Former WWE Writer On Triple H Intimidating Him, Who He Liked Working With, Comedy In Pro Wrestling
Recently on E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness, pro wrestling greats Edge and Christian spoke with former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz. Among other things, Gewirtz talked about not working with WWE talent by which he was intimidated and why WWE brass did not like the idea of Edge and Christian doing comedy.
According to Gewirtz, he did not work with a lot of performers while he was with WWE because he felt "intimidated" many of them.
"Yeah, I mean, [Edge, Christian, The Rock, Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle] was probably the starting five of my first go around. I think, like, Al Snow and Steve Blackman too. Yeah, it's a great starting line because, as a writer and everything, you're supposed to write for everybody, but, like, human nature gets in the way. I mean, I was intimidated by a lot of people and if nobody was? I always figured, like, Triple H is very intimidating, and he was a big star, and he always seemed to put his material together himself, so it's like, 'okay, great – he's all set.'"
Gewirtz continued, "Rock, I had met at MTV before coming [to WWE], so I kind of knew him, and, well, he helped get me an interview with WWE in the first place, so we clicked right away and Mick [Foley] too, and Jericho. And this was at a time too when Jericho was going through a period where it was, like, 'I'm losing to Viscera on [WWE Sunday Night] Heat? What the hell is going on?' That type of thing. And then, [Edge and Christian], I think [clicked right away as well]. We're around the same age. I pretended to like hockey a little bit to open the door."
Also during the interview, Gewirtz claimed that WWE's powers-that-be did not want Edge and Christian doing comedy from fear that the former Brood members would not be taken seriously as main event stars.
"Yeah, that was a big back-and-forth that I used to have when the subject of Edge and Christian came up and it was 'they're too goofy – they're too goofy; they're never going to be main eventers if they're going to be doing this type of ridiculousness' and my argument was, and I'm sure it was not eliquated in a nice, mature way at the time. It was probably more like, 'you're stupid!' and running away or something like that. But the point that I did eventually get across was, 'it's like, well, you've got to start somewhere, right?' Like, [Edge] went from silent rage and puffy shirt, and evil vampires, and running around the subway for some reason, and now, [he has] got an identity."
Gewirtz elaborated on the notion that comedy is a viable starting point for many future main eventers.
"Nobody's saying you have to be this forever, but now you're more comfortable on the mic and you can go out there and cut a promo." Gewirtz added, "but, no, it's all that stuff though that gave you the ammunition to eventually evolve, that was my roundabout point, to eventually evolve into 'The Rated-R Superstar' and, I can't really peg [Christian's] character into one little catchphrase. I don't want to say 'The One More Match Guy' because that doesn't really do [him] any justice. I guess 'Captain Charisma'. That's true."
Check out the podcast here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness