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Road Dogg on the Problem With WWE’s Scripted Promos, Talent Needing Better Promo Skills

June 20, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

– During the latest X-Pac 12360, Road Dogg discussed the criticism over WWE’s scripted promos and how it’s a matter of trust with each roster member in their promo skills. Road Dogg was asked about the recent spout of criticism over WWE’s overly-scripted promo work, something that Jon Moxley among other have publicly taken issue with.

Road Dogg, who was the lead writer on Smackdown and is now working at the Performance Center, said that how scripted the promos are depend on each wrestler and the level of trust management has in their promo skills. You can see highlights below as well as the full podcast:

On criticism of WWE talent’s promos as of late: “Well I mean, look. I don’t think it’s a separate page. I think it becomes a trust issue with who can cut a good promo, and who can’t cut a good promo. And then it’s about trusting who can and who can’t. So, do I have to script out the promo for the individual and then kinda be a stickler for sticking to the verbiage that was written, or do I trust the guy to give him bullet points and the message he needs to deliver, and then trust that he can go out there and make that verbiage his own, make that message his own but still stay on story? So it’s very easy to go online, and go ‘This sucks, that’s great.’ There is so much more [that] goes into this industry than anybody out there knows that isn’t in the know. It’s very important to have that trust with an individual.”

On knowing who to trust with their promos and who to script for: “Daniel Bryan? You can tell Daniel Bryan the message you want conveyed and he can go out there and deliver that message, yeah. And do it in his character. See, that’s the big thing for me, is that you have to earn that trust, to develop that relationship where you can trust your talent and trust that you pick out which ones. Hopefully you can trust them all. But then it’s easier to just give them bullet points and let them deliver it in their own individual voice. So, the Road Dogg would not say something that way, but Daniel Bryan might say it that way. So Road Dogg writing it is not smart, because then I am stepping on Daniel Bryan’s character. I need to give him bullet points and let Daniel Bryan put that message together. However, the message is two plus two equals four. Now Daniel, you go out and say that however you want to, you know what I mean? And he would be brilliant at it. But some people are not so brilliant at it and so you gotta script their promos for them.”

On people who complain about scripted promos: “So people go, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t write their promos for them.’ Well then, some of the talent should get better promo-cutting skills. You know what I mean? Like, grab a friggin’ hairbrush in get in front of the mirror, kid. I don’t know what to tell you. But if you’re not trusted to be able to cut a promo, that’s not leadership’s fault. That’s partially your own, so let’s work together and see if we can’t develop a relationship that revolves around some trust. And then we can let you cut your own promos.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit X-Pac 12360 with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

article topics :

Road Dogg, WWE, X-Pac, Jeremy Thomas