Jericho: Vince says "I book this shit, you make it work"

[héad.casé]

"There's one thing that people have to realize and it's that you can't change the booking as a performer, not even I can change the booking. Not even Brock Lesnar can change the booking. If the booking dictates, 'well, here's the finish of the match with A, B, C, and D,' and you think it sucks, it doesn't matter. Vince's big quote is, 'I just book this s--t - you make it work.' If he books something that's not good, you've got to do your best to make it work and sometimes it doesn't work and it's not the talents' fault. Nobody's going out there and dictating their own finishes or dictating their own angles and storylines. You can have influence, but at the end of the day, there's one guy that decides what we all do. And I think sometimes the fans need to relax a little bit and realize, 'hey, it didn't work, but those performers put on a good show and did the best they could do under the circumstances,' and give them a round of applause."

"In my case, Vince made me a lot of money. I made him a lot of money in return. And there is some give-and-take as far as, 'I think this idea is better.' And, again, nine times out of 10, if talent really feels it and Vince has respect for you because you have a good track record with ideas with him, he'll go with it. But even still, once in a while, 'Vince wants this' and you're like, 'alright, there's only so much I can do!' And that's it. And it's your job. If you're an actor and you go get a part in a Steven Spielberg movie and you don't like the script, you don't go up to Steven Spielberg and go, 'hey, Steven, this doesn't work for me. I need to change this.' 'f*** off, man. I'll get someone else to play this part.' It's only wrestling, man. And we do the best we can with what we're given and the part we're supposed to play. And you can put your two cents in it and even for me sometimes, I'll come up with ideas that Vince goes, 'they don't work!' But you do the best you can with what you're given. And at the end of the day, as long as people are making noise and go home with a smile on their face, and feeling they've got their money's worth, that's all that matters."

Source: The Ross Report

[Johnny B. Decent]

Well, Vince does indeed book shit.

[Deleted]

Go home, Jericho. You're drunk.

[Juice]

He's right and people do need to realize this.

[Slanted and Enchanted]

All of this fine if we're talking about a private office environment, not an entertainment product seen by millions of paying customers who have vehemently expressed their dislike of your centerpiece attraction.

[Allie Kitsune]

Yeah, Chris, in your case.

But this isn't about you.

It's about Roman.

[Juice]

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Jul 31, 2018 8:53:05 GMT -5 Juice said:

He's right and people do need to realize this.

Do they? I don't think anyone was really in doubt about Vince being the guy in charge of things and booking this shit no matter what other people want. It's a weird rant for Jericho to go on because the complaint isn't so much "Why are these wrestlers doing such bad things". The general narrative throughline on writing seems to be "Vince is an unrelenting control freak who draws narrow lines for people to play and doesn't let them shine through at all" and people seem very aware of that fact. Only one person really gets grief for how he's booked so much it kind of comes off like backlash to the guy, and it's known that Roman has guided the booking in stuff like the Royal Rumble table spot into directions that people hated more than the original plan.

People shouldn't be patronizing and applauding a crappy show just because the lunatic running the company keeps everyone down, because all the people booing want is change, and that's never going to come if Vince feels placated. Like it's not even coming now as everything trends downward but that's still no excuse to just eat shit and like it.

[héad.casé]

Jul 31, 2018 9:38:40 GMT -5 Juice said:

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

I’m agreeing with what you’re saying, but I think it’s that usually whomever has been in the top guy position in the past, has had the clout to use their position to get an angle to go their way.

[Dub H]

Jul 31, 2018 9:38:40 GMT -5 Juice said:

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

While I agree with the first sentiment of bookers have the power and dont watch if you dont like.


Wrestler do have a SMALL influence.

Orton and Kane have refused in the past to do things(like defeating Taker's streak,or Kane refusing to win a WWE title)

They have changed parts of booking(like Roman walking of his own power out of the rumble)

Hell,the only reason Ryder won at WM was because the other performers wanted him to.

Not to mention Shield has said a few times the only reason they got so far is because they stood up backstage to stupid ideas

[héad.casé]

Jul 31, 2018 10:09:57 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Jul 31, 2018 9:38:40 GMT -5 Juice said:

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

Not to mention Shield has said a few times the only reason they got so far is because they stood up backstage to stupid ideas

And if you believe news reports around this time, this is the main reason WWE wanted to split the Shield up. They can't stand together on shitty booking if they aren't together anymore.

[Deleted]

Jul 31, 2018 9:38:40 GMT -5 Juice said:

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

In WWE wrestlers may not get say in their writing but that is not the case across the board.

In LU everyone gets a say in the direction of their characters and their stories it is a collabortative effort

And supposedly in Impact it is the sameway now to

[corndog]

Jul 31, 2018 10:16:44 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Jul 31, 2018 9:38:40 GMT -5 Juice said:

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

In WWE wrestlers may not get say in their writing but that is not the case across the board.

In LU everyone gets a say in the direction of their characters and their stories it is a collabortative effort

And supposedly in Impact it is the sameway now to

Juice said in his interview with Sean Waltman that Gedo is very open to suggestions. He will fine tune them and fine the right spot for a storyline, but he has no problem with input. From most of what I have heard from wrestling in the past, especially the territory days, this was how wrestling would usually operate. A booker decides the finishes and angles, but wrestlers would pave the path to those matches. So it's a lot easier for a wrestler to get themselves over, because they were allowed to do it. When promos are scripted and you can't attack a guy or do an injury angle on your own, you are completely at the mercy of booking.

Granted nothing Jericho says really argues that point. Jericho has pretty much reiterated what many of us believe, that Vince is a control freak and it's hurting the product. Also, Jericho has shown what having creative freedom can do for a talented wrestler with his spots in Japan.

As far as watching WWE or booing a certain wrestler, I agree it's kind of a waste of time if you hate the product. I don't care if people watch or don't, but considering WWE just got billions of dollars in television revenue, Vince is going to be more stubborn than ever. But I do think Reign's reactions aren't just directed at him, but more of a message to Vince and Co., that we don't want this. Does Vince care? Obviously not, because he has enough money and at this point, it's just what Big Show said, a billionaire's play toy.

[Deleted]

Dawg,

I don't f***ing care.

If the booking sucks I'm blaming anyone who's apart of that booking whether it's Vince, the wrestlers or other officials. If it didn't suck I'd be saying something different. I'm not going to handwave this simply because Vince is at the head of it. If the company I work for gets called out for some bullshit publicly then I, someone who's apart of the company, get to take some of the insults from our customers. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, what matters is the result and the same applies. Customers don't care about that type of bullshit.

Vince, Jericho, the other wrestlers, the choppa is gonna sing tonight.

[Perd]

And it’s probably worse than ever now. People Vince’s age don’t usually become less stuck in their ways.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

If the idea is shit, if the ending is destined to be shit, then not even prime Austin can get it over.

Time to old yellerd Vince.

[GuyOfOwnage]

I mean, he's not wrong. If Vince is as set in his ways as he purportedly is, unless you have his trust and respect, you're kinda stuck. And that has gotta suck for so many guys.

[Hit Girl]

Vince is half right.

[Deleted]

Jul 31, 2018 8:53:05 GMT -5 Juice said:

He's right and people do need to realize this.

The problem is not every wrestler can make chicken scraps into chicken salad. The proportion of a guy with charisma to guys who can't even read off a teleprompter without fudging is high in the industry.

Writing is the core of storytelling, and no amount of fancy things will make bad writing tolerable.

[Deleted]

Jul 31, 2018 10:09:57 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Jul 31, 2018 9:38:40 GMT -5 Juice said:

People. Wrestling is booked by its booker that simple. Don't like Roman don't watch. I haven't watched since mania. They aren't going to listen to you hijack crowds whwn they have billion dollar tv deals that you pay to attend, to hijack.

Wrestling ia booked by bookers. Im not sure when people suddenly started thinking wrestlers have a say in their writing. But you're smarter than that.

While I agree with the first sentiment of bookers have the power and dont watch if you dont like.


Wrestler do have a SMALL influence.

Orton and Kane have refused in the past to do things(like defeating Taker's streak,or Kane refusing to win a WWE title)

They have changed parts of booking(like Roman walking of his own power out of the rumble)

Hell,the only reason Ryder won at WM was because the other performers wanted him to.

Not to mention Shield has said a few times the only reason they got so far is because they stood up backstage to stupid ideas

Conversely, stuff like Big Cass being Big Cass can be used to deter rejection of plans because they can just say "He's working bingo halls now!"

Not a good example, but not everyone has leverage to decline ideas.