Shane McMahon resigns from WWE

[sek69]

Snowden isn't normally the dance-around kind of guy, perhaps some things were edited out of the final copy? I can't possibly imagine he would let slide the opportunity to rattle some cages.

[sek69]

Also does anyone else get the impression some times that Dana is not fully aware of what the Brothers are and allegedly have been capable of? He reminds me a lot of how the Pittsburgh Pirates are run, they let the current GM be the face of ownership and publicly call the shots but the Nuttings are the real decision makers. Dana's frequent PR gaffes and inability to make any kind of public statement without including several thousand f-bombs make him come off as a money mark the Brothers let do all the press while they think of new and innovative ways to cook the books.

[Marty]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainm...is-own-man.html

 

Shane McMahon looking to make his mark with China venture

 

Shane McMahon has never been afraid to knock on doors.

 

When he was just 5, his dad -- wrestling impresario and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon -- put him to work going from barber shop to barber shop asking if he could hang up fliers and posters for upcoming matches.

 

Years later, McMahon was still selling for his dad. Only this time around the doors he was knocking on were in Eastern Europe and China. As the WWE's executive vice president of global media, the younger McMahon was instrumental in getting WWE content and events in almost 150 countries.

 

Now McMahon, 41, is trying to do for Hollywood what he did for the WWE. Earlier this week his company You on Demand formed a partnership with Warner Bros. to get the entertainment giant's content into China via pay-per-view and video-on-demand cable platforms. You on Demand has access to homes in China through a 20-year pact with China Home Cinema, the pay-television arm of that country's CCTV-6 network. Cable operators can deliver the content into homes. You on Demand has said it expects to have as many as 3 million subscribers this summer.

 

China, with a population of 1.3 billion, has become a priority for Hollywood. The Motion Picture Assn. of America is trying to get the Chinese government to ease up on its restrictions on foreign films and double the current quota to as many as 40.

 

In the meantime, Hollywood is trying to find other avenues into China. Earlier this month, Legendary Pictures, a Burbank company that co-financed "The Hangover" and "The Dark Knight," unveiled a joint venture with a Chinese entertainment conglomerate to make English-language films in China that would be exported around the world. Cable represents another window into the market and Warner Bros. will make current as well as older product available through You on Demand.

 

Up until a few years ago, McMahon was content toiling for his father at WWE. He had been working there professionally since graduating from Boston University -- holding positions in marketing, sales, promotion and production. He even reffed some matches and got in the ring every now and then as "Shane-O-Mac."

 

Rising high up the executive ranks, McMahon was seen as a potential successor to his father. There was only one problem. "He wasn't going anywhere," he said and laughed.

 

As a favor to a friend, McMahon took a meeting with Marc Urbach, who was chief financial officer of what was then known as China Broadband Inc. The company had just secured a license to operate in China and Urbach, who grew up as a fan of the WWE, wanted to pick McMahon's brains about the region. McMahon had spent a lot of time schmoozing government officials to get WWE content inside the country.

 

"At first I didn't believe them," McMahon said when he was told the company had a green light to set up shop in China. "Getting the license is the hardest thing in the world." He did his due diligence, even flying to China to visit the company's offices there.

 

Initially, McMahon was approached about joining China Broadband Inc.'s board of directors. The more time he spent studying the company, the more intrigued he became. He joined the company in late 2009 as its chairman and chief executive and invested $4 million.

 

"It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make," McMahon said of his leaving WWE to strike out on his own. "I didn't want to wake up when I was 70 and say, 'I should have done that.'" Telling his father he wanted to leave was "brutal" and now, almost two years later, there remains some residual tension. "It's still hard," he said.

 

McMahon is confident that he is entering a buyer's market in China. The heavy piracy there has convinced him that consumers are hungry for content.

 

"If you give them access and it's better quality, why aren't they going to watch it," he said.

 

McMahon said he is "very far down the road" with other studios about signing deals similar to the Warner Bros. agreement.

 

Asked if he'd be striking any deals with his father for WWE content on You on Demand, McMahon cracked, "I don't know, I'm a tough negotiator."

 

-- Joe Flint

[smkelly]

I can only imagine the verbal onslaught Shane was beaten with when he quit. I wouldn't put it past Vince to throw silly ultimatums at his own son. Ultimately I think there is more to this particular story that we'll only be able to speculate about, like if Steph and Hunter were involved at all.

[sek69]

The story at the time was that Shane left because he saw the writing on the wall that Steph and Hunter were the new Heirs Apparent and he was going to get squeezed out. Didn't he want to re-enact Vince's WM3 intro at WM 23 only to have Steph veto it? Seemed like he wasn't as enthusiastic towards the company after that.

[Sean Liska]

It would have been a little weird to have Shane out there doing the intro for WM23, and then come back and play main event heel during the Umaga-Lashley hair match later on the show. The way they handled it was pretty cool.

 

Everyone assumes it's the HHH/Steph deal that drove him out, but no one really knows anything. Meltzer said that Vince and Shane have spoken to no one about it. And Shane's point about Vince not stepping down is interesting. I could see Vince still running the show when Shane is 50. That doesn't leave him a lot of time to carve out his own legacy.

[Marty]

Any golf fans here catch the US Open today? I'm pretty sure I saw Shane in the crowd, keeping close to Rory McIlroy's dad, and rooting Rory on as well. Looked like he was in very good spirits.

[artDDP]

Part of me thinks that Shane just lost interest in wrestling altogether, as many men his age have done. He just may be more passionate about something else now.

[Phil Schneider]

Any golf fans here catch the US Open today? I'm pretty sure I saw Shane in the crowd, keeping close to Rory McIlroy's dad, and rooting Rory on as well. Looked like he was in very good spirits.

Yeah I noticed the same thing, my dad thought he might be a volunteer usher

[Cox]

Shane was the first guy to comfort McIlroy when he lost at the Masters back in April, so they are tight in some way. I think they are involved in some business venture together.

[Sean Liska]

Yeah, Rory has a connection with Shane's company. We will probably be seeing Shane a lot on Sundays in the next few years, nicely done on their part.