WWE VP Chris Legentil on Sports Media Podcast

[Chris]

WWE VP on potential of co-promoted show with AEW: ‘No interest’

WWE executive vice president of talent relations & head of communications Chris Legentil said on a podcast appearance that they have “no interest” in a WWE vs. AEW supercard or co-promoted show.

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WWE executive vice president of talent relations & head of communications Chris Legentil said on a podcast appearance that they have “no interest” in a WWE vs. AEW supercard or co-promoted show.

Legentil appeared on Richard Deitsch’s Sports Media Podcast on Thursday to promote this weekend’s WWE SummerSlam and was asked by Deitsch, a noted wrestling fan, about the possibility of a dual show with AEW.

“No interest,” he said.

He expanded slightly afterward, saying there’s a lot of great talent outside of WWE and there’s “no shot” being fired but they haven’t had a conversation about it.

Legentil wasn’t asked about the current partnerships with TNA, NOAH or Marigold.

Legentil also was asked about the following topics:

• Legentil is part of a small team that includes Nick Khan, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and others that negotiate talent contracts. He said there are a variety of factors that go into signing and re-signing talent that includes “what the market bears,” social media numbers, viewership on TV in segments they are in, etc. Using all that, they come up with a number that is fair for both the talent and the company and it goes to legal once the details like compensation, contract years and outside interests) are agreed upon.
• Legentil said CM Punk has been “fantastic” to work with in the eight months in which he has done so and “eager” to do more outside just his core responsibilities. He used it as an example of how you can’t judge someone from what you hear but you have to experience the person for yourself.
• On Ronda Rousey’s recent comments about potentially being interested in returning to WWE, he said they “love Ronda” and that she’s been a good person to work with on a lot of levels. If someone wants to come back, they are happy to have that conversation.
• He was asked about the Vince McMahon/Janel Grant lawsuit and said they are limited in what they can say, that they have been compliant, and that when they have the opportunity to answer questions, they do and when they can’t, they don’t.
• He also talked about the differences between dealing with native/embedded wrestling media vs. mainstream outlets, saying they work with all kinds of press and media and structure their communication strategies accordingly. He said there are some occasions when they can’t reveal info on surprises when asked, and also went into detail about the process of getting talent ready for mainstream TV appearances which is much more work than one might expect.