Great little read about Writing for WWE

[Krimzon7]

Hey there guys :wave: I've come across this awesome little blog and I wanted to share. I know most of you stiffs are really up on your stuff, but I never saw this posted. IT's a great inner working of the writing process at the WWE from a grunt who was fired, why don't I just let yall take a look:

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2012/05/former-writing-assistant-speaks.html#more

yes, asshole, it's a lengthy read but there are some great little tidbits such as

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 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 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.”

[Krimzon7]

part Two is up...reading it now.

http://www.rspwfaq.net/2012/05/behind-scenes-at-wwe-part-deux.html

[Krimzon7]

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.

:lol:


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.

Missed opportunity here :nono:


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 >_>

This is why HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"S FIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDD

[Krimzon7]

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."

[CSL]

great read

[CSL]

Dirtsheets are sort of laughed at because they're wrong all the time. Most of what's on dirstheets is just news aggregated from press releases or superstar twitter accounts. A small portion is speculative stuff about backstage stuff and most of that is total BS. Dirtsheets are an ad-revenue based business so they do what they gotta do to get eyes on their sites - including making stuff up. I think if there were real insiders, surprises like Brodus's debut or Brock's would be spoiled well in advance.
I think the writers like to stick to their own ideas until the possibility to make money rears its head. Like when an entire arena is chanting YES YES YES -- they go ahead and make a new t-shirt.
But like I said the writers are wrestling fans themselves. They love a great Tyson Kidd match as much as the next smark, but they also know that putting him on RAW against Heath Slater is gonna make the ratings nosedive for that segment.
As for the last question, as much as the writers may hate to admit it they are smarks themselves, so they get a kick out of some smarky things. For example Santino's joke a few months ago about repealing the rule instated by Jack Tunney about not allowing reptiles at ringside. That came straight from Brian Gewirtz because he always thought that was a funny rule. Most non-smarks wouldn't get that reference at all."
--
On dirtsheet sources:
"No idea who the "sources" were. I wondered that a lot while I worked there. It certainly wasn't anyone that I worked with on the writing team. Could possibly some dot com guys or crew people that got second hand knowledge of upcoming storylines. Most of what's on the dirtsheets is made up bullcrap though. Very rarely does a true backstage story make it out. When you hear something like "The original plan was to have so and so win, but a last minute change..." that's almost always completely wrong."

[Jordan]

Awesome

[Poit]

"On meeting Vince: Seeing him in the halls of the building is like seeing a Mewtwo."

:lol:

[Razzamajazz]

he said all the dirtsheet stuff about decisions and winners being made the day of are almost all false. then he says bryan winning mitb was made that day of the show

what

[Krimzon7]

it's a fun read. I love how he says VInce Says Goddammit a lot.

[Emperor Smeat]

he said all the dirtsheet stuff about decisions and winners being made the day of are almost all false. then he says bryan winning mitb was made that day of the show

what

I think he implied they don't really change their decisions as often as the dirt sheets state they do and when they do, majority of the time its probably from a list of planned choices to pick from for a finish to a match or segment.

[St. Jimmy]

This guy sounds like a nice guy, but they need to stop hiring fucking marks as writers. He sounds like a 14 year old boy.

[Gertner]

Yes, because ROH is doing soooo well.

[tjmidnight420]

I enjoyed the read, always interesting to get accounts from behind the curtain. There are definitely dirtsheet sources inside WWE though.

[CSL]

well if tjmidnight420 says it's true

[tjmidnight420]

What's your problem CSL? Do you know otherwise? Pissy because I said the Jericho thing was a work? Thing is after reading through all of that thread I can man up and say I was wrong and it was probably just an ad lib that will be played off worked-shoot style. I was wrong. What you got against me now?

[CSL]

lolll woah there, I'm giving you a bit of shit because you said something stupid. And it just so happens to have happened twice recently. Calm down sweetheart.

[Gonzo]

A guy I know works in the marketing department for WWE. Not much more than an acquaintance and doubt a marketing person would know anything along these lines.

[tjmidnight420]

lolll woah there, I'm giving you a bit of shit because you said something stupid. And it just so happens to have happened twice recently. Calm down sweetheart.

I tend to do that sometimes, we all do.

[Cool King]

It was an interesting read. It's good to know that people behind the curtain also see how shit Mason Ryan is and how Hunico is the goods. :y:

Though judging by what the guy was saying, it sounds like he could be about 20 years old at the youngest. That's not a bad job for a guy in his early 20's. Well, for a wrestling fan that is. I would have loved to have had a job with the WWE when I was 20.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Awesome stuff. About to check out part two right now.

[St. Jimmy]

"Vince was in the elevator with me and he actually knew my name, I immediately came and started farting"

[Mr. Nerfect]

A very interesting read. One thing I personally really enjoyed reading about was how Matt Striker widens his stance to make himself appear shorter while interviewing guys. That man is a pro and should have a job for life.

Also very glad to hear that Hunico made a fan out of Vince McMahon. I actually got the vibe Vince liked Hunico, just because he seems to get pretty regular mic time and more wins than most jobbers. Sadly, you can tell that Vince likes Jinder Mahal, too.

[Tazz Dan]

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.

From the front page:

Raquel Diaz, aka Shaul Guerrero, premiered a new gimmick at the FCW TV Tapings last night. The gimmick includes blonde hair and makeup that fans described as similar to Lady Gaga.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yikes. Also, the face female being with the heel male angle kind of sounds like it went to Daniel Bryan and AJ.

[whiteyford]

There are definitely dirtsheet sources inside WWE though.

There was something a while back, can't remember the guys name but sure he was a writer on Smackdown that works in ROH now i think, he gave a interview in Powerslam magazine talking about paranoid they were about stuff leaking out, PCs etc. were all monitored and scripts/booking sheets were all accounted for because stuff had been leaked in the past.

[Fignuts]

This guy sounds like a nice guy, but they need to stop hiring fucking marks as writers. He sounds like a 14 year old boy.

Pretty sure, that anyone who remembers Jack Tunney's reptile rule, isn't a mark.

Fail to see how he even comes off as one. Why, because he was excited to meet some of the people when he got the job? Fuck off, smark or mark, anyone would be excited to meet Vince or Triple H, and if you say differently, you're lying your ass off.

[Hanso Amore]

"Vince was in the elevator with me and he actually knew my name, I immediately came and started farting"

Like you wouldnt start milking your own prostate if ROH Spot Monkey #4 made eye contact with you.

At least Vince is a Billionaire Mogul

You idolize guys making 42 grand a year with no health insurance.

[CSL]

I recently didn't bat an eyelid at Eddie Edwards, TAKE THAT INDEPENDENT WRESTLING *pow*

[Corporate CockSnogger]

The psychic?

[Corporate CockSnogger]

No wait, that's John Edwards.

[CSL]

ahahaha

[CSL]

an ex missus used to watch that shit all the time, brutal

[James Steele]

"Did you have a male relative?"

"OMG YES! HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!?!?"

"Was it an older man who died?"

"WTF?!?!?!?!?!"

"Was it your grandfather?"

"OMG!!!M!"

"He says don't worry and he loves you and is so proud of you."

"Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!"

"Also, he said to tell your Mother that he misses her blowjobs."

"Ewwww."

[Mr. Nerfect]

James Steele wins more in this thread than Triple H did during the 2002-2003 period.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I recently didn't bat an eyelid at Eddie Edwards, TAKE THAT INDEPENDENT WRESTLING *pow*

Eddie Edwards is great in the ring and seems like a legitimately tough cookie working through some of the injuries that he has, but the dude has absolutely no persona of which to speak. He needs to be in a tag team with a manager badly.

[Damndirty]

Some of my favorite dirtsheets:
Ahmed Johnson did a lot of coke back around 1996 at the height of his WWF pay. I don't think I have to tell you that Chris and Tammy enjoy their fair share of nose candy. Well once they had blown through their cash but were still jonesing, they got desparate. They asked Ahmed for an eight ball on credit. He laughed and said, "Black people don't believe in credit. But we can barter." Chris asked what he wanted and Ahmed nodded in her direction. Chris looked at Tammy who shrugged before he said, "Well hey don't hurt her, okay?" So like twenty minutes later Ahmed finishes and Tammy leaves his room with the tiny, paper envelope. Instead of going back and using it with Chris (who was in their room freaking out), she did the coke with Shawn Michaels and spent the night in his room. A few hours later a frantic Candido starts banging on Ahmed's door. Ahmed answers the door and Candido asks, "Is Tammy here?" Ahmed shrugs and Chris says, "Where the fuck is Tammy?" Ahmed says he doesn't know because she left hours ago. Candido immediately abandons his search and says, "Well did she take the dope with her?" The next morning he still hasn't seen Tammy so he goes to the front desk where he runs into Shawn Michaels in the lobby. Shawn walks up to Candido and pushes a nostril close, sniffs, and says, "Thanks for the bump, Chris." Chris asked where Tammy was and Shawn said, "She's probably back in your room now." Candido stormed up to see her, got in a big argument, went to the building, and quit on the spot. The agent told him he couldn't quit w/o a written notice. So he picked up a booking sheet, flipped it over, and wrote: "I quit. Chris Candido" And that was the end of his WWF career.

232. Shawn Micheals got Marty Jannetty a hooker for his birthday, had her show up at the tv studio on the day of the interview tapings and proceeded to giive him a blowjob while the cameras were left running. Verne Gagne's daughter showed up at the studio that day while the production crew was watching the replay of the action.

263. Remember back in the final days of the ministry when Viscera was tearing up the jobber circuit left and right? Well his abrupt firing shocked fans but I remember reading the real story of why he was fired. I don't remember exactly but it went something like this. It was before a live taping of monday night raw and big Vis hadn't been seen all night. Well Vince Mcmahon is in his office doing paperwork when Shawn Michaels busts in, which was odd because at this time Michaels wasn't even on the active roster. He was still playing up his neck injury angle at this time. So anyway Michaels busts in and tells Vince he just saw Viscera on the hood of a limo snorting the longest line of cocaine he'd ever seen in his life. This had to be a big freakin line of cocaine cause you have to assume Michaels had seen some big ones in his life. Vince is outraged instantly, but before he can say anything Vis walks in Coked up out of his mind. Michaels then proceeds to just say "ain't that right vis?" Viscera in his cocaine voice replies "yeah... thats right shawn." Vince stands to his feet and tells Vis he's fired on the spot. So it was right back to the 3rd ring of hell, memphis wrestling, for Vis. Fans never even got a fairwell match

One of the Bushwhackers once entered a shower and put his mouth around Adrian Adonis' dick. When Adrian jumped, the Bushwhacker said "Blew your gimmick, mate!"

[XL]

I shook Mark Henry's hand, which is an enormous mass of muscle.
Glad to hear the little fella grew up healthy

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>I've often considered applying for the Writer Assistant position, since it's always on the WWE.com careers page. But kinda glad to read this and see it probably wouldn't be something I'd be into at this point. I'd have an hour commute to and from work and since it sounds like you work extra hours constantly it'd probably burn me out fairly quickly.

Wonder if those extra hours worked are actually paid or not. If they are, that WOULD be a step up from my current job.</font> :shifty: