Stephanie McMahon

Stephanie Marie McMahon Levesque ( mək-MAN lə-VEK; née McMahon; born September 24, 1976) is an American businesswoman and retired professional wrestler. She is known for her various roles within WWE between 1998 and 2023.

The daughter of Vince and Linda McMahon, she is a fourth-generation wrestling promoter as a member of the McMahon family. She began working for WWE at 13, modeling merchandise for catalogs. McMahon began appearing regularly on-air for WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999 as a part of a storyline with The Undertaker. After a brief on-screen relationship with Test, McMahon became engaged to Triple H – whom she married both on-screen and later in real life – which resulted in the McMahon-Helmsley faction storyline.

She held the WWF Women's Championship once. In 2001, she was the on-screen owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling during The Invasion. The following year, she was the general manager of SmackDown, but stopped appearing regularly on television after an "I Quit" match with her father.

After making only sporadic appearances for several years, McMahon began appearing regularly on Raw in 2008 as the franchise general manager before disappearing again. She returned to regular on-air appearances in 2013, this time under the gimmick of an unctuous, judgmental, bullying owner along with on-screen chief operating officer Triple H. As a power couple, they formed the stable The Authority, making often shady decrees they stated were "what's best for business" and indulging in public displays of affection. McMahon wrestled her final in-ring match at WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, after which she continued to focus on executive roles within the company.

Stephanie Marie McMahon was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on September 24, 1976, to professional wrestling promoters Vince and Linda McMahon. She has an older brother, Shane. McMahon and her family are Irish American, and she has expressed pride of her Irish heritage. During a WWE live event in Dublin in 2004, she revealed that her family originally came from County Clare. Her great-grandfather, Jess McMahon, was born to Irish parents who had emigrated from Galway to New York City during the 1870s.

Soon after McMahon's birth, her family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where she attended Greenwich Country Day School through her elementary years. She started working for World Wrestling Federation (WWF) at the age of 13 as a model for merchandise catalogs. After graduating from Greenwich High School in 1994, McMahon attended Boston University, graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications. She became a full-time WWF employee post-graduation.

McMahon entered the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a model for the sales and merchandise department, and began her business career as an account executive for the WWF offices in New York. In her early years with the company, she did reception work, creative design, and television production, and acted as a ring performer. In November 2000, McMahon became head writer of the company, replacing Chris Kreski. After spending time as the director of creative writing, a job she began 2002, she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Creative Writing in 2006.

McMahon was promoted to executive vice president of creative in 2007. She was responsible for overseeing the creative process (storylines) for all television and pay-per-view programming and oversaw all aspects of talent management and branding, live event booking and marketing, and social and digital media properties.

McMahon spearheaded the development of the WWE app, which has been downloaded over 20 million times. She also launched a partnership with the USO metropolitan Washington, the social media company Tout, and a partnership with Yahoo to deliver WWE content. McMahon also led WWE's Creative coalition for anti bullying campaigns.

On December 4, 2013, WWE announced McMahon's promotion to chief brand officer, to lead efforts to further enhance WWE's brand reputation among key stakeholders including advertisers, media, business partners, and investors. She also serves as the lead ambassador for WWE and works with business units to support key growth initiatives. McMahon also leads WWE's targeted youth and moms marketing programs.

McMahon's new position enabled her to spearhead the continued partnership with General Mills' Totino's brand.

In early 1999, at the suggestion of WWF writer Vince Russo, McMahon debuted as Vince McMahon's innocent and friendly daughter in an on-screen storyline involving Vince and The Undertaker. The Undertaker stalked and abducted McMahon at the end of the April Backlash pay-per-view, which culminated in him almost marrying her in the middle of the ring the next night on Raw, before she was rescued by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

McMahon then began an on-screen relationship with wrestler Test, which led to a rivalry between him and her older brother Shane. After Test defeated Shane at SummerSlam in a "Love Her Or Leave Her Match," McMahon and Test teamed-up for a match on September 20, 1999, with the couple defeating Jeff Jarrett and Debra. The couple were eventually engaged, but during the in-ring ceremony, Triple H showed a video that revealed he had drugged McMahon and taken her to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they were married in a drive-through ceremony. McMahon seemed to abhor Triple H at first, but at the inaugural Armageddon event, after Triple H defeated her father in a No Holds Barred Match, she embraced him and left the ring with him. McMahon confronted Vince the next night on Raw and revealed the wedding was a planned event, which was a revenge plot against her father for the aforementioned kidnappings, thus turning her into a heel character.

In late 1999, with Vince McMahon absent as a result of injuries inflicted upon him by Triple H at the Armageddon pay-per-view, Triple H and McMahon became the on-screen owners of the WWF, a period known as the "McMahon-Helmsley Era" (slightly different from the modern era of "The Authority") and dominated by the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. Triple H held the WWF Championship and McMahon held the WWF Women's Championship after defeating champion Jacqueline with the help of Tori and D-Generation X on the March 28 episode of SmackDown! McMahon successfully defended her title against Lita on SmackDown on June 6 and 16. McMahon reconciled with her father and brother at WrestleMania 2000 when they helped Triple H defend his title against The Rock, leaving Linda McMahon as the only fan-favorite in the McMahon family.

In mid-2000, a love triangle storyline began featuring McMahon, Triple H and Kurt Angle. The storyline continued at Unforgiven when Triple H defeated Angle with a Pedigree following a low blow from McMahon, proving her loyalty to him. McMahon later became Angle's manager and was in his corner when he defeated The Rock for the WWF Championship at No Mercy. The alliance was short-lived, however, as after The Rock performed his Rock Bottom maneuver on McMahon at No Mercy, Triple H attacked Angle, considering it his fault that McMahon was hurt due to her managing Angle at the time. On the August 21, 2000, episode of Raw, McMahon lost the WWF's Women's Championship to Lita despite the interference from Angle and Triple H after special referee, The Rock, performed a spinebuster on McMahon.

The internal disputes between the McMahons led to Linda McMahon being comatose and wheel-chair bound due to the stress of being asked for a divorce by Vince, who took the opportunity to have a public affair with Trish Stratus. McMahon briefly feuded with Stratus, defeating her at No Way Out. Over the next few weeks, Vince made it clear that he favored McMahon over Stratus, allowing McMahon to bully and verbally abuse Stratus. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Shane McMahon defeated Vince in a street fight. During the match, Stratus slapped Vince and chased Stephanie from ringside, apparently upset with Vince's constant misogynistic treatment of her.

McMahon has appeared on The Howard Stern Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Opie and Anthony. In May 2000, Stephanie appeared at the WBCN River Rave on-stage with friend, Cali, to introduce Godsmack and sign autographs in the festival area. In November 2001, McMahon appeared on a special episode of NBC's The Weakest Link where WWF personalities competed against each other for their respective charities. She made it to the final two but lost to Triple H. On August 14, 2005, McMahon and Stacy Keibler appeared on the season five finale of MTV's Punk'd, where she assisted with a prank on Triple H.

On March 28, 2009, McMahon appeared alongside her mother on Business News Network's The Market Morning Show. McMahon has also made several appearances on various ESPN shows. On November 11, 2009, she appeared on an episode of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible alongside wrestler Big Show. In October 2013, Stephanie became the honorary chairperson for the Special Olympics of Connecticut.

McMahon has also appeared in numerous WWE video games which include: WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF SmackDown!, WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWE Raw 2, WWE WrestleMania X8, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE Crush Hour, WWE WrestleMania XIX, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE Immortals, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, WWE 2K20, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, WWE 2K22, WWE 2K23, WWE 2K24, WWE 2K25 and WWE 2K26.

McMahon was periodically featured during the first season of the E! television series Total Divas. On December 2, 2014, WWE released the WWE Fit Series, starring McMahon as a trainer in a fitness video designed for women. Triple H starred in a similar video for men titled WWE Power Series.

McMahon has appeared on promotional posters for WWE events such as the Royal Rumble of 2006 and the Elimination Chamber of 2014.

McMahon began dating Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, in 2000 during a scripted, on-screen romance. The couple were engaged on Valentine's Day in 2003 and married on October 25, 2003, in a Catholic ceremony at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Stephanie took her husband's surname and legally changed her middle name to McMahon. The couple have three children.

McMahon is a Republican. She and Levesque donated $2,700 to former New Jersey governor Chris Christie's 2016 presidential campaign.

PWI Feud of the Year (2002) vs. Eric Bischoff

PWI Feud of the Year (2013) vs. Daniel Bryan as part of The Authority

PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2013) as part of The Authority

PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2014) – with Triple H

Insult of the Year (2013) – for insulting Big Show

Account executive and receptionist – 1998–2002

Director, Creative Television – 2002–2006

Responsible for the creative design, plans, and initiatives for WWE television.

Senior vice-president, Creative Writing – 2006–2007

Responsible for overseeing the creative writing process, development, and management of the World Wrestling Entertainment creative team.