You can't run from Vince McMahon - and some have actually tried...
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00:00 So just for some transparency, a lot of what we will be looking at today is what was in
00:04 WWE and not necessarily what still is. Don't really know what that means. But we shall
00:09 get a nice feel for the backstage environment, and sometimes I'd tell ya, it's totally
00:14 crazy.
00:15 Isn't that just wrestling though? I certainly think so, and my name is also Simon from WhatCulture,
00:19 please do subscribe. This is 10 WWE Creative Secrets The Writers Don't Want You To Know
00:26 About.
00:27 10. Their Worst Creative Shortcut
00:29 A lot of people do talk about this, but I'm not sure we've made the tie in that it's
00:33 intentional. It's not just a wrestler going off, they've been told to do it. But if
00:37 you ever do see a performer, often the Miz, start to run off their achievements like they're
00:40 reading their own Wikipedia page, yep, this is part of the plan. We are essentially filling
00:45 time to make sure there's something on television, which is why it happens on Raw a lot. We've
00:50 got three hours, pal.
00:51 JD McDonough even did this after he debuted on the main roster on the 15th of May 2023,
00:57 and he just told us all the things that Dolph Ziggler had won in his career, which apparently
01:01 is why he had to beat him. I dunno, if that's the remit, why aren't you going after Roman
01:06 Reigns?
01:07 Apollo Crews also did this on the same show, when during his combat chat, he talked about
01:11 being a former US and Intercontinental champion. I'm not sure it helps anyway, but it definitely
01:17 doesn't if everybody is doing it.
01:19 9. Those Times They Don't Actually Tell Stories
01:22 So that is a little bit of a sweeping statement, but it's to tie it into a more generic point,
01:27 let us look at damage control. The idea was Bayley was so disillusioned she wanted to
01:31 take back control, hence the name, even more so because she felt disrespected. Nobody was
01:36 talking about her contributions. The problem was, while she brought this into fuse with
01:41 Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair, it was just in the background and not ever used to push
01:45 things forward. We saw this again too with Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul. Now I loved all
01:50 of this, but the story was Rollins had beef with Paul because he was an outsider, sneaking
01:56 in and trying to take a piece of the pie. Rollins would therefore defeat him to prove
01:59 that he didn't belong, and then Logan jumped him twice, and we had the match. Seth won,
02:06 that was that, and it was fun, but this original concept didn't evolve.
02:10 I suppose the best way to look at it would be what was the payoff, it's not like WWE
02:14 doesn't do it. See, Rey, Mysterio and Dom Dom, that was the total opposite. The Bloodline
02:19 would get in the good category too, but it is a crutch WWE relies on here and there,
02:24 even when they don't need to. Just make sure these narratives get the same TLC as
02:28 the others we've mentioned and boom, problem solved.
02:32 8. Sometimes They Don't Know What They're Doing
02:34 A few years ago, a corporate WWE video leaked that we were not meant to see. It's the
02:39 most Vince McMahon thing ever, as the first thing we hear is a writer telling us that
02:43 the mission of the creative writing team is to put smiles on people's faces. And when
02:47 a host of these individuals start talking about their backgrounds, not one mentions
02:52 wrestling. Amazing. It's all TV, soap operas and sports, and while having an outside voice
02:57 is essential for a different perspective, you need some people with knowledge. I don't
03:01 want a doctor who used to be a mechanic doing my surgery, I want a damn surgeon. You also
03:06 learn that it's somebody's job to check for grammar errors, so that's something.
03:10 Whole thing is a little bit strange.
03:11 7. Sometimes They Think The Product Is Bad Too
03:15 Cause all you need to do is go listen to Jon Moxley's appearance on the Talkies Jericho
03:18 podcast in 2019, where that man goes off. He talks about how difficult and bad the WWE
03:25 creative process is because he couldn't make heads or tails out of it. There were
03:29 too many cooks, too much back and forth, and too much confusion. During this Mox also lets
03:34 slip the writers think this too, because when one was explaining the terrible character
03:37 Jon had to play in 2018, even they were like, yeah sorry, it not great. They even tried
03:43 to justify it by saying the whole thing was done to appease Vince McMahon, but because
03:48 of all of this, these two then tried to change it up enough so McMahon would be happy with
03:52 it and that it wouldn't be as awful as the concept currently pitched for. Ridiculous.
03:56 Former writer Dave Schilling even tweeted an apology, saying he had written at least
04:00 one terrible promo for Alexa Bliss in the run up to WrestleMania 35, and it was the
04:04 same for Tom Kaseya. He told the Agenda podcast in 2017 intricate stories were kind of null
04:10 and void as Vince wasn't interested, so let's always remember this. When you're
04:15 writing for an audience of one, it can be quite difficult.
04:18 6. They do try to appease Vince McMahon Given what we've just talked about, we may
04:23 as well make it a proper entry to… underline the whole thing. This may be more of a then
04:27 than now thing as the creative process has changed, with Triple H having more power,
04:31 but still. For years the idea was to write something that the chairman of the board would
04:35 like so you remained in his good books. I get that, you don't want to lose your job.
04:39 Dan Madigan, who used to be part of this process, spoke about it in the Ring of Hell book, where
04:43 he kind of compared it to a cult. You have somebody at the top, and that's where your
04:48 attentions lie. Ex-employee Kevin Marshall reiterated this, saying you basically sit
04:52 there and try and figure out what McMahon wants, so it's like a Professor Layton puzzle.
04:57 For those now saying Kevin was out the door over a decade ago, it was the same for the
05:01 aforementioned Schilling, who was at WWE as recently as 2019. He told Fightful the same
05:06 thing, it's all about what Vince likes, so there you go.
05:10 5. It goes even further than that too
05:13 Because when you are in these creative meetings, sometimes your job is just to sit there and
05:17 listen to Vince McMahon go off. Or so it is said.
05:21 We go back to the former writers who have spoken about this, as Dr Ranjan Jeeba revealed
05:25 that often McMahon would just start yelling about a certain wrestler for ages, and everybody
05:30 had to sit there and nod. There was no rhyme or reason to this either, there would just
05:34 be some silence and then bam, Vince would pick a target and explain why said individual
05:39 sucks and should never be thought of again, until he changed his mind.
05:43 This never tied in either, or so it is claimed, it could come totally out of left field and
05:47 I tell ya, I need to be in one of these meetings. Must be totally surreal.
05:52 4. The toxic culture
05:54 Thankfully there are a lot of reports these days that the backstage WWE environment is
05:58 getting better. We're never going to know for sure either way because we're not there,
06:02 but I do hope people are happy, but nothing more important than that.
06:05 Many a wrestler have come out following their exit though with words of sadness, much like
06:10 Cody Rhodes did in 2016. As we know he was totally disillusioned that he wasn't able
06:14 to dump the Stardust gimmick, and even took a shot at some of the writers. Saying that
06:18 the two leads of Raw and Smackdown failed to write him into worthwhile storylines, he
06:23 even alleged that one was too busy pretending to be Brian Geverts, while the other was too
06:27 busy hitting on developmental divas to do their job. I mean yeah.
06:32 Far more worrying were the many reports from former employees of Vince writing himself
06:35 into stories featuring the then WWE divas, and we've all heard about the bullying and
06:39 hazing that has happened behind the scenes. Doesn't sound fun at all.
06:43 It obviously all came to head with the McMahon allegations which saw him step aside for a
06:47 few months before a bonkers return, and none of this is good. Doesn't matter what the
06:51 job is, protecting those in the middle of it all has to be a priority. No questions
06:56 asked.
06:57 3. The star wrestlers go out their way to undermine the writers
07:01 Cause you would, wouldn't ya? If you're in a position of power and somebody is asking
07:04 you to do something you don't want to do, you will likely use all of your pull to try
07:08 and sort it out. It's not exclusive to wrestling, that's life.
07:11 We should also point out this isn't always the way, as somebody like Daniel Bryan was
07:15 very vocal about how much he loved working with the writing team.
07:18 But let us move on to Matthew Randazzo V who had this story in PowerSlam magazine from
07:23 an unnamed source.
07:24 During what is now dubbed as Triple H's reign of terror, a scribe handed the game
07:28 a piece of paper with his plans on it for the evening, to which Hunter replied, "Am
07:33 I going flubbing over?"
07:34 And he didn't say flubbing.
07:36 When he was told no, Triple H took the page and threw it on the floor before telling this
07:39 guy to leave. Whether this is true or not we don't know, but it's not out of the
07:44 realms of possibility. The man with three H's wielded mad power.
07:48 Former writer Freddie Prinze Jr went further than this on his very good podcast, when he
07:52 spoke about The Undertaker doing similar things. When wife Michelle McCool was pitched to lose
07:57 her Divas title to Karma, the dead man used his influence to magically get this switch.
08:02 You can't just point the finger at these two though. If I listed all of the examples
08:06 we'd be here all day. Basically anybody who has ever got to the top of the tree has
08:10 done this in some sense. It just seems to be the way.
08:14 Number two, and the writers get it publicly as well. And don't pretend they don't.
08:18 One thing goes bad and boom, Twitter is all over these guys. There's nothing wrong with
08:22 being upset with an angle either, you are watching to be entertained. But sometimes
08:26 maybe it's best to remember they're likely struggling too. Look at the obstacles they
08:31 face every day.
08:32 The wrestlers also get in on this as CM Punk spoke openly on his Best in the World DVD
08:36 about tearing a script up in front of a writer, as he felt he could tell a better straight
08:40 edge story than whatever this said. Paul White on Talk is Jericho said the writing wanted
08:45 him to bash his head in with a hammer. Sheesh.
08:48 Drew McIntyre also dropped a sarcastic tweet in 2021 when he was teamed with Big E to face
08:53 the Dirty Dogs for the second week in a row. And even Roman Reigns said it all sucked during
08:57 the pandemic. So there you have it.
08:59 We've already spoken about the tirade Jon Moxley went on after he left in WWE, but that
09:04 ties into…
09:05 1. The Race to Avoid Vince McMahon
09:09 Yep, think of that. I'm sure it has happened more than this, but Mox told the story of
09:13 getting a script where he would have to say the words "poopa scoopa". As a brand new
09:18 heel he knew this was death, so agreed with the writer in charge to make sure Vince never
09:22 saw this version, as they knew McMahon would love it. So the race was on.
09:27 Describing it as self-preservation mode, Jon's main concern during these times was not to
09:31 look like an idiot. Good grief.
09:33 It does sound like things have changed with Triple H in his new position, but still. You
09:37 gotta figure not all of these habits have gone away, and this one definitely should.
09:42 Know of any other creative secrets the writers don't want you to know about? Make sure
09:45 you let us know in the comments below. You can also like the video, share the video and
09:49 subscribe. Head over to whatculture.com if you'd like to read more of these articles
09:52 with your eyes, and we're on social media, it's WhatCulture WWE, and SimonMiller316.
09:58 And look, there's another list on the screen, I think you should give it a click.
10:03 My name is Simon Miller from WhatCulture, thank you very much for joining me as always,
10:06 and if you would like to go have a piece of cake right now, I think you should. That's
10:11 right, you have permission, I'll talk to you soon.
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