George Barrios helped turn WWE into a billion-dollar monster, but when the company first came calling, he thought somebody was wasting his damn time.
Speaking on the POST Wrestling podcast while promoting his new book Sometimes Wrong, But Never in Doubt, the former WWE CFO revealed that his first reaction to hearing about a WWE job opening was basically laughter. At the time, Barrios was working at The New York Times and got a call from a recruiter pitching what sounded like a perfect executive role. Then the recruiter dropped the company name. Barrios couldn’t believe it.
“He says, ‘Hey, I’ve got this great role. It’s right what you’re looking for, public company, three or four, 300, 3 or 400 million in revenue, so decent size, it’s profitable. And by the way, it’s a bonus, it’s in Stamford.’ I live, he knows I live in Connecticut, better commute than New York City. I’m like, ‘Hey, that sounds pretty good. What is it, Adam?’ And he goes, ‘WWE.’ And I go, ‘Well, what’s that?’ And he goes, ‘You know, the wrestling.’ And I go, you know, verbatim, ‘Are you fing kidding me? You just called me with that s*?’”*
Like a lot of corporate executives at the time, Barrios viewed WWE as wrestling and nothing more. That changed after the recruiter challenged him to stop judging the company by reputation and actually look at the numbers. Once he did, he realized WWE was a lot more than body slams and steel chairs.
“He goes, ‘Well, how much data do you know about, what do you know about WWE?’ Silence on my end, other than I had watched it as a kid and through college. And he goes, ‘So, why don’t you listen to your own advice, learn a little more.’ So, I do that. And so, I would be lying if I told you that I had the perspective that got formed over the first 18 months, 20, 24 months, about what the opportunity was. But, what I did see is, hey, this is a good business. It’s not whatever thing I had in my head, which is what most people at that point had in their head about WWE, some craziness.”
Funny enough, the company he laughed at ended up becoming one of the biggest chapters of his career.
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