Sasha Banks is featured on WWE's new Performance Center website.WWE
WWE on Monday launched a new website, www.wweperformancecenter.com, for its Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. WWE Exec VP of Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul Levesque -- whom fans know as Triple H -- told SBD Global the goal is to give athletes across the globe the information they need to pursue a career in WWE. He hopes the initiative will eliminate any confusion or uncertainty about the path to WWE. "We've always kind of been shrouded in this mystery, starting with, 'How do you get there?' to, 'What happens when you do?'" he said. "I want to make that go away. I want to create a pathway and an ease of, 'OK, this is how you get there and this is what to expect when you do get there.'" The site features videos of tryouts as well as testimonials from current WWE athletes who detail their journeys.
THE YAO MING EFFECT: The launch of the site comes as WWE's popularity overseas has increased to the extent that Levesque estimated 70-80% of consumption of WWE content across all of its platforms comes from outside the U.S. One of the surest ways to grow the sport's following in a particular market is to have someone from that nation become a headliner. Levesque cited the success of Davey Boy Smith, whose ring name was The British Bulldog, in the '80s and the sport's subsequent growth in England as one example of that phenomenon. "People want to have local pride and local everything else, and when they can have a superstar like that, it's the Yao Ming effect in China with the NBA," Levesque said. "There's a lot of markets that we will look at doing that in." He pointed to India in particular as one place where a local personality could push the sport's popularity over the top. Levesque: "Going into those markets, say a market like India, and having enough people come into the pipeline to really become good at it, you don't need 100 of them, you just need a few to become stars. But once they become stars, the engagement level changes. For us, in a market like India, where we're already the No. 2-watched sport behind cricket, that's a game-changer."
WORLDWIDE DOMINATION: When asked about specific int'l markets WWE is prioritizing, he said that "there is no place that the WWE really doesn't touch. ... I want to make WWE the biggest thing on the globe, so they're all important."
