This is a curious interview on WWE.com:
Now, the mother of two has turned her focus to being an ambassador for the sport of softball, as well as her own charity softball tournament to benefit the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team in Louisiana, July 13 to 14. See what Finch had to say about growing up with two older brothers who loved WWE, how she’d strike out two of WWE’s strongest Divas and more in WWE.com’s exclusive interview!
What’s interesting about the interview is that while the Olympic gold medalist has nothing to do with wrestling, every single question is about wrestling. It’s almost as if they’re looking for sound bites from non-wrestling personalities saying positive things about the product. Or, you know, when Poochie’s not in the room, everyone should wonder aloud, “Hey, where’s Poochie?”
Finch isn’t currently or in the future appearing on WWE television (this may turn out differently), and so it becomes useful to wonder what this interview is doing existing on a wrestling website. I have a theory, and it ties into my theory that wwe.com is the ‘truth’ of the WWE Universe more than any single show. If you click on the link above, you’ll notice the interview is categorized under ‘social’, which sends you to the new interactive areas of the site, as well as huge links to twitter, Facebook, and the other 300 social networks WWE is on now.
WWE is changing direction before our eyes. This social network move, the enhanced presence of the website (notice the new ring tarps), and interviews like this one give it away: WWE is moving away from being a solely product producer, and becoming a product aggregator. It’s moving from simply making shows to making a culture, a universe that plays by its own rules, that sometimes includes wrestling but will increasingly include things entirely unrelated. There is no reason for this interview to have taken place if WWE was only interested in promoting its own product. It exists because WWE is interested in becoming a media platform where all sorts of things happen. Over the next few months, expect more of this sort of thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it all resides here, under the ‘social’ category.