10 Reasons Why WWE Needs To Fundamentally Change Everything About The TV Product
1. Scripted Promos
Imagine undertaking a job interview you've spent years applying for.
You're perfect for the role. The company more or less headhunted you, and now you're in the room, ready to secure it. The interviewer asks you a question, and you know the answer. You've essentially been acting up for years, doing the job you're applying for, albeit in a smaller company. There's much hard work to do, but you know what it takes.
Then, imagine you're wearing an earpiece, and some guy who has little to no knowledge of what you're about or even the industry you've spent your life dedicating yourself to. You are relying on his mundane, stock answers to get you through it and naturally, the interviewers are put off. They still like you, but something is missing. They've heard your spiel before. Everything they thought was special about you is disintegrating before their eyes. Your fifteen minutes are up. You got the job, but prospects for career advancement are bleak. There are several other employees perceived to have the same attributes because the same guy was in their earpiece, reciting the same tired lines.
This is the problem facing essentially every WWE performer; no matter how unique their delivery is, the verbiage is so homogenised and inauthentic that nothing really resonates.
What was the last great promo you heard on WWE TV? Not orated by Paul Heyman? Its hard to recall, isn't it?