At the beginning of the 2018 academic year, Robert Morris University introduced a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) class.

The class consists of three teachers: Michelle Patrick, dean of the School of Business; David Synowka, department head of Sport Management; and John Locke, director of student activities and leadership development.

The point of the class is to expand the sports management department to include sports entertainment.

“So far it’s been a great team effort. It’s been very interesting, and I look forward to every week,” said Synowka. “We don’t just turn on the T.V. and let people discuss and look at what’s going on on Monday Night Raw.”

Locke has been a fan of WWE for many years and explained how it became a billion-dollar company in America.

“WWE is a billion-dollar, New York Stock Exchange, integrated media company that does over 300 live events a year,” said Locke. “They do a very unique, theatrical presentation that has been wildly popular in America throughout the 20th and 21st century.”

The WWE class is meant to teach students all aspects of the marketing and character development of the male and female wrestlers.

“A student will have a character that they’re going to analyze – look at it from a character analysis standpoint,” said Locke. “And then you take the character analysis and you talk about how you market it.”

The class was started when RMU president Christopher B. Howard and Stephanie McMahon, chief brand officer of WWE, spoke with Patrick, Synowka and Locke about the sports management program.

“As our conversation started to grow, we wanted to do something as far as learn more about WWE to look as far as this might be a great opportunity for our students on a number of different levels as well,” said Synowka.

Patrick teaches about branding and marketing, Synowka teaches the sports management aspect of the course and Locke teaches about the WWE as a whole.

“While they’re watching WWE, we are looking in terms of some of the basic foundations, because not everybody is a business student or has a sports management background,” said Synowka. “So, while we’re teaching some of the elements of WWE, we’re also building and presenting some of the foundations of business.”

The WWE class meets every Monday from 6–8:50 p.m.