Jennifer Pepperman, AEW’s VP of Content Development, joined the AEW Unrestricted podcast this week to discuss her role in All Elite Wrestling. She talked about directing, storytelling, collaborating, character development, the wrestlers she works with behind the scenes, how she met Tony Khan, Mercedes Mone, and more.
Jennifer Pepperman on winning Emmy Awards in the soap opera field:
“My awards in soap operas, which sometimes people don’t actually know about, they’re actually for directing, not for writing. When I first started in wrestling at WWE. I didn’t know anything about wrestling. I mean, I knew what it was. I hadn’t, you know, been a fan. I didn’t have a background, so I kind of really just got to be like a sponge and learn everything I could from a lot of very different talented people. I realized that professional wrestling is like this magical, beautiful art form, and one of the things that I was really taken by, was that the audience is actually like a character. So after I had been working for a couple of months, I had this sort of A Ha moment, and I was like, you know, dramatically, it’s not that different than a soap opera, except in professional wrestling, you have a good guy and a bad guy in dramatic conflict, but that conflict is solved by fighting in a wrestling ring, whereas in a narrative drama, it’s solved by, you know, someone gets shot, someone gets stabbed, people fall in love, people get divorced, someone’s cheating on someone. The conflict is solved by fighting in a ring. So there’s a ton of similarities between soap operas and wrestling.”
On how she came to AEW:
“It initially started with a conversation with Mercedes. I worked very closely with her at WWE, and so it sort of, you know, started as a conversation that she has this really great opportunity to come to this really great company, and would I have any interest in coming along with her. First, I have to say I adore Mercedes, not only as a person, but as a talent. She’s one of those people that is really, really special. She’s someone who has been a pioneer in this industry. People talk about breaking down barriers and shattering glass ceilings. Well, that’s exactly what Mercedes has done. She’s so inspiring to me. I think Mercedes doesn’t even actually know how talented she is, and we just really connected creatively. I love the creative process. What I love most about the creative process is that it’s collaborative. I believe the creative process is best when it’s collaborative and Mercedes is a really great collaborator. We work really well together, and I just believe in her so much. The WWE was a really great place for me. I worked with a lot of really great people there. I have a lot of friends there. I wish them well. But for me, Mercedes and I, our working relationship was really unique and really special, and so it was a chance to continue that journey wherever it might take us. So I have to say one other thing though about coming to AEW, so that was the first step, and when I met with Tony, I immediately wanted to come work here. From his creativity, his passion, his joy, his love for professional wrestling. Mercedes was the first step and as soon as I met Tony, I was like, ‘I need to be here’.”
On who she has worked with since coming to AEW:
“I usually always work with Dustin Rhodes. Dustin and I actually knew each knew each other on the other side. So I’ve worked with Dustin a lot. I really like working with the Undisputed Kingdom on our Ring of Honor side. I work a lot with Athena and Billie. I’ve worked with Brian Danielson. Of course, I kind of just, you know, whatever’s going on in the show and whoever I can work with, I would love to work with.”
On the differences between WWE and AEW:
“The structuring of the show is very different from how we would structure a show on WWE and I’ve been fascinated by that. The amount of storytelling within a match, and the amount of pay per view matches we have on AEW continues to amaze me. I’m also struck by the freeness that really sparks creativity here. So I think that’s been a really cool thing. Also I feel at AEW, everyone really gets to feel heard creatively and I think that’s also really, really important.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
