This Is What WWE Need More Of

[Jack-Hammer]

On the main page are a couple of videos featuring promos from New Day and Dolph Ziggler with the Ziggler promo being the one I'm talking about. It's part of the WWE.com exclusive deal and both Ziggler & Breeze give a very short, but entertaining promo that feels 100% genuine rather than something scripted. Both guys are using their own words, they're probably given bullet points, of course, on what to address but it's 99% them and it works just fine. It's simple, it's direct, it's to the point, it's passionate. Make it about 5 to 7 minutes longer, and you'd have a high quality in-ring promo that gets to the point and doesn't drag on needlessly.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/649...m_campaign=Feed:+Wrestlezonecom+(WRESTLEZONE)

Why not use this formula for Raw and SmackDown? I just don't understand why the wrestlers are encouraged to be more of themselves for the website but not in front of millions of people on Monday & Thursday nights.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

The sad part of it is, this is the same kind of rant Dolph Ziggler has been going on about in these post match interviews and web interviews for the last year and a half.

It always ends up nowhere for the guy. It feels like Vince is sending him pictures of himself ready to push Ziggler, then he braces for it but it never happens. Going by last year's Survivor Series I'd expect Ziggler to be wearing the strap right now at the end of an epic push. But his huge win at Survivor Series was the beginning and end of it.

Is Dolph Ziggler right in his rants ? Not really, he hasn't done anything mind blowing since Survivor Series last year. I think he could have amazing matches if he was given 45 minutes against Kevin Owens or Breeze. WWE is not confident in Ziggler enough to give him those big minutes.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The sad part of it is, this is the same kind of rant Dolph Ziggler has been going on about in these post match interviews and web interviews for the last year and a half.

True, but I don't know that it's sad. It's the type of thing WWE occasionally does; bringing us a slice of real life mixed in with the scripted content that all other WWE programming contains.

Remember Edge/Lita/Matt? We knew the program contained elements of a real life problem among the three......and as we watched it play out in the ring, didn't a small part of your mind wonder if the 'act' might spill out into a real life war? Mine did.

Today, this is part of the Rusev-Lana pairing, in which Lana had real-life heat on her, and instead of seeing her bounced from WWE, the company took the heat and built a program around it. It's the kind of thing WWE has done so well over the years......and, wisely, not too frequently.

Yes, Dolph's promo was effective because it was largely real....and yes, WWE is surely carefully monitoring what gets on the air.....but I'm not sure it merits a 5-7 minute in-ring presentation. On TV, I watch the fans at ringside as a promo is being delivered.....and too many of them seem to have their attention drift away as they turn to their cell phones and neighbors.

I prefer the made-for-TV segments we saw in the Attitude Era in which people like Jim Cornette would give promos that concerned 'real' and pertinent issues of the day. That way, our attention is focused on the speaker, not the audience who doesn't have the patience to listen to a person's real-life rant.

 

[Azane]

People who live their gimmicks are usually the most entertaining to watch, the way they can really live their gimmicks is when they're given some creative freedom within the character, which light-scripted promos help with. That portion of the AE creative is what created the characters like The Rock, Stone Cold and Mankind, but Dwayne, Steve and Mick created those characters as much as Vince or Creative did.

Dolph has always done a great job behind the scenes being Dolph Ziggler, rather than Nick Nameth, He's always in character and always trying to make the show about him, which is what Dolph Ziggles is all about.

They see this with shows like Total Divas, where they only script the events (and pretend it's reality), but not fully script the show and the targetted demographic for it, loves it. We Don't need straight up reality TV, Reality TV has already passed by. There's a million little things that WWE needs to change to make it entertaining again, if they tried more off-the-rails scripting, I think it's a huge step towards the fans connecting with the superstars and divas better, which keeps us watching.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Yeah, but adding 5 to 7 minutes to a live promo is easier said than done. Some people can't carry a promo that long and keep it good. Reigns is a good example. DZ is a good example. I don't know enough about Breeze to say either way.

The point is cutting a live promo in front of a crowd isn't easy to do, especially for long periods of time. Some people just don't have it on the mic. Not many people are like Rock, Cena, Punk, etc who can carry a 20 minute promo and keep it interesting. Yes, 20 minutes is longer, but 7-10 can drag just as bad if done poorly. These were backstage, taped interviews.

 

[L@RISANO]

Yeah, but adding 5 to 7 minutes to a live promo is easier said than done. Some people can't carry a promo that long and keep it good. Reigns is a good example. DZ is a good example. I don't know enough about Breeze to say either way.

The point is cutting a live promo in front of a crowd isn't easy to do, especially for long periods of time. Some people just don't have it on the mic. Not many people are like Rock, Cena, Punk, etc who can carry a 20 minute promo and keep it interesting. Yes, 20 minutes is longer, but 7-10 can drag just as bad if done poorly. These were backstage, taped interviews.

I honestly don't think many people realise how great those guys are on the Mic. Besides Cena, which guy on the current roster can cut a promo for 15 mins and keep the crowd invested at this point? I'd like someone to list a few current guys for me, because I can't quite name any whatsoever.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I honestly don't think many people realise how great those guys are on the Mic. Besides Cena, which guy on the current roster can cut a promo for 15 mins and keep the crowd invested at this point? I'd like someone to list a few current guys for me, because I can't quite name any whatsoever.

Actually Miz can cut promos better than most anyone on the roster. He's become so irrelevant now it doesn't matter, but when he was main eventing he showed he can keep a crowd pretty well. Is he Rock or Cena? No, but he's very good.

 

[L@RISANO]

Actually Miz can cut promos better than most anyone on the roster. He's become so irrelevant now it doesn't matter, but when he was main eventing he showed he can keep a crowd pretty well. Is he Rock or Cena? No, but he's very good.

I guess that is one, but Miz is quite shit in the ring, so he should just be more of a manager than anything else, IMO, ditto Bray Wyatt...


Anyone else you can think of, FMB?

 

[Prince Vee]

I honestly don't think many people realise how great those guys are on the Mic. Besides Cena, which guy on the current roster can cut a promo for 15 mins and keep the crowd invested at this point? I'd like someone to list a few current guys for me, because I can't quite name any whatsoever.

I ought to corroborate with you mate. After all, John Cena is the man that runs the company. We can banter around with Cena jokes and Cena sucks chants but the truth is he keeps us entertaining. Not many can make the WWE universe sit and listen to a 15 minute promo. Perhaps Triple H and Seth Rollins can, but their promos sometimes get boring. The only few on the roster except the likes of Cena and Heyman can only be the true entertainers as far as the mic is concerned!

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I've said many times that Dolph Ziggler is far more interesting as Raven than Kurt Hennig.

He does depression and exhaltation really well. Obnoxious and engaged are not his thing.

 

[OYDK]

I honestly don't think many people realise how great those guys are on the Mic. Besides Cena, which guy on the current roster can cut a promo for 15 mins and keep the crowd invested at this point? I'd like someone to list a few current guys for me, because I can't quite name any whatsoever.

I would argue that's partly because he's exempt from having to cut scripted promos. Don't you notice how the guys who clearly write their own stuff are much more comfortable and fluid on the mic than the guys who have everything written for them? Bray Wyatt can cut a pretty good 10 minute promo. New Day and Rollins. Miz as well. These guys clearly are given more freedom on the mic than say a Roman Reigns, a Dolph Ziggler, or a Rusev who seem to have every single word written down for them.

Of course, that's not saying that creative freedom would suddenly put the rest of the roster on Cena's level in terms of mic ability, but I think it would at least allow them to hang with him.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Problem isn't that most guys can't cut good promos. The problem I see is that most of the roster can't cut good promos that make you believe in what they are saying.

Example is Rollins he's a great talent and good line deliveries but the thing he says feel like it was scripted by writers, you don't feel anything real when he delivers his lines.

Look at 1997 people say Bret Hart is average on Promos. I mean something is wrong when someone who is just "average" on promos can do better ones than most of the roster today.

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Great promos back then were done in a weekly basis I mean look at one of Foley's weekly tapped promos with Jim Ross.

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What makes these promos stand out? They feel real and having that real feeling allows the fans to be invested in the characters and storylines.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I've said for years, scripting really is the problem. I think Rollins could be really good on the mic as well, save for he's limited in what he can say. This goes for much of the roster.

Bullet pointing promos (unscripting) I truly believe would allow the people who are really good to rise to the top much easier. It would also help them rise higher than most wrestlers seem to be able to do lately due to being held back by the scripting. It would be a much more "sink or swim" environment. It would allow the bad ones to be more the midcard/jobber ranks, while the good ones would be able to rise as high as their abilities and the booking would allow.

 

[L@RISANO]

I would argue that's partly because he's exempt from having to cut scripted promos. Don't you notice how the guys who clearly write their own stuff are much more comfortable and fluid on the mic than the guys who have everything written for them? Bray Wyatt can cut a pretty good 10 minute promo. New Day and Rollins. Miz as well. These guys clearly are given more freedom on the mic than say a Roman Reigns, a Dolph Ziggler, or a Rusev who seem to have every single word written down for them.

Of course, that's not saying that creative freedom would suddenly put the rest of the roster on Cena's level in terms of mic ability, but I think it would at least allow them to hang with him.

Indeed, the scripting is a huge problem. As a huge Reigns fan, I can attest to that, given that such scripting got him into this huge hole in the first place.


However, I do believe that Vince's micro-managing ploy is purely so he can excercise complete control over each and every talent regardless of situation.
Thus, the problems guys today in general have, go beyond mere scripting, rather, the uninteresting storylines we are continuously treated to which never ever help build the characters mean that from the very beginning of any Monday Night RAW, many of us are already zoned out and negative about any promo segment.


Just my two cents on the problems plaguing WWE at present.

 

[L@RISANO]

I've said for years, scripting really is the problem. I think Rollins could be really good on the mic as well, save for he's limited in what he can say. This goes for much of the roster.

Bullet pointing promos (unscripting) I truly believe would allow the people who are really good to rise to the top much easier. It would also help them rise higher than most wrestlers seem to be able to do lately due to being held back by the scripting. It would be a much more "sink or swim" environment. It would allow the bad ones to be more the midcard/jobber ranks, while the good ones would be able to rise as high as their abilities and the booking would allow.

Firstly, WWE Creative should actually try to create storylines which are remotely interesting to us viewers and build some characters that are in tune with those who are playing them, then the whole 'unscripting' stuff can be done.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

This is not my opinion, as I agree about most of the above points regarding unscripted promos, but just to play devils advocate:

What if they send Reigns out there with bullet points and he totally tanks? Completely f*cks it up and can't get through a promo. You probably lose more credibility than you do scripting his promo.

Bullet points are great for Cena, Rock etc as they have the ability to think on their feet and pull it off. They can react very well to others, the crowd, the situation etc.

Perhaps WWE don't have confidence some of these guys can pull off a bullet point promo. So scripting it gives the best chance for the story they are writing.

As I say, not my opinion on promos, but just playing the other side of the coin. It's not that WWE want to script them, the guys just can't do it otherwise.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

This is not my opinion, as I agree about most of the above points regarding unscripted promos, but just to play devils advocate:

What if they send Reigns out there with bullet points and he totally tanks? Completely f*cks it up and can't get through a promo. You probably lose more credibility than you do scripting his promo.

Bullet points are great for Cena, Rock etc as they have the ability to think on their feet and pull it off. They can react very well to others, the crowd, the situation etc.

Perhaps WWE don't have confidence some of these guys can pull off a bullet point promo. So scripting it gives the best chance for the story they are writing.

As I say, not my opinion on promos, but just playing the other side of the coin. It's not that WWE want to script them, the guys just can't do it otherwise.

Like I said, that's where that sink or swim environment comes in. Look, I like Reigns. His booking has been shit, but that doesn't mean he's bad. That said, I'd rather he held himself up than the WWE propping him up. In the words of Ivan Drago, "If he dies, he dies."