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Behind-the-scenes at WWE, Part Deux

Hello again, Scott
Since the first entry went so well, I figured I'd peddle along the rest of the information that the writing assistant on GameFAQs.com spilled in the rest of his topic.

My bank account thanks you.

--

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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."
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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."


Comments

  1. Great :) thankyou for posting these! And well done Hunico on the insta-promo, that'd be crazy hard knowing its a test from the boss

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  2. Brian Gerwitz is a genius?

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  3. Gerwitz is a genius?

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  4. "I think if there were real insiders, surprises like Brodus's debut or Brock's would be spoiled well in advance."

    I can't understand how sites like the Observer or the Torch stay in business.  They may have had legit sources back in the 90's, but it's just so obvious that everything they "report" now is just stuff they're pulling out of their collective asses.

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  5. giving Alex Riley a long-term storyline where he fakes having cancer to get sympathy from the crowd
    WHY THE FUCK IS THIS NOT ON MY TV RIGHT NOW

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  6. This guy seems like a total fucking mark. Everything is just wonderful over at Titan Towers!

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  7. What gave it away?  Was it when he referred to himself as a mark in the previous post?

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  8. These writers may very well be wrestling fans but they seemingly have no idea how to write stories for wrestlers, which sounds like it's mostly VKM's fault.

    First, why would you come up with a story, then plug the wrestlers into it? Wrestling is not the same medium as soap opera or a movie. You write stories based on the abilities of the wrestlers themselves.

    And why can't Tyson Kidd fight Heath Slater? Give them a reason to and people would watch.

    Finally this company has a massive amount of production ability at its disposal: how in the world has nobody figured out that they could create an endless amount of video packages? Maybe create a story for Matt Bloom and explain, in video form, why he's back as Tensai.

    It's amazing how they aspire to be so sophisticated, but can't even use all their expensive toys properly.

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  9. Man. Most of the ideas the writers are coming up with...are awful.

    Then again, these are the ones that didn't make the air. Still: shartshooter.

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  10.  This is pretty awful. They rightfully scrapped it

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  11. Oh come on, I think "Shartshooter" would've been the only way to save that gimmick. In fact, they should've taken it a step further and had her do things that would make people think that she was farting and it turns out she was doing innocent things, like baking brownies.

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  12.  I dare any one of us to try and write for Vince AND deal with HHH, Cena,
    Orton and anybody else who has a say in what goes into a storyline or
    even an episode of their programming -- This dude was paid $13/hr. to
    basically be somebody's bitch [his words] and he has a degree; he's
    gotta' be a fan! -- Sounds like an intelligent dude (Though, working for
    WWE or not, I wouldn't walk across the street to piss for $13/hr. and
    I'm a failed English Lit. major) -- Wrestling, by it's very nature, is
    episodic -- The territories catered soap opera like stories for
    audiences that were very limited in their options; The WWE writers'
    intentions aren't faulty, it's the execution that lacks -- But can you
    blame them?  Today's audience is 99.9% different than what we grew up on
    -- Twitter? What the Fuck?? -- CM Punk = Steve Austin? Don't think so
    -- Apples and Oranges, kids; Apples and Oranges..

    ReplyDelete
  13. lol Genius. People sure do throw that word around too loosely nowadays. 

    ReplyDelete
  14.  That makes the most stupid Vince Russo ideas look good...

    Nothing against extreme stories, but this is IMO in Katie Vick land.

    ReplyDelete
  15. like I said in that other post. to me, this guy sounds like a total mark (or alternatively in some parts: like a 15 year old smark) for the WWE, for the "business" and for himself.

    "hahah, the dirtsheets are pretty much always wrong and speculation." > "I heard guy XY is really cool" / "I once met guy XY. seemed so down to earth and greeted back. amazing person." / "WWE is not trashy like TNA, it's sophisticated." etc. etc.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Geez, that salary seems low for a job that would require a degree, previous television writing experience and such long hours for work that would end up on a highly rated national TV show.  I know jack about how much they pay television writers, but I would think you could make a lot more money as an editor or something.  Even if you averaged 55 hours a week, you'd still only be pulling in like $44,000 a year while presumably living in Connecticut and at the mercy of Vince's moods.

    I guess the WWE just has me trained to think everyone makes five figure salaries.

    ReplyDelete
  17. So true haha, there is a great Louis CK bit regarding that word.  Something along the lines of you used to have to actually invent something, like say electricity, to be referred to as a genius.  Now if you go to Taco Bell and your friend remembers to get extra napkins, "dude, you're a GENIUS!"

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  18. It's a starting salary, for a demanding job that probably sees a lot of turnover.  I bet that the money gets a lot better once you've proven yourself over a year or two.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yeah, I'd hope so. I guess I just figured writing for a TV show for the WWE would start out at like 60k a year.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I think the main problem is, that they have waaaay to many writers for the show. And I also think, that it is not to say for them: "I don't like xxx, and I have no Idea for him". They should have an Idea for anyone, even if they don't like them. 

    ReplyDelete
  21. I bet you're right. Seems a little bit like the old school way of breaking in the wrestlers as well. Really crap on you and break you down to see if you can cut it. Then once you prove yourself they welcome you into the family. This is obviously just speculation.

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  22. Nah, see, it would be bad if they really wanted us to believe he had cancer, and that was that. But if it's something he'd do as a bad guy, to get sympathy, then it'd work. Because I'd hate him for it. I wouldn't hate the writing team for it. Unlike when they do miscarriage angles.

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  23. I would be such a mark if I had that job. I'd also bust my ass. I wouldn't mind all the hours. I'd love to have a chance like that. 

    ReplyDelete
  24. Writing doesn't interest me at all, but I'd love to work for their video department, preferably in their archives with all the old footage.  That's something I might consider doing for very little money for a year haha.

    ReplyDelete
  25.  If I had all the money of the world, I would buy all Videos they have and I would watch them all in a row. :)

    But that's a great alternative. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  26. Exactly!  I'd love to get a look at all the old Superstars of Wrestling tapes and stuff in the original formats without editing. 

    A lot of the original broadcasts of the late 1980s and early 1990s footage can't be found in anything approaching good quality.  I bought a set of the 1991 Superstars of Wrestling shows from a DVD trader once for like $70 and they are all hacked up -- it's like cobbled together from original Superstars episodes and Prime-Time reairings of matches and segments.  So one minute Jessie and Vince are talking about a match that just ended and just as the next one begins, suddenly Lord Alfred Hayes and Sean Mooney have replaced them on commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  27.  welcome to the new economy. 

    ReplyDelete
  28. Yeah one would hope that with all the demands they'd be making at least $60k once they were writing for one of the major shows.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I enjoyed the first post, but on this one, it seems more like the guy could be a fake. He didn't really say anything new, interesting, and a bunch of stuff just seems overall really vague or bland.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Didn't the guy who forwarded this say that he cherry-picked the good stuff for the first post, and is just posting the rest here because that post was so well received?

    Do you rip on a single because the B-side sucks? (B-side? What's that? Kids these days...)

    ReplyDelete
  31. I think Scott missed the boat on this one. He should have chopped this guys thoughts up and ran them over several days to increase the hits. There's a LOT of interesting stuff here that we could discuss for weeks, but it's overwhelming coming at you all at once. I wouldn't know where to begin.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This reminds me of Lost, where (to an extent) there was a group (or individual) of writers responsible for each character.  So if it was a Jin episode, writer A wrote it.  If it was a Sawyer episode, writer B was responsible.  If they aren't doing this, it might not be a bad idea to give each person a selection of Superstars that they are "responsible" for.  That way, instead of an entire room trying to figure out what to do with John Cena, there's at least one person there looking out for Hunico.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Your last comment about the video packages are spot on.  Didn't characters like Goldust and Mankind really find their groove following those multi-week sit down interviews with Jim Ross?  Right now it seems like they're just paying JR to sit at home and shill his BBQ sauce.  THIS would be a great use of him if they insist on keeping him away from the announce desk.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I'd be willing to make $30,000 a year just to work at the WWE, or even TNA. I'd love to work with a wrestling company. Not to mention all the rockin' free stuff you get.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anyone ever have that BBQ sauce? Any good?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Same here dude, same here. I wouldn't even see it as work.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Either Punk really is kind of anti-social or I get the feeling this guy REALLY didn't like him.

    ReplyDelete
  38. It's entertainment. Expect to work twice as hard for half the pay in sports, TV, music, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Well, apparently the people who come up with characters and marketing are not the same as the writers. Which is...strange.

    ReplyDelete
  40. "Smarks are seen as a minority that usually shouldn't be listened to -- which from a business standpoint is sort of true."

    I love that part. I hope that didn't burst the readers bubble. We do think we have a major voice whne we really don't.

     

    ReplyDelete
  41.  Wasn't this guy just a writer's assistant though? So I'm sure the actual writing team members make plenty more.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I find it both funny and sad that the one idea that really stuck out at me in a good way, the one where Ricardo would be dressed up in a costume (though I wouldn't have used an ice cream sandwich) and gets beat up by Del Rio, who thinks it's Punk, is one that was dismissed for being illogical. That was the proverbial easy money.

    That is the sort of thing that wrestling has been doing for years (such as Flair getting beat up by "Precious" in the hotel room), and it's because it works. The face outsmarting the heel and doing damage to him, or his lackey, which causes the heel to make his comback the next week, helping to build a feud? Talk about easy.

    Makes me sad.

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  43. I really wonder what vinces beef with Jr is? The guy is pretty much beloved by fans, and even if he has turned into a caricature of himself he's still much better than Michael cole. Is it because he came from the nwa/wcw? Did he get too over? Maybe he ignored vince is in his headset? I guess it doesn't take much but he seems to have a good rep with the wrestlers and the fans, but vince has had him kiss ass, be lit on fire, publicly demoted to smackdown (that was pretty crazy if you think about it) I don't get it

    ReplyDelete
  44. 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."
    ++++++++++++++++++
    The writer in question based in Baltimore is Kevin Eck.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Hey we never would have been smart enough to job out lesnar for 5 million dollars to show the world wwe is superior to ufc by having a retired fighter lose a predetermined match. Now I bet cena could beat the whole ufc roster, if it was booked that way.

    ReplyDelete
  46.  Punk didn't say hi to him in the bathroom or talk to him in the elevator or shake his hand so WWE protocol says he has no choice but to not like him. 

    ReplyDelete
  47. Punk really is kind of anti-social, based on almost all reports of him outside the ring.

    ReplyDelete
  48.  Except from what he said, HHH and Orton weren't an impediment to any storylines.

    ReplyDelete
  49. My thoughts exactly. Almost every idea this guy mentioend that was brought up was awful, even worse than the ones that made air.

    ReplyDelete
  50. JR is the embodiment of the southern redneck that Vince has always gone out of his way to make a fool of.

    ReplyDelete
  51. "I think if there were real insiders, surprises like Brodus's debut or Brock's would be spoiled well in advance."

    Umm....they were.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I thought vince loved hillbillies? The godwins were like the main tag team in the mid 90's, and jbl was the champ on smwckdown for a year. But maybe he was being ironic or something

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  53. Punk strikes me as a guy who fancies himself to be the smartest guy in the room.

    I suspect that any time you disagreed with him you would just get snarky, sarcastic comments to the effect that you somehow just don't "get it", and he does.

    Just a feeling.

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  54. This is the line that got me, too. As far as booking geniuses go, the only two that I can think of are Paul Heyman and Vince MacMahon because both totally changed the landscape of wrestling. After that, there are certainly very smart, creative bookers, but I would have a hard time putting Gerwitz in that class. 

    ReplyDelete
  55. 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.


    That's more or less the Briscoes.

    ReplyDelete
  56. $13 for all that stress?

    Fuck that shit!

    http://qph.cf.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f8b8d90cad547afd1be68c8cf0b6d90a

    ReplyDelete
  57. "Anybody who calls Cena lazy doesn't know the first thing about him.

    No one ever has called him lazy...

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  58. I still don't get the concept of shaking EVERYONE'S hand.  How many people are on the roster?  Dozens.  Plus agents?  The reason quality has gone down is b/c everyone is too bust shaking hands to actually come up with good stuff.  

    ReplyDelete
  59. I think if there were real insiders, surprises like... Brock's would be spoiled well in advance.You weren't paying attention the night after WM, were you?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Mark Henry- He was doing great and Smackdown ratings were up noticeably while he was champion10 years who'd have thought news like this would be all kinds of awesome?  World champ Mark Henry ruled.

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  61. Not so sure about Brodus.  I don't think anyone knew that he'd come out dancing.

    ReplyDelete
  62. As mentioned in the previous post, once you make it out of the temp position in the 4th month, you get a full salary and benefits, but they'll cut you before that happens if they don't want you around full-time.

    ReplyDelete
  63. I used the most interesting stuff on the first one to give it the best chance to make the blog. I figured to pass along the rest just to finish it off. 

    ReplyDelete
  64. It's probably the WCW connection, considering how Vince treated the other talent from there.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Yeah, he named him a few posts later:

    "
    Kevin is awesome. I loved working with him. We were almost always on the same page and he never hesitated to speak up when he thought something was unjust or just didn't make sense or nobody wanted to see it. He was very vocal about hating the JR vs. Michael Cole silly crap that we did. Which is good because people actually listened to him, rather than a peon like me.I'm sure he'll be there a long time. He's the one interviewing Jericho in the new dot com video about rumors of Jericho's departure."

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  66. My bubble sure is burst. Now, where did I put my Daniel Bryan "YES! YES! YES!" t-shirt? 

    ReplyDelete
  67. Eh, I suppose that's true but it appears most of the people behind the scenes didn't know either. And we always knew when he was in the building...which is something I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  68.  The Randy Orton pissing in the trash can was GOLDEN! Triple H: Randy what are you doing!?!? Randy: I gotta piss yo.

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  69. I dunno I always took the Godwinn push as a rib on WCW's fanbase because in Vince's mind the Godwinn's *were* the WCW fanbase.

    And JBL was pushed much more as a "Texas Oil Man" type of guy then a real redneck character, at least IMO.

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  70. Yeah, I think that's what people are missing. From the description and everything he did, he seemed like a step up from a gopher, basically probably the way that a lot of the writers start up over there.

    Unless maybe if you have previous writing experience.

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  71. I think you're right....but, let's see how this plays out.

    ReplyDelete
  72.  You're kind of missing my point (and I did have one, as much as I tend to ramble) -- All of those egos must be a motherfucker to deal with -- I like how a bunch of us shit on this guy as if we knew what he dealt with -- Sounds like storylines actually start as storylines and then get pissed on by everybody that has a swinging dick until they're incomprehensible messes -- Will give Russo credit, he could fuck things up by himself what takes a village to fuck up in WWE...

    ReplyDelete
  73.  Indeed!  I suppose it impacts everything right down the line.

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  74. I think it depends on your definition of "well in advance". A night or two in advance isn't the same as weeks or months in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Brilliant!

    I can just picture a newbie wondering if they should spend the next six hours trying to come up with ideas or walk around shaking hands.

    ReplyDelete
  76. To be fair, it's quite possible that Gerwitz is a genius, or at least highly intelligent - maybe he's not the best wrestling writer ever, but maybe he can do complicated math problems in his head, or has a ridiculously large vocabulary.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Someone's getting a dumper in the gym bag!

    ReplyDelete
  78. You're doing dogs work nose.

    ReplyDelete
  79.  Oh Yea, it's good. I would recommend it

    ReplyDelete
  80. As said above by Stuart_Chartock... there's a BIG difference between knowing that Brock was gonna be there a day or two before it happens, and knowing truly "in advance".

    Brock very likely had at least a verbal agreement with Vince before he even fought his last UFC fight, since it was clear Brock's heart wasn't at ALL in that match.  I'd be amazed if he spent more than a week post-fight without having a contract.  But yet, no one knew til one day before he showed up, while the writers almost certainly would have known before Wrestlemania was even finalized script-wise that Brock was coming back the night afterwards so they could ensure it went off exactly as Vince wanted.

    If there TRULY was a current writer/agent/etc that was leaking stories... you think they wouldn't have leaked the fact that Lesnar had at least signed on the dotted line?

    ReplyDelete
  81. But it did leak. We didn't find out "the night before he showed up" we found out almost a week before WrestleMania...

    I don't think the writer's have any clue whatsoever who Corporate has been talking to in terms of possible contracts, as is evidenced by just about everything this guy has been writing.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Uh oh, this guy said nice things about HHH and said Punk was kind of a dick backstage. So...what are we gonna do? Are we all going to turn on Punk or rake this guy over the coals for his blasphemy? Please Scott can you give us your opinion so we can all follow like sheep?

    ReplyDelete
  83. Then read it over multiple days if you are overwhelmed.

    70% of the people reading this right now are not typical RSPWFAQ readers, including myself.  If you give us one or two small tidbits, then it would be easy to rule off as lucky guesses.  But to hammer us with this much stuff that all makes total sense... it's gripping, it's a fascinating read and has become a much bigger story than 2-3 segments alone would have been.

    Is this necessarily the best way to accumulate hits?  Arguably, no.  But Part 1 was so believable and so detailed that it's been posted on wrestling boards from one end of the internet to another... the publicity for RSPWFAQ is probably better long-term than getting a few hundred extra hits by breaking things up but losing the interest of half the non-regular readers before the last tidbit is even posted and not getting NEAR the promotion across the net that this is getting.

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  84. I wouldn't call either of them really smart.  More one's intelligible and the other is really, really not.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Fuck that, this blog post could've been HUGE. I'm not saying it was definitely going to be Benoit Murders huge, but you never know if you don't take that chance. Instead of hotshotting this stuff in 2 days you could've held off and milked it for WEEKS. This was a license to print money and now it's fucked.

    Remember Drunk Ryan Murphy? That was a blog-saving gimmick if I ever saw one. But he never got a chance to shine and be the center piece of the blog (we haven't had ONE roh recap since that epic promo in the OTL live thread.... I think Caliber's holding him down to protect his spot).

    So forgive me for my cynicism, I've just been disappointed too many times.

    ReplyDelete
  86. In trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, I felt perhaps he viewed Gewirtz as a "genius" from a writing perspective, not so much in terms of wrestling booking. Writing for writing as opposed to writing for wrestling--that's what I think I'm going for there. 

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  87. All I know is that I had intended to eat at his restaurant in Moore (just south of OKC) a few years back, but by my next visit to the area, it had already closed. 

    ReplyDelete
  88. Ha.  $13 would be seen as a blessing in some circles.  Having worked PA jobs for production companies on nationally-broadcast reality shows, I was lucky if I got more than $9-10/hour, although, time and a half would also factor in once you hit 40 hours.  And this was before the economy went to shit.  So I don't even want to imagine what those poor production assistants are being strung along with today.

    Despite what you may hear, the entertainment industry pays shit for like the first five years of your career unless you're really lucky.  You'd think an industry that's labeled as being run by "bleeding-heart liberals" would be mindful of working conditions, but it's not.  You work for awful money, often work 12-16 hour days for up to weeks at a time, frequently working for arrogant, condescending producers, and most of the time you don't have the luxury of job security.  I'm just finishing up my enlistment in the United States military and THAT was the less stressful job.

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  89. Are you implying that you currently make significantly more than that?

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  90. I don't know what you're talking about. 

    I'm pretty sure that we've all been in agreement for years that Punk is nothing but a flippity flopping, anti-social, indie spot monkey.  A bona fide Pepsi drinking elitist freak that will never get over until he learns how to work WWE-style.  He'll never be on top of the sports entertainment world until he learns THIS BUSINESS like HHH, who hasn't lost a step since 2000 and is a heck of a jam up guy.  With legs so powerful and strong (and glistening) that they shred the quads inside of them.  Punk can keep his Pepsi, real men don't need fluids, real men regurgitate them when they enter a building.

    The IWC has never been known to rush to a consensus opinion on the basis of a single article, we only form opinions based on extensive pondering and analysis of the facts. 

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  91. Very surprising and shocking, I had no idea. 

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  92. Really? You all think that about Punk? Thats suprising I like Punk, I think he's really good in the ring, and fun on the mic. I am indiffrent to both his backstage attitude, and the straight edge thing, (I couldn't live that way though, as I love my vodka every now and then) I have also been a huge fan of HHH since 99 or so. I know it's rumorted

    ReplyDelete
  93. Sorry... that was my failed attempt at humor and sarcasm haha

    All kidding aside, I typically put any backstage stuff out of my mind too when watching wrestling (or movies, or music, etc) -- if the performer brings the goods in the ring, that's good enough for me.  I've never been a big HHH fan because I find most of his matches on the boring side, but I enjoy Punk a lot.  Although I can't help but be a little bit impressed by the really humble, selfless guys in a business full or arrogance or the ones who have a really positive or down to earth outlook on things -- ala Steamboat, Mick Foley, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  94. I really wish Punk drank Coke instead of Pepsi. 

    ReplyDelete
  95. I agree with that. He acts like a dick in his twitter feed sometimes, to. 

    Having said that, though, I'd bet more often that not he is the smartest guy in the room. As someone who is usually the smartest guy in the room, it's a heavy burden to bear. 

    ReplyDelete
  96. I agree. Maybe not cancer though, but something more wrestling related. Like he takes Brodus Clay's splash and he's coughing up blood or something for weeks and weeks afterwards and really milking how injured he is and he can't compete. 

    Cancer might be a little too serious... but something along those lines could definitely work.

    ReplyDelete
  97. You know what, everyone talks about Drunk Ryan Murphy as if it was going to be some money making gimmick. It wasn't! He was never going to main event the blog, and people would have gotten sick of it in a month or two and started hating him. To even mention him in the same post as the Benoit Murders is ridiculous.

    And just because Scott king of botched the posting of these insights, but I'm sick of everyone acting like it's the end of the world. The posts went over strong, and all everyone is going to remember is how many comments they got. People sometimes forgot that blogging is a business, and it's all about hits and comments. These posts still have a bunch of appearances left on their contract and we just have to give Scott the benefit of the doubt with his posting. 

    Now, if he swerves us and we find out it was all a hoax, that is another matter. I don't need that kind of Vince Russo nonsense on my blog. I can always go back to 411mania.

    God, I hate smart marks sometimes! Such drama queens!

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  98.  With the way the economy is, I wouldn't shit on $44,000 annually, esp. when you got people with college degrees are waiting tables.

    ReplyDelete
  99.  I don't know. In a show it's nomally not about one but a group of wrestlers. If every wrestler has a special booker, it would be like today. It should be more like that one or two people writing for everyone, so that the stories are consistent (quality wise) and could even connect with each other like when DX feuds with the corporation while Austin feuds with Vince and the ministry vs all and so. We just need more stables. From 96 to 2000 WCW and WWF had many stables, which made random matches important, because the wrestlers were in stables which feuded against each other. Less writers, more connections between the wrestlers could improve the shows dramatically.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Chavo Guerrero says hi.

    ReplyDelete
  101. What's the deal with Eck anyway?  He's still pretty active on Twitter, but his weekly column hasn't appeared on WWE.com in months.

    ReplyDelete
  102. You meant to say "too" and "than." :)

    ReplyDelete
  103. It's tough to say.  I think he's like most people in the "real world."  He has his group of friends and he interacts with them, but if he doesn't have anything in common with you (or doesn't like you), he doesn't bother with them.  He can't be THAT anti-social.  I mean, he has that great tour bus and could easily keep to himself, but he still has Kofi Kingston ride with him in it.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Yeah that definitely wasn't my intention -- I just assumed writing for a big TV show at any level was a higher starting salary.

    ReplyDelete
  105. I know those words, but that post makes no sense

    ReplyDelete
  106. Yeah but don't you get lonely hanging out in empty rooms?

    ReplyDelete
  107. Dude, you're fantasy booking blog posts.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Shaking hands is good mojo no matter where you are.

    When I attend work functions, I shake everyone's hand.  I don't seek out each and every hand like it's life or death, but every single person that I encounter as I circulate gets a handshake.

    Same at a wedding, or wherever.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Jay is the hot head, Mark is the smarter one.  Which is based on real life.  Mark is the trivia buff and political guy and Jay is the sports fan who interacts with people  a lot more.

    ReplyDelete
  110. I'll have an ROH recap once the site actually wants to play the show. Otherwise I think I might just skip it this week and do another Inside the Indies.

    As for Drunk Murph making his return...I'll have to be drunk first. It's like Terry Funk's punches, the secret is to just make them real. And of course a bunch of smart marks will still think I'm faking it.

    ReplyDelete
  111. It's like Zach Galifianakis' "Pretentious Illiterate" character. "Uhmm..excuse me? *takes off glasses* I don't know how to READ!

    ReplyDelete
  112.  I thought Jay was the political one? Either way a lot of people go out of their way to point out how intelligent the Briscoes actually are. And yet they are very much the characters they portray on TV. Can't judge a book, and all that.

    Even weirder, Necro Butcher is a certified Mensa member.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Well, my perspective about Triple H playing politics has mostly been that Triple H has his shit together and is nice to people, which makes them like him, and then they write him better angles. 

    And all those guys that have "nuclear" heat and keep getting buried are usually just assholes or drug addicts.  Not saying that's how you should run a business.  But in hindsight, was WCW's failure to push Benoit, Guerrero and Malenko to the main-event really such a terrible idea?

    ReplyDelete
  114. Step one: Friend Sebastian Howard on Facebook.
    Step two: Post that on his timeline.
    Step three: Watch him go all geek rage on you and laugh..

    Seriously though, Pepsi is too sugary and doesn't have all the subtle hints of flavor that Coke has. It's pretty much just for people with no taste buds and women on their periods. Although Mt. Dew is pretty great, but only because of all the meth they put in it.

    ReplyDelete
  115.  Defending Triple H? Smark-Card revoked.

    ReplyDelete
  116. The thing with Calvin Raines was that Eck helped write MCW where Calvin Raines(Pat Brink) came from.

    ReplyDelete
  117.  Definitely not anymore.  You gotta really pay dues up the ass to even get peanuts.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Absolutely not, which is why WCW is still the proud #1 company...oh....yeah... Fine, it is not a fair comparison, nor am I trying to imply pushing those guys would have saved WCW, but to assume that those best at politics are also those are the most "together" is a little bit ridiculous. Maybe HHH is just a swell guy - I am sure he is pretty cool - but that kind of political clout doesn't come just from shaking hands. It requires a knack for manipulating people into seeing one's position as the correct one.

    ReplyDelete
  119.  Literally up the ass when Terry Garvin was around...

    ReplyDelete
  120. Maybe he could start a storyline with a Diva and troll her by claiming she gave him a STD?

    ReplyDelete
  121. That's clever. Perhaps I should've been more explicit? He obviously meant that he's a mark in the sense that he's a fan first, and loves him some Sportz Entertainment. I obviously meant that he's a mark for the WWE corporate line; i.e. Gerwitz is a genius, HHH really is a great guy, the dirt sheets are all lies, the IWC is irrelevant, etc. But good line.

    ReplyDelete
  122. I think it bugs Vince that his best-ever announcer was the guy who didn't at all fit his 'image' of what a WWE announcer should be.  This is a stupid attitude to have since, at the end of the day, Ross was a massive asset for the company.  Also, Vince's preferred announcer (Michael Cole) was so disliked even before his heel turn that....well, it forced them to actually turn Cole heel.  The spectre of Ross still hangs over WWE announcing and my guess it that bothers Vince since JR wasn't his "creation" -- other than the cowboy hat and the slight more focus on story, Ross came over from WCW basically fully formed, with nothing Vince could take credit for.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Maybe they were hung up on the ice cream bar costume thing.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Shartshooter might be the only thing I'd like about that gimmick. It's so bad it's brilliant. 

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  125. well don't worry you're probably already with the herd that "can't stand CM Punk"  cuz "hes too popular, he dared to say something about the Rock, he's so corporate, ewwwwww"  whom by the way the IWC has laready turned on so no worries cattle.

    And lol at HHH, he realizes he doesn't need anon helpers trying to help him PR wise, I mean why should he care? SMH, still trying to buy  praise, just like he did last year with some of the reports coming out of him " doing this and that for the talent, that conviently came around the same time a year ago. Some are easily hoodwinked smh...

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  126. he'd only be vindicated because of the fact the two of the three you mentioned went on to die from their lifestyles

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  127. not lazy but all too conviently complacent

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  128. I wondered about that, and if that's the case, they should be finding other jobs. Ones that don't require creativity. It's not too difficult to think, "Hey, what if it's a gorilla costume?". Or pirate, or fake John Laurinitus, or whatever. What the performers are doing is what should be focused upon, in whatever forum.

    Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.

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  129. And his best-ever interviewer (Okerlund) & best-ever ring announcer (Finkel) didn't fit Vince's "image" either. You'd think he'd get the picture.

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  130. I wish. No, I was saying that ammount because to live in that area, is pretty costly. And you wouldn't exactly be living a lavish life style if you only made $30,000 a year. Especially if you had a family. 

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  131. Ah, fair point on the cost of living in CT, true.

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  132. Perhaps.  But I think most of that manipulation is just him being nice to the right people.  Is it his legitimate feelings?  Maybe, maybe not.

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  133. I've always liked Trips.

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  134. That's pretty damn good vindication IMO.

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  135. Jay has twitter.  Mark thinks that the internet is a government conspiracy to cloud our minds to the truth with porn.

    I'm getting this from their AoW podcast.

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