Report: Former WWE Backstage Worker Claims Talent Are Unhappy With Creative

[Jack-Hammer]

According to a story at wreslinginc.com, Reddit.com user MetsFan4Ever is a former backstage worker who still has friends in WWE.

According to this person, many people in the company were dissatisfied with how TLC went last night. There's been talk of talent wanting to really up the ante of the show due to the success of the live NXT special last Wednesday and are hoping that this will lead to some changes in creative in the mainline product.

"While many knew it would be tough to top the NXT show, there were people who thought it could be pulled off. There have been rumblings that some talent knew they couldn't top NXT so in a silent protest in favor of Triple H, some superstars were described "mailing in" their matches last night. Many are in favor of Triple H and what he has done with the NXT product and feel it is time for Triple H to take the lead on the main roster."

MetsFan4Ever also writes that John Cena hosted a talent meeting earlier today that he describes as being forceful, but calm. The report states that Cena stressed that a silent protest won't help anything and feels that they should step up their performance in order for their point to be proven.

If this is legit, then I can't say that it's all that surprising. When you look at creative in NXT and on the main roster, it's clear that NXT has the generally superior and much more consistent booking. As a result, it's only natural that main roster talent is frustrated by being outdone by the developmental roster when there's nothing keeping them from being just as good, or better, except Vince McMahon having the final say so concerning the main roster.

As for the talent meeting that's alleged to have taken place, it strikes me as being a bit difficult for guys to step up their performance when they're usually told to hold back. Ziggler & Harper definitely stepped it up last night, but I'm not sure that it'll ultimately mean much of anything to Vince. If Vince believes that nobody takes NXT seriously because it's labeled as the developmental territory, then he genuinely is out of touch. In all honesty, NXT offers something to WWE that, in most ways, TNA hasn't really been able to do: offer a legit alternative.

However, I do agree with the notion that simply keeping their mouths shut won't help anything. If a lot of talent are frustrated over the creative direction, if they feel that there's a lot better to be done, then they're gonna have to man up and say something. If enough of them decide to talk to Vince about it, he'll at least have to listen if nothing else and they can still get their points across firmly and without question while still being respectful and acting like professionals.

 

[L@RISANO]

Interesting piece.

I have to say that TLC last night was very disappointing, and it was surprising how bad it turned out even match-wise. This piece explains that to an extent.

However, things can only change if the Main Guys take a stand, and who are exactly the Main Guys currently, besides Cena, who would have weight with Vince?

 

[Farese12]

All i know for a fact is that TLC last night was absolutely horrible. Something needs to be done or they are going to be losing network subscriptions fast

 

[WimpyKid4Life]

Lots of people didn't like TLC 2014 because Cesaro wasn't in it!!!! Cesaro would have blown the roof off!!!! I knew there was something missing and that was a Cesaro match. You can always count on Cesaro to put out top-quality entertainment. Its a shame that the King of Swing didn't make it to the final PPV of the year. Probably the biggest crime in WWE 2014 was the fact that Cesaro is now Swiss- Curtis Axel. Who would have thought that with the way WrestleMania 30 played out. I guess a win in WrestleMania doesn't mean much nowadays , does it? Hear me out Vince, Cesaro is a Megastar Superstar and you are wrong for under-utilizing him!!!

 

[TheICChampion]

While I think that "mailing it in" isn't the best way to "protest", since it just hurts your product and proves what people thought about the main roster being not as good as the developmental guys, I can see from the talents' perspective as well in the fact that if you hold a tenuous spot, the last thing you want to do is possibly piss off your boss and get sent down to job to the Bunny on Superstars.

 

[XXJJ]

To be fair, comparing WWE with NXT is apples and oranges. WWE tries to appeal to a much wider audience. NXT basically is for die hard wrestling fans only. Their's a lot less pressure running NXT. You don't have to worry as much about ratings, attendance, sponsors etc running NXT.

I do agree, that the current writing sucks. WWE needs some better angles and fresh idea's.

Some of these wrestlers supposedly mailing it in makes me laugh. WWE can easily replace 70% of its roster and no one will care. Most of these guys don't draw a dime. The last thing they should be doing is mailing it in at a PPV.

 

[BuriedByCena]

The audacity of John Cena telling the roster to step up is the best part. I bet every single guy there just swore under their breath as they shook their heads in disbelief.

These guys bust their butts every night and try to step up all the time. But creative and Vince tells them NO. They are not allowed mic time and if they do get it, they are to stick to a strict script. You can tell it is messing with them all because Roman Reigns keeps on messing up his lines when he tries to read of the Q-cards or teleprompter.

And when WWE superstars do stand up and tell Vince off, they get buried and job to Adam Rose on smackdown for the next 2 months.

Vince and his yes man need to just admit that it is their fault. They pick and choose. They pick Cena and everyone else gets the scraps. I am sick of this company. /rant

 

[OYDK]

If "mailing it in" during a PPV is how WWE talent deals with their problems, than that either says a lot about the talent or a lot about the company as a whole. You're telling me that absolutely nobody in that locker room can discuss their unhappiness with HHH or Vince? That they have to stage some silent protest and screw all the fans who attended TLC out of their money in order to air their grievances? Yeah makes sense, I'm sure Vince took REAL notice...

If this is true and basically the whole locker room feels this way, than they need to bring it to Vince together. What's he going to do, fire the whole roster except John Cena? Bury everybody?

I guess I can understand where the talent is coming from but it's a very juvenile and immature way to deal with the internal shit. Either grow the balls to say something or keep quiet, but don't pull crap that hurts nobody but the fans.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Not sure who was phoning it in last night, but unless there's a bunch of them, I don't see to many guys with enough established cred to survive a management beat down if that's the direction the WWE chooses to take things.

 

[pepentorresHHH]

You guys must have missed the beginning, the middle and the end of the ppv......

Ziggler and Harper went out there and absolutely killed each other.... Ziggler bled and Harper launched himself into a ladder and landed on his arm. These 2 at least proved their match could hang with anything NTX could throw at them.....

Cena is John Cena, but even McMahon himself has singled out Rollins as a guy who is constantly trying to grab the brass ring and it showed at TLC..... he was all over the place and hanged with cena on every single spot.

At the end, Wyatt and Ambrose had another epic war in which they had little to no regard for their well being.... that TLC match (excluding the finish) was just amazing....

If you want to point fingers at people phoning in their performances look at AJ Lee, The Usos, Kane and others used to being great works but last night they were just there....

And why are people angry at Cena? Im not a fan of his but he is the locker room leader. it falls on his back to go out there and motivate EVERYONE to keep improving and up their game.... he certainly led by example at TLC

 

[MartialHorror]

Is Superstars still an actual show?

Honestly, the only phoned in match was 'AJ Vs Nikki', in my opinion- and maybe even that is do to a lack of in-ring chemistry. AJ works best with someone like Paige, a larger more power based diva. 'Kane Vs Ryback' was weak but...it was always going to be weak. 'Big Show Vs Rowan' exceeded my expectations. Still an interesting read though. The booking for the main roster has been awful lately.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

This doesn't surprise me at all... because creative is out of control.

'Creative' used to be Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson... then Vince and Pat added someone like Vince Russo or Cornette or Ross... now there's 12 or so 'writers' on Raw just to give a script to Vince so he can completely rewrite the whole thing anyway.

Why does Vince need to constantly change everything? He claims 'times have changed'. He's not changed... and that's the problem. Creative is sucking it loudly right now, and the only solution is to whittle down creative to no more than four or five people answering to Vince McMahon. Otherwise, it's going to be the same stupid shit over and over again.

I think speaking up is the only way to get things to change. Cena needs to have a unison with him when he tells Vince that creative needs changed and needs dialed down. Too much overthinking going on out there.

Also, 'phoning it in' is a strong phrase, implying that wrestlers are half-assing their performances because they know it's not going anywhere creatively. That phrase fits, however. And it's being noticed more than Vince thinks.

But I agree with what the backstage worker says - and changes need to be made.

 

[DCLXVI]

I agree that the RAW show is simply too long. My dad wanted to watch RAW with me, he usually doesn't like it (he does like guys like Cena, Lesnar, etc.). After the bunny came out with Adam Rose, I told him to put it on football and I fell asleep. If I can't watch the product with a 62 year old man without feeling embarassed... then something is wrong.

NXT storylines make sense, it is classic wrestling booking that you can take seriously. Their roster is too thin now to fill 3 hours of live TV every week now. Big Show is boring, Kane is boring, all those guys are boring. I don't hate WWE but they really, really need to make some changes. My roommate and I agreed the NXT special was the "best PPV of the year" and it was not rocket surgery. Good matches, good talent and storylines that make sense. Would this draw millions of viewers? Probably not. But if there is really a "silent protest" about creative, they need to do something. A good example for me is Titus O'Neil, a guy that seemed monstrous in NXT but a joke in WWE. The guy is huge, can throw people around like ragdolls and is not bad on the microphone. In WWE he gets "Slater Gator" with Hornswaggle in a little gator costume? How does that legitimately make sense? The guy is massive and dangerous. Los Matadores are actually good wrestlers but look like idiots with condoms on their heads.

They need to find a good balance between believability and the kids' stuff.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Seems to me any potential "uprising" has to center around John Cena.

True, we fans tend to confuse a performer's on-air personality with his/her real one; the guy who is a raging madman in the ring might be the most mild-mannered person in real life. Still, if the rumor mill is correct in asserting it was Cena who called the closed-room meeting, that can be only a good thing.....because he's the guy with the clout to deliver a message to management; the one performer McMahon can't afford to just up and fire if something is said that Vince doesn't like. Whether Cena has the real-life personality to bring it off is what we don't know.

(Can you imagine?: "Damn it, Cena. Don't you give me creative ideas! You're fired, John!")

Of course, it could be that Cena has had McMahon's ear all along and has been expressing his ideas, which Vince is either ignoring....or more likely, taking in the ideas and doing what he wants in the end.

Honestly, if the locker room is happy with what Triple H is doing with NxT and wants to effect changes to the big program, the best bet might be enlisting Paul Levesque to go to bat for them.....in conjunction with John Cena....to approach Vince McMahon.

On the other hand, that couldn't be an original thought, could it? It's most likely been done already, and if it hasn't gotten Vince to change his thinking, it's not happening, anyway.

What's next? A strike by WWE wrestlers? If so, it would probably be written into the storyline. Life imitating art.

 

[MR K]

I think the main difference is that NXT is booked by former wrestlers, HHH and Dusty Rhodes. The main roster is booked by ex soap opera writers and ultimatley Vince makes the final call.

However Raw and Smackdown will never be straight up wrestling shows due to them trying to reach a larger audience and WWE trying to attract sponsors. As said before on the thread, NXT is Network only and in reality it'll be Wrestling fans who have the network, the more casual viewer will watch Raw and Smackdown.

 

[MartialHorror]

The only problem with wrestlers doing the booking is their tendency to focus on putting over their friends. Remember that Triple H played a major part in the Batista Bomb of 2014.