HLA: Reborn
Stephanie McMahon stood and watched her father walk out of the office. Months earlier they had all decided to sell the company her grandfather created. Now her father had just resigned from his position due to all the allegations against him. She made her way back to the table where Nick Khan, the president of the company, and her husband, Triple H, were still seated.
Nick Khan: "So now that is out of the way, let me hear some ideas from you two. We need to turn this around fast."
Triple H: "Along with my responsibilities as CCO, I would also like to take over head of creative. If that's okay with you."
Nick Khan: "That works for me. Steph, any objections?"
Stephanie: "No objections from me. But I did have some ideas I wanted to run across you."
Nick Khan: "Let's hear them."
Stephanie: "I sold the majority of my shares along with my family. So, I'm out of the company. I have no sway whatsoever. But I do still have a passion for this business. And especially the women involved in this business.
Triple H: "What are you getting at, Steph? You know I treat the women just the same as the men."
Stephanie: "Yes, I do, and you do a great job on that, Hunter. No one cares for these women like I do though. No executive knows what goes on in that locker room the way I do.
Nick Khan: "Well, what do you have in mind?"
Stephanie: "Well, I think we should do an all-female show. Multiple shows at that. I want these women to know how special they really are."
Nick Khan looked at Stephanie first and then Triple H, confused. "We already did a show like that, Stephanie. It was called Evolution."
Stephanie: "I was thinking of doing something a little different. Remember when my dad had the Elimination Chamber matches? And when he gave incentives for the younger women wresters to try to seduce the older women?"
Triple H: "Steph, now might not be the right time?"
Stephanie: "The women loved it. You can ask all of them. There's a secret bond between all the women in the locker room. Everyone knows that unwritten rule in wrestling."
Nick Khan: "What rule is that?"
Stephanie: "You want to tell him, Hunter?"
Triple H: "As long as the women don't sleep with any other guys then no one considers it cheating. All the men understand that sometimes we are not available, and the women need to be taken care of."
Nick Khan: "I see. What are you proposing, Stephanie?"
Stephanie: "I want to do another Evolution. This time I want to call it HLA: Evolution. We can start off slow and build it as big as Wrestlemania. Trust me, I have a lot of ideas."
Nick Khan: "We'll need to go over it with the new board members. Listen Stephanie, you have my support, but I can't promise anything. Why don't we start off with something a little slower?"
Stephanie: "Well, one of my ideas is to have my own show. A show where we get to know the actual women, not just the characters they play on TV."
Triple H: "That sounds promising. An inside look at the women's personal lives. I think that's a great idea."
Nick Khan: "What kind of questions did you have in mind?"
Stephanie: "I could ask them about how they got into the business. How they keep in great shape. Talk about their passion for the business. And when the cameras stop rolling, I can ask them the real questions. And we can put that on a subscription-based website."
Nick Khan: "Let's start there. If you can make that show work, we'll see what else you can come up with."
A Few Months Later...
Stephanie's show,
Stephanie's Places
, began taping at the beginning of the year. Stephanie sent out a mass email and text messages to all the women past and present. Anyone who wanted to be on the show just needed to contact her and set up the arrangements. She was busy for weeks taking conference calls, answering emails and replying to those messages.
Much like her father she liked to leave everything to chance. Every woman that made contact with her she wrote their name down and put it into a hat. After a day or two of no more calls she decided to pull out the piece of paper with the first name that would be on her new show. She flipped the paper over and there it was - Lita.
WWE made preparations to get Lita to Stephanie's house, where they would film the first episode. Stephanie interviewed Lita for about thirty minutes asking her about how she got started, where her passion came from, how life was as a professional wrestler, etc. Your stereotypical interview. When the camera men quit filming and left, Stephanie got up and setup her tripod and asked the real questions - What was your favorite girl/girl experience while being a professional wrestler?
Lita: "It was on November 2