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IS HAVING TOO MANY WRITERS THE PROBLEM FOR WWE?

By Dave Scherer on 2019-01-06 10:00:00

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It doesn’t seem to me a coincidence that since as Vince likes to say ‘the company grew, went public and needed writers’ that not only has the product worsened, they have lost viewers. Is anyone internally pointing this out? Too many chefs in the kitchen can hurt the product beyond repair, see TNA.

OK, there is a lot to digest here, so let’s get right to it.

First and foremost, whether it’s one writer or ten, it really doesn’t matter.  They all are writing the shows for one person, and that is Vince McMahon.  What we see on TV is his vision and what he wants the WWE product to be.  It’s written for him.  It’s edited by him and it’s his presentation.  It is not a case of a few writers taking the product off of the rails.  Vince sets the direction and the writers get him where he wants the product to go.  And when they don’t, he changes things so that they do where he wants it to go.  It’s solely about Vince McMahon and his vision.  So when it’s good, he deserves the credit.  When it’s not, he deserves the blame.

Sure as the company grew and more product was produced, they did need to add more writers.  But, as mentioned above, the writers aren’t the issue.  Sure, they make pitches to Vince but he has the final say and he has a vision as to what he wants the WWE product to be.  The writers know that and pitch ideas that they think he will like.  It’s a smart move where self preservation is concerned.  You don’t really say to the self made billionaire, “Hey Vince, you are wrong here!”  That isn’t a great move from a career perspective.  The best way to get him on board is to make him think it’s his idea and get him to run with it.  Saying, “Hey Vince, you are wrong here” would not be well received.

Where too many chefs are concerned, I think that could actually help WWE.  If different ideas and views came out in the product, it could make for a better show.  By now, we all know what Vince’s vision is and it often leads to Raws that seem like repeat broadcasts.  The old “Anything can happen in WWE” hasn’t been true for a long time now.  That is an element that I would love to see return because it makes the shows a lot more fun to watch when the viewer doesn’t know what is going to happen.  Also, the shows are missing the actual fun aspect they used to have.  They have been replaced by the things that Vince finds funny, and that often doesn’t resonate with the masses.

I talked a lot with Mike Johnson on our show last week about the fun things that are missing from the broadcasts and it’s a big factor in why the viewership is down in my opinion.  As mentioned above, it’s clear that we are getting Vince’s idea of fun on the shows now.  I always give him credit for what he has accomplished by I also know that he is 73 years old now and doesn’t travel in the circles of his target audience.  He is an older, rich man with his own plane.  In my opinion, he should be listen to the younger voices that work for him.  They have a better idea of what his target audience is looking for.  No matter how much Vince understands about streaming and iPads and videogames, etc., he is older and not of this era so even under the best circumstances it’s hard for him to identify with the audience.  I would love to see him be really serious about a new direction and listen to ideas that don’t necessarily jive with his own.  

History has shown that when he does that, it can be a positive.  It’s exactly what happened during The Attitude Era.

Another aspect of the product that really needs to be put to death is the overscripting of lines.  They need to trust the characters to take bullet points out to the ring and get over.  That way, things like Roman Reigns’ succotash promo will never happen.  Talents need the option of listening to the crowd reactions and then playing off of that.  In a sense, they need to allow the talent to be their own writers.

So in my opinion, too many writers is not the problem.  Having only ONE writer is.

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