The Hollywood Reporter is featuring an interview with Vince McMahon where he addresses a number of topics including competition from UFC on Pay Per View and his ratings war with Ted Turner.
On competition from UFC on Pay Per View:
“We’re in show business, they are a sport. Their ratings are abysmal. They are in the pay-per-view business, and they do reasonably well there. We just set a record for WrestleMania. We had 1.3 million buys for this year’s WrestleMania, and our pay-per-view numbers for our shows have been up 30 percent since then. So, we are looking pretty good.”
On the ratings war with Ted Turner and WCW:
“Ted Turner was a bit of a battle [when he bought the World Championship Wrestling circuit]. Ted was part of Time Warner; that was difficult to compete with. But perseverance is extremely important in life and in business. The other guys got tired of traveling each and every week to do TV. They just didn’t have the same passion we do. They were working for a paycheck. It was only a matter of time until they burned out.”