Renee Paquette is widely regarded as one of the most likeable non-wrestling personalities in the world of professional wrestling. She made headlines when she debuted for AEW in October, making good on longstanding rumors she may one day join her real life husband Jon Moxley as well as a host of friends from her WWE days on this stage.
Paquette talked over what led to her decision and what it was like to make her first appearance on an episode of her podcast immediately after her debut. Amidst the conversation, Mean Gene Okerlund came up, and she briefly joked about starting her own hotline in the tradition of what the broadcaster did first for WWE, then for WCW back in the 1990s. Whether it was intended purely as a joke or not, the idea has potential.
Renee Paquette Tends To Get Compared Gene Okerlund
No one would ever mistake Renee Paquette for Gene Okerlund based on their physical appearances. However, the two have drawn a high number of comparisons based on the respective roles they’ve played in the wrestling industry, primarily working as backstage interviewers and hosts, in additional to forays into the commentary booth. Most specifically, there’s a relatively frequent assessment that Paquette is “the best backstage interviewer since Mean Gene.”
Paquette, to her credit, doesn’t shy away from the comparison or dispute her standing, but rather expressed in the podcast that she was flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as Okerlund. She even went so far as to reference that the two were able to work together on some projects for WWE, and that she enjoyed grabbing a bite to eat with him after work, describing him as a class act.
An Actual Mean Gene-Style Hotline Could Be a Great Nostalgia Play In The Short Term
Mean Gene Okerlund famously facilitated a hotline first for WWE, then for WCW. The gist was that he would tease major news or rumors on TV, inviting the viewer to call a 1-900 number that charged an initial fee, plus extra money for every minute the caller stayed on the line. Typically, there was a conscious design to keep the customer listening for a while to get more money out of them.
As Eric Bischoff has discussed on his 83 Weeks podcast, it was Okerlund, personally, who brought this business over to WCW, suggesting it as a revenue stream he knew well and could facilitate.
The idea of a hotline itself is pretty outdated in 2022. Just the same, AEW could bring back this concept—be it following the traditional model on the phone as more of a novelty Internet or app-based utility. The nostalgia-factor alone would probably draw some old school fans to call Renee for an inside scoop—throwing few dollars or a download at it for their entertainment.
AEW Could Switch From A Hotline To Something More Modern For Renee Paquette
While Renee Paquette running a fee-based hotline might be able to create some revenue and good will in the short term, the idea probably wouldn’t have much of a shelf life. The Internet and social media are so robust in their coverage of wrestling news and rumors nowadays that it’s hard to image many fans calling an old school hotline nowadays more than a handful of times.
Either after or instead of the hotline model, though, AEW might use similar branding for a more modernized take on the concept. Perhaps it would be a news source with a paywall like Fightful Select or the way The Wrestling Observer offers some of its content. AEW would, after all, have unique access to share news on this kind of platform about upcoming events or matchups, or taking control of news reporting about backstage happenings.
Paquette has already established herself as a highly skilled interviewer via not only her on-air wrestling efforts, but her podcast. Offering conversations, for example, with Tony Khan himself or other major figures from AEW could offer an additional incentive for fans to pay a modest fee to listen.
While wrestling fans by and large enjoy free content, it only seems fair for a promotion to take advantage where there’s a potential revenue stream the fans might clamor for. Renee Paquette is that rare figure in wrestling hardly any fans have anything negative to say about, and no one could blame AEW for cashing in with some variation of a hotline concept, taking advantage of Paquette’s personality and Mean Gene Okerlund nostalgia.
