Promo class?!

[King Blitzkonic]

Wait a second. According to WZ, Vince is holding promo classes for newly called-up talent and low-carders, and these classes are weekly and mandatory. Methinks this reeks of bad idea. You can't teach these guys to be truly good on the mic. Sure you can teach 'em words and delivery and timing, but it takes a true natural to put these three together into a promo that make the crowd pop (or boo however the case may be). Natural talent can NOT be manufactured IMO.

So. What do you think? Are these classes a good idea or not? Share your thoughts

 

[bko]

I think its a great idea, specially from a man like McMahon who is not only one of the better promo guys around but can manipulate the crowd like no other. There may be some that will never get the nak of a good promo, but at least and hopefully this will give them a few tip and tricks to help them come off that much better and build confidents for when they finally do get TV/mic time.

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

He's not manufacturing natural talent, he's simply enhancing it. If he were manufacturing it, he'd be creating it, and that's not whats going on. I think its a good thing Vince is teaching these classes. There are so many superstars in the WWE today who need to work on their promo skills. You can teach somebody to be good on the mic, and a superstar can and will improve. Look at The Miz, back when he first came to the WWE, he was shit. He stumbled on all of his words and made many mistakes. However, he learned how to deliver promos, and now he's one of the WWE's best workers on the mic. If Vince is teaching these classes, that's a good thing. The reason being, Vince knows how to cut a promo. So these promo classes ARE a good thing.

 

[Ferbian]

Actually I think that's one brilliant idea by Vince.

Chris Jericho and The Rock both got great at cutting promos through having social class and doing some news material etc in their high-school years. If Vince presents the opportunity for the young promo lacking guys to get to practice with this, why wouldn't it be able to pay off? Some severely needs the ability to cut a better promo, so a little help is always gonna be able to pay off no matter what. Even if it's in the long run I'm sure some will definitely learn from it with time.

So yes I certainly think this is a great idea.

 

[RPer_RaVeN]

I agree with most of the sentiments so far. Good idea by V McMahon.

Whilst I agree that the naturals will eventually rise to the top, there's no harm whatsoever in trying to help develop the mic skills of those who might not otherwise be natural at it. For instance, could you imagine if Shelton Benjamin had received these classes earlier? Whilst there's no definitive way to suggest he would've been a success and fulfilled his potential, the possibility will always remain.

I understand, King Blitz, what you are saying though and what you concerns are. I mean, after all, if McMahon is running these classes than will we see promos in future that are really generic and the same? Who knows.

 

[The Viper Orton]

VKM one of the top 5 guys that can control the crowd with the billionare company does teach promo skills for new talent!! props for that man. He sees that always brilliant wreslters lack promo skills and vice versa and thats the problem with the new talent. So the best solution, to teach them by himself. Again

This man is great

 

[Dzone]

Hope Ted Dibiase is going to these... he definately needs it....
Anyways its a good idea, McMahon is great at talking *... shit <--- some may put it* but nonetheless he's great at talking on the mic. I agree with "The Viper Orton" McMahon realises that great wrestlers lack mic skills and vice versa (except for the occasional few) and seeing as he isn't great at wrestling he decides instead of buying some bull shit "vocal coach" he'll do it himself. Cheapskates are always good at business... look at Warren Buffet he don't even have a bloody computer on his desk and still rents out a flat from some random place to work it... yeh he's the second richest man in the world *i dunno well... he was first at one point*.

 

[Nikeo]

Another pro for this fantastic idea is that it will get McMahon interacting with the lower-card and cultivating relationships with them. It used to be said if you were wrestling on Heat, the chances were Vince didn't know who you were. I'd argue another reason for these classes is for Vince to scout new talent.

This class, coupled with the economic planning class, are the way forward for the WWE in my opinion.

 

[Dzone]

Another pro for this fantastic idea is that it will get McMahon interacting with the lower-card and cultivating relationships with them. It used to be said if you were wrestling on Heat, the chances were Vince didn't know who you were. I'd argue another reason for these classes is for Vince to scout new talent.

This class, coupled with the economic planning class, are the way forward for the WWE in my opinion.

Nice point I didn't think of it like that, this is almost a way of Vince finding out who can and can't take it to the next step of WWE...

 

[johnbragg]

Promo class should be part of the standard curriculum in developmental. This is an excellent idea.

That said, is this the best use of Vince's time? Dusty Rhodes, Jericho, Piper, Dibiase Sr and a half dozen others that I'm not old-school enough to name are too busy?

 

[jhauth11]

i think its a great idea. of cause vince cant teach them to deliver a Rock or Jericho type promo as that is natural talent. But im sure he can give them the confidence on what to say, how to say it and how to put over your gimmick on the mic. Not every wrestler is a Rock or Jericho as their are very few of them but their are alot of Orton type guys that are good enough to get a reaction put over their character and work the crowd

 

[Remix]

This isn't anything they wouldn't be getting in FCW from Dusty Rhodes, so it's not as if WWE's inventing the wheel or anything. As for the idea itself, it's a good thing on all fronts. The tallent are learning from one of the top promocutters in the company, Vince is getitng to know the newbies who he may otherwise not be aware of, and those whose brilliance shines through their promos get spotted by the man with booking power and can get a push because of it.

 

[D-Man]

Wait a second. According to WZ, Vince is holding promo classes for newly called-up talent and low-carders, and these classes are weekly and mandatory. Methinks this reeks of bad idea. You can't teach these guys to be truly good on the mic. Sure you can teach 'em words and delivery and timing, but it takes a true natural to put these three together into a promo that make the crowd pop (or boo however the case may be). Natural talent can NOT be manufactured IMO.

So. What do you think? Are these classes a good idea or not? Share your thoughts

Wait a minute... WHAT?!?

First of all, this is probably one of the best ideas that Vince has thought up in the past decade. No matter what anyone says, promo skills go a LONG way in pro-wrestling. They can take a wrestler who comes across as minuscule to mediocre (The Miz, Christian) and turn them into a superstar. A huge part of development in pro-wrestling has to do with a wrestler's connection with the crowd. You can't connect if you cannot provide good insight to your character and personality. And you think this is done in a wrestling match? Hardly. A promo tells the whole story.

As for the OP's comment, you can DEFINITELY teach wrestlers how to cut a good promo. What you CAN'T teach is how to have a personality. However, anyone can be taught to act. Essentially, that's all a promo really is... a live acting scene. Knowing that you must stand in front of a crowd of 20,000 people night after night and cut a fictitious promo is quite nerve-racking. However, if given enough practice and by gaining enough comfort ability on the microphone, anyone can be taught to cut a good promo.

In the past, the biggest problem with promos was that wrestlers were victims of the "sink or swim" method. They got thrown to the wolves (the crowd), handed a microphone, and were basically given one or two chances to show the WWE that they could be labeled as a "talker." Most of them fail because they weren't given enough practice. These new promo classes provide the much-needed practice.

Good work, Vince.

 

[Blade]

I think D-Man is spot on with this one. This will do wonders for the WWE products as 9 out of 10 angles are essentially based around promos. There have been quite a few great angles that could've been even better if one wrestler had simply had better promo skills. Take CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy from last year. Both men were very able in the ring and put on good matches. But when it came to the promos, Hardy simply couldn't hold his own against Punk. If they had been as good as each other on the mic, that angle could've been one of the greatest ever rather than one of the greatest of this generation.

Obviously you can't teach charisma and you can't teach personality. But you can teach these guys how to be more comfortable with the mic and talking in front of all those people. You can teach them how to improv in case of a botched line, how to pace the promos, when to stop talking and when to keep talking, how to make the best of a promo based on how the crowd is reacting. There's a lot that can be taught from this and it could end up being something that benefits the WWE for years to come.

 

[Vintage]

bad idea

The best wrestlers on the mic were never scripted. Either you are in sync with your character, or you aren't. That is not something that can be taught because Jeff Hardy for instance wouldn't be Jeff Hardy if he spoke like John Cena whom represents their model employee. Jeff never makes any sense and I don't see a problem with it, its not the only thing weird about him. If the WWE is going to go this far they might as well start hiring trained actors to be WWE Superstars. Oh wait.....

 

[CB429]

wow is there any ways that i can buy tickets... i love vince's promos... they're awesome... he's also really really good at messing with the crowd... big ups to vince for taking a serious involvement in improving his product...

 

[JBSMan]

bad idea

The best wrestlers on the mic were never scripted. Either you are in sync with your character, or you aren't.

Who said anything about them being scripted? This has nothing to do with that, scripted or not, you need to know HOW to cut a promo. What to touch on, how to space it, how to build tension, what to say, what not to say, how to put your opponents over etc. You can include all that and still do your own promo, but you need to know how.

Great idea by Vince, and to be honest a little surprising. There are very few people in WWE right now who could teach promo skills better than Vince.

 

[klunderbunker]

This is a good idea, although I'm not sure Vince is the right guy to give them. A lot of the believability in Vince's character came from the fact that he was in fact in charge. There was a realism there because of it. This wasn't an actor or a wrestler portraying an authority figure. Vince was the boss, period. I'm not sure if his promos were good because of the promos themselves or because of who was giving them, but that's not the point.

This is a good idea. When has any rookie ever been hurt by some additional practice? In other pro sports there are tons of mini-camps and seminars and such, so why not have a class on promos from someone that has been around longer than anyone? Also at the end of the day, Vince is the final judgment so if he teaches you how to cut promos, odds are he's going to be a bit more pleased with them. I fail to see bad here.

 

[natlee75]

Wait a second. According to WZ, Vince is holding promo classes for newly called-up talent and low-carders, and these classes are weekly and mandatory. Methinks this reeks of bad idea. You can't teach these guys to be truly good on the mic. Sure you can teach 'em words and delivery and timing, but it takes a true natural to put these three together into a promo that make the crowd pop (or boo however the case may be). Natural talent can NOT be manufactured IMO.

So. What do you think? Are these classes a good idea or not? Share your thoughts

It certainly can't hurt. If yo have the delivery and timing but just aren't naturally good at it, that's still better than not being naturally good but not having the delivery or timing, either.

I think it's always good to do things to try to improve yourself and get better at your craft. If you don't care enough about it, why bother doing this in the first place?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem is, today WWE cannot have unscripted guys cos of the PG rating... This is a shrewd move by Vince, as he will no doubt be drilling into the guys the PG ethic... Guys like Austin and Rock were great promos, but BECAUSE they were allowed to run free without sanctions... Now if someone just started swearing they'd be fired...

Vince has spent his life on the mic... He was the guy interviewing before he was the commentator he spent a career getting Vince over, so he is exactly the right guy... I think this is where he will hand some other responsibility to Trips now and maybe take more of a role in developing talent while he can... It's to be applauded he wants to do it when he could easily leave it to others...

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think it sounds like a great idea. Now of course, there are certain things a successful wrestler needs to have that can't be taught like having a presence, charisma, being able to allow your personality or the personality of your persona to shine through, etc.

Being able to cut a promo is something that can make a ton of difference in any wrestling career, we all know that. Some wrestlers are naturally talented in this area, some have had a lot of experience in speaking in public, maybe some have participated in debates when they were younger, some are just naturally loaded with self confidence. However, not everyone is or maybe has as outgoing of a personality as a Chris Jericho or Miz so what's wrong with something that couple possibly help someone to open up, get in touch with their own personal creative side, maybe even break out of their shell?

In the real world, people attend self help classes all the time, the self improvement and help book genre makes tons of money from people that are looking to somehow improve themselves. I don't really see this promo class as being all that different. Some wrestlers will obviously get more out of it that others, some won't improve as much as others will and some might get in touch with aspects of their personality and more comfort in the skins of their character than they thought possible.

 

[The Man Of 1004 Holds]

i think this is a great idea on many levels 1 young talent gets to interact with the boss 2 he is amazing at promos and can give good direction.
also this is probly more than just about the promo, vince will give them help with time management and what can and cant be said in a wwe ring, also he can tell them how to word promos effectivley but then the charisma side is ultimatley up to the talent

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Its a good idea simply because so many wrestlers can benefit from it right now probably a good half of the roster. Some you have to give the benefit of the dount to becasue theyve been there a while. But how much could it improve say the dudebusters, kaval to the point where everybody likes him and not just the IWC, evan bourne, ted dibiase oh yes thank you.

It is a good idea because if you teach the basics you then allow the guys to develop their own style to layer over that. Everybody underneath has mostly the same sentiments but says it in a different way, the only problem will occur when vince tries to go OTT and tells guys exactly what to say and how to say it, their has to be a piece of a guys personality that is genuine where they draw inspiration from. Lets hope it doesnt come to that, but vince can be controlling ie not releasing Matt Hardy when he wanted to go, first thought are good idea.

 

[SFC]

Don't know how well this will go for faces, but MAN the potential this has for heels.

Vince is one of the best in the business at working over a crowd as a hell, and to his credit does succeed as a face, but I see a lot of potential in this.

WHAT?

 

[huegtoad]

Only one other person touched on this but i will embellish, how many billionaire owners, or ceo's or board chairmen, would actually take time out of their week, every week to train entry level workers? None, ever watch undercover boss? I love watching the CEO's eyes pop out of their scull as they had no CLUE what was going on in Entry Level Land or even mid management land. Not Vince, he takes time out of his week to teach people, many of whom won't make it to the big time, how to be successful. I would cut off my left nut to work for that kind of boss, no matter how demanding and overlording he is, but the fact of the matter is, he cares THAT MUCH. I LOVE THIS IDEA if it's true.