Stephanie McMahon Reveals the Real Reason Why WWE Is ‘Sports Entertainment’ and Not ‘Wrestling’

Stephanie McMahon was one of the speakers at this year’s Business Partner Summit, which took place over WrestleMania weekend in New Orleans.

During McMahon’s appearance, she spoke on why WWE calls its product “Sports Entertainment” and has moved away from using the term “wrestling” or “pro wrestling”. Stephanie recalled Vince McMahon turning WWE into a more diverse entertainment organisation as opposed to strictly a pro wrestling product.

“Advertisers either had an adverse reaction to the words ‘professional wrestling,’ or they simply didn’t understand what it was”, said McMahon, via Sportskeeda. “So, how could we create a term or a label that potential partners could understand? How could we describe the WWE was based on larger-than-life characters enthralled in relatable storylines? That was when we coined the term ‘sports entertainment’.”

Stephanie likened WWE using “Sports Entertainment” to companies like ESPN, the World Cup and The Super Bowl branding themselves as “Infotainment.”

Stephanie also referenced WWE’s shift to a PG product back in 2008, saying, “10 years ago, WWE once again reimagined our content and made the strategic decision to become more family-friendly, to grow our multi-generational audience and attract more blue-chip partners…Looking around the room here today, it’s easy to see that this strategy worked.”