Mackenzie Mitchell is opening up about a moment earlier in her career when WWE passed on an idea she strongly believed in — an idea that would later grow into something much bigger after she pursued it on her own.
During an interview with The Wrestling Classic, Mitchell explained that the concept behind her book didn’t originally start as a book at all. Instead, it began as a podcast-style concept she pitched internally while working for WWE. She believed there was a strong concept behind focusing on the visual side of wrestling — specifically the gear wrestlers wear every week — and wanted to build conversations around that topic.
While describing how the idea came together, Mitchell said she spent years thinking about the concept before finally pitching it to WWE leadership during the COVID era. She explained that her pitch focused on documenting the constant evolution of wrestler presentation across multiple promotions.
“Interestingly, the idea was always a podcast. I had had this idea for about six years now. I think I started pitching this around COVID to the WWE and I was like, ‘Please let me experiment here. There’s an idea. There’s a thought in mind behind this. We’re already—this is not a new—it’s a new conversation, but it’s not a new concept. So, why are we not just putting a camera and creating conversation around what people are wearing week in, week out, 52 weeks a year, whether it’s RAW, SmackDown, TNA, NXT, whatever you want to call it, you’re debuting a new look or you’re wearing something new every single week, unless you’re Joe Hendry or some of the consistent looks.’”
Despite her confidence in the idea, Mitchell revealed that WWE did not see the value in the concept at the time. She recalled being told directly that there wasn’t a market for it, shutting down the project before it ever had the chance to officially launch.
“So, I pitched it. I pitched it. They said, ‘No, there’s no demographic for this. Doesn’t work. Absolutely not. This sounds horrible.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Even after being turned down, Mitchell didn’t fully walk away from the idea. She revealed that she went as far as filming a pilot episode while still with WWE, working alongside Johnny Gargano to test the concept. According to Mitchell, the pilot conversation ran for well over an hour and showed clear promise — but it never moved forward beyond that stage.
“I finally filmed a pilot when I was still working with WWE—I want to say this was 2021 maybe—with Johnny Gargano that lives somewhere in the archives because we had this idea to do it. It went really well. Our conversation was about an hour and a half. So, it was like the conversation was there, and then it never saw the light of day.”
That rejection didn’t mark the end of the idea. Instead, it became the starting point for something that eventually evolved into her published book project. What began as a pitch inside WWE ultimately found life outside the company, proving that ideas sometimes just need the right timing — or the right opportunity — to succeed.
What do you think about WWE turning down Mackenzie Mitchell’s original concept before it became a published project? Do you think the company missed an opportunity, or was the timing just wrong? Drop your thoughts in the comments and join the conversation.