Post by flame3169118 on Jun 9, 2020 14:00:27 GMT -5
Corey Graves interviewed Brian James, aka Road Dogg, on this week’s After the Bell podcast.
Dogg has worked as a writer in WWE creative going back to 2012. Last year he stepped away from his duties as head writer of SmackDown, and moved into a creative role with NXT.
First, Dogg talked about a lesson he learned from Vince McMahon when it comes to hearing creative ideas from talent:
“If their idea is better than mine, I will always go with their idea. And that’s actually something I learned from Vince McMahon. He said, ‘Even if their idea is not as good as yours, but it gets you to the same place, let them have their way, because it empowers them.’ Vince has taught me so much about stuff like that.”
Dogg then offers his thoughts on scripted promos and micromanaging talent in WWE:
“There are some talent nowadays that you can trust to fill in the blanks, and there’s definitely some talent that you cannot trust. So as far as the micromanaging goes, I was guilty of that for sure. People up the ladder from me are too. But it’s because of that. There’s so few that you can just go, ‘Yeah I can let him go, and he’s not gonna say the wrong thing, and he’s not gonna do the wrong thing. It’s actually better if I let him be him, if I let her be her.’”
This idea that “so few” wrestlers in WWE can be trusted to talk without a script is very alarming, and doesn’t speak well to WWE’s ability to evaluate and develop talent. Now you have to look at it both ways, yeah this can be a negative, a very large negative. On the other hand if a guy/girl is trying to get over they may go out there and say something they shouldn't not so much as swearing, just content wise I mean how many times have we seen 'insert name here' oh what stupid shit are they saying on Twitter now. Hell even in some cases stuff on TV. Remember AW? I remember the line clear as day the line that ended his manager career in WWE "Titus O'Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado, he's unstoppable"
Dogg continues by talking about how some fans just can’t grasp the big picture:
“They can’t fathom the intricacies that go into it. We gotta keep the lights on. We’re trying to pay the power bill. It’s big picture stuff. We have a way we shoot TV, and we have a way the promos are cut. And it’s to rise above that ‘wrasslin, that old school...they can’t fathom this guy is a loose cannon. He might say a curse word or something. So we script his promo, and you have to do it word for word now, because we don’t trust you.”
They have so little faith in people to go out there and talk without screwing up or saying something they shouldn't. That's very alarming
It must be quite frustrating as talent to see the lack of trust that WWE creative has in the wrestlers, but at least Dogg is honest about that lack of trust.
And if the wrestlers want more freedom, they should just be more like John Cena:
“A lot more lately, especially with the promos, they’re including talent. John Cena would sit in that writer’s room for eight hours. He would say ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’, and spit out a line. And his promos were gold, right? Because he spent the time. A lot of wrestlers will get their promo and go, ‘Okay cool yeah, I like this.’ Okay well, it’s your character...if you’re a wrestler and you have a ten minute segment where it’s a promo and a match, and you don’t take the time to make sure that’s the best it could possibly be, that ain’t on the writer. That ain’t on Vince McMahon, as much as you’d like to put it there so you can be talent friendly. That’s on the talent.”
How are you supposed to build trust when you're not given leeway to go out there do what needs to be done? You don't think there's talents that go out there and do try to make it work, but they can't because it sucks? Bad creative is still bad creative, bad wording is still bad wording. Do you hear some of the promos, they suck. No human being not named McMahon would go out there and talk like that. If you hand somebody a pile of shit & tell them to make it the best pile of shit it can be, it's still going to be a pile of shit. To listen to Dogg speak you'd think that the writers & Vince are completely blameless when we see things that are not any good.
Dogg then moves on to discuss some of his favorite wrestlers in NXT, and he offers this insightful comment about Adam Cole:
“Adam Cole is the most professional, most talented, he just gets every aspect of it. He can cut a promo. He’s one of the guys where you go, ‘I need you to do a minute,’ and that’s all you say to him. And he gives you a minute of hiccupless verbiage that just makes you go, ‘Okay, that was perfect. Thank you.’ Every single time. That’s Adam Cole in a nutshell. He’s also a great worker, he has a great psychology. Man, if he was Karrion Kross’ size, he would be the Universal champion right now. And if he wasn’t, I’d be wondering why...he’s a dream superstar.”
Once again proving that Vince has the most archaic mindset putting appearance before talent because he's got a sizeist fetish. This is an admission that even when WWE does have a rare talent who is so good that he or she doesn’t need a script to cut a promo, there are still silly roadblocks in the way to put an artificial ceiling on that performer. We are in a world right now where size has never been less important in wrestling, but it doesn’t sound like McMahon wants to live in that world.
Dogg has worked as a writer in WWE creative going back to 2012. Last year he stepped away from his duties as head writer of SmackDown, and moved into a creative role with NXT.
First, Dogg talked about a lesson he learned from Vince McMahon when it comes to hearing creative ideas from talent:
“If their idea is better than mine, I will always go with their idea. And that’s actually something I learned from Vince McMahon. He said, ‘Even if their idea is not as good as yours, but it gets you to the same place, let them have their way, because it empowers them.’ Vince has taught me so much about stuff like that.”
Dogg then offers his thoughts on scripted promos and micromanaging talent in WWE:
“There are some talent nowadays that you can trust to fill in the blanks, and there’s definitely some talent that you cannot trust. So as far as the micromanaging goes, I was guilty of that for sure. People up the ladder from me are too. But it’s because of that. There’s so few that you can just go, ‘Yeah I can let him go, and he’s not gonna say the wrong thing, and he’s not gonna do the wrong thing. It’s actually better if I let him be him, if I let her be her.’”
This idea that “so few” wrestlers in WWE can be trusted to talk without a script is very alarming, and doesn’t speak well to WWE’s ability to evaluate and develop talent. Now you have to look at it both ways, yeah this can be a negative, a very large negative. On the other hand if a guy/girl is trying to get over they may go out there and say something they shouldn't not so much as swearing, just content wise I mean how many times have we seen 'insert name here' oh what stupid shit are they saying on Twitter now. Hell even in some cases stuff on TV. Remember AW? I remember the line clear as day the line that ended his manager career in WWE "Titus O'Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado, he's unstoppable"
Dogg continues by talking about how some fans just can’t grasp the big picture:
“They can’t fathom the intricacies that go into it. We gotta keep the lights on. We’re trying to pay the power bill. It’s big picture stuff. We have a way we shoot TV, and we have a way the promos are cut. And it’s to rise above that ‘wrasslin, that old school...they can’t fathom this guy is a loose cannon. He might say a curse word or something. So we script his promo, and you have to do it word for word now, because we don’t trust you.”
They have so little faith in people to go out there and talk without screwing up or saying something they shouldn't. That's very alarming
It must be quite frustrating as talent to see the lack of trust that WWE creative has in the wrestlers, but at least Dogg is honest about that lack of trust.
And if the wrestlers want more freedom, they should just be more like John Cena:
“A lot more lately, especially with the promos, they’re including talent. John Cena would sit in that writer’s room for eight hours. He would say ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’, and spit out a line. And his promos were gold, right? Because he spent the time. A lot of wrestlers will get their promo and go, ‘Okay cool yeah, I like this.’ Okay well, it’s your character...if you’re a wrestler and you have a ten minute segment where it’s a promo and a match, and you don’t take the time to make sure that’s the best it could possibly be, that ain’t on the writer. That ain’t on Vince McMahon, as much as you’d like to put it there so you can be talent friendly. That’s on the talent.”
How are you supposed to build trust when you're not given leeway to go out there do what needs to be done? You don't think there's talents that go out there and do try to make it work, but they can't because it sucks? Bad creative is still bad creative, bad wording is still bad wording. Do you hear some of the promos, they suck. No human being not named McMahon would go out there and talk like that. If you hand somebody a pile of shit & tell them to make it the best pile of shit it can be, it's still going to be a pile of shit. To listen to Dogg speak you'd think that the writers & Vince are completely blameless when we see things that are not any good.
Dogg then moves on to discuss some of his favorite wrestlers in NXT, and he offers this insightful comment about Adam Cole:
“Adam Cole is the most professional, most talented, he just gets every aspect of it. He can cut a promo. He’s one of the guys where you go, ‘I need you to do a minute,’ and that’s all you say to him. And he gives you a minute of hiccupless verbiage that just makes you go, ‘Okay, that was perfect. Thank you.’ Every single time. That’s Adam Cole in a nutshell. He’s also a great worker, he has a great psychology. Man, if he was Karrion Kross’ size, he would be the Universal champion right now. And if he wasn’t, I’d be wondering why...he’s a dream superstar.”
Once again proving that Vince has the most archaic mindset putting appearance before talent because he's got a sizeist fetish. This is an admission that even when WWE does have a rare talent who is so good that he or she doesn’t need a script to cut a promo, there are still silly roadblocks in the way to put an artificial ceiling on that performer. We are in a world right now where size has never been less important in wrestling, but it doesn’t sound like McMahon wants to live in that world.
