I really, is it?

• 1:06:18Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:06:18Ed Mylett?

  It's not the conditions of your life that typically create these mental states. But I just want you to know, I really value you saying that and... Really can people relate to that and I just want you to know that I can't. I have it too.

• 1:06:29Speaker 03

  And how do you come out of it?

• 1:06:30Ed Mylett?

  I ride it out sometimes. For me, one of the things I do, I'm glad you asked. One of the things I do, I've wondered in my clinical sometimes. I have friends that I think that are, I see friends. It's almost like compared to what?

• 1:06:41Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:06:42Ed Mylett?

  You know, and maybe that's not even healthy, right? You think, well, even alcoholics says, well, I go to work every day, so I'm not one. That doesn't mean you're not an alcoholic. And because you and I eventually pull out of it. I do have two things that work for me pretty well. One is I, and it sounds cheesy, but I actually do force myself to go through a gratitude exercise. And it sounds corny. Sometimes it doesn't work, but often it does. I just literally begin to flood in my brain and my mind, the pictures of the people and things that I'm grateful for. And the people who love me and that I love back. And I do do it. I actually, what I do now is I inoculate it from coming, just to give you one tip. So every morning, I have this on my podcast and it's not to make you all watch it. It's just to tell you, I actually do it every morning. I do through a gratitude exercise.

• 1:07:25Ed Mylett?

  And I do it at night and it kind of wards it off more often than before. Because I don't know that I know how to get out of it when I'm in it until I ride it out. So I try to do things that keep it away from me as much as possible.

• 1:07:36Speaker 03

  So two things on that. One is I have some very good friends who are studying mental mapping and neurology. And they're, now I'm not a scientist. I don't even know enough to be dangerous. But I do know that you reinforce the mapping of your brain with whatever you do, right? So that gratitude exercise is reinforcing and actually sometimes remapping your brain to be more positive.

• 1:07:59Ed Mylett?

  That's correct. It actually makes you more aware. There's a part of the front of your brain.

• 1:08:02Speaker 03

  Oh, see, I don't even know the detail.

• 1:08:03Ed Mylett?

  There's a part of your brain called the reticular activating system. We won't get corny here today, but this is just for me and you.

• 1:08:07Speaker 03

  It's not corny, the science.

• 1:08:08Ed Mylett?

  It's for me and you. What it is, is it's a filter. And so what it does is it filters out all the things that aren't important to you so that you're sane. So you don't feel the blood in your left ear or whatever. It's a survival mechanism built into humans.

• 1:08:19Speaker 03

  What's it called?

• 1:08:19Ed Mylett?

  The reticular activating system, R A S. I'll give you some info on it. I'm actually writing about it right now. But what it does is if you're cognizant of things, it will filter those things in. So that's why like when you bought a new car, all of a sudden you see that car all over the road.

• 1:08:33Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:08:34Ed Mylett?

  It was always there. Prior you filtered it out because it wasn't important to you. So if in the morning you do do things where you get in a state of focusing on what you're grateful for, the RAS flips on and throughout the day it's identifying and noticing things.

• 1:08:46Speaker 03

  Wow, that's beautiful.

• 1:08:47Ed Mylett?

  It changes the life filter.

• 1:08:49Speaker 03

  That's beautiful.

• 1:08:49Ed Mylett?

  It changes your life filter.

• 1:08:50Speaker 03

  I usually do it at night.

• 1:08:51Ed Mylett?

  And you do it at evening, and I do them both now because it could get so severe with me.

• 1:08:55Speaker 03

  But to what you just laid out, the importance of doing it in the morning, I'm just not, I can't function very well in the morning. My daughter wakes me up and I'm like in a fog.

• 1:09:05Ed Mylett?

  You gotta take the five minutes at some point though, because it does, it opens your awareness and it filters in these things.

• 1:09:08Speaker 03

  But you know what, it does actually happen inadvertently because I drive them to school.

• 1:09:13Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:09:14Speaker 03

  And I'm so grateful in those moments, driving them to school, just the things that they say or watching them.

• 1:09:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:20Speaker 03

  You know, Murphy, my nine-year-old now, she was looking out the window one day and it was a really drab northeast, like, winter day. And it was gray and there were no leaves on the trees and it was raining, you know, that cold rain that kind of gets in your bones.

• 1:09:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:36Speaker 03

  And she was just looking out the window and I said, Murph,

• 1:09:40Speaker 03

  you know, what are you looking at? And she said, Mama, isn't it just a beautiful day? And I was like,

• 1:09:50Speaker 03

  yes, it is a beautiful day, baby. Life is all perspective, right?

• 1:09:54Ed Mylett?

  That's so true.

• 1:09:54Speaker 03

  It's all perspective.

• 1:09:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:56Speaker 03

  And I was so grateful for that moment and every day I drop them off, I bring my littlest into school because I still can because she's at the lower school. I've got one more year I'm able to do it.

• 1:10:05Ed Mylett?

  Max that out, yeah.

• 1:10:06Speaker 03

  And that's, we have a little, we call it the kiss shake that she invented. She kisses my nose and I kiss her nose and we like to go through this whole series, right? But so in a way,

• 1:10:16Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 1:10:16Speaker 03

  And then I, actually when I walk out of that school, I breathe so deep and I am just so grateful.

• 1:10:23Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:24Speaker 03

  You know, so I'm not doing it intentionally, but I'm doing it.

• 1:10:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and I bet you those are the days if we tracked it, when you get the gift of doing that, those are the days where it stays away.

• 1:10:32Speaker 03

  That I don't go down, yeah.

• 1:10:33Ed Mylett?

  So maybe you can give yourself that. And then the other one, and you do it, is the other way that you move your, is moving your body. You change your physical state.

• 1:10:38Speaker 03

  Oh, it's so important.

• 1:10:39Ed Mylett?

  Because depression is actually, and just downness is a thing you do, it's a move, it's your breathing, it's how you, so when you change your physicality, it's very hard to be depressed when you're breathing deep. Because that's deep breathing and chest back is laughter, it's ecstasy, it's orgasm, it's all those things, literally, it's hard to get depressed in those moments. So if you can create that state, it's true though. You get in that state in your body when you're training and working out, it's hard to be depressed.

• 1:11:05Speaker 03

  I have never been depressed in that moment.

• 1:11:06Ed Mylett?

  That's insane, right?

• 1:11:07Speaker 03

  I can absolutely confirm.

• 1:11:08Ed Mylett?

  So if you can kind of manifest that state in your body, I'm just telling you. But it's interesting, because I'm gonna say something to you, like, well, the reason I love you is that I have people share this with me off-camera in so many interviews. And so I just want to give someone hope on this. I'm gonna tell you guys a secret. The majority, not the large majority, but the majority of the guests you've seen on my program have shared that with me off-camera.

• 1:11:32Speaker 03

  Really?

• 1:11:33Ed Mylett?

  Yes, because they'd like my help on it, because I do life strategy stuff. And so I'm gonna tell you that it's not all of them, but I'm struck by how many people that are mega-successful still struggle with this. You're the first person, second person, actually, to be willing to share it on-camera. So, thank you for doing that, because it really reaches people. Because a lot of people come to the show today in that condition, and they struggle with it too. And so just know, we do too, and we still have happy, functional lives.

• 1:11:58Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 1:11:59Ed Mylett?

  And we're trying to figure it out, just like you are. So, thank you.

• 1:12:02Speaker 03

  I just believe in people.

• 1:12:03Ed Mylett?

  Me too.

• 1:12:04Speaker 03

  I do. I really believe in people.

• 1:12:06Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:06Speaker 03

  So, thank you for doing this podcast, not because of me, but thank you for doing this podcast to help people.

• 1:12:12Ed Mylett?

  Thank you so much.

• 1:12:13Speaker 03

  You know, because I think we need more of that.

• 1:12:15Ed Mylett?

  So do I. And you're doing that, obviously, in everything you do. This like, this is really taking my breath away today, just so you know. So, thank you. I want everyone to be able to get more of WWE and more of you. And so, is there any platform out there that we want them to go look at specifically to find the companies, or one or many that we want to make sure they know about?

• 1:12:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, but I don't want to make it promotional.

• 1:12:38Ed Mylett?

  You can 100% do that. They want to know. By this point, and everything you've shared, and how honest you've been, and how transparent you've been. You've opened your soul up to them and so they want to engage, I promise you. I know them, they want to engage more with you. They want to be able to find you, so please tell them where to find you.

• 1:12:53Speaker 03

  Okay, so, well, you know, our flagship programming is three hours of on Monday night from eight to 11 on USA Network and then eight to 10 PM is SmackDown Live and that's also on USA Network on Tuesday. So, live Monday, live Tuesday. Of course, the WWE Network, which is, you know, $9.99 a month. Currently, it's just one price model for all of what were our pay-per-view events now are available on that platform, as well as a ton of libraries. We just launched this new show called Hidden Gems, which is these matches that, you know, people have heard of but haven't ever seen.

• 1:13:30Ed Mylett?

  Like vintage matches?

• 1:13:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, because we own most of the libraries, at least domestically. So, that's a really interesting new show. You know, the lore of these matches now people can actually see.

• 1:13:43Ed Mylett?

  Wonderful.

• 1:13:44Speaker 03

  So, it's pretty awesome. And then, of course, social media, you know, Twitter, Instagram, you know, etc.

• 1:13:50Ed Mylett?

  I hope today that you all saw a side, I know you did, of Stephanie and the company that you didn't know about and that you love it more and you love her more and you're inspired and then also that you picked up a bunch of tools that you can use and strategies, too. I loved today.

• 1:14:08Speaker 03

  Me too.

• 1:14:08Ed Mylett?

  I'm really so glad we did this and Kristen, thank you so much. Like, it's a little bit emotional for me because of some of the things you were willing to talk about today and I'm really grateful for you doing this today. I mean that, like, very much.

• 1:14:20Speaker 03

  I'm grateful.

• 1:14:21Ed Mylett?

  So, thank you so much.

• 1:14:22Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:14:22Ed Mylett?

  I'm so glad we've met.

• 1:14:23Speaker 03

  Me too.

• 1:14:23Ed Mylett?

  You're finding me too. So, everybody, I already know...

• 1:14:26Speaker 03

  But, wait, you should tell everybody how we met.

• 1:14:29Ed Mylett?

  We met through Kristen, right?

• 1:14:31Speaker 03

  Well, but you said...

• 1:14:32Ed Mylett?

  Well, okay, we're gonna tell them the real... Do you want to know the real story because of the power of attraction?

• 1:14:35Speaker 03

  Because that's what I'm saying. I think it's another very important tool.

• 1:14:39Ed Mylett?

  Taking away what the entity was, you all know, that follow me know that I bought a new plane. This is... Here's two people talking about depression. We're talking about airplanes, right?

• 1:14:47Speaker 03

  That's why I'm always like, who am I to feel depressed?

• 1:14:50Ed Mylett?

  But it's not conditional, everybody. And so, anyway, I went to pick up my airplane. And when I went to pick up my airplane, it was in New York. And as I was wa-- it was a rainy day. And as I was walking to this plane, there's this beautiful family getting on a more beautiful plane than mine. In fact, the paint scheme I showed you all that was black and red, I stole from them. That's how much I liked it. It's the exact same paint scheme, by the way. But anyway, so I walked by the airplane, and you waved at me. And it was just this beautiful family with their little girls getting on the airplane. And then I realized when I saw the logo that it was you. And so, for some reason, this entire flight, this is the power of just thoughts and attraction, I couldn't get you off my mind. And it wasn't the WWE part, it was the beautiful family part.

• 1:15:33Ed Mylett?

  And I'm just always struck, and I'm weird, I'm always struck when I just see spirit or soul, like just a beautiful, loving family. I was like, that's a real family right there. And it just struck me. And so, my wife and I actually talked about it on the flight back, that I love also seeing people who can, on the outside, they are successful in other areas. So, this whole flight, I ended up really thinking about you, I prayed about it, I meditated about it the whole flight back. And within a week, a mutual friend of ours, Kristen, reached out to me, whom I did not know at all before, and started this introduction to the two of us. So, that's the power of just connecting soul-wise and thinking about something repetitively. And when you're in a powerful state.

• 1:16:10Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 1:16:11Ed Mylett?

  When you're not in the state we described earlier, but you're in that powerful, creative, goal-setting, planning state.

• 1:16:15Speaker 03

  And visualizing.

• 1:16:16Ed Mylett?

  Visualizing something.

• 1:16:17Speaker 03

  Visualizing is so important.

• 1:16:18Ed Mylett?

  And what happens is, it will appear into your life. It won't look like you pictured it, but that feeling and that thing will appear in your life. It's not gonna look, most great things in your life don't show up like you picture them.

• 1:16:27Speaker 03

  It's true.

• 1:16:28Ed Mylett?

  You know, even your spouse, it's not what you pictured when you were a kid, but it was the blessing that came into your life. And so, that's how the two of us ended up meeting. And like, if you'd have told me that day I walked by you, that it would lead to today in this conversation, it just... The world's amazing, God's amazing, and this has been amazing. So, this like changed me for the better. So, thank you, and I want to help you with all the great work you're doing. Thank you. I mean that. Everybody, I know you enjoyed today as well. I always ask you, you know where to find me. I want you to go find her. You're watching this because you can find me. If you're watching this on YouTube, give it a like and a comment, right? Engage with me. Subscribe there. If it's on iTunes, make a review on there. It moves it up. We were number one in the world last month, and the more reviews you write, more people around the world, not just in the United States and North America, or even the developed world, get access to this stuff.

• 1:17:13Ed Mylett?

  And I want them to see it. And every day on Instagram, two-minute drill when I make a post. If you make a comment with hashtag max out, we do a drawing daily. You get access to gear, coaching calls with me, sometimes an introduction to some of my guests as well. It's a really special thing we do every day. So, engage with me on Instagram. God bless you, and max out, everybody.