King Silva
King of Kings
Number of posts : 32652
Age : 34
Location : Sacramento, California
Favorite WWE Wrestler : ---
Current and Former:
The Rock, JoMo, Ziggler, Edge, Orton, Y2J, Hardyz, + Rhodes!
Favorite WWE Diva : -------
ALL TIME
# 1} Lita
# 2} Trish Stratus
# 3} Mickie James
# 4} Gail Kim
# 5} Michelle McCool
Favorite TNA Wrestler : ----
Favorite TNA Knockout : ---
Registration date : 2009-09-30
 |  Subject: Former WWE Writer Talks Guerrero's Death Being Exploited, Mysterio Buried As Champ, WWE Network Mon 30 Jul 2012, 9:56 pm | |
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http://www.WrestlingInc.com/wi/news/2012/0725/554688/court-bauer/#ixzz229lxjoFN
Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com recently interviewed former WWE creative writer Court Bauer. In the final part of our interview below, Bauer discusses angles he regrets, Eddie Guerrero's death being exploited, angles he's proud of, why he left WWE and much more.
WrestlingINC: There has been talk that once the WWE network is launched, WWE pay-per-view as we know it is going to be totally different. Basically, the B pay-per-views would be moved to the network and then you'd only have a few pay-per-views a year. Is that the way you think they should go and do you think the network is the right move?
Court Bauer: During the Attitude Era, when the company was at its height, I think you could have done a network. You were also facing less competition in terms of channels. Hundreds less. And you had a product that people were really crazy for. You had talent depth, you had a demand for the product. It was the perfect scenario, now, it's the perfect storm for failure. I don't think the network will succeed, I don't know if it will succeed or not. I will submit to you that even the NFL hasn't done tremendous business, but they've done OK. I think you need a flagship show, for people to invest $9 or $15, whatever the price is for a network.
HBO has True Blood, they have Boardwalk Empire. Showtime has Dexter and Homeland. You need something that you can only get through the premium channel that you can't get any other way and they give you enough of that to keep you going month after month. I'm sorry bout [House Of Legends] ain't that. [Laughs.] Doing a radio simulcast ain't that. Best of WCW isn't that, best of ECW ain't that. What is it? Well, you've got to figure that out.
Bad example: Say you take WCW and, 'We'll reboot it and you won't be able to see 2 minutes of programming outside of WWE.com unless you subscribe to the channel. We're going to be bringing in Sting, Dusty and Ric Flair and a whole new generation of guys. It'll be on Tuesday nights. It'll be this product.' Then, you say, 'Oh, God. They're bringing back WCW. That's interesting. and I can't see it on Monday. The only way to see it is on this.' Then, maybe that's it.
Because if you think about it, WCW had a real stink on it about ten years ago. WWE's almost rehabbed the brand to where you see the WCW Nitro DVD, the Rise And Fall Of WCW. People still like Ric Flair, Sting is still relevant. Maybe there is something to it. But, I don't know.
To be honest, I don't know, but they have to think like that. They need to spend not just $90,000,000 or whatever it is -- that's one thing. They also need to spend $50,000,000 or a helluva lot on a flagship show. It can't be this hokey stuff that is just disposable content. It can't be disposable content. Every show I've heard about that they have in the pipe line or that they've already got in the can is exactly that: excruciatingly, disposable content. Mindless content, no game changers. They need a game changer and that's just not it.
Whether it's Paul Heyman's Extreme Wrestling Extravaganza or whatever and letting him develop something for them or bringing in Eric Bischoff and letting him develop something for them. Or Shane McMahon -- whatever it would be. I don't care, you know it won't happen. But they need something like that. Their Game Of Thrones that brings in 4 or 5 million viewers every week. People are loyal, they'll keep watching, because after Game Of Thrones comes the next show: True Blood. Whatever it is. They need their Sopranos. They can't just say they're going to put on classic wrestling mixed in with Legends Of Wrestling stuff. It won't work.
There are interesting ways to look at this. UFC, which I would say isn't the greatest company in terms of risk management, they passed on doing a channel. That says a lot. It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of analysis in terms of what the pros and cons are to this. I think they were very smart to have passed on this.
WrestlingINC: It was kind of around that time when Lesnar left. At first, they were trying to keep Raw and Smackdown! equal, trying to have the same number of big stars on both brands. Then, around the time that Brock Lesnar left, it became abundantly clear that Smackdown! was the "B" brand. Was that something you guys talked about and what was the reason behind that? Because it seems like it's irreparably hurt the brand.
Bauer: Yes (we did). I think it depends on who the lead writer was. When you had lead writers who were willing to fight and they wanted a show that could compete, you had a better product. When you had a lead writer that just went along just stay there, I'm butchering the expression, I know, I think you saw the brand diminish. It was the lesser brand and they just felt like they wanted to be subservient and the brand suffered because of it. By the time I was there, it was such a distant second show and I was hired to help kind of bring some bang back to the show and bring in a higher profile so it was Smackdown I predominately worked on. I contributed to Raw, I contributed to every pay-per-view and every production... Saturday Night's Main Event, but in the beginning, it really was a Smackdown thing for me.
Most of my career, I worked with young talent. I loved working with young talent. Especially after Gary Hart brought me into his fold and mentored me and brought me up to speed with how to book properly and how to make talent, how to present talent and get the most out of them. Everything which happened after MLW, with the mentoring -- it was an incredible experience. He almost became a father-like figure to me.
My thing was always -- I loved [working with younger talent]. "So, we have no stars. You want to take John Cena, but you'll give us Batista but you're going to take the biggest surging star. Fine." Because that puts me in the position of molding new talent, creating new characters and scouting and recruiting both in the developmental scene and on the indies which I was very wired into since my days with MLW. So, that's what I did. I would pluck talent, watching every demo take and along the way, I had a lot of hits and a few misses.
I found MVP's tapes and he was a guy I remember shooting down and remember not doing much with MLW shows. He was known then as Antonio Banks and I just didn't see anything there. It was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made because the guy obviously was a f--king winner. So, I see this tape and I know him but I watched the video and this guy is a totally different guy.
He's packaged himself, he's presented himself as Montel Vontavious Porter. He had the suit. He has the whole shtick, he has the background and the origin story. He has a catchphrase. He has it all. He's the quintessential ready-for-TV talent. I'm blown away by it so I show it to Dusty Rhodes. He goes on and says, "This is one of the greatest demos he's seen." I say, "I think we should show it to Vince." So, I bring it to Vince and show Vince the tape and Vince goes, "Is this guy under contract?" "No." "Get him under a contract." We get Johnny Ace, he's under a deal and MVP basically got himself in the company. Within a few weeks, he's training with (Chris) Benoit out in Atlanta to debut in October or November of that year. I think that's how it worked, I might be skipping a year here.
Anyway, he very quickly gets through the system and goes on to bigger and better things. He was just a terrific guy to see himself work his way into a position where he got himself signed. I showed Vince the tape. I take no credit for that. MVP made his own luck and opportunities. Then there's a guy like The Great Khali that no one wanted because the philosophy with Triple H and a lot of Shawn Michael's input is; work-horses, work-horses, work-horses. Which is great. But, what I used to love about wrestling is you would have the Ricky Steamboats and Shawn Michaels' and the Ric Flairs' of the world. But, then you would have guys like Yokozuna, Andre The Giant. Then you had guys like Lex Luger and Ultimate Warrior. Then you had guys like Hillbilly Jim and Big Van Vader. You had a variety and I like that. The fat guy, the tall guy, the giant, the muscle guy, the work-horses. You had the statues. The savages -- you had the Kamalas'. You had a nice potpourri of talent. Now, it was becoming a clone factory.
Everyone was looking the same. Everyone had the same tattooes, the same gear, the same haircut -- everything about how they worked. It was like a video game and you were just playing the same guy in a video game, over and over again. So, no one wanted to touch Great Khali and having known my success with MLW (where) I had cut a deal in India with Sony Internationals for home video and TV distribution in India and Bangladesh -- that region -- I knew there was a lot of opportunity and interest. I knew -- I got write-ups in MLW with Sonjay Dutt who was one of our champions -- that this would be a great opportunity to monetize a market that has been monetized by WWE.
I just thought, "Geez, I love a giant. This guy's terrifying. He's huge. He looks the real deal. He's different. He can't wrestle but he doesn't need to wrestle and Ted DiBiase agreed with me. Ted said -- and this is a great Ted story. He said, "When I worked Junk Yard Dog in Mid-South, I asked him about the three things he can do really good. JYD told me what these three things were and I worked the whole match around those three things." Vince said, "Fine, you got him. When do you want to start him? What's your story on him?" and I pitched it and -- boom -- we had Great Khali.
And then Ken Kennedy came along and a bunch of other guys. So, those were always great triumphs when you have the opportunity to take these guys into a system that isn't sure it has a place for them and see them excel. See them help WWE as a company and I loved that. My greatest experience with WWE was doing that kind of stuff.
WrestlingINC: One of the many things that drives fans crazy is when you see a wrestler and the fans start to get behind them and they get a push. Then, automatically, they're back to losing. They'll start to get over with a victory like when Cody Rhodes beat Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania and then Mysterio beats him on Smackdown! What is the thought behind that and when have you seen something like that?
Bauer: You know, it's never like, "We're going to put the brakes on this guy." I've only seen that a handful of times and ultimately it came out as a wash. A lot of time the talent screws up. It is like a fraternity and maybe a guy declines hanging out at a bar and he gets ribbed about it or something like that. He doesn't handle it well and it gets back to Vince and Vince is like, "Well, that guy doesn't sound like he's a player," and he'll ice him for something as stupid as that. Sometimes a talent will injure another talent and so you've got to pull it back because he's not safe and were not exactly sure where he's headed. Sometimes the talent does something weird and we'll say, "Do we really want to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in this guy and our future -- do we really want to be in bed with him? Let's wait and see. Let's test him."
Sometimes it's just random. Bad agent reports. "This guy is the s--ts. He's stinking out the joint every time he wrestles." Sometimes it's just bad luck. Vince wants to change his mind about an angle or we have a better idea -- we think. [Laughs.] Maybe we don't and it turns out that we should have stayed the course. These are all circumstances that happen and it's not like it's this thing where there's some diabolical plan to shoot a guy in the knees and pull him down for a bit after he gets over. Circumstances come up that change the course of events. Good talent always rises to the top, nine out of ten times, as long as they don't become head cases from these disasters. That's just kind of fate.
Look at Steve Austin. He was introduced with the s--ttiest gimmick as The Ringmaster. He had someone else speaking for him who -- granted -- was a great talker. But that didn't help Steve. Steve just had to persevere and rise above i.
Today, guys go from town to town. They never think about their next promo because it's scripted for them and that's a problem. They don't even care about what you're making at the house. They don't even know what the house gate is because no one ever tells them. They don't care. They make the same money, either way. More or less. So, it's a different society, a different culture and a different business then it was 10, 15 years ago.
A lot of these guys are just cast in different roles. "You're going to be a chronic farter Natty Neidhart and you're going to be a ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez." It's not like they come in with a reputation of doing this one thing in an area like Puerto Rico or the U.K. and then you see that concept brought to TV today. You're typically shown on TV in a multitude of ways with developmental. Someone says, "Oh, that guy has good ideas on how to get over with his timing on the mic. Maybe he can be a comedy guy." So, a lot of guys are cast into roles unless they have something that they pitched to the office and then they demonstrate that they can get it over. There's very few of those guys now. MVP was one of them.
Today? I heard that Funkasaurus did that. I heard that Brodus Clay was one of those guys that pitched. They wanted him to be a by-the-numbers monster but he found a different way of packaging himself and pitched it to Vince and Vince thought he had balls for presenting himself like that and to put it all on the line for Vince. Then, it took off and I guess something happened with his work and I guess Vince was concerned and because of that, they shot him in the knee. See? Different circumstances get different results as to why these guys get pulled back down.
WrestlingINC: Was there a time when you strongly disagreed with the creative direction or an angle?
Bauer: Exploiting Eddie Guerrero's death. The burial of Rey Mysterio as a world champion...
WrestlingINC: To this day, that just boggles my mind. The Eddie Guerrero thing ... I was just so disgusted with how they followed up with that and using it for storyline purposes. The Randy Orton thing, saying that he's in hell...
Bauer: Poor Orton. I'll just say that he was a guy that... He knew that this was incredibly unprofessional and almost sinful to be doing this. It was disrespectful to this guy and his family and his legacy. He loved Eddie Guerrero. He was a young guy then -- Randy -- and he knew. He's a third generation guy. He knew what this was about. He knew how hard this business is. He was put in a position of saying a lot of horrible things and it was hard. It was like someone putting a gun to your head and saying, "Alright. Go out there and make a fool of yourself." That's kind of what happened.
WrestlingINC: Whose idea was it to...
Bauer: Vince McMahon, definitely. No one was on board but Vince kept pushing for it and he just kept doing it. Week after week. He kind of gave it the whole holy water coating thing of being kosher -- mixing religious expressions and butchering it at that. Basically, he made it legit in his mind by saying that Eddie was up there right now laughing because he loved things like that. He'd be totally on board for stuff like this. How can you say that? It's just his way of saying something that made it feel less of a cold, evil thing.
It's one of those things that I disagreed on and everyone in the room disagreed on. We all wished we could have done more but we weren't -- we all volleyed it. "You sure? We could keep it more subtle." No. He wouldn't even go for more subtle. So, there was nothing we could do and it was a terrible feeling and it was one of the first flags that went up that let me know I needed to consider other opportunities. But, I would hold on for a few more years.
WrestlingINC: That lasted for a month or so and then it finally...
Bauer: I don't know. It felt like at least three or four months. Maybe it was a month, but it felt so long in my mind dealing with it every day. It felt like it was three to four. Who knows?
WrestlingINC: I remember Mick Foley wrote an article on WWE.com saying, "If I were to pass away, I don't want to be used for storyline purposes." It seemed like after that column, it sort of stopped. I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
Bauer: Yeah, I think Vince honestly got something else in his mind. I think that's when Vince started going after Shawn and his religious background and "Vince vs. God" happened. I really think that's what got his attention. He found something more provocative, I think, to go after so he went after that. This is a guy that had this angle with Kurt Angle and Booker T and Sharmell where -- I don't know what the hell they had Kurt doing. They had Kurt Angle stalking her and then cutting a promo on Sharmell, holding her down, saying that he wanted to have bestiality sex with her.
WrestlingINC: I remember that angle and I remember thinking that, to me, seemed like something that would be from Michael Hayes.
Bauer: That was Vince McMahon and I don't think anyone but me and another writer realized that -- I don't think he meant bestiality sex. I think he meant bestial sex, which is animal-like sex where you're screaming or whatever. But, we tried to correct him and he was just convinced that that was the right word for it. So, we still aren't sure if he meant what I thought he meant or he meant like a threesome with a bear or something. [Laughs.] Or, yeah, the other version of that.
WrestlingINC: Is there a particular angle that you came up with during your time with WWE that you are really happy with how it turned out?
Bauer: Umaga's debut. He came in there and just destroyed everyone. Instantly, you knew, this guy wasn't just another guy. He was a game-changer. Another angle was being involved with the Melina/Batista had started to have a relationship and at that exact same time, we decided to take those two and have a forbidden love thing on TV. And it had this duality to it that was both real and not. It was a fascinating concept but it was cut short because I think that Batista was injured.
They had electricity, there was a spark and it was real. And there was also forbidden love as a theme that was true in a few ways. So, it was interesting to see that play out and be intricately involved with that. So in terms of contributing to that, I thought it was fascinating.
Also, MVP's introduction. He goes in there and instantly was chasing a title, which I felt strongly about and was glad to see happen. A WWE guy doesn't just come in that you've never heard of or seen and have him go for the U.S. title and he's battling Benoit. It was very unorthodox for 2006. By 2012, they do it because -- underneath -- they just don't have the talent. They have to put those guys in that position. I don't even know if they'd do it now. So, those pop out at me.
I'd love to tell you that the Rey Mysterio world title run that we had created actually happened but it didn't. So, I can't that's one of my proudest, most interesting concepts because Vince saw another concept.
WrestlingINC: Were you ever told that some wrestlers were completely off limits as far as suggesting ideas involving them? We hear about Randy Savage and how whenever he's brought up, it's quickly kyboshed.
Bauer: Randy was never brought up, really. It was understood that you don't talk about that. Although, I had a colleague pitch him relentlessly one year for Hall Of Fame until Vince gave him a look of death and he realized that it wasn't going to happen and it wasn't a hill worth dying on. Still, I think Alex Springfield -- who would become Smackdown! lead writer -- gets a lot of props for trying to get "Macho Man" in the Hall Of Fame.
WrestlingINC: What happened with your exit from WWE?
Bauer: I had been looking to leave. I was there in 2005, 2006, 2007. By 2007, I was at a point where I wasn't feeling creatively fulfilled by the position. I was just ready to move on. I had been for a while. I started looking into other things. I had talks with the UFC guys who had just acquired WEC at the time. So, I was actually talking to them about going in there and running their WEC division, which would have been intriguing at the time. So, a lot of things were popping up.
The Benoit thing happened and I was at the point where I was just battling almost daily with Michael Hayes. I just couldn't take it. Even though I had a terrific relationship with Vince, I just felt that life's too short. My quality of life is starting to erode here and I want to get out of here. Having WWE on my resume at this point when there's Fox News, CNN, NBC -- every freaking production truck out there is trying to get interviews with you as you leave the building over this Benoit thing. This probably was the right time to get the hell out of there.
And I had had this one big falling out with Michael Hayes and we had this, World War III-level battle and I said, "I'm out." ... I prefer to keep [it] on the down low, but we just had a severe disagreement and there was no coming back after that one. I said, "I'm done." He said, "Well, f--k you. You're done," and I said, "Well, then I think we agree on something for once." [Laughs.] I left, went down I-95 to New York where I live and hugged my wife and said, "I am done and I am never looking back."
WrestlingINC: So, kind of turning the tables a little bit, what do you see the company currently doing right? What makes you say, 'Ah, they're doing that pretty well.'
Bauer: I think commitment to the younger guys is a big thing. I think fresh faces is always a good thing. I think guys like Sin Cara could be great for the company. I don't know with what they've done with del Rio squashing him on Raw in a real violent way, I don't know if that's still in the plans. I think they're re-structuring developmental and that seems encouraging. I think they really needed to clean house in developmental.
For years, it seemed like it was a few of the executives playgrounds going down there and having fun. It's a good move to go in a different direction with different people overseeing the department. Kind of creating a step-by-step road to going to WWE, a real pathway which wasn't really there. You were kind of cast in a role if you were in developmental. If they like the way you spoke or looked for a certain role. Whether they were going to make you a plumbing wrestler or a Eugene, they'd cast you. It wasn't based on merits or anything having to do with the mechanics of in-ring wrestling. 'You look this role, let's use you. You look like the Boogeyman, let's use you as the Boogeyman.'
So, I think that kind of using a pathway to the WWE, something that kind of mirrors major league sports, that seems logical to me. In execution, we'll see how that turns out. I think they've done a great job with [Daniel Bryan]. If you look at where he was two years ago, you would have thought he would have ended up like Low Ki, who I guess either gave notice or they let go. He ended up going to Japan and I really thought that Daniel Bryan would be the next guy to do that. Instead, we see Daniel Bryan here, who's constantly in the mix. C.M. Punk has somehow stayed in the mix. That's good that they have somewhat of a commitment to young talent. That's important.
They still seem kind of antiquated with a lot of the other stuff they're doing. They've still kind of represented women on the show the same way for the last ten years. I think that's kind of gotten way overdone. I think that money can be reallocated to older wrestlers that can't work but can still bump, that can still talk and be utilized as managers. Or younger talent that, for whatever reason, can't be a real main eventer or really can't work in the ring, but has valuable assets that you can use. Skill sets that you can use and make them managers. That's something that you could do.
I mean, I think if you put a manager with Jack Swagger that we could have cherry picked from the '80's or even '90's, he would have a totally different career if you had booked him properly. So, I think there is a lot of value to that. And I think like guys like Dolph Ziggler, and his in-ring performances have been exceptional, but they're not really committed to him. If anything, it almost seems like there's a running joke with him and how they use him with finishes and guys like Sheamus. But, he to me is a guy that just couldn't be more fond of. They've got to find a way to make the environment less toxic or make it more appealing to talent so they keep more talent.
I've never seen, in my time watching wrestling or being involved with wrestling, where WWE was getting talent to just pass. They didn't go to WCW, or TNA, they just sat at home like John Morrison is and enjoying life after wrestling. A guy like MVP -- I can go on and on. There's a lot of guys that are just saying, 'You know what? I'm good, I'm cool.' I'm mean, that's what Edge was going to do. His plan was to pretty much get out of there anyway. That says a lot to me that these guys are saying, 'I'm out.'
But, I think they are doing good moves in not trying to do as much with the brands in terms of separation. Ultimately, I'd like to see one World champion and one US or Intercontinental champion and merge those two belts. Emphasis the tag team championships. Maybe they don't see it in Dolph Ziggler yet, but maybe if they could put him in a tag team and he could be showcased as a champion, then maybe they could see him break out. They have too many titles and then things get cloudly and muddled by that.
WrestlingINC: Yeah, I agree 100%. Then, it looks like they'll go in that direction but then they'll change course. The reason I always hear is with the touring, they want the two brands with two titles. But, it seems like the World title has been so devalued at this point that people don't see it as a World title at this point. I mean, it seems like you could have Cena headline one and have the World title on another one, and you're in a better situation then you are now.
Bauer: it's interesting, because I remember growing up and you'd go to New York City, you got the World champion. You go out to the Westchester County Center, I'd get, like, Tugboat in my main event. [Laughs.] But 3,000 people would show up to see Tugboat wrestle against Earthquake or whatever it was. That was good enough. The mid-card meant more then. Guys like Alex Riley, he's kind of just a younger version of Charlie Haas. You don't really know much about him. There's no real packaging done. He's just Alex Riley and he has black trunks just like everyone else and the same haircut like everyone else.
I think the one thing Triple H will bring to the table, which is something I hear is a priority of his, I think he'll kind of bring back the old WWE star-making machine. Where you have the Kharma-style vignettes and music that's unique to her character and she has good, interesting gear -- which she's always had. I think that means a lot to have a superstar's entrance and doing vignettes and all that stuff. I think a lot of the roster right now could use a lot of that TLC.
WrestlingINC: What made you get back involved with MLW?
Bauer: [After leaving WWE] and for the first time since I was four or five years old, I pulled the plug on wrestling for a little bit, maybe five or six months. Jumped into other projects and other things. I became a consultant and producer and business development guy within MMA. I produced a reality series pilot with Frank Shamrock for Showtime with Strikeforce. I've done some music videos, developed some cool stuff. I'm working now with Danny McBride of Eastbound & Down fame with season three airing right now. There's a character played by Will Ferrell that's Ric Flair-inspired. I've done some work with the Upright Citizens Brigade. I continue to do some fun stuff and after WWE, I got a call about MLW's tape library because I've always owned the trademark and intellectual property rights. I only sold the library. So they were kind of still having to deal with me. It was under WGO Properties which bought MLW's tape library. 2008 happened and s--t hit the fan world-wide. Not even in Asia was it a pretty sight with the crash of 2008. So they were liquidating a lot of their assets and they asked if I was interested in re-acquiring MLW's library. I said, "Sure, depending on the price."
I ultimately bought it back for pennies on the dollar that I sold it for. Which is the best business move I've ever made. If anything, I thought that I could maybe continue their syndication deals and expand those deals. In the worst case, I get to hold on to something that was a real labor of love for me have that for prosperities sake. To show it to my family when I'm old and gray. This is what I did when I was crazy and young.
Then, Twitter happened. People started asking me more about MLW then WWE which I thought was interesting. You had so many guys from C.M. Punk, to Brian Danielson (Daniel Bryan), to Teddy Hart to Harry Smith, who would become David Hart-Smith. To Umaga -- who was one of my creations at WWE -- to a lot of guys like Terry Funk, Steve Corino and so on. So, a lot of people just wanted to talk about that and the crazy matches we had in MLW -- the war games matches, barbed wire matches and all kinds of crazy stuff.
Part 2 will be posted soon. | |
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