The co-CEO Stephanie McMahon attributed the return of Bray Wyatt's storyline, resulting in a 20% boost in the audience.
After weeks of build-ups on television and online, Bray Wyatt returned at Extreme Rules in October. Thanks to WWE's creative, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H's decision of "White Rabbit" teases that captivated fans.
WWE Universe was kept on their toes as one of the enigmatic "White Rabbit" QR codes directed fans to a series of numbers that could have been interpreted as a date or a time code: "0923."
Stephanie McMahon mentioned at the Wells Fargo 2022 TMT Summit that the following episode of WWE SmackDown saw a 20% increase in viewership around 9:23 p.m.
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"We were bringing back one of our biggest stars named Bray Wyatt. We used a multimedia approach and hired a horror writer to come in and really help us craft this narrative, so our fans were engaged. It's strategies like that that really do work. The audience today is different. They're growing; they're evolving. Some people want to have a laid-back experience, and that's great, but a lot of people really want to engage deeply, and have fun, and have misleads and misdirections," she mentioned. [H/T - Wrestling Inc.]
According to Dave Meltzer, the "White Rabbit" teasers led up to Extreme Rules that made the Premium Live Event the most-watched in history.
Stephanie McMahon wants to merge boxing with WWE
During the same WWE Wells Fargo 2022 TMT Summit, The Queen of Queens stated her desire to form potential opportunities for WWE to collaborate with professional boxing as part of the agreement.
"Who's the lineal champion? Who's the WBC champion? Who's the this — it's kind of it's all over the place," the co-CEO said.
McMahon recalled how, in the late 1980s, former WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon merged pro wrestling by combining multiple championships into one.
Stephanie hopes to recreate WWE's success in other areas, including boxing.
What do you think of Stephanie McMahon's and the company's idea of cryptic QR codes for Bray Wyatt's return to WWE? Sound off in the comments section below.