Jeanie Buss (Owner of the LA Lakers, Co-Founder and Co-Owner, WOW), David McLane (Co-Founder & Co-Owner, WOW), Coach Campanelli (WOW Superheroes Coach) and Genesis (WOW Superhero) step into our video studio at San Diego Comic Con 2024.
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00:00It's been amazing to feel not only that people believe in you but that they're willing to bet on
00:05you too and feeling that huge support has helped not only elevate I think women's wrestling but
00:12wrestling as a whole and we are a major a major company a major show now it's amazing and I want
00:20to see more of that more people investing in women's sports supporting women's sports and
00:26becoming coaches women coaches. Welcome we're in the beautiful Variety Studio I'm David McLean
00:39and I'm joined here by my co-founder and the executive producer of WOW Women of Wrestling
00:45Jeanne Buss also coach Campanelli a WOW superhero and on my right Genesis. Together we're here with
00:56the WOW superheroes in the Variety Studio and we're so happy to be here. Well we are so happy
01:02to have y'all at Comic-Con this is kind of a big first bringing a different type of superhero to
01:08this convention what is that like to kind of really bring real life superheroes to the place
01:14where we're all you know wearing capes? I've got to say one it's exciting but the real reason we're
01:20here is several years ago I finally got Jeanne Buss to come in and see WOW and it late at night
01:27when she busted out and she came out to the hallway at the Great Western Forum and said to me
01:33they're WOW superheroes Jeanne Buss is the one that branded them WOW superheroes and she can
01:41tell you why and her love for comic books and it's so special to be here for all of us because this
01:47is her passion with Comic-Con. The wrestlers that are involved in WOW Women of Wrestling are to me
01:58the superhero real life superheroes that I dreamed of when I was a kid and looked up to and I couldn't
02:06be more proud of the the wrestlers and the show that we've created. I know you mentioned I think
02:13was it Wonder Woman there were a couple of superheroes that you were particularly a fan of
02:17what do you remember about why you loved them and what you then saw in the wrestlers? I was the kid
02:23that would take a towel and tie it around my neck and pretend I was Supergirl and fly everywhere
02:29and you know there just wasn't enough representation of women as superheroes we had all the
02:37you know Superman and Iron Man and I just wanted to see more women get that role and
02:44for what inspired me I'm looking to inspire the next generation of you know just strong
02:53empowered women that will go into whatever field they want to go into. I mean listen you're pretty
02:58much a superhero yourself especially in the business world but I want to ask you Coach and
03:04Genesis what it's like to be branded a superhero and for that to kind of be the way you walk around
03:10in the world? Feels incredible I mean it's kind of the epitome of what WOW! does is women
03:18empowerment and empowering girls and everybody to know that women can do really whatever they want
03:25and you don't have to have something supernatural about you to be a superhero. Yeah. We have
03:31strengths and we can broadcast that and surprise people even but in the best way. Yeah. Except
03:38Genesis you can do those super. Well you know sometimes I have to bring the nunchucks out to
03:44set people straight but I agree it's so wonderful to be to have that branding for us because
03:50it just shows that any anyone any young girl someone like me from not even from the same the
03:56country you know we can find our way and find what makes us want to be better and so to be
04:03able to show that to girls and you know be a show of all women I think it's something really
04:08special especially in wrestling. What has it been like to see the real like surge in popularity of
04:14WOW! I mean this is a brand David that has been around for for some time and continues to not
04:20only be rebranded but also grow in viewership grow in popularity you know tell me a little bit
04:26about the journey and what it means to be at this point now. Well it started years ago but not until
04:31Jeannie became involved and really lifted it with greater exposure and branding as in WOW!
04:38Superheroes have we now just started to found found have a strong foundation of building our
04:44audience and we've seen it grow. Earlier today here at San Diego Comic-Con we had over a thousand
04:50people in line at 10 in the morning just to have autographs from Coach and Genesis and they came
04:56from everywhere. Number one city was Minneapolis Saint Paul but we had people from Omaha we had
05:02people from Indiana we had people from Florida that came in and a few from foreign countries
05:08so the answer is it's amazing. Jeannie question had you been to Comic-Con before? Actually I
05:16started coming to Comic-Con when I was 12 or 13 years old it was the year two of Comic-Con that's
05:22how old I am but you know it's it it's grown substantially but it's still at the core
05:30the same convention that that I went to as a kid looking to buy comic books of my favorite
05:36characters really getting in conversations with other super fans who who love you know the same
05:44things that I do so I couldn't be more proud to to bring our product with the WOW! Women of
05:53Wrestling to you know like where super fans get to you know be in connection with with the the
06:02people they look up to. Well because you know all of this in in all connection is all things that
06:08you really care about and love what has it been like to kind of create and find and elevate ways
06:13to to well really not elevate ways but find ways to elevate this brand how have you kind of noticed
06:21like the the marketplace react audiences react how did you kind of use those that that comic
06:26book knowledge that you had to to help this along? Well you know it's just watching the growth of
06:33women's sports because of title nine which was passed in the 1970s more and more female athletes
06:42are you know putting in the time and the dedication and the focus because there's a
06:49possibility of getting a scholarship to you know to pursue their education so I looked at you know
06:58the success of the WNBA women's tennis women's golf now women's soccer and there's just so many
07:07more athletes that don't have a place to you know show the the years of dedication and the
07:15athleticism and I always felt that wrestling had such a great passionate audience if we could
07:22bring together the the you know bring back the women of wrestling and find these athletes that
07:30need a platform so that they can shine and show off all the the discipline and the dedication and
07:38the sacrifice that they went through to become the athletes that they are it just it's it's just
07:45it needs women's sports need people like me to invest back and create opportunities for women
07:52in sports. Well as women in sports what what have you noticed about that investment because it does
07:58seem like we are seeing so much more increased viewership in in a range of sports obviously
08:04most recently with the WNBA really surging in popularity so what has it been like to see these
08:09increased opportunities and what more would you what other types of opportunities would you like
08:14to see? Well I'm leaning in and you know I think you know just recently in the news Willow Bay
08:22who comes from a sports background and her husband Bob Iger head of Disney just bought the
08:30women's soccer team for Los Angeles so I'm you know I'm leaning in I'm I'm doubling down on
08:36women's sports and and just you know continuing looking for the athletes that will you know
08:44send the message to the next generation. Absolutely yeah Jeannie has been such an inspiration and a
08:50huge support it's been amazing to feel not only that people believe in you but that they're
08:56willing to bet on you too and feeling that huge support has helped not only elevate I think
09:03women's wrestling but wrestling as a whole and we are a major a major company a major show now
09:11it's amazing and I want to see more of that more people investing in women's sports supporting
09:16women's sports and becoming coaches women coaches makes a difference. Definitely I mean I couldn't
09:25say it better than what coach just said where we are fortunate to have Jeannie spearheading
09:30our company and all the girls on our roster but just the more the better the more we see it around
09:36the more the next generation of young girls who are looking to be athletes who are interested in
09:41sports entertainment they can all find their place and there's just more opportunity that's
09:46what it is like without opportunity you can't get anywhere but with people like Jeannie providing us
09:52the platform we can really shine and we're lucky. The thing with the platform even the WNBA as you
09:57see Caitlin Clark popped those three pointers it's the excellence in athletics and Jeannie
10:04mentioned it with respects to title nine I've seen over the years the growth and the excellence of
10:11women's sports excelling and it's booming now and it's all from title nine and so what Jeannie
10:18invested in with WOW to ensure that the product is good when you see it on television and it is
10:24the best women's wrestling on tv is she invested in an all-women's wrestling school often to learn
10:30the craft you had to go to other wrestling schools that were dominated by men she invested in an
10:36all-women's training school and then you see the excellence of the product right on the screen
10:42and all that in the blender like a good drink has made the products excel and we've gained more
10:49eyeballs watching it because it's a good product the WNBA is gaining eyeballs because it's a good
10:56product. Well I'm curious who are some of those eyeballs that you have attracted who are who are
11:03some of the people that you've been shocked surprised excited to find out are among your fans
11:09well I'm the one that looks at the ratings every week and I send it to Jeannie in in the mail but
11:14she has a secondary job that may not allow her to get into detail but Wrestling Forever has been a
11:21man's dominated viewership and with WOW we're almost almost 50 50 with women viewership and
11:28what surprised us is is in fact women view it and then you look at our live events and we don't do
11:34that many live events we do them specifically for television but we visually have seen the growth
11:40in women coming and bringing their daughters and that has been what's different today than in the
11:47past so the female viewership has grown and the participation of young people vis-a-vis being
11:54the female young teens are coming and they're seeing what Jeannie saw when she looked at comic
12:00books as a kid the super woman super girl they're seeing it live in person not just in the pages of
12:09comic books so today is a great blending of that and we're so happy to be here at San Diego Comic-Con
12:15those are definitely our favorite fans when we see little girls in the audience we're like those
12:20are the ones we we really want to shout out because that was us before just a fan trying to
12:26find our way and you know just to see them in the crowd it always even though I'm a very tough tough
12:32wrestler it does warm my cold heart. Who do you remember being a fan of before you stepped into
12:40wrestling? Gosh so many gosh I can't even think of one right now sometimes when you have so many
12:52options it's hard to choose one yeah I know AJ Lee definitely was an inspiration to me at the time
12:56I liked AJ and there's just so many wrestlers who are amazing have really paved the way for
13:02wow women of wrestling and women wrestlers in general. What is it like when other sports stars
13:09reach out from various sports I mean I'm obviously we have the Lakers connection there already but
13:15you know who you found out are fans of y'all who is somebody that you're like oh my gosh I can't
13:19believe you have been watching? Michelle Rodriguez is a fan I saw her in the hotel the Beverly Hills
13:26Hotel we had neither one of us knew that we share the same attorney neither one of us but she likes
13:33it because she's a badass in the Fast and Furious and she likes what they do in the ring.
13:39That's cringe. Genesis oh gosh putting me on the spot I can't think of anyone that comes to mind
13:45coach should know she knows she has the list I got lots of lists going on yeah there's lots of people
13:52I mean there are a lot of you know famous wrestlers who are fans of wow which is really
13:58awesome because not only do we need everyone to support women's sports and women's wrestling but
14:05to even be supported within the wrestling community is always amazing yeah well that's
14:10also partly important in terms of like leveraging to the next step is like what does what does that
14:16next step look like after the show I mean you have obviously the success there but do you want to then
14:22pivot into you know film and tv and and and making more and other products what does kind of the
14:29future of wow look like as you strategize next steps in your individual careers and for the brand
14:36as a whole Jeannie I'll start with you yeah I fully expect that that our wrestlers will use
14:43the platform to branch into other areas of entertainment as you know movies television
14:52um announcing just uh this is this is a chance for them to shine and make contacts
15:00and get the exposure that their hard work has earned them
15:05coach genesis and any ways that you kind of look at expanding in the entertainment industry from
15:11here you know oh go ahead okay I was just gonna say one day that would be awesome but for now
15:19my eyes are just on the title of wow women of wrestling I need to win that first before I think
15:24of my next endeavors but I would never say never say never to anything well clearly because Michelle
15:29Rodriguez has the same lawyers David so you guys well are you like plan exactly do whatever you're
15:35starring gotta win first and then then we'll think about it I asked her to get into the ring but the
15:41attorney said she's always too busy that's that one issue with the the the liability insurance
15:48claims when she's got one more fast and furious movie to make after she's done maybe knows how
15:55let us step in the ring with us you're ready I bet she would absolutely what about for you coach
16:01well you know I'm coach Campanelli I dabble in a lot and I'm an expert and more so I would say
16:07that entertainment is always an option because I am entertaining but I don't know specifically yet
16:14I like to dedicate myself to one thing at a time a lot of the time so wow is my bread and butter
16:20right now okay I will ask this because I know we did at one point get glow as a fictionalized
16:27television series could you see a similar future for wow one day would you want to see a wow tv
16:34or movie project in the works well genie executive produces movies so it may happen
16:42but glow was then and wow is now so if you want to see the transformation from the 80s to now
16:48that would be a great documentary maybe one in the works already or have you guys started
16:55no we just thought it up because of your question I'm just here trying to you know get more press
17:00opportunities we know we think it's a great idea well you guys I mean there's even there's a new
17:09episode tonight there's there's so much going on with wow what what is the kind of even just the
17:13next six month plan look like what is what are the kind of next steps we're starting our season three
17:19right now and we'll be having over the next few months over eight live events in Los Angeles
17:25which will be filmed for distribution that's distributed by paramount and we're happy to
17:31announce that debuting starting this September for the first time ever on Pluto television wow
17:38we'll have a dedicated television series 24 7 channel wow channel on Pluto tv that's a first
17:48ever what does it mean to have that and have that level of exposure that at any time of day
17:54folks can really engage with these stories and with again these superheroes oh man it means so
18:02much well for me personally on my wow journey I've been with the company for nearly seven years now
18:08and to see from where we started you know humble beginnings for this new generation of wow you know
18:15just trying to get into the ring at any opportunity outside inside wherever it was driving hours and
18:20hours to get to training centers just to get that shot for when just to be sorry just to be ready
18:26for when the opportunity would come where we would just take off and now seeing that opportunity come
18:32finally like it just the payoff is it just makes it so worth it
18:39when we were here autographing Jeannie was it two years ago we were so Jeannie and I were here with
18:44some wrestlers autographing two years ago and I have no problem saying 98 percent of the people
18:50on the line had basketballs and laker caps and they wanted Jeannie to autograph them today was
18:56special because Jeannie would love it there were a thousand people and they came to see the wow
19:01wrestlers and they were from all over the United States and I that was a first for the brand today
19:07here at San Diego Comic-Con and Jeannie I mean to that point there was a there was a whole Lakers
19:13moment though today with obviously LeBron uh being one of the flag bearers so it's not like
19:18it was totally far from mine today what was it like to to have the brand uh so well represented
19:24well I'm missing the Olympics in Paris but LeBron's missing the San Diego Comic-Con with
19:34it's like you weigh both sides but um you know going back to uh having a wow channel on Pluto
19:40it just makes it easier for people to find us 24 7 and being able to to uh have a dedicated
19:48channel it it'll just be easier for our fans to find wow and watch more of more as get their fill
19:57yeah well okay when you all are not watching wow what is on your watch list what are some of those
20:04shows movies upcoming projects that you're you know that you're got your eyes out for
20:10I watch Big Brother
20:14can you find a way for them to do like a wow season maybe I don't know it's like I you know
20:20it's 20 I think in 26 years seasons that I watched and you know I'm just so happy that
20:26it's on CBS and I get to watch it it's my favorite perfect that's amazing would you do it
20:33ah
20:36um maybe you know they've done celebrities they've had uh met a world peace uh only last I
20:45think 48 hours in the house you can do it Jeannie it would be fun it would be there you go right
20:52he's got the scoop wants to be in Big Brother oh thank you for knowing how to write my headlines
20:59for me but any other watch list and what else you guys I mean I'm always always watching tv
21:06but I also love going back to classics so Spongebob is always on loo I know Genesis and I
21:13were like oh there's so much Spongebob around here amazing yeah I love the animated shows I'm a I do
21:19love anime as well so it's so cool being here and seeing it all and everyone dressed up just as much
21:25as we are which is really really cool um what's on my actual watch list um watching Demon Slayer
21:32I'm watching a few different things right now just a mix a mix bag great mix yeah I love watching the
21:39Hunger Games because from the very first Hunger Games I watched it and it's just like professional
21:44wrestling and in the in the political climate today that I've been watching lately it's like
21:49professional wrestling you're all living in a reality show well thank you all for bringing
21:57the reality of women's really the rise of women's sports that we're we're just happy to see uh
22:03further to the forefront so thank you all so much thank you may everyone watch have a wild day