Former WWE Superstar Jimmy Wang Yang recently sat down with the Bleav Podcast Network to discuss his experience in his producer role.
Pressure is something that is always present: “Being a WWE producer is not a bad job. If you can handle the pressure and the intensity of working with WWE. This last run was my fourth time. So, I’m kind of used to the WWE system. It wasn’t hard for me. Wrestling TV days, always long days. That’s how the wrestling business is. It’s always crazy. It’s a lot of pressure and a lot of stuff that goes on that day, but that’s what I love about WWE. I like the pressure, the intensity, the craziness, everything, and those moments that you’re on that headset and there’s so much going on. That’s the first time I really got nervous since I was wrestling. It was so intense. You’ve got Vince in your ear. You got Kevin Dunn in your other ear. You got a million things going on, but I actually enjoyed it. I wish it would’ve lasted longer, but things didn’t work out… at this time.”
He was cut recently, but he understands the nature of business: “Life is all about timing. Wrestling’s all about timing. It’s all about timing. They did give me the budget reason this time, but this is the first time I actually believed that reason. My time there for this last run, six weeks, seven weeks, the WWE live event business was not good. I’ve been a business owner for the last decade, so I understand business. They have to spend a lot of money to produce Raw and SmackDown. A lot, you know, a lot of money. But it doesn’t equal out. They rent Madison Square Garden and only 3,000 to 4,000 people show up. The live event business was not making money for WWE.”
Jimmy explained that WWE makes a lot of money but also spends a lot, therefore budget cuts are necessary: “WWE makes a lot of money, but they also have a lot of bills and a lot of expenses. It’s not just with me, you know, not just signing me to be a producer. They’re really budgeting their budget. Everybody knows about the talent they released on the main roster. And then they cut ends with NXT. They’re moving their office and they’re cutting office staff. They are really budgeting their budget. That’s why I didn’t take it too hard. I’ve been a business owner. I was looking and saying yeah, how in the world? I don’t even know how they produce all this stuff because 3,000 to 4,000 people are in attendance in a 20,000 arena. They’re not making money. There’s no way.”
