Do you think WWE viewing would improve if...

[dwith]

Now I have watched WWE for about 20 years now, and I know the product for the most part is very stale. No good fueds, or storylines, and I know 99% of creative comes from a creative team, and has to be approved first through Vince Mcmahon.

So my question is do you think as fan's of WWE that Vince should get his talent(which most I imagine would have some great ideas)some leway on creating their own characters, or storlines with who they would like to fued with or partner with, and come up with something original. I think it could help the overall product more if he would just give some of his talent some creative say in their on air characters?

 

[Dave]

Who are we talking about giving this leeway to for example?

Would you have to prove to Vince that you can be trusted with this creative freedom, or would you just have it handed to you when you sign on the dotted line?

The fact of the matter is that Vince knows how to make successful wrestlers. He has been making superstars since he first took over the WWE and he has achieved so much over that time. When you look at people like The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, Triple H and Randy Orton, you simply cannot say that Vince does not know how to create success. All of these guys have been brilliantly successful during their careers and it is mostly down to Vince McMahon. Yes! Some of their success can be put down to how hard they work or their natural talent but Vince always had the final say.

Really, your idea is good but wrestlers already get some say in the way they are built, believe it or not. Wrestlers are in charge of their own careers and if you look at people like Chris Jericho, it is not hard to see how successful they can be when they are given this creative freedom. When he was with WCW, he just said whatever he liked and the people loved it. To me, he is certainly someone who could use this freedom to better himself but he is among the very few in the WWE. No one knows how to make superstars better than Vince and the freedom that is afforded to them will always come under his scrutiny, that is the way it should be I think.

 

[Thesage1989]

Now I have watched WWE for about 20 years now, and I know the product for the most part is very stale. No good fueds, or storylines, and I know 99% of creative comes from a creative team, and has to be approved first through Vince Mcmahon.

So my question is do you think as fan's of WWE that Vince should get his talent(which most I imagine would have some great ideas)some leway on creating their own characters, or storlines with who they would like to fued with or partner with, and come up with something original. I think it could help the overall product more if he would just give some of his talent some creative say in their on air characters?

Well i think that letting them have a say would be great like how he let cena do his own thing from back in 2002 when he first turned heel, it would be good in deed lets just wait n see

 

[dwith]

Vince know's how to make star's true, BUT he also know's how to bury them with gimmics that just don't fit a wrestler....

For instance if you took any one of the guy's from NEXUS who none of them really have their own NICHE, and I'm sure Vince is ahead of creative on this, but I think these guy's would have a better chance of popularity if Vince just asked them if their is any character set they would like to try so they could try to breakout and possibly be a huge star rather than just another NEXUS member with no depth..

At least give talent a choice of their own idea's instead of Vince's if they don't feel they can create that character Vince chooses.

Perfect Example.. Stone cold Steve Austin in WCW sucked, and failed. He went to ECW and Paul Heymen give him his freedom to do what he wanted on his own. His character was bad ass and it worked. Then he went to WWE, and had to change his character to THE RINGMASTER which is what creative gave him, and that character SUCKED, and I would assume that Vince finally gave Steve Austin some creative of his own, and with that he recreated his ECW charateristics, and became the rattlesnake & quickly hit superstardom with his creative attitude...

 

[DemonToSome]

Perfect Example.. Stone cold Steve Austin in WCW sucked, and failed. He went to ECW and Paul Heymen give him his freedom to do what he wanted on his own. His character was bad ass and it worked. Then he went to WWE, and had to change his character to THE RINGMASTER which is what creative gave him, and that character SUCKED, and I would assume that Vince finally gave Steve Austin some creative of his own, and with that he recreated his ECW charateristics, and became the rattlesnake & quickly hit superstardom with his creative attitude...

That's what I thought of myself. Although, I have to say, I did like the way he was used from when he signed in 1991 until Pillman got injured in 93. But you are right; when he went to ECW Heyman let him just be himself and the attitude matched what the promotion was all about. Vince capitalized on it (eventually ) and Stone Cold was born.

I think Vince is more than capable of creating characters and I think a big part of the reason is that, for the most part, he knows who's got charisma. Granted, he knows who's got charisma because the wrestlers themselves have proven they can get over with what they're given.

Should Vince let the wrestlers have some input as to character development? I'd like to think that he at least discusses it with the ones who've gotten over elsewhere (FCW, RoH, etc). It's kind of a tough one to call though because not everybody is entertained by the same thing, McMahon included. Overall, I'd say it would be beneficial to him to give the wrestlers a little lee-way at first and see how it goes. If they're consistently good and they're getting over then you cut them a little more slack. If they suck it up then they get scripted, if they're hit or miss I'd script them and put them in that class he's teaching. You see how they progress and either deem them worthy of another shot or not.

 

[jcarr19]

People need to realize the reason why Austin was so successful is cause he was himself, not something that Vince put together.. All these guys that Vince has "made" were themselves besides the fact that Vince puts them in the right situations and creates them by giving them the time on screen.. The guys that are most successful are the guys that play themselves because you can never go wrong.. The bad ass attitude of Stone Cold could never be messed up because he was SO real. It was what everyone wanted to see and Vince took advantage of that.. During the Hulk Hogan time, people wanted a hero to be Mr. America, and Vince took advantage of that by giving it to Hulk.. Vince took advantage of America's situations and things that have happened and put the people in the right situations.. He never created an out of this world gimmick that has really succeeded.. At least not as far as I know..

 

[sTyLnK]

People need to realize the reason why Austin was so successful is cause he was himself, not something that Vince put together.. All these guys that Vince has "made" were themselves besides the fact that Vince puts them in the right situations and creates them by giving them the time on screen.. The guys that are most successful are the guys that play themselves because you can never go wrong.. The bad ass attitude of Stone Cold could never be messed up because he was SO real. It was what everyone wanted to see and Vince took advantage of that.. During the Hulk Hogan time, people wanted a hero to be Mr. America, and Vince took advantage of that by giving it to Hulk.. Vince took advantage of America's situations and things that have happened and put the people in the right situations.. He never created an out of this world gimmick that has really succeeded.. At least not as far as I know..

Actually Stone Cold was not a bad ass in real life. Quite the opposite to be exact. Steve has said many times that he played a tough guy on tv, but he is and was nothing of the sort. Now if he had to mix it up in real life he would, but he's the nicest guy you will ever met. I know I met him on the set of his newest movie and everyone who had a story about meeting him is always positive.

As for wrestlers coming up with their own gimmicks, it depends on how good it is I guess. Edge and Christian for example came up with much of their stuff on their own when they were a tag team. Same with the Hardys. In fact the Hardy's designed and actually made their own ring attire to go with the characters they made. I'd love for Vince to give wrestlers more leeway in terms of creating their own gimmicks because some that have done it have gone on to really make it work. The proof is in the pudding so to speak.

 

[jcarr19]

That is exactly what I mean.. But as far as Stone Cold being a bad ass in real life, I meant in ways towards authority when he was in ECW.. When he really had all the chances to make talk and be himself, he was so opposed to WCW and the way they handled stuff it allowed him to show exactly how much of a talker he could be..

 

[drobs85]

Who are we talking about giving this leeway to for example?

Would you have to prove to Vince that you can be trusted with this creative freedom, or would you just have it handed to you when you sign on the dotted line?

The fact of the matter is that Vince knows how to make successful wrestlers. He has been making superstars since he first took over the WWE and he has achieved so much over that time. When you look at people like The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, Triple H and Randy Orton, you simply cannot say that Vince does not know how to create success. All of these guys have been brilliantly successful during their careers and it is mostly down to Vince McMahon. Yes! Some of their success can be put down to how hard they work or their natural talent but Vince always had the final say.

Really, your idea is good but wrestlers already get some say in the way they are built, believe it or not. Wrestlers are in charge of their own careers and if you look at people like Chris Jericho, it is not hard to see how successful they can be when they are given this creative freedom. When he was with WCW, he just said whatever he liked and the people loved it. To me, he is certainly someone who could use this freedom to better himself but he is among the very few in the WWE. No one knows how to make superstars better than Vince and the freedom that is afforded to them will always come under his scrutiny, that is the way it should be I think.

You say Vince has created so many stars etc which he has but who has he created in recent memory? With the exception of Orton, Cena, Batista which was even 8 years ago, Sheamus, and possibly Miz. Every other star he has created were either Attitude era, Hogan era and beyond. All these guys except for christian, mark henry, kane, triple h, big show, edge, and taker are way long gone. And out of those 7, 4 of them especially undertaker are a measly shell of themselves. So i don't think creative control solely is the cure. I believe content is, and wrestlers with more charisma and acting skills which is rare by the way. You can't cater to one type of audience like wwe has for a while now which are kids. You have to have material that caters to all types of audiences which wwe by the way did so well back then.

 

[Calderownz]

From what I've read and heard from previous or current WWE employees (not personally, obviously) he does at times let you come up with certain ideas. The problem is that a lot of the current talent is young and often times waits around for IT to happen, when they have to force IT to happen.

That can only be corrected with time and maturation. However, some guys will never make it. WWE waited a bit too long, but is nonetheless in the process of building new stars. It simply takes time.

 

[Kidd]

I think Vince give his stars a chance to do something with their character mor than we think.

Mick Foley had quite a bit to do with his character, Mankind. Plus Dude Love was all Foley.

The Rock was Dwayne Johnson turned up a notch or two according to Johnson.

Makes me wonder if Dashing Cody Rhodes is Cody or a creation of Vince?

I like to think Cody went to Vince with the idea and Vince ran with it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

When it comes to the general inner workings of the WWE behind the scenes, I think this might be an example of us really not knowing what goes on and what doesn't. Sometimes whenever I see someone make comments about the backstage workings of creative and Dixie Carter in TNA, there are some fans that vehemently stand up and say that some of the comments are off base as we're not privy to exactly what the creative process is in general.

To some degree, I think that's the case here. Vince McMahon has a reputation of being a true control freak, ego maniac and outright ogre in wrestling and, to be fair, a good deal of it is probably his own making. But, in all honesty, can anyone honestly say that Vince McMahon allows his talent virtually no imput or say or ideas in what their character does on screen? If anyone does, then I'd very much like to see some concrete proof of it.

 

[Anaxamander]

If you let every wrestler come up with their own gimmick, you'd have 50 guys on the roster whose gimmick is "I'm a bad-ass and I don't care what anyone thinks." Which is pretty much what Austin did, but it was great because he was the only one doing it. If a majority of the roster acted the way Austin did, it would be boring.

I for one am glad there someone like Vince who's willing to listen to input, but has the final say. I think we get better variety than if each wrestler had his own gimmick.