Vince McMahon Claims Wrestlers Can Take Breaks From Traveling Schedule Without Punishment

Vince McMahon made the cover of the latest edition of Variety as the WWE Chairman spoke about SmackDown Live‘s upcoming move to the FOX network. The interview was full of interesting tangents from McMahon, but one comment about WWE’s road schedule raised a few eyebrows. With roughly 200 shows per year and Superstars wrestling three to four times a week, touring on the WWE brand is notoriously grueling. But according to McMahon, wrestlers can take time off from the road whenever they want.

“Anybody who wants time off can get time off. That’s easy,” McMahon said. “In addition to that, it’s easy to weave a talent in and out of a storyline. If they get injured, you’re not expecting that. Or if they have a family matter. Our characters are real people with real problems. It’s a revolving situation where this talent will work these dates, that talent will work those dates.”

What’s interesting is that McMahon later compared life in the WWE to life in the military.

“I liken it to the military,” McMahon said. “At the end of the day I’ve got these ribbons and all these medals, and I wake up the next morning, and every one of them is gone. You have to earn everybody’s respect every day, all over again, and I don’t take it for granted.”

SmackDown Live will start airing on FOX starting on Oct. 4. The network confirmed that the show will stay at two hours during their upfront presentation to advertisers this week.

McMahon noted in the interview that, once the Blue Brand makes the jump, WWE Superstars will appear on other FOX shows.

“WWE talent will be appearing on [Fox] programming. It’s going to be a totally integrated approach. We’ve never had a platform like this in terms of promotion. Fox is going to go all-in, and they’re great promoters.”

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