News broke last week that Dana Warrior has joined WWE’s backstage Creative department, where she’s currently shadowing writers and getting the lay of the land. That inspired a lot of people to ask why Dana was chosen for a such a role, when she seems to have little relevant experience and WWE employs so few women in a creative capacity. Dana Warrior, as her unusual name implies, is best known as the widow of the Ultimate Warrior, a WWE Hall of Famer who passed away in 2014. Dana has long been a prominent part of WWE’s charity efforts.
Now Dave Meltzer has weighed in on Wrestling Observer Radio (transcript by Ringside News) on why she got the job. Basically, she asked for it:
The basic gist of Dana Warrior is she was looking for a job — she asked Vince McMahon for a job and Vince goes, ‘What would you like, a full-time position? What would you like to do?’ She said she’d like to work in creative. She said she could offer a female point of view — there are other women on the writing team.
Being the sort of guy who’ll hire a former employee’s widow when she needs work is arguably one of Vince McMahon’s more admirable qualities, whether you think she’s a good fit for the job or not.
Meanwhile, reports are coming out that Betsy Kelso has become the lead writer for the WWE Women’s Division. While her name isn’t as recognizable as Warriors, she’s apparently been writing for Smackdown for about eight months, and will be the first woman in charge of creative for the Women’s Division, replacing longtime lead writer Johnny Russo. The team also features another female writer, Jed Pepperman.
