Michel Werthenschlag
VP, ASSISTANT GENERAL COUNSEL – INTERNATIONAL
WWE
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
6:45 am
My two oldest sons (10 and eight) wake me up and surprise me with coffee in bed without staining the carpet — impressive! It’s going to be a good day.
7:00 am
My wife and I prepare breakfast. I try to set aside 15 minutes for morning prayers. The race is on: Getting everyone fed (thank you Eggo’s mini pancakes) and dressed in their uniforms without yelling. I quickly browse my emails from our APAC and European offices.
8:00 am
Give a kiss to our baby who just woke up and take the car to drop the kids off at school. My wife is kind enough to drive me to the Harlem & 125th Street station where I catch the train to Stamford, CT.
8:30 am
The 40-minute train ride allows me to respond to emails from our international offices. With the time difference, mornings are usually busy with requests from Europe. Our superstars are currently in the middle of an 11-date UK live tour, which brings a lot of exciting marketing tie-in projects. The WWE shuttle is on time and takes me and a few other commuters to our headquarters. I quickly eat my breakfast: a protein bar.
9:15 am
Bi-weekly calls with our local offices in China and APAC, the Middle East, India, and Europe to discuss the latest updates and follow-ups for our deal pipeline in our content distribution business. The weeks before WrestleMania are extremely busy with numerous marketing activations and sponsorships, on top of the regular workflow of deal renewals with our TV and digital partners and our live events schedule.
12:00 pm
Have a quick coffee before I squeeze in a run on the WWE’s gym treadmill. I try to stay in shape for the forthcoming NYC Half Marathon. Last year, for my sixth NYC Marathon, I ran as part of WWE’s Connor’s Cure, a wonderful charity founded by Stephanie McMahon and her husband Paul “Triple H” Levesque to raise funds against pediatric cancer. It was a great experience and I’m hoping to do it again this coming November.
1:15 pm
Eat a quick turkey sandwich then back at my desk. Re-energized, I review a few contracts for our live events in Europe and the Middle East. WWE is a global brand and our talent is constantly touring the world.
2:30 pm
Hold calls with our travel department to coordinate a four-day trip to our Munich and London offices next month, in conjunction with a conference in London on forthcoming EU regulations.
3:00 pm
Talk with my distribution team to discuss the deal points for a TV renewal in the APAC region.
3:30 pm
Meet with our data security and privacy specialists to discuss upcoming APAC digital deals.
4:00 pm
Drink another cup of coffee before a status meeting with my contract manager to discuss our (long) list of deals. She is a fantastic help and, fortunately, all seems under control for now.
5:00 pm
Draft and circulate a revised content license agreement for a mobile syndication deal in Latin America. I quickly call our senior director of content distribution to discuss the deal points.
5:30 pm
Attend a biweekly meeting to discuss international HR-related legal matters.
6:35 pm
Take the shuttle back to the train station and read tomorrow’s edition of my favorite French newspaper, L’Equipe, on my Kindle. A subway ride from Harlem to the Upper East Side, combined with a short Citi Bike ride, gets me to my apartment.
7:30 pm
Greeted like a champ by my two-year-old! I check on homework for my two oldest boys. My wife usually leaves the math to me and — fortunately — I’m still able to do second and fourth-grade homework.
8:00 pm
After a very quick session of hide-and-seek, it’s time for the kids’ bedtime. The baby is the first. Tonight, I’m in charge of the boys while my wife will put our 6-year-old daughter to sleep. We read a short story about sages from the Talmud and a couple of pages of a children’s biography of Abraham Lincoln, our household’s favorite president.
8:00 pm
We order in dinner. We’re both too tired to cook. Catching up on Stranger Things 2. We stay disciplined and stop after one episode.
10:30 pm
Back to the grind. Respond to emails from APAC and take calls from our offices in India and Asia where we have a lot of initiatives (sponsorship, digital syndication) and live events planned in the region. Quick YouTube check for the latest WWE highlights. I’m always amazed at what our superstars can do; they really are fearless.
1:00 am
Bedtime after wasting 30 minutes checking on the latest sports results (Go Spurs!).
