Chris Is Good517
Best There Is Was or Ever Will Be
Posts 12450
Registered 1-10-2002 Location Little Rock, AR Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 05:58 AM |
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An alledged former WWE writer speaks out
So I was checking out Scott Keith's blog (yeah, I know) and someone linked him to a GameFaqs WWE Forum where somebody claiming to have been a
writer for WWE from September to December last year before being fired. It may or not be legit; but it's certainly some interesting stuff and it
can be found here and
here. I know some of you would rather die than potentially put money in
Scott Keith's pocket, so I c&ped; the stuff here. Any bolding is my own to highlight particularly interesting stuff, but I'd take this with
the amount of salt you deem appropriate.
quote:
His duties:
�Mainly note-taking and updating many documents that helped the writers do their jobs. There was a document that had the last 6 episodes of Raw and
Smackdown broken down by segment. Another that listed the �Last 5 Times� something was done (like the belt being used as a weapon, or a chair being
used, or interference in a match). That stuff had to be updated every week so the writers could refer to it whenever needed.
There was a ton of word processing basically. Each week to write the shows we would write the numbers 1 to 11 on the board (the segments of the shows)
and just discuss the stories and where to put things. Then I or another assistant would create a "one sheeter" out of those. Basically list each
segment and a few bullet points of what they would consist of. The writers would then use this as a guideline to write the scripts.
The writing team is divided into a home team that stays in Stamford, and a road team that travels to all the shows. Unfortunately I was on the home
team. My only backstage experience was at Survivor Series which was pretty dope.�
--
On who he answered to:
�Probably Brian Gewirtz, who was my true boss. If the writers told me one thing and Brian said another, Brian's word goes. Always.�
--
On scripting promos and on-the-fly changes:
�Cena has been known to throw the script out and do his own thing on occasion. I'm sure Punk does occasionally. Ziggler has gone off script a
time or two and was reprimanded for it. It's hard to tell for me because the writing process is sort of an assembly line. We wrote the outline
and first drafts of the script in Stamford after approval by Vince, then they'd go to the head writers and always through at least three more
drafts. Then there'd be another meeting with Vince on location at the arena the morning of every show. More changes are made. Then there's
last minute changes that are made with so little notice that they don't even have time to be put down on paper. Then of course someone may go
out in front of the crowd and forget part of their lines, or choose to improvise for whatever reason. But the bulk of that happened outside of my
view. So most times the Raw that aired monday was very different than the one that left the offices the week before, and I didn't always know
where the changes occurred.�
On backstage pull:
�About as much input as you would expect. Orton, Punk and especially Cena have a lot of say in their stories I think. After Survivor Series, Cena
felt he shouldn't lose clean again (or preferably at all) until Wrestlemania, and so he didn't. When Jericho was in talks of coming back,
it was under the conditions that he work with Punk and put him over at Wrestlemania (Jericho's demands, not WWE's). He also came up
with the light bright jacket thing and paid for it himself (I heard $10g for the first one). Cody Rhodes said in a recent interview that he had his
leather vest cape thing custom made and paid for it himself, so I guess to a certain degree the wrestlers are responsible for their own characters.
But on the other hand, Daniel Bryan complained a lot about being put into a story with AJ because his last girlfriend storyline with Gail Kim was so
bad, but he couldn't really do anything about it.
So I guess you could say it varies quite a bit.�
--
On the tag and Divas divisions:
�The thing with Vince is he goes through these weird and seemingly random phases. For a while he'll be into the tag division, then he
couldn't care less. He'll want to do Diva storylines, then he doesn't care if they make it on the show at all. He'll hire
someone like Tamina and not do crap with them for years, then one day ask "Why aren't we doing anything with Tamina Snuka? She's a Snuka
goddammit!" and Tamina will get a random push.
Right now I guess he's in the mood for some attention on the tag division.�
--
On HHH and Stephanie:
�Triple H is super cool. I actually met him in the men�s room. While he was washing his hands I nervously introduced myself and he took a second to
stop, look me in the eye, say good to meet you and make sure he got my full name right. Also from my understanding he was the voice of reason that
would reel in many of Vince's crazy ideas in the meetings.
Steph is very nice also, but does have a tendency to stare at you in a sort of psychotic-looking manner. But she's friendly and jokes around and
tries to know everyone's name.
They're just normal people really.�
--
On the anonymous GM:
�There were a few directions they were considering. The obvious one being Vince, but they also were heavily considering JBL. But Vince killed the
story. In fact at one point when the head writers pushed him to at least tie up the loose end some how, Vince suggested to reveal that it was
Laurinaitis all along in a "throwaway line backstage."
The whole thing was dropped though. When Vince stops caring about something, it's dead.�
--
On FCW:
�Sure there was a booklet that had bios of the "top talent" of FCW. We would also get weekly FCW DVD's of the latest show which were available
for whoever had time to watch them, but any decisions as far as new talent debuts or anything like that were done by Talent Development, which Triple
H is in charge of together with Matt Martolaro, former FCW announcer.
But on occasion we would have a task like "We need a list of the top 5 choices for names for Donny Marlow." And we discussed as a group and put
our favorites on the board. They had to be cleared by the legal team to make sure we could trademark them. Marlow and Hunico themselves liked Camacho
best, so Camacho it became.
I remember seeing paperwork for Ryback 's debut plan. It included the design of his attire as well as storyboards for his vignettes, but I guess
they decided not to do the vignettes.
That's the thing about the place, and about TV in general I guess, it's so so SO fluid. Things change constantly and at last minute and
you have to learn to just go with it.�
--
On Punk at Survivor Series:
�I can tell you a CM Punk story from Survivor Series. Punk was warming up because his match was coming up soon. He was jogging in place and such
backstage psyching himself up. MSG is a relatively small arena backstage, so things were a bit cramped. About 20 feet away Miz and Truth were about to
pre-tape their backstage interview with Matt Striker (who btw purposely opens his stance up so he's shorter than the people he interviews).
The PA asked everyone to quiet down so Miz and Truth could record there thing. It's at this moment that Punk starts doing box jumps. While
everyone else is silent, he's jumping loudly on and off a storage crate. The PA comes over and says something like "I'm sorry Punk but
we're trying to tape this thing. Could you please keep it down?"
Punk says nothing, continues jogging in place but turns over to Miz and Truth and flips them off.
I think he was just joking around, but he did seem like kind of a douche.�
--
On Kane�s re-masking and feuding with Cena instead of Henry:
�From what I can recall, though Kane was taken out by Mark Henry, Glenn Jacobs did not want to come back and feud with him for whatever reason. So
they instead had him return on RAW and go after Cena, though I think it was already planned when he was written off with the broken ankle that he
would come back with the mask.
However the design of the outfit, as well as the look and filming of the vignettes teasing his return were both done by other departments and had
nothing to do with the writers. We were as anxious to see what he would look like when he returned as everyone else.�
--
On the Natalya Neidhart �farting� gimmick:
�We used to make fun of Natalya a lot because from what we heard she had kind of an eccentric personality. It was in good fun though and not
malicious, but at some point the "Nattie Neidfart" joke came up and we had a good laugh talking about stupid stuff like changing her move to the
"shartshooter." Several weeks later when I was already fired and the story actually made it to TV my jaw dropped and I cracked up. You'd be
surprised how much stuff is done just as a rib on people.�
--
On Daniel Bryan:
�Everyone knew that DB would not hold the briefcase until Wrestlemania. I don't know why that became part of his story, but likely it was a
promise he could break later to facilitate a heel turn. I heard that Bryan winning MitB was actually a last minute same-day decision. From what I
could tell, nobody had much faith in Bryan as a draw while he was a face. Bryan almost had to turn heel, because he wasn't very good at giving
face promos. When he first won the championship and started cutting promos still as a face, he would emphasize the wrong parts and say things in the
wrong tone. It actually came out kind of obnoxious and heelish, which probably encouraged the decision to turn him. However when he became champion,
Vince and the writing team wanted to do a very "sophisticated" and slow-burn gradual heel turn which obviously worked wonderfully. I think they had
a lot of fun with that story. I remember something in the notes that came in once that said something like
* From now on, when Daniel Bryan wins any match he should celebrate like it's the biggest victory of his life
This is was when he was right in the middle of the gradual heel turn and that's where YES! was born.�
--
On Nash/Punk/HHH:
�It was Nash not being medically cleared to compete by the time he was supposed to face Punk. The writers had to scramble and think of a reason to
stall the story, and then it became Kevin Nash vs. Triple H. Again the story took on a life of its own and they had to go through with the feud, even
though it was pretty clear Nash had nothing to offer. Instead of Big Daddy Cool, he was screaming all of his promos. His ring abilities were shoddier
than ever. So it was decided Nash and Trips would have one blow off match and we'd be done with Kevin Nash on the show. Punk vs. Nash almost
happened on RAW a few times, just to tie up the loose end, but I think they didn't want Nash competing a big match before his match with Triple
H so it never happened.�
--
On Brodus Clay�s gimmick change:
�The whole writing team was under the impression that Brodus would come back as the monster heel depicted in the vignettes. It was Vince who saw
things differently. When the vignettes were already airing and the writing team asked him when they should debut Brodus, Vince said something like
"What's his character? We don't have anything for him. I don't understand who Brodus Clay is. Let's hold off on his debut
until we have a better idea."
Backstage it was well known that Brodus has a lot of charisma, loves kids and is a great talker. Vince decided he wanted Brodus as a face, and for
some reason, despite Brodus having no dancing ability, he wanted Brodus to dance.
They worked on the gimmick for weeks, mainly down in FCW (as dark segments I assume). All of it was completely out of the writers hands and was
probably handled by Talent Development instead. The reason his debut was teased so much was because at first we thought he was ready, then Vince would
decide he isn't ready yet. His ring work isn't up to par, or the choreography isn't good enough, or the outfit needs work still, or
the whole production needs more time, or the timing is off. All kinds of stuff like that.
When Brodus finally debuted, the writers came into work the next day and the reaction was as mixed as it was [on the IWC]. Some thought it was cheesy
and a disaster, some thought it was fun and entertaining, some thought it just needed time to get over.
In the end, it was a way more fun and original idea to make him the Funkasaurus than generic monster heel #622978 I think.
Although admittedly after a while we had Laurinaitis tease Brodus's debut just to get him heat. There was an idea that Brodus would debut as a
monster, but then turn on Laurinaitis and break out the dancing character. Or that Laurinaitis would be under the impression that he was bringing in a
monster, only to be dismayed when Brodus shows up dancing. There were a few possibilities, but they ultimately decided to drop Brodus and
Johnny's connection all together.�
--
On Zack Ryder�s depush:
�I didn't feel that the writers had anything against Ryder really. I think Gewirtz feels that he's a natural underdog, and that's
why people like him. The moment you give him too much exposure or success, he's no longer an underdog and becomes annoying so they try to stick
to that.
Any personal feelings that stop someone from getting more success probably come from Vince himself. Absolutely no major plot points, no title wins
or face/heel turns get on TV without Vince's approval.�
--
On planning for the Royal Rumble:
�The winner is determined months in advance usually, but it's always subject to change. The way they usually book is that they set up the
main events for PPVs all the way from now until next Wrestlemania. They then work backwards between PPVs to develop the storylines on RAW and SD.
There's a document that charts the main events, but a lot of the stuff ends up changing. When I flipped through this document in September,
Sheamus was already scheduled to win the Rumble, but he was also supposed to take on Mark Henry for the WHC at Wrestlemania. But things happen. Henry
got injured and had to drop the title, Bryan cashed in and became a phenomenon, etc. Del Rio was supposed to take on Orton, but he got injured as
well. Sin Cara and Mysterio, same deal. So most of the stuff they had planned did not actually come to fruition. And even before the Rumble there was
lots of consideration about making the winner Jericho instead since they knew they wanted Jericho to take on Punk at Wrestlemania. I think ultimately
it was decided that Sheamus needs a Rumble victory more than Jericho, and Jericho could get to Wrestlemania by other means.
As for the specifics, Michael Hayes does most of it with some of the agents. They plan the list of participants, then work on the order and some of
the big spots. The reason it was 30 people and not 40 again this year was because the roster was so thin because of so many injuries. Hell even with
30 they had to resort to guys like Jey Uso and Michael Cole.�
--
On Sheamus as the next Cena and a Cena heel turn:
�Sheamus is being built as the next John Cena. Which is a good thing, because it will free up Cena to do other things in the future, like turn
heel. Kids love Sheamus. He moves merch. He's good at press appearances and talk shows and junk. He's the best possible candidate to
replace Cena as the top babyface. As far as the man personally, I don't remember hearing anything interesting. He's just a loyal
hardworking guy. Last I heard he wanted to add a cloverleaf as another finishing move.
From what I've heard, Cena would LOVE to turn heel. The Thuganomics character was a lot more like his real persona, and I know he feels limited
by being a face. It's the company and Vince that doesn't want to take the leap until they have an established replacement for him, which
is most likely Sheamus. It's not just the show itself, but they need someone that can do all the Make A Wish stuff, the PR appearances, the
sponsorships, etc that Cena does. Cena works his ass off for the company, and nobody else even comes close right now. So there's a lot of things
lost in turning him heel.�
--
On the planning process from September onward:
�Tough question to answer. Like I said they had a very skeleton idea of the major feuds and matches all the way through to Wrestlemania. They always
work backwards from the PPV card to book the Raws and Smackdowns in-between, so they always know what the end goal is. As far as specifics of matches
and promos, that's usually a week by week basis, with the team planning one week ahead of real time. Some feuds that were story-heavy, like Cena
vs. Kane, would sometimes have "grids" which is basically a chart with four columns representing the four weeks until the next PPV. Writers were
encouraged to work in that grid style, keeping in mind how one week relates to the next, rather than winging it week by week.�
--
On the sanitized TV-PG product:
�A lot of the restrictions nowadays are not so much about PG vs Non-PG but because the world has gotten more aware and more critical about health
and sports as a whole. For example, whereas blood was rampant in the Attitude era, now if someone bleeds they practically stop the match and have a
cut doctor with gloves work on them. This is not because of PG, but because of higher concerns over hepatitis and things like that that are tied to
legal issues about workplace risks and red tape like that. Same goes for chair shots to the head. Has nothing to do with PG, but with society up in
arms about concussions and life threatening head injuries in the NFL and anywhere else.
However PG was a roadblock on a few occasions. For example in the Cena vs. Kane story, we were told that lighting anyone on fire was not PG and was
not a possibility, and even lighting any THING on fire was unlikely to be approved. When you're dealing with a Kane story that's kind of a
kick in the balls.�
--
On the writers as a group:
�The writers are a lot like [the IWC]. They want stories to be entertaining, deep, and make sense. But sometimes their plans are derailed by what
Vince wants to do. Sometimes they're so busy working on the main storylines that the midcard guys like Primo and Epico fall through the cracks
without having a storyline for weeks. They're doing their best. And I believe Vince has always been the way he is.
You gotta realize that Vince has lived and breathed this company for 30 years. It's all he thinks about, so he's a very unusual guy and
very disconnected from the "real world." He has no time to watch TV. He has no idea whats going on in pop culture. He's never seen most major
movies of the last 40 years that everyone has seen. Like I remember making a reference to The Shining, and Brian Gewirtz said "I can guarantee you
that Vince has never seen The Shining." He has to have other people explain these things to him because all he knows is the WWE.�
On the interview process and pay:
"Pay was $13 an hour with time and a half for overtime, and there was lots and lots of overtime. I worked 50-60 hours every week.
Interviews were pretty typical. They asked me questions about past job experiences, why I wanted to work for WWE, and made sure I knew the high
demands I was getting myself into. I don't think a degree would be enough necessarily. The other writer's assistants got in because they
had a good amount of TV experience. One of them, the oldest, used to be Howard Stern's personal assistant for a few years. Another worked on
Maury. Another worked for ESPN. I had an internship at CNBC while in college, have a documentary that's played around the world (rather not
divulge it) and had some people put in a good word. Plus I was hired by a clueless dude as stated earlier. But a big part of interviews is also just
being clean-cut, professional and charismatic and acting like someone that people would want to work with."
--
On if he hid his WWE fandom when interviewed:
"No on the contrary. I wrote "Life-long WWE fan" on my resume and brought a picture of myself at age 10 dressed up as Kane to show the
interviewers. I had three interviews, two of which were just normal HR corporate people who didn't really know anything about the product and
didn't recognize Kane in the photo so they were just mildly amused. The third interview, and the guy who probably made the decision to hire me,
was by a guy who was head of Creative or something at the time. However by the time I actually started working he had already been let go, and from
what I heard from coworkers he was pretty much wildly incompetent and knew nothing about the product. So it was probably kind of a fluke that I got
hired at all."
--
On meeting Vince:
"Yes I met Vince on one occasion. I was leaving work for the evening and bumped into him at the elevators. I was sort of blindsided and blurted out
"Hi Vince!" instead of Mr. McMahon but he didn't seem to mind. I introduced myself as a new writer's assistant and he shook my hand. We
shared an elevator down and he said something like "Welcome aboard. You know we need a lot of smart minds in that writer's room" and I said
yes sir. I said that it was a dream come true to be working there and I was a fan since I was 6 years old. That made him smile and he said "Thank
you." He got off to leave and since then I only caught a few glimpses of him backstage at Survivor Series. Seeing him in the halls of the building is
like seeing a Mewtwo."
--
On Vince's presence at shows:
"Vince goes to every TV taping and has for the last however many thousands of years. I remember a note coming in towards the end of my run there that
Vince may start not going to every single show soon, and that was groundbreaking news. I'm not completely sure but I think Triple H travels with
Vince every time.
Vince was very close to coming back on TV at one point around the Kevin Nash conspiracy text message crap, and even facing Punk in a match on RAW, but
changed his mind and decided to remain off TV."
--
On Triple H:
"Triple H gets a ton of undeserved heat. I've never heard of him changing feuds purposely to get more attention, or burying guys because of
a vendetta against them. I don't think he gives a crap. He has a day-to-day job at Titan Tower as head of Talent Development. He's there
every day in a suit and tie. His concerns these days are with developing FCW talent and bringing them up in the best way possible. And when Vince has
a crazy idea, Triple H is often the voice of reason in the meetings. In my time there I got the impression that the storylines will make much more
sense when Triple H inherits the reigns. The IWC should consider him a friend, not a foe.
The only thing is that Triple H vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania 28 was locked in stone, and no one was gonna tell Vince or Triple H otherwise."
--
On how the writers view wrestlers:
"The writers don't usually have strong feelings for or against any particular guys. They're just characters in the fiction that
they're writing. Although some guys have a reputation for being crappy ring workers, like Mason Ryan and Zeke Jackson. But on other people
opinions are usually mixed. For example, I never gave a crap about Ted DiBiase, but one of the writers really liked him for some reason. Though
ultimately it all just comes down to making a good show. They realize that they're responsible to serve all the characters on their roster, with
first priority being the talented ones who can work storylines and draw. So when Barrett was doing nothing for a while in early September, there came
a point where they said "Alright, we're not using Wade to his full potential." The Barrett Barrage became a story, Wade got a win streak and
was pushed back into the limelight for a time until his injury."
--
On proposed angles that were rejected or dropped:
"Hm the first one that comes to mind was kind of a joke. With the tag division in pathetic shape, Brian Gewirtz suggested to throw Tyson Kidd and
Heath Slater together as a tag team and call them The Rock and Roll Kids. We all kind of laughed about it but he even pitched it to Vince. Vince
didn't go for it.
There was brief discussion of some wilder ideas, like making Mason Ryan gay or giving Alex Riley a long-term storyline where he fakes having cancer
to get sympathy from the crowd. Both of these never made it anywhere.
Kaitlyn was supposed to be the third heel diva to join Beth and Natalya in the Divas of Doom. They even went so far as to have her turn on AJ at
Smackdown, but due to poor planning the segment was really poorly done. Kaitlyn, Beth and Natalya didn't really know what to do and it
didn't look good so it was edited out of the show and planned to be re-done the following week. However some other Diva drama came up backstage
or whatever, leading to the whole division being kind of in the doghouse in Vince's mind. Vince ultimately decided there didn't need to be
a third heel diva at all, and broke up Divas of Doom soon after before deciding to push Tamina.
Ziggler and Swagger breaking up was teased at first, but Vince told us to drop it and keep them together.
There was talks for a long time of Layla returning with an eccentric fashion-centered gimmick in the style of Lady Gaga, but obviously that
didn't happen.
When Punk was feuding with Del Rio we had an idea of having Del Rio cutting a promo, when someone dressed up as a WWE ice cream bar comes out from the
back. Del Rio assumes its Punk and beats him up, but then tears off the costume to reveal that its Ricardo tied up with tape over his mouth, and it
was just a scheme by Punk to mess with Del Rio. It didn't make much logical sense and never made it to air.
A few of us wanted Cody to go absolutely batshit psychotic after his mask was destroyed and be more of a loose canon character I guess like how Dean
Ambrose is. Instead he went back to being regular heel Cody. I'm not sure why.
There were some plans to have Drew McIntyre feud with Sheamus by having Drew bully Sheamus with a picture of him as a little fat kid. There was also a
lot of background with them because they wrestled together in the indys but it never got off the ground.
Hunico introduced Primo and Epico and Camacho and the initial plan was to form a stable, but Vince was concerned that it was too gang-like and
racist and split them up pretty quick.
At the time I left, the idea was for Zeke's losing streak to culminate in a heel turn, but that's yet to happen.
There was an idea to having something that makes the Usos stand apart -- one idea was that Jimmy could be really smart and Jey could be really
stupid.
They were considering doing a relationship between a face Diva and a heel superstar. I believe the frontrunner was Kelly Kelly with Wade Barrett, but
that never happened."
--
On meeting Superstars and personalities:
"I had a brief interaction with John Morrison backstage at Survivor Series. I introduced myself awkwardly saying my name was John as well. It was
right before he was planning to leave, while I (constantly) was afraid of getting fired any day now. So he said something like "One of us won't
be here anymore in a few weeks!" and I said "Maybe two of us" and he said "Nah you'll be fine! You have a great name!"
I also saw Sin Cara without his mask backstage (spoilers: looks like a mexican guy). I speak spanish so I wished him good luck. That was the night his
knee exploded >_>
I shook Mark Henry's hand, which is an enormous mass of muscle.
I was ten feet away from The Rock cutting his (completely live btw) backstage promo at Survivor Series. There was a large crowd of crew watching him
backstage completely in awe as he went through the whole thing. Backstage promos are usually pre-taped during the show, but Rock insisted on doing it
live so he could interact with the crowd.
Personally from what I saw at Survivor Series Punk is kind of antisocial. He may very well be a decent guy too, but I wouldn't call him
approachable.
I saw Michael Hayes regularly. He's funny as hell. I had John Laurinaitis call me into his office to clear something up with me. I saw John on a
few occasions and he was always really nice. He would occasionally pop into the writer's room just to say hello.
I think Undertaker was backstage at a Raw in Texas just to say hi to people. He was bald with a long grey sort of wizard beard, which I was really
hoping he'd have at Wrestlemania but no dice. I didn't see him as I didn't travel, but I heard it from the writers who went."
--
On being backstage at Survivor Series:
"You're encouraged to introduce yourself and meet everybody, but everything was so hectic and everyone so busy that I was very hesitant to
interrupt most people. I only approached guys who were standing around and not doing much at the time. I was told that even if you think no one is
paying attention to you, it doesn't go unnoticed when you fail to introduce yourself. That being said I did shake the hand of many of the agents
including Dustin Runnels, Arn Anderson, and Bill DeMott who gave me the nicest warmest smile and greeting I could imagine.
But yeah there's a huge amount of people. If it was a RAW or better yet a Smackdown taping I would've been more willing to interrupt
people, but it was a big 4 PPV. For christ's sake, The Rock was walking around backstage. Tension was high."
--
On the HHH/Awesome Truth conspiracy angle:
"You're right, it was a mess and the writers knew it, but by that point they kind of had written themselves into a corner. There's
times where ideas take on a life of their own and you just kind of have to see them through and try to end them and forget them. This was definitely
one of those times. I don't really remember if there was more to it than what made it on TV.
However I thought Awesome Truth was really entertaining, and their run-in at Hell in a Cell was awesome. The walk-out on Triple H didn't make
much sense, but it made for captivating TV for two weeks. Sometimes that's the only goal."
--
On Cena's work:
"Anybody who calls Cena lazy doesn't know the first thing about him. The guy is a freakin workhorse and model employee. Him saying he's
not changing for anybody is just his character right now. It doesn't mean he'll never turn heel ever ever ever. As far as complaining
about his cheesy promos, millions of people love them so the WWE doesn't give a crap. And this is just speculation, but I believe he used to
limit his moveset in the ring to limit the risk of injury -- since losing Cena to injury would be a huge wrench in everything. However I think
he's been doing much better in the last couple of years than in the late 2000s."
--
On other wrestlers who go the extra mile for WWE:
"I think Miz and Sheamus are two guys who are willing to do anything WWE asks of them, in the ring and out. You'll notice whenever
there's a wrestler on a talk show or doing some kind of promotion, it's usually one of them because they're just good at it and
willing to do it. Guys like Punk and Orton would never want to do these things."
--
On the TV-PG direction:
"WWE is always looking to expand. They want to be a large media company, that makes movies, has a network, etc. This kind of expansion needs money.
And making money is made harder when there's a segment of the population that thinks you're trash TV or not suitable for children.
Children is how most media companies make money."
--
On how the company views TNA:
"I don't think anyone at WWE really thinks about TNA or has time to care about what they're doing. They're not real competition,
and they have a very different approach to wrestling that WWE. WWE aspires to always be as sophisticated and professional as possible in their
presentation. They want to be grandiose and mainstream, not appeal to a niche. Not to say there's anything wrong with TNA's approach,
it's just not what WWE is trying to do."
--
On smarks:
"Smarks are seen as a minority that usually shouldn't be listened to -- which from a business standpoint is sort of true. Dirtsheets are
sort of laughed at because they're wrong all the time. Most of what's on dirstheets is just news aggregated from press releases or
superstar twitter accounts. A small portion is speculative stuff about backstage stuff and most of that is total BS. Dirtsheets are an ad-revenue
based business so they do what they gotta do to get eyes on their sites - including making stuff up. I think if there were real insiders, surprises
like Brodus's debut or Brock's would be spoiled well in advance.
I think the writers like to stick to their own ideas until the possibility to make money rears its head. Like when an entire arena is chanting YES YES
YES -- they go ahead and make a new t-shirt.
But like I said the writers are wrestling fans themselves. They love a great Tyson Kidd match as much as the next smark, but they also know that
putting him on RAW against Heath Slater is gonna make the ratings nosedive for that segment.
As for the last question, as much as the writers may hate to admit it they are smarks themselves, so they get a kick out of some smarky things. For
example Santino's joke a few months ago about repealing the rule instated by Jack Tunney about not allowing reptiles at ringside. That came
straight from Brian Gewirtz because he always thought that was a funny rule. Most non-smarks wouldn't get that reference at all."
--
On dirtsheet sources:
"No idea who the "sources" were. I wondered that a lot while I worked there. It certainly wasn't anyone that I worked with on the writing
team. Could possibly some dot com guys or crew people that got second hand knowledge of upcoming storylines. Most of what's on the dirtsheets
is made up bullcrap though. Very rarely does a true backstage story make it out. When you hear something like "The original plan was to have so and
so win, but a last minute change..." that's almost always completely wrong."
--
On the writers' reaction when a heel is cheered or face is booed:
"I think it's just part of the business. Also the writers are well aware that there are smark cities and mark cities, so they have a good idea
of the kind of reaction certain things will get in certain places. Occasionally they're completely wrong though. Many of them expected Zack
Ryder to get heavily booed at Survivor Series because "New Yorkers hate Long Islanders" but they couldn't have been more wrong."
--
On bad pitches:
"I don't know about pitches really because I was never in the room for the Vince meetings where things were pitched to him. However if the
writers thought it was a bad idea, it would never get pitched to Vince in the first place. The bad ideas that make it on TV are often coming from
Vince himself."
--
On the writers' involvement with the WWE Network:
"I even brought that up one time like "Who exactly is going to write and work on all these shows on the new network?" and my coworkers didn't
really know. I assume the plan was/is to bring in new writers to work on those shows -- specifically ones with lots of reality TV production
experience. But to this day I have no real idea what part of the company was working on the network. There was a lot of the left hand not knowing
what the right hand was doing at WWE."
--
On any writers left over from the Attitude Era:
"Gewirtz and Ed Koskey. I'm not sure when Dave Kapoor started, but they're the oldest. Everyone else has been around less than three
years. Most less than one."
--
On NXT:
"NXT is written every week by only two writers, and they pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want, so they had a lot of fun with
the whole Maxin/Bateman/Curtis soap opera. I remember people questioning when the season would end. At one point the 100th episode in Las Vegas was
supposed to be the end, with Bateman and Maxine getting married, but it kept going after that for some reason.
I don't know much else, but the road team writer that worked on NXT was always praising Bateman, Maxine and Curtis for their talents and
enthusiasm. They all loved working together. You gotta remember that although NXT and Superstars are just web shows in America, they do air on TV
internationally and actually pull good ratings in some parts of the world."
--
On the Divas:
"The biggest complainers are probably the Divas, and rightfully so. They always wish they were getting more TV time and longer matches and I
can't blame them. Daniel Bryan as I stated before complained a lot about the girlfriend story with AJ, but I bet he ain't complaining
now.
The divas all seem very nice and friendly. I only managed to introduce myself to AJ backstage at Survivor Series. She was sweet and introduced herself
as April. Beth, Natalya and Alicia walked by me on a few occasions backstage and smiled or nodded professionally."
--
On Kharma:
"By the time I started Kharma had already left for several months for her pregnancy, so I don't know what they had in mind long term. They were
probably playing it by ear and seeing what kind of reaction she got.
I remember hearing about her miscarriage way before it made it to the dirtsheets. Like months before. When we'd try to find out when she'd
be back, the answer we'd get would basically be that she's on an indefinite personal leave until further notice."
--
On Randy Orton:
"Don't know much about Orton. I get the impression that he too is a joker that messes around with people, but pretty reserved like his on
screen character. The only thing I saw him do backstage at Survivor Series was take pictures with a family that was brought backstage for some reason.
Also I heard a story from some random RAW/SD where Orton was waiting in gorilla to go out for his match up next, right behind the curtain. In
gorilla is usually Vince, Triple H, the agent of the match, sometimes Stephanie and a writer or two if they're not busy doing something else.
Anyway Orton's getting ready to go out, and he turns his back to everyone and starts peeing in a trash can in gorilla. Triple H is like "Randy
what the hell are you doing?" and he just shrugs and says "I always get the urge to pee before I go out."
--
On Jinder Mahal:
"Well I guess he was brought in for the Indian audiences, though his storyline with Khali and Ranjin Singh (played by Raw head writer Dave Kapoor)
was kinda dropped. I guess Jinder is one of those guys that Vince saw something in. I remember we would get notes from meetings with him on the road
that would say like
* From now on VKM wants Jinder to speak only in Punjabi
then a few weeks later he cuts a promo in english, then we'd get a note like
* VKM says Jinder should always speak in an indian accent
and then that wouldn't last very long either.
*Jinder Mahal will start wearing a turban to the ring
The last Jinder-related note I remember was
* VKM wants Jinder to put his turban in a glass case before his match.
So these ideas all coming from Vince, I think it was safe to assume Vince saw a lot of potential in the Jinder character as an anti-american
heel."
--
On other random superstars that he was asked about:
"Christian- It's acknowledged that he's getting older and is probably best served to put over younger talent at this point in his
career. He does have a rep for complaining when he feels he's not being used right.
Curt Hawkins - Respected for being good at his position. He's a good jobber because he bumps well and makes guys look good.
Evan Bourne- Evan Bourne was kind of a hush hush topic. The head writers didn't really tell us much about what was going on with him until it
was pretty public knowledge that he had fucked up twice. But lots of people fuck up twice. Evan just had the misfortune of breaking his ankle right as
he was gearing up to come back.
The Great Khali- When Henry was champion there was a point where he was supposed to feud with Khali, but his injuries threw a wrench into the whole
story and he dropped the belt. But I wouldn't be surprised if Khali gets pushed again one day.
Hunico- I think it was at a Smackdown taping where there were a number of heels in the ring cutting a promo. During a commercial break, Vince told
them via headset to give the mic to Hunico, just to see what he could do on the fly without warning. Hunico cut a good promo off the top of his head
and that really impressed Vince. I think he's been in Vince's good graces ever since.
Jack Swagger- Swagger is complicated. I got the impression that nobody had much faith in him on the mic, and though his character is obviously stale
and has degenerated to jobber status, at the time that I was at WWE the roster was very thin. People kept getting injured and no new stars were coming
in. So we kind of needed someone in Swagger's position -- a big guy who looks like a serious competitor but can be beaten to make someone else
looks good. And like I said earlier, Vince had no intention of splitting up Ziggler and Swagger, so a face turn was not in the cards for the time
being. Quick story about Swagger. On the Muppets episode of RAW after he lost to Santino, Swagger kicked the glass beaker out of frustration. It flew
into the barricade and smashed on a little girl and her father. WWE took them backstage to check on them and apologize, they met a bunch of superstars
and Swagger apologized personally. The father left extremely satisfied with the professionalism of the company and a potential lawsuit was avoided.
JTG- He's a good jobber and makes guys look good. But I remember he got in big trouble for pulling Tamina's hair during some random NXT
promo. WWE doesn't even want to think about man-on-woman violence on the program
Mark Henry- He was doing great and Smackdown ratings were up noticeably while he was champion, but he was working injured and then got even more
injured to the point that they had to make him drop the title. One day the writers came back from the weekly meeting with Vince and said "Welp,
Daniel Bryan is gonna cash in and win this Sunday"
The Miz- I got the impression they didn't really know what to do with Miz a lot of the time. I don't know much about his situation now.
Maybe Vince is pissed at him. I'm sure the writers couldn't care less and don't have any vendetta. It's a bummer though,
because I'm personally a Miz fan.
Sin Cara- I think in general people like Hunico better than Sin Cara because Hunico came up through our own farming system and is very familiar
with the WWE style. Sin Cara as has been brought up many times before had a lot of trouble adapting to the American style of wrestling. Also he was a
bit of a puss, as he would often complain of some nagging injury. His neck or his shoulder or whatever. There was always something with him. But
he's a god in Mexico, and we just started going to Mexico a few times a year, so to have anyone else but Sin Cara play Sin Cara on a permanent
basis would get them eaten alive. I think WWE still feels theres tons of money to be made off Sin Cara, but I'm a big Hunico fan
personally."
--
On feuds within the company:
"Not among wrestlers. I heard that Cena and Rock aren't huge fans of each other, but they're professional about it. Like I've
stated before Gewirtz doesn't like Paul Heyman because of some history they have. I hear the Divas all mostly hate each other and are very
catty and competitive because Diva TV time is so sparse. Don't know much else."
--
On Vince's treatment of Jim Ross:
"It's clear that Vince has something against JR, but nobody knows why. Vince got a big kick out of any opportunity to embarrass JR on TV,
but Jim is always a good sport about it. I remember nobody wanting to be the one that gets on the phone with JR because he'll talk your ear
off for two hours. I think some people think JR was a better EVP of Talent Relations that Laurinaitis is."
--
On the reaction to the Cranky Vince twitter feed:
"Yes I first learned about it while working there and we would laugh about it all the time because Vince can be like that sometimes. He says
"GODDAMMIT" a lot from what I hear. However the consensus is that it's probably a former writer, because they know a lot of stuff only
insiders would know but it doesn't really match what's currently happening in real time. So I think it's just an ex-writer
guessing."
--
On anyone not on TV that the company is high up on:
"Good question, but no one really comes to mind. Of the FCW group, I know there's high expectations for Husky Harris and Bo Rotundo as well
as Richie Steamboat. One writer based out of Baltimore was friends with Calvin Raines so he's been rooting for him. I think Seth Rollins is
looked down on a bit as an indy darling, but it's not serious. The Baltimore based writer also watched TNA pretty regularly, and often said
he wished WWE raided them for talent. Specifically Bobby Roode and James Storm."
--
On dark matches and house shows:
"The agents script house shows. Usually one of them is assigned to book and run the whole show. They used to send us reports via email after every
house show. One of my favorites was -- I think maybe from Arn Anderson -- "Alex Riley went out for his match, slipped on the turnbuckle while
going up for his taunt, and that was the best part of the match"
Dark matches seem to be reserved for developmental talent nowadays and matches on Superstars usually just comes down to who isn't being used
that night on RAW/SD."
--
On if the writers dislike the gimmick PPV format:
"I'm sure some of them do, but its completely out of their hands. It's ultimately (I'm assuming) a business decision. Giving each
PPV a gimmick makes it special and gives you a reason to buy, unlike the generic ones where buyrates can vary wildly based on feuds. They probably
want to create some sort of predictability in their business model. For example there's already low expectations for any December PPV because
people usually splurge on Survivor Series and then save their money for holiday shopping and the Royal Rumble."
--
On the possibility of Slammy awards and fan polls being rigged:
"Online and TV polls are 100% real. They're pretty honest with all that stuff. The viewer polls are real, and that glitch or mistake in the
accounting system was real. I don't think it'll be a problem. The script will just say like "CHRISTIAN vs. [VIEWERS CHOICE]" or
something like that. It's not a big deal. They'll probably decide on the fly who wins, or already have finishes planned for each of the
possible opponents."
--
On any ideas he had that were successful:
"My responsibilities were not really to be creative. I was welcome to throw in my 2 cents on discussions and brainstorms, but I didn't write
anything. I was mostly just the creative team's bitch. However there are two things that made it to TV I can take credit for. When the Slammys
were coming up and we were given the task to come up with names for the awards, I'm the one that threw out "Game Changer of the Year" which
everybody liked and eventually made it to air. For the montage for Pipebomb of the Year, an email was sent out asking us to reply with some of our
favorite quotes from the past year and a couple of mine got in. The only one I remember is R-Truth saying "THE GRITS ARE GON HIT THE PAN!"
Also on my last week working there, I suggested combining a Miz vs. Truth and Sheamus vs. Somebody match into one tag team match. Leading to Sheamus
teaming up with R-Truth, which to my knowledge had never occurred before or since. Pretty minor things, I know."
--
On any of his ideas that he wished were approved:
"Probably turning Swagger or Miz face. Or bringing up Brad Maddox. I pitched an idea for a love triangle between AJ, Zack Ryder and eventually
AJ's "old boyfriend" played by Brad Maddox. This was way before the AJ/Daniel Bryan storyline."
--
On his favorite and least favorite memories during his tenure:
"Greatest memory was probably meeting Vince in the elevator, or some of the moments from Survivor Series. Watching the Rock cut his promo live.
Standing around backstage with some of the superstars watching the matches on a big TV. Little things like at one point I was given the task to fetch
Stephanie her iPad while she was in gorilla and she gave me a smile and a thank you when I handed it to her.
Least favorite memory is probably several uncomfortable moments being reprimanded by my boss Brian Gewirtz, who is a genius but not much of a people
person."
--
On working there diminished his fandom:
"No. This was a concern of mine before I started. Like I wouldn't be able to enjoy it anymore after looking behind the curtain, but it's
been quite the opposite. While I worked there I really enjoyed seeing how things I read in the script would translate to the screen, and how people
would react to storylines, and playing dumb on the forum. Now that I'm not there anymore, whenever they're backstage I look out for people
I know or can just imagine how the stories and discussions came up. Or a joke from months ago like Nattie Neidfart will make it on screen and
I'll crack up. It's fun and gave me a new appreciation for the business."
--
On if he has anything left from his time at WWE:
"When I was released they took my ID Badge, Blackberry and laptop so I don't really have anything from there besides free DVDs and action
figures that anyone could have."
Monday Night Flaw, a podcast about professional wrestling starring OO's own
Figure Foreskin as Andy the Smarmy Host and Chris Is Good517 as Cousin Balki.
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Figure Foreskin
Prefers punkerhardcore Penis
Posts 2651
Registered 5-4-2004 Location 5-4-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Paper > Rock
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 06:47 AM |
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Interesting. Seems legit. I don't know why anyone would claim to be a $13/your writer's assistant if that wasn't true.
"Any time you agree with Krydor, you're wrong."
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knuckleballschwartz
Man of a Thousand Holds
Posts 1043
Registered 5-24-2006 Member Is Offline Mood: on strike
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 11:11 AM |
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quote: Originally posted by Figure Foreskin
Interesting. Seems legit. I don't know why anyone would claim to be a $13/your writer's assistant if that wasn't true.
well yeah but then people claim all sorts of things on the internet like: http://www.oowrestling.com/OOForums/viewthread.php?tid=15840
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Blade
Showstopper
Posts 795
Registered 12-30-2003 Location Darkest Australia Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 11:52 AM |
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The guy's posted pictures of a WWE office, a scanned Smackdown timesheet, and a short video from backstage Survivor Series, so he's
probably legit.
Which is unfortunate for him, since he naively thought this was going to stay in the original Gamefaqs wrestling forum (fairly private, since you need
to be a registered active user to even see it) instead of being promptly leaked onto the internet at large, and he probably rightly thinks he may now
be in trouble with WWE for breaking the non-disclosure agreement.
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desjr001
Showstopper
Posts 638
Registered 9-18-2004 Location Tampa Rasslin City USA Member Is Offline Mood: kiss my assable
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 12:58 PM |
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$13 and hour writing for TV? You mean I make more at my crappy movie theater job (actually I love my job, but that's besiders) than a Jr
scribble ape does for the E?
Dang!
There is no exception,
that everyone thinks they are the exception.
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Figure Foreskin
Prefers punkerhardcore Penis
Posts 2651
Registered 5-4-2004 Location 5-4-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Paper > Rock
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 07:56 PM |
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Well, he was a writer's assistant. I would hope an actual writer makes more than that.
"Any time you agree with Krydor, you're wrong."
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Paddlefoot
Rocco Rock of Jabroni
Posts 5188
Registered 1-19-2008 Location basement Member Is Offline Mood: DunkleManiaWeek!
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 09:21 PM |
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Great post CIG. Very interesting read. For all they get shit on, a lot of being deserved too, WWE comes across as a professional organization. It
shows just how much a lot of work goes into a few hours on TV a week. It also gets rid of a lot of the tyranny, insanity, and nepotism rumours, as
much fun as those rumours can be to beat to death (e.g. bagshitter). It seems to me from reading this that when something goes wrong or doesn't
catch on it's because WWE just overthought an idea too much. Or they do something because it's tradition to do so even if tradition is the
wrong way to go. Or they simply end up relying on the wrong performer to pull off a gimmick that's out of his reach.
It also gives us something to add to the OO repetoire. If a RAW or SD really sucks we can now use "well, the 'riter dnonkeys certainly earned
their $13 an hour for tonight's show" in a totally sneering and sarcastic way.
[Edited on 5/26/2012 by Paddlefoot]
You are a bastard. A daughter-fucking wildling bastard.
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punkerhardcore
American Dream
Posts 7629
Registered 7-16-2005 Member Is Offline Mood: Lickable
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 09:24 PM |
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The whole, "Vince knows jack about pop culture" thing has been common knowledge for some time now, but damn. You would think someone who
desperately wants his business to break into the mainstream entertainment industry would at least make an effort in learning what is/isn't
popular.
Is everyone mad here?
Of course they are, and you are too... otherwise, you wouldn't have come here.
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Figure Foreskin
Prefers punkerhardcore Penis
Posts 2651
Registered 5-4-2004 Location 5-4-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Paper > Rock
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posted on 5-26-2012 at 11:55 PM |
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I'm kinda glad he doesn't. We really don't need guys coming out to dub step.
"Any time you agree with Krydor, you're wrong."
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Cherokee Jack
Man of a Thousand Holds
Posts 1232
Registered 2-24-2009 Location New Orleans, LA Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-27-2012 at 03:17 AM |
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quote: Originally posted by Figure Foreskin
I'm kinda glad he doesn't. We really don't need guys coming out to dub step.
Wait about three years.
I'm Cherokee Jack!
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Gobshite
The Great One
Posts 3207
Registered 1-30-2004 Location Right here, in Birmingham, England!! Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-27-2012 at 12:42 PM |
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quote: Originally posted by Figure Foreskin
I'm kinda glad he doesn't. We really don't need guys coming out to dub step.
Not guys, but one guy. Make it different. And probably only his entrance music, NOT his post match - I loved how Mankind had different pre/post match
music.
Guys seem to work best when they are extensions of themselves (Undertaker aside!). There has to be one club loving, house/dubstep music guy around.
Give it a shot. It reminds me a lot of Edge - his entrances were unique for a long time, and to me, part of what set him out from the crowd. I might
wind up being wrong, but it'd be worth a try.
I have six invites I can crash out for membership to pwtorrents.net - if you want one, U2U me!
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CamstunPWG187
Man of a Thousand Holds
Posts 1397
Registered 5-2-2010 Location Harbin, China Member Is Offline Mood: Barbeque
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posted on 5-27-2012 at 03:20 PM |
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Ahh, so Sheamus was supposed to KO HENRY at Mania...Not Bryan.....Makes sense, and would have popped the crowd huge seeing Henry eat a fucking boot
and get pinned in 5 seconds.
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desjr001
Showstopper
Posts 638
Registered 9-18-2004 Location Tampa Rasslin City USA Member Is Offline Mood: kiss my assable
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posted on 5-27-2012 at 03:39 PM |
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I think someone coming in with a dubstep intro would work. At the bottom of the drop you could set off pyro with a really low, concussive blast.
There is no exception,
that everyone thinks they are the exception.
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denverpunk
The Rowdy One
Posts 2349
Registered 6-27-2007 Location Mile-Hi Member Is Offline Mood: Stoked
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posted on 5-27-2012 at 03:56 PM |
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quote: Originally posted by Cherokee Jack
Wait about three years.
Five years.
I don't know, people have had Vince's ear in the past regarding pop culture. I think a minor reason why the Attitude era got so popular
was because WWE was able to latch on to nu-metal (especially with ring entrances), and that can't be the type of music that Vince would listen
to on his own.
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Froggie
Showstopper
Posts 518
Registered 10-25-2002 Location Bizarro Land, Ontario Member Is Offline Mood: Stylin'
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posted on 5-27-2012 at 09:36 PM |
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quote:
"Christian- It's acknowledged that he's getting older and is probably best served to put over younger talent at this point in his
career. He does have a rep for complaining when he feels he's not being used right.
Yup...even when he's one of the most over babyfaces on the roster and having great matches with everyone up and down the card and his title run
is over like grover (and he's still in great shape to boot), his role should STILL be able to put over up-and-coming wrestlers. That makes
complete sense!
Drop dead WWE! The only thing I'll pay for now that you made is the Bret vs. Shawn DVD. That's it! Finished...pathetic company.
WWE: "We're making money! Watch us if you want...if not, who cares about you"
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Figure Foreskin
Prefers punkerhardcore Penis
Posts 2651
Registered 5-4-2004 Location 5-4-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Paper > Rock
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posted on 5-28-2012 at 02:10 AM |
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Are you that big of a Christian mark that you can completely ignore what they are doing with him? They put the intercontinental title on the guy,
turned him face and it's looking like he'll be feuding with the younger guys for a while. I don't see how a wrestling fan
wouldn't enjoy a series of matches between Christian and Rhodes or Christian and Ziggler.
"Any time you agree with Krydor, you're wrong."
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Chris Is Good517
Best There Is Was or Ever Will Be
Posts 12450
Registered 1-10-2002 Location Little Rock, AR Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-28-2012 at 03:19 AM |
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I think my very favorite part of the entire article is that Vince thought something was too racist for TV
Monday Night Flaw, a podcast about professional wrestling starring OO's own
Figure Foreskin as Andy the Smarmy Host and Chris Is Good517 as Cousin Balki.
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Paddlefoot
Rocco Rock of Jabroni
Posts 5188
Registered 1-19-2008 Location basement Member Is Offline Mood: DunkleManiaWeek!
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posted on 5-28-2012 at 04:51 AM |
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quote: On the reaction to the Cranky Vince twitter feed:
"Yes I first learned about it while working there and we would laugh about it all the time because Vince can be like that sometimes. He says
"GODDAMMIT" a lot from what I hear. However the consensus is that it's probably a former writer, because they know a lot of stuff only
insiders would know but it doesn't really match what's currently happening in real time. So I think it's just an ex-writer
guessing."
Strange. I always thought it was Jeb doing what a SCSA does best. Definitely one of the better trolls of the last couple of year regardless of whoever
it is doing it.
You are a bastard. A daughter-fucking wildling bastard.
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Thom
The Immortal One
Posts 4627
Registered 1-14-2003 Location At the gym Member Is Offline Mood: Rather be lifting
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posted on 5-29-2012 at 03:46 PM |
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quote: Originally posted by Chris Is Good517
I think my very favorite part of the entire article is that Vince thought something was too racist for TV
Truth.
My thought in reading that was Nation of Domination, Mexicools, Los Guerreros, R-Truth & Kofi. I realize the first one/two/three are "old," but
still...
#GLENNSURVIVESLOL - Cherokee Jack, from TWD Season 6 thread
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punkerhardcore
American Dream
Posts 7629
Registered 7-16-2005 Member Is Offline Mood: Lickable
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posted on 5-29-2012 at 06:15 PM |
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So we can all agree that this article is the reason Ziggler and Swagger split up last night, right?
Is everyone mad here?
Of course they are, and you are too... otherwise, you wouldn't have come here.
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theflammablemanimal
American Dream
Posts 7586
Registered 9-2-2008 Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-30-2012 at 12:28 AM |
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I like the part where they want to be "classy and sophisticated."
Also, good for Sheamus that they see him as the next Cena (who knows why) but bad for us because he's much better as a heel.
http://epitomeofmasculinity.blogspot.com/
@EofMasculinity
The first undisputed OO draft champion of the world
Get the pistons pumping and let the pigeons loose on my yambag
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salmonjunkie
Best There Is Was or Ever Will Be
Posts 11259
Registered 6-25-2002 Location Sunny Seattle, WA Member Is Offline Mood: Authoritized
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posted on 5-30-2012 at 12:34 AM |
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quote: Originally posted by theflammablemanimal
Also, good for Sheamus that they see him as the next Cena (who knows why)
Dude, the answer to your question is in the same sentence - Kids love Sheamus. He moves merch. He's good at press appearances and talk shows
and junk.
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Shastar
Showstopper
Posts 870
Registered 1-5-2002 Location VB, VA Member Is Offline Mood: tired
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posted on 5-30-2012 at 01:21 AM |
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I remember sometime last year Sheamus appeared on our local channel 13 news at noon before a show in Norfolk and I would swear he was drunk. He was
just all over the place in his interview and seemed a little too happy to be there.
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Chris Is Good517
Best There Is Was or Ever Will Be
Posts 12450
Registered 1-10-2002 Location Little Rock, AR Member Is Offline Mood:
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posted on 5-30-2012 at 01:45 AM |
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My 4 year-old ignored wrestling completely until about 9ish months ago when she noticed Sheamus for the first time and latched right onto him. She
loves him. Obviously she isn't representative of all children, but based on her I can definitely see WWE's opinion that he's a hit
with the kiddies. Probably because with the near-translucent skin and bright red hair, he looks more of a cartoon character than most of the rest of
the roster.
Monday Night Flaw, a podcast about professional wrestling starring OO's own
Figure Foreskin as Andy the Smarmy Host and Chris Is Good517 as Cousin Balki.
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CreativeInternetAliass
The Rowdy One
Posts 2746
Registered 5-26-2010 Location north carolina Member Is Offline Mood: Williamaniac.
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posted on 5-30-2012 at 02:36 AM |
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I keep seeing people post that Sheamus is better as a face, and I could not disagree more. His heel schtick was either unmemorable, or downright bad.
His title run was awful, and him being an angry chickenshit heel was uninspiring. I personally really dig him as the face with a temper problem. I get
a chuckle out of the moments when he acts like he's gonna tear into someone then just laughs it off with an "I'm just kidding fella". He
is what I imagine the Situation would be if he became a soccer hooligan.
I thought the beginning of his face turn was great, and was actually really interested in seeing him take the belt of of Mark Henry. If he
didn't end up taking the belt off of Bryan, I'm not sure he would be getting such a negative backlash. Sheamus is fun. I like when
he's out, or rather I did until they stuck him in a feud with the black hole of suck ADR. Turn him back heel, and I just can't see him
staying relevant. I kinda hope he becomes the new John Cena. At least his voiceovers for the self promotional stuff will always have a chuckle filled
Fella moment for me.
you're a freak of nature Dougie, laws of nature do not apply to you (BC in chat on 7/02/12 describing why women think i'm sweet)
dev are you going to give me your address or do i have to check the registered sex offender data base (Firewoman trying to set up a three way meet on
03/20/2011)
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