Vince McMahon discusses what it takes to be a WWE Superstar.
On March 3, McMahon appeared on The Pat McAfee Show for his first live interview in 15 years. One of the topics he spoke about was creating characters and how it is a team effort. Vince notes, however, that you have to commit to your character if you want it to work. Being a character simply isn't enough. He used The Undertaker as an example.
"It's a team effort. If it's a character then you have to really be into that character and bring that character into the ring, not just be a character. The audience is not going to buy that. Undertaker is a primo example. We could never break him, ever. I tried so many times, even on camera, taking a risk, trying to break him and get him to smile. Takeroonie. It was after the show and we're trying to do stuff like that. Nope. Almost got him. If you ever see the footage, you can see me look at him and he's trying not to smile, but he knows that I'm getting close to getting him. He never broke character. For all the right reasons, he's a wonderful human being," he said.
Vince continued on to explain why he refers to the performers as WWE Superstars, while also sharing his belief that it is important for the mental health of those involved not to be their character outside of the ring.
"If you have a character, it's no different than acting. Our performers, there is a reason I call them superstars, they are not just wrestlers, it's because anyone can wrestle, either poorly or well. Do you want to be a professional wrestler or do you want to be a WWE superstar? WWE superstar sounds a whole lot better to me than being a professional wrestler. The quality of human beings that we have and the enormous amount of talent we have, you have to have acting talent of re-acting talent. You have to have that. You have to have this ability to really want to grow because, in our environment, I believe that if you're not growing, you're dying. You have to have that desire when you come in to be everything you can be and if it's a character, really get into it and be that character when you're in the ring. In your private life, don't be that character. Don't get it confused, a lot of people are that way. The really good ones are all in on their character and then they are themselves after the show is over. It's important for your mental health to not be the character outside the ring," Vince said.
Elsewhere during the interview, Vince spoke about how he enjoys physical confrontation, WWE's partnership with Saudi Arabia, as well as how he'll be inducting The Undertaker into the WWE Hall of Fame, among other things.
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