Yleinen Painiblogi

[Goblet]

Niin. WWE-tilastoja -aihe on kylläkin, mutta onhan tässä toki muutakin kun WWE:tä.

[What]

Mielenkiintoinen sivusto itseni kaltaiselle tilastohomolle, ja ilmeisesti koko ajan vaan laajentavat? Pitääpä joskus oikein ajan kanssa tonkia, että minkälaisia hassuja faktoja löytyy.

[takaovi]

Goldbergin WCW voittoprosentti on kyllä jo aika törkeä En olisi Hoganille osannut ihan noin korkeaa prosenttia heittää, mutta eipä tuota nyt miksikään shokkiyllätykseksi voi sanoa.

[Japeet]

Painijan nimeä klikkaamalla näkee näköjään listan noista matseista. Ketä vastassa, ottelutyyppi jne.

[Merovingi]

Goldbergin WCW voittoprosentti on kyllä jo aika törkeä En olisi Hoganille osannut ihan noin korkeaa prosenttia heittää, mutta eipä tuota nyt miksikään shokkiyllätykseksi voi sanoa.

Jos voittaa ensimmäiset 200 ottelua, niin kyllä voittoprosentti siitä tykkää.

Ei ole mikään ihme, että kasaripainijat ovat listan kärjessä. Silloin TV-ottelut olivat jobbereiden potkimista päähän ja ne oikeat ottelut käytiin suurilta osin PPV'ssä.

[Tirkka]

Kaikkein naurettavintahan tuossa on se että listalla on kakkosena tuollainen mitättömyys kuin Typhoon. Mut joo, kasarilla ja ysärin alulla tuo naurettavan korkea voittoprosentti toki varmasti selittyy, vastustajat tuskin on olleet mitään kortin korkeinta huippua.

[Show_Stopper]

Tässä teille varmasti mielenkiintoinen iltasatu. Olipa kerran WWE-työntekijä...

Hey Scott,

So on the WWE board at GameFaqs.com, there’s a poster who worked as an assistant for the writing team from September to December last year and is giving away some neat insights about the day-to-day workings of the writing process and some tidbits on some of the stars and personalities. It seems legit; the detail of his work was pretty, uh, detailed, and he posted a pic of the office he worked out of and a couple of the one-sheets from the shows. Some of the information is obvious (Cena and Orton have backstage pull on their angles, etc.) but there have some some interesting things he’s revealed (Sheamus was the planned Rumble winner since the previous summer and not a last-second swerve as a result of Chris Jericho, D-Bry being against pairing up with AJ). I’ve gleamed some of the better bits from the topic and thought I’d pass them along since a common cry on the Blog of Doom is “What are they thinking?” And I think it at least beats a fantasy booking e-mail.

I’ve included a lengthy list, so feel free to cherry-pick. If you’re asking why I simply didn’t include a link to said forum, it’s because the WWE board is inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t have enough “karma” built up on the site to keep the trolls out. If this makes for a blog entry, I’d be more than happy to do a follow-up e-mail later on as the topic continues.

--

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.”

[Goblet]

Tässä teille varmasti mielenkiintoinen iltasatu. Olipa kerran WWE-työntekijä...

Todellakin mielenkiintoinen! En ole näin mielenkiintoista tekstiä lukenut piiitkään aikaan
Aina on kiinnostanut miten WWE:tä käsikirjoitetaan ja mitä olisi pitänyt tapahtua.

P.S. Nyt vain odotellaan Sheamuksen kehitystä

[Merovingi]

Tässä muita paloja samalta henkilöltä:

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 bat***** 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.

That's all I can think of for now.

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."

My question relates to the Cranky Vince account on twitter, because apparently it's been accurate about things at certain times and people have been saying it could be someone on the writing team. Was it ever discussed around you?

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 its 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.

And I'm pretty sure the account pre-dates me working there.

Also, a better Vince story in my opinion, after talking about how Vince has almost no time to keep up with pop culture, including seeing movies, and almost anything whatsoever you'll see referencing something modern was a writer and not Vince:

Do you know what movies Vince HAS watched? He's had to at least seen a few with his family or something.

YES! Vince has definitely seen Gladiator hahaha. I know because Brian told us a story from Hunter. Apparently Hunter Vince Steph and whoever else in the family was watching Gladiator on cable and Vince said something like "What is this? This is really good!" and Hunter's like "....are you serious? Vince this is Gladiator. We've watched this like 20 times."

The Punk shoot was before I started, but I did ask about it. My understanding is that a writer wrote most of it (and had to fight REALLY hard to get it on the air. and also had to fight REALLY hard for Punk to win the championship and walk out at MitB) The writer and Punk then went over it and Punk put his own spin on it and changed things a bit, which is how promos usually go. However the specifics of what was scripted and what Punk improvised I don't really know.

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.

Speaking of the Rock, when someone of his stature comes back can they pretty much dictate what they want to be doing? I guess w/ the Rock it's a yes b/c he's as big a star as they could hope to get in the ring, but how about guys like Jericho? Do the writers have much say at all in those situations?

Jericho wanted to come back specifically to put Punk over at Wrestlemania, and he had the light jacket made on his own and probably didn't need anybody's approval to wear it.

Big stars like Rock and Jericho spoke to Brian Gewirtz directly on his cell phone, so I don't know much about the content of their conversations beyond what Brian told us.

As for the cryptic promos, the writing team had nothing to do with them. The producers or whoever films the titan tron videos and stuff like that takes care of all vignettes. Like Jericho said, there was no hidden meaning behind it (I was annoyed by that as well). It was just meant to be creepy and keep you guessing. Most likely it was all written and produced by one guy in the company, so any intended messages or meanings in it are his own. Jericho just knew coming back that it was 2012 and he wanted to play off the "End of the World" theme.

General opinions on the following from people backstage.

-Maxine
-Hawkins
-Ambrose

Maxine -- not talked about much, but recognized as one of the best talents on NXT. I'm sure she'll be on TV weekly in a year or two.

Hawkins - respected for being good at his position. He's a good jobber because he bumps well and makes guys look good.

Ambrose -- Wasn't really a point of discussion at the time I worked there. I don't remember his name ever coming up.

I have a good one- are there any wreslters/talent NOT on TV now that were hyped/discussed/planned?

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.

Next question- what is the tag division to WWE? when you said those 2 together i assumed it was for tagging not singles comp.

No it was for singles comp. I don't really watch TNA often but those two haven't been tagging for a long time.

What's the opinion on Christian?

Pretty much like the (IWC)'s. Though its acknowledged that he's getting older and is probably best served to put over younger talent at this point in his career.

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 ringworkers, 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.

What's more important is what Vince thinks about wrestlers. He's the one that approves everything and makes last minute changes.

Were you ever in on any NXT discussions, such as when the season would actually end or anything interesting related to the show?

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.

Did you guys ever discuss Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak during your time there?

Not really. It was common knowledge in the office from the day I started that it would be Triple H vs. Undertaker again and that Triple H would lose again.

What was the general consensus on Wade Barrett and Jack Swagger at the time?

Again, let me reiterate that the writers don't really play favorites or have strong feelings for or against anybody in particular. 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.

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.

did cm punk play a part in getting anybody pushed? like beth or bryan?
how much stroke does cena have backstage, can he change vince's mind like hbk used to?

Punk - No. The Divas division is an absolute mess, and there's hardly any rhyme or reason to why someone gets pushed. Bryan's been pushed probably just because ever since turning heel he's getting huge fan response.
Cena - A lot. And yes probably.

any tales about cena that contradict what his real life persona is generally known as(nice, classy guy)?
what's everybody's take(vince's in particular) on dirtsheets and the smark audience? do they try really hard to keep a lid on stuff and put out false stories? do they do things sometimes just to appeal to the smark audience?

Cena in real life (from what I've heard as I've never met him) is sort of silly and likes playing jokes on people and messing with people. He's a lot like the Thuganomics character (minus the rapping) and loves Jack Daniels.

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.

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.

why was bryan losing so much when he was mitb, did he do something or was it another one of vince's random phases?

biggest complainer in the locker room? by complainer i mean prima donna attitude who makes things harder for everyone, complaining about everything given to him/her.
what are each of the divas like, who you've met or seen interacting with someone else? what's the take of people like vince or whoever else you might have heard on the whole kelly sleeps around story that got out? any tales of sexual harassment/misogyny?

general consensus on jim ross? did undertaker ever swing by backstage in that time period? any other injured/inactive ppl who did the same? did you interact with any of them?

Bryan was just kind of a boring character as a face, so I don't think there was much incentive to keep him winning. Besides he always had the briefcase, so it didn't really matter how much he lost.

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. I don't know anything about the Kelly Kelly rumors.

It's clear that Vince has something against JR, but nobody knows why. Vince got a big kick out of any opportunity to embarass 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.

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.

How much were dirthsheets discussed? And from your time there was there any evidence there of people who may be the mysterious "sources" that are always mentioned in dirsheet articles?

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.

what did WWE have planned for Kharmas run? Was their a goal or just keep her squashing everyone?

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.

Was the idea of unifying, getting rid of, or bringing in new titles ever discussed?

Not really. There was a little talk on when the design of the WWE belt would change, and I heard that it would soon after Wrestlemania, but believe it or not -- they actually have to meet with Mattel to decide these things. Again the writers have nothing to do with this process or these decisions.

Did you ever come across arguments, confrontations, or that general feeling you get when two people just don't like each other?

Not among wrestlers. I heard that Cena and Rock aren't huge fans of each other, but they're professional about it... 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.

What was it like when it came to writing the stuff for Punk? I know you said he had alot of say, but was it just like they write something up for him and then see how it sits for him?

What were the discussion on the long term plans for Cena(I guess up to Wrestlemania)? Did they just make it up as they went along or was there a clear goal they were going for?

What happened with Drew Mcyntire? Any/everything you might have heard about him and he plans for him.

Yes basically. Almost all promos go like that. Someone writes them and then goes over them with the talent who puts their own spin on them. Some people, like Daniel Bryan mostly just say word for word what's written for them.

I remember in January after coming back from a meeting one of the writers says "Vince wishes wrestlemania was tomorrow. We're there already with him and The Rock." So the Kane feud was basically filler till March. However there was no intention of putting the title on him at the time I worked there. They intended to keep it on Punk for a long time after hot shotting it around so much mid last year.

I don't really know what happened to Drew. There was some plans to have Teddy removed as GM of Smackdown after several heels complained about his incompetence and bias an whatnot. Drew was supposed to be among this group after his losing streak, but that storyline went another direction. Right now your guess is as good as mine as to why he's not being used.

Is there a separate group of people to decide what happens at house shows and dark matches?

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.

The dynamic is kind of like Vince is Dad and the writers are his kids doing chores. If the head writers said something like "I don't have anything for Wade Barrett because I'm not a Wade fan" Vince would say like "What the hell are you talking about? Go do your job and give me something for Wade!"

There's no room for the writer's personal opinions. They have a job to do.

Were there any indications that Miz would eventually be in the unusual spot he's in now?

Not that I remember. Awesome Truth was broken up because of Truth's wellness policy violation, and he was brought back as a face because they thought they could sell some Little Jimmy merch.

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.

What's the general feeling on gimmick PPVs like Hell in a Cell and TLC. Do the other writers wish they would save those matches for feuds that justify them?

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.

I think it's cool that HHH and Steph were nice to you and some of the folks. For as much as the IWC want to paint them as some sort of scheming villains, I rather prefer that they, and everyone who makes the decisions at WWE, are just good, normal people doing what they love.

That's certainly the impression I got. 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.

what's the backstage consensus on john cena as far as you know? what about complaints his critics have like selling, cheesy promos and 5 MOD predictability and what he said that he was not going to change for anybody? do ppl consider him lazy?

iyo is there really anybody who could have worked hard in and out of the ring like cena does if they were given the same push?
what did gewirtz say to you when he was scolding you, what happened?

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 200s.

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.

I was scolded about boring stuff. Like I said I wasn't very good at the job and made lots of little mistakes, like missing things in the notes or forgetting to send emails or sending them to the wrong person, etc. It's a very very detail oriented position and I'm not a very detail oriented person. In my eyes, if you get from point A to point B, who cares about how you got there, but WWE has a very specific and strict way of doing things that they expect you to adhere to. Little things like the formatting of documents. Writing "Segment One" instead of "Segment 1" and things like that.

Did you see naked people backstage at Survivor Series?

Personally, no. But I heard Big Show came out of the shower naked while they were taping the Jonah Hill segments -- probably as a joke.

Did TE winner Andy Leavine's name ever come up?

Yeah I think I brought him up one time when we were pitching around possible ideas for a storyline. I said something like "What about that tough enough guy? Andy Levine?"

It got kind of a "lol no" reaction.

is it true that linda mcmahon running for senate had a big influence on WWE turning PG?

I think that was part of it, but also they were becoming a publicly traded company and it just made more business sense to not be such a risque product.

Were the people you were around supposed to be involved with the WWE Network when it was still scheduled to launch in April?

Nope. 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.

What was the pay like?

What were the interviews for your job like? Was any experience in writing for television etc; necessary (or preferred, even) for your position, or was a relevant degree enough?

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.

going pg/family friendly to make profit after going public, it doesn't make sense to me cuz they went public a long time ago, didn't they? and it was a number of years after that when they went pg and business has gone down over the years. your take?

Yes they did go public earlier, but 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 segement of the population that thinks you're trash TV or not suitable for children. Children is how most media companies make money.

Business has gone down over the years mostly cause society has changed. In the late 90s wrestling was cool and mainstream and risque things were the norm. It was an edgy era in and out of the wrestling world. Times have changed. There's a lot more things these days for people to watch and get into, UFC has exploded, everyone gets a smaller piece of the pie than before. Lots of societal changes. I don't feel like getting into it but WWE will probably never pull the kinds of ratings they did in the late 90s and very little of that is their fault. Society is just different than it was 15 years ago.

who follows pop culture for (Vince)? How does he know who Jonah Hill is, why the Muppets are back, or what Twitter is for that matter?

He probably had no idea who Jonah Hill is. Other people handle that stuff. It's a publicity deal. Jonah needs to promote his new movie, or the Muppets want to promote their movie, or the guys from Psyche want to promote their thing. I don't even know if money is exchanged, because theoretically it's mutually beneficial for both parties, but these are just business decisions that some department makes.

What's the writer's reaction when faces get booed and heels get cheered?

I think its 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 Surivor Series because "New Yorkers hate Long Islanders" but they couldn't have been more wrong.

I was wondering if there was any mention of the IWC when ideas were thrown around? You mentioned they are kind of anti-smark to an extent. I guess I am just curious if any attention is paid to some of the consensus that some people are clamoring for online and the smark community in general or if they pretty much have their own ideas and could care less what the internet/smark community is clamoring for?

I think they have 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.

So, any ideas related to pop culture comes from somebody other than Vince?

Yup.

does wwe plant fans or have they stopped doing that?
what do wrestlers do after the show? do they just pack up belongings, travel to airport for next city or stay around?

There's plants occasionally. Like when Sheamus was thrown through the barrier by Mark Henry. The people around the area where Sheamus landed were all locals or FCW guys. The little kid in the audience who R-Truth talked to a few months ago was a plant. Those are the only instances I remember. When they fight through the crowd, that's real. But when a fan is given an opportunity to talk into the mic, I doubt they would ever do that without a plant.

I don't really know what they do. It depends I guess. They might go out for food and drinks or just back to their hotel rooms. Wednesday is the travel day for most crew, so I think they usually have a night's sleep before heading back to the airport for the next show. If there's a string of house shows in one area, they'll travel by bus or rented cars. Orton, Cena and Punk have their own huge tour busses. I don't know if anyone else does. It's all commercial flights though. Nobody is on the company jet but Vince, Hunter, Laurinaitis, and maybe a few top producers and such.

Did Pat Patterson hit on you?

Was there talk of bringing the fired Vince Russo back?

Anything on Shawn Michaels' actual behavior.

No

No

No

From your experience did the "Vince likes big guys" rumor turn out to be extremely true, or slightly exaggerated?

Vince likes money, and he thinks that when people see a huge guy like Khali or Mason Ryan or Big Show, that there's a level of attraction and spectacle with that that makes it easier to make money.

So yeah, unless they're REALLY good, Vince doesn't want to fill his roster with guys who look like any random dude on the street. He's oldschool to a degree and wants wrestlers who look like wrestlers.

But ultimately, Vince likes money.

Is Vince at every (TV) show or does he only come occasionally, and spend most of his time in Stamford? Same thing with Triple H?

Also... whats the consensus on using Vince as a character? Its obvious they've been trying to limit his role and phase him out as an on screen character, but can you go into detail about that?

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.

who loves the hell out of Twitter?

Probably the producers who think it's a smart way to get word out about the product. Not sure. But they do twitter because it works. During Raw every week, everything that happens on RAW trends worldwide on twitter. It can be a fun way to join the discussion with other people watching RAW.

What idea of yours were you the most upset about them turning down?

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.

Who writes the video game stories?

Is it a seperate team or just thrown out ideas that were pitched for Raw?

I assume Yukes/THQ writes the games. WWE could give a shit about the stories in the games. Maybe Laurinaitis approves of them or something, but the WWE writers aren't wasting their time writing plots for a video game.

Don't wrestlers get in trouble for shooting down storylines? You're descriptions of Kane, Bryan and Cena seem to imply the guys have the pull to say no without being punished

I mean it's not the Third Reich. Ideally you want to do stories that everyone is happy with. When someone like Bryan says he's not happy about being paired up with AJ, a writer will talk to him to hear his concerns and explain their motivations and greater goals until he feels good enough to do it. And if guys like Cena and Kane don't like something, with all that they've given to the company they certainly have the power to say no.

Does WWE pay car rental fees to a company/store, or do the car companies willingly provide their cars for the free advertising, or something? I'm thinking they're doing it for the advertising since the announcers always say the brand, model, and price of the car, and they hype the cars up too.

They're just rental cars. I think the only reason they say all that is to show how wealthy Del Rio is.

What about the car that Edge destroyed at Mania 27? If it was a rental car, was WWE responsible for getting it repaired? And what rental car company actually carries such expensive cars?

Don't know. The prop guys handle those things.

How does the writing team view/organize faces amd heels? Why do guys like Punk and Sheamus get stripped of their great heel personas and turn into these weird, always-smiling guys? Why is Kane immune from being one or the other? Whats the general consensus on Kane and Glen Jacobs backstage?

There's a roster list with four columns. RAW Faces, RAW Heels, SD Faces, SD Heels. It's a document that talent relations updates. So if someone switches sides we tell them to update it.

Money.

My guess is cause that's kinda what people wanted from Kane for years. They just want Kane to be 1998 Kane and kick some ass.

Glenn is widely regarded as a very nice and very intelligent guy who always gives his best.

A) Any discussions of Lesnar?

B) Any discussions ever brought up of a story with a mega heel who can win clean and dominate the faces for a period of time? (hopefully you'll direct me back to (A) here...)

C) Does the writing team ever take the "incorrect" boos or cheers to heart? For example, would Sheamus getting heavily booed on RAW the day after WM have been addressed as "we're not writing this character well enough" or would they just ignore it completely?

D) Are they any closer to re-combining RAW and SD back to one "program"?

E) Had you guys heard any talk about permanent 3 hour RAWs, and if so, how did the writer's react?

A) When Lesnar retired from UFC we talked about it a bit like anyone else in America. We had no idea if WWE would reach out to him or not, but I think most didn't think so because Lesnar kinda got his ass kicked in UFC and wasn't seen as a monster as much anymore. So I and a few other writers assumed the WWE would wait a while for that stink to leave him before trying to bring him back. At the time that I was let go there was no talk of Lesnar returning so they must've struck a deal closer to Wrestlemania, or it was a well kept secret. The head writers did not always tell us everything.

B) Not really, aside from guys like maybe Brodus or Ryback.

C) They'd probably chalk it up to the city that the event was in. But nothing quite like what happened to Sheamus occurred while I was there, so there's a good possibility they took the reaction to heart and reconsidered where the story was going.

D) Never talked about.

E) No not back then. It was just a surprise to me as everyone else when I heard.

Does working with the writing team kill the product for you at all? Like, any aspect of it? I'd imagine even being anywhere near the writing team and knowing what's going on would ruin at least the video games. Has that caused any issues for you?

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 PWB (:D). 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.

Not sure what you mean about WWE 12. Only thing that pisses me off about it is when Universe mode pits heels against heels or faces against faces. That's not how booking works (except in rare cases like Sheamus vs Orton).

Does creative work as one on all storylines or are they split into different groups with sets of wrestlers. The answer to that also leads into my next few questions. Does everybody on the writing team know what the finish to all the big (ppv) matches is? Like you said, most of the main events are scheduled months in advance. Does creative decide who goes over or is that completely up to Vince? Do you know if he delegates any of those or other decisions to anyone else? I remember hearing about HBK and Jericho writing most of their 2008? storyline themselves. How often, if at all, did a wrestler get to write on their own feud with another wrestler? Or did the majority just offer suggestions and take what was given to them? Was there any politicing that you know about (one guy trying to enhance his spot over another guy)? Any wrestler who was a mark for himself and didn't want to job?

Creative doesn't usually work "with" wrestlers until the day of the shows. Like I said before, most things are done in a collaborative discussion but sometimes a writer or pair of writers are assigned to work on one particular story. It changes a lot. After like three decades they still dont' have a concrete method of doing things. Also keep in mind the AE had like 2-4 writers where now there's closer to a dozen. And they only split between home team and road team a month or two before I started.

They usually know who goes over because it feeds into the card of the following PPV. But it's very very very subject to change and Vince gets a look at this document every week.

I don't know how things were done in 2008. Like I said things change very often.

Wrestlers can suggest things and put their own take on things, but everything is run by the creative team and vince. Two wrestlers cant just go out and do what they want.

Don't remember anyone not wanting to job. Only politicking was that a couple legends wanted to be part of Wrestlemania. Foley wanted to put over Miz. Goldust wanted to put over his brother. They wanted that WM payday.

When Rhodes was IC champ for a long time was the idea of him breaking Honky's record considered or they didn't care about that at all?

Also while you where there what superstars where put in the doghouse and why? Or is this not common anymore?

I don't think they cared.

Occasionally. Usually if they complained a lot or caused drama backstage. Like I said earlier at one point practically the whole Diva's division was on Vince's bad side and he stopped caring about any stories in that division entirely. No one else really comes to mind.

So what do the writers call the wrestlers when they talk to them in person? I had read that HHH is always "Hunter", Taker is always Taker, etc. do they all just go by their ring names?

Yep. Ring names 9 times out of 10.

What I"m not sure of, and would still like to know today, is if the wrestlers call each other by their ring names backstage. I find it hard to believe anybody is calling Rey Mysterio Oscar, but I wouldn't be surprised if people address Kane as Glen.

Any stories/backstage notes on a guy like Christian?

Only thing I ever heard about Christian is that he introduces himself as Jay.

Also he has a bit of a rep for being one of the people who complains when they don't think they're being used enough.

What was the deal with John Cena being absent from the TLC card?

Was there a reason Sheamus didn't have a real feud for the latter part of the year?

With TLC drawing near and the writers pressuring Vince about what he wanted to do with Cena. He ultimately said something like "I don't think we need him on the card." I think he wanted to see how the PPV would do without him.

From what I recall they just wanted Sheamus to go around kicking ass and push his Irish temper thing to build him up a bit as a monster face.

- Any word on Layla?
- How did Hunico became popular?

Layla was absent with her injury the entire time I was working there, but her name was brought up as a candidate for the third heel Diva to join Nattie and Beth, even though she doesnt look "pin-up strong" at all. Then there was talk of bringing her back as a Lady Gaga-like character but that didn't happen either. (Unfortunately. I thought that would've been quite unique and cool).

Good question about 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. Not sure if that answers your question or not.

How did you all decide that Hunico would be fake Sin Cara? Did you all like his portrayal of Sin Cara better than the actual?

Not sure who made this decision. Probably Hunter I would guess. 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.

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Merovingi kiittää, kuittaa ja lähtee nukkumaan pariksi tunniksi.

[Tirkka]

Hirween mielenkiintoista tekstiä kyllä, mut jumalattoman pitkä (melkein 22 A4-sivua openofficeen kopsattuna). Menee varmaan jokunen hetki lukiessa.

[Merovingi]

Tuossa kyllä on sellaisia asioita, jotka ovat aika selviä. Vince on se, joka lopulta asioista päättää ja hänellä on tapana tehdä näitä viime hetken muutoksia. Käsikirjoitus muuttuu monta kertaa viikossa ja se on iso urakka, kirjoittajat tekevät paljon ylitöitä.

PPV'n Main Eventit ovat selvillä kuukausia aiemmin ja on olemassa tietty luuranko, jonka ympärille kasataan käsikirjoitusta, mutta kaikki voi muuttua. Nämä asiat olivat minulle aika selviöitä, mutta kuvioiden rakentaminen takaperin ei. Hyvä asia, sillä jos tietää lopun, on helpompi kasata looginen ja fiksu kuvio.

Smarkkeja pidetään vähemmistönä, jota ei pidä kuunnella bisnesmielessä. IWC:stä ei myöskään välitetä. Kuulenko äänen, jossa vedetään vessanpytystä "smarkit ovat uusia markkeja" -fraasi?

[The Rocker]

Pyh meitä typeriä smarkkeja vaan workataan taas. Kuitenkin WWE:n järkkäämä juttu jolla koitetaan ottaa heattiä pois HHH:lta. Samalla vaan dissataan dirt sheettejä että ne ei oo mistään peräsin.

[Show_Stopper]

WWE on kyllä tällä hetkellä suoraan sanottuna ihan v***n p****estä. Pitkään aikaan en ole kokenut tällaista tuotteeseen turtumista: mikään meneillään oleva hahmo tai kuvio ei kiinnosta ja jaksotkin tulee katsottua väkinäisenä rutiinina vähintään viikon jäljessä - pätkissä. Kauan jaksoin kannatella kiinnostusta seuraamalla nyt vaikka Zigglerin ja Rhodesin kehitystä, mutta pitkän linjan kusipaskabookkauksella on varmistettu ettei heidänkään kohtalosta enää jaksa välittää. Ellei tonni-Raw ole yhtä kuin koko sirkuksen täydellinen uudestisyntyminen, niin siihen loppu katsominen ainakin tältä erää.

Nyt onkin täydellinen sauma palailla kokoaikaisesti vaihtoehtopainin äärelle. Ainakin TNA näyttää olevan taas jonkin sortin kuosissa ja Steenin läikyttämä veri vetää takaisin ROHin puoleen. Sitten vielä guerrillat, chikarat ja purot niin eiköhän se liekki siitä leimahda.

[MutiM]

Angle on ollut TNA:ssa melkein yhtä kauan kuin se oli WWE:ssä.

wat

[The Rocker]

Kattelen tässä kaverin kanssa 2001 Judgement Daytä ja on muuten hyvä PPV. Parempi kuin muistin. Kaverin kanssa kattellaan ja otetaan chillisti. Alkuun katottiin kyllä Mike Awesome vs Hayabusa ottelu kun ne on niin loistavia.

[MR.Off Topic]

Vähän sinällään harmittaa, kun en nyt itse oikein pysy tässä painihommassa mukana. Oikeasti tällä hetkellä painin katselu on jäänyt TNA:n shittiin, PWG:hen ja sitten joskus jotain muiltakin indypromootioilta, mutta hyvin satunnaisesti. WWE on periaatteessa jäänyt melkein kokonaan ja tähän on monta syytä.

Ensimmäinen syy on se, että netti tilanteeni on äärinmäisen heikko tällä hetkellä. Olen mokkulan varassa, joka on hitaampi kuin tappaja hai flunssassa. Niimpä en pysty tsiikaileen WWE:n tuotetta totuttuun tapaan WMR:stä, koska se on semmosta jokaisen viiden sekunnin välein pätkivää kahtomista, jossa ei ole mitään järkeä. Tähänkö lisätään vielä se, että minulla ei kiinnosta katsoa edes puolia jaksosta niin se tuntuu hirveän vaivanloiselta.

Youtubesta tän kattelu vielä onnistuisi, mutta koska sieltä harvoin löytyy kahteen osaan tai yhdessä osassa koko jaksoa niin kuin Impactista niin en jaksa katsoa niitä kuudentoista osan multikokonaisuuksia joista viimeiset osat saatetaan poistaa ennen kuin kerkeän niihin asti. Lisäksi kelaaminen näissä kuudentoista osan sydeemeissä on vielä vaivaanloisempaa kuin WMR:n viiden sekunnin välein pätkivässä streemissä niin siihen jäi sitten sekin.

Jakson lataaminen netistä olisi myös yksi vaihtoehto, mutta arvatkaapa kuinka turhauttavalta tuntuu ladata jättiraakaa ensin kolme tuntia ja sitten katsomiseen menee se 15 minuuttia ja sekin siksi, että ei viitsi ihan kaikkea kelata, kun tuli jo ladattua tätä shittiä se kolme tuntia. Joskus lataamiseen saattaa mennä myös huomattavasti enemmän aikaa kuten, vaikka 13 tuntia ihan riippuen siitä, millä päällä tämä mukula on.

Smackdownista minun ei varmaan edes tarvi puhua. Sen katsominen, kun on vaakalaudalla vaikka sen voisi toistaa ilmaiseksi HD-laadulla milloin tahansa silmälasieni linseistä. Joten jätetään se nyt laskuista kokonaan pois.

Niimpä minun WWE:n katselu on jäänyt täysin niiden viikonloppujen varaan jolloin olen äidin ruuilla kotona, jotka ovat harventuneet lyhyen ajan kuluessa huomattavasti vähemmäksi, vaikka en ymmärrä miksi. Ilmainen hyvä ruoka on nimittäin tosi jees. Joten nykyään katson WWE:tä joko kerran kuukaudessa suunnilleen kotona, jos jaksan siellä tuhlata siihen aikaa, mutta yleensä jaksan, koska Offarin koti on tosi mettässä, tai sitten joskus jostain kumman syystä tuskallisesti katson sitä kämpillä jollain aikaisemmin kertomista vaihtoehdoistani. WWE:n paskatuote ei auta asiaa yhtään, mutta se varmaan tuli selväksi.

Onneksi kiviäki kiinnosti.

[Japeet]

Kyllähän sieltä youtubesta löytyvät sekä Raw't että Smackdownit yhdessä osassa, yleensä jo seuraavana päivänä lähetyksestä. Raw'n kokonaisversiota saa silloin tällöin odottaa, mutta kahdessa osassa löytyy varmasti.

[Mr.Perfekt]

Youtubesta tän kattelu vielä onnistuisi, mutta koska sieltä harvoin löytyy kahteen osaan tai yhdessä osassa koko jaksoa

Itse ainakin löydän suht helposti YouTubesta viimeisimmät RAW't, SD't, NXT't ja SuperStarsit, kahteen osaan paloiteltuna tai ihan yhtenä pätkänäkin.

[MR.Off Topic]

No löytyyhän niitä, mutta monesti jos on kahessakin osassa niin se toinen on poistettu ennen kuin kerkeän katsoa ensimmäisen tai jotain muuta tämmöstä. Tuo Impact vertaus johtukin aika pitkälti siitä, että noita WWE-ohjelmia tunnutaan poistelevan paljon nopeammin ja yleisemmin kuin Impacteja. Oon kai vaan liian laiska etsimään viittä sekunttia pitempään.

[Mr.Perfekt]

Totta, että niitä poistellaan aika ahkeraan tahtiin, mutta aina kun yksi lähtee pois niin tulee uutta tilalle.

[Stefa]

Dailymotion on myös vaihtoehto, mikä ei taida olla ihan niin valvottuna kuin Youtube. Toisaalta itsellä on aina ollu nopeusongemia Dailymotionin kanssa, johtunee heidän playeristä.

[Wanhus]

Ite katon youtubesta useimmitin, kun sieltä näkee yleensä yhtenä klippinä. Tuolla dailymotionissakin on useimmiten pätkittynä.

[MR.Off Topic]

Jaa yliarvioin näköjään nettini. 240p:nä pitää ensin ladata puoli tuntia, että saa katottua kakskytä minuuttia. Vihtu, että on nopiaa touhua, mutta onhan tää sentäs vähän nopeampaa kuin ennen vanhaan, kun laajakaistaa ei ees tunnettu. Jippikai-v***n-jee.

[Show_Stopper]

Oletteko pistäneet merkille, miten jokainen nykyhetken WWE-intro on vain yhtä suurta posettamista, eikä itse painia tuoda millään tapaa esille? Kaavaa jatkaa tuore Main Event. Hey look kids, we has huge superstarz! Larger than lyfe yo!

Niin, tässähän ei ole mitään ihmeellistä koska WWE ja sen linja, mutta vihaksi pistää kuitenkin. s****na. Vähän se myös naurattaa, sitten taas itkettää.

[Japeet]

No eipä tuo millään tavalla uusi juttu ole. Varmaan neljään vuoteen näkynyt yhtään painia Raw'n introssa, ja sielläkin päässä kunnolla joskus ysärin alussa. Sen jälkeen enimmäkseen posetusta ja silloin tällöin pari liikettä. Smäkkärissä ollut yllättävää kyllä aina enemmän sitä painia, mutta sielläkin hyvin vaihtelevasti.