Joined
·
4,374 Posts
I was going to post this in the Stephanie thread, but I don't want that to get too off-topic. If you want to read & hear some of the stuff this guy has said about Stephanie, HHH, and Vince in the past, go here:
Since we're on the topic of Stephanie, here is another WWE writer, Alex Greenfield, saying that he's quite fond of her, though he admits that the negative stories about her are also true. Just adding some nuance to both sides of the Stephanie debate:
And here is that same writer, Alex Greenfield, talking more about working with Vince, Stephanie, and HHH. He says that he liked working with Steph the best out of the three, and says that his own direct experiences with her were good, but he doesn't like how she treated the other writers. Says she treated them like "absolute dogshit." He sees their side of things, even though he likes Steph. He also explains why he doesn't like HHH.
Fast forward to the 1:10 mark in the first video:
Pt. 1:
Pt. 2:
He recently did an interview with Wade Keller for PWTorch. Here's the video:
I typed up some of the more interesting stuff, but you really should listen to the whole thing when you have a chance. It's so much better when you can hear the back and forth exchange. Plus he said a toooooon more that I'm just too lazy to type:
Talking about Randy Orton:
He also mentions that Vince was deciding between Cena and Batista, as far as who to go with as the face of the company. I typed out what he has to say about this, and posted it here.
Says that Edge's ascension was kind of a surprise to everyone. He was only scheduled to hold that first title for three weeks. They were all impressed by how over with the crowd he got, and how over he helped Cena get. Said that the chemistry between the two of them was great.
Talks about how the Vince/JR situation is like the classic bully dynamic.
He shits on Kevin Dunn again.
He talks about how big of a fan he is of Bray Wyatt, and he thinks that the vignettes were awesome, but he's afraid of how Vince tends to lose interest within an instant.
Also says that he feels that Daniel Bryan's size will always be a detriment and deterrent in Vince's eyes. He said that Vince had the same attitude toward Rey Mysterio.
He also said that Vince is personally responsible for those yuppy type of babyface speeches. He said that he wrote something for Mysterio, and Vince came in there and personally acted out for Rey what he wanted Rey to say instead. It was one of those "I'm just happy to be here/lifelong dream" type of speeches. I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it. Vince has a very 80s concept of babyfaces, Greenfield says.
I might type up some more of the interesting things he had to say later.
Here's more from that Powerslam article:"Am I F***ing Going Over?!"
One traumatized writer gave Powerslam writer Matthew Randazzo the following account of one of his earlier meetings with Triple H a few years ago:
“I remember being nervous the first time I delivered the script to the McMahon dressing room where HHH would dress (he would never use the locker rooms with the rest of the boys). When HHH answered I told him the RAW script was ready for his review. On the first occasion, he grabbed the script, flipped through it but did not read it, and asked me point-blank: ‘Am I f***ing going over?’ This first time that I delivered the script to him, he did indeed win his match, so I said yes. Then he politely gave the script back to me without reading it and said, ‘That’s all I needed to know,’ and walked back into the McMahon locker room. A few months later when Gewirtz had another weekend off, I delivered another RAW script to him on a PPV Sunday. And it was the same routine. He nonchalantly flipped through it and said, ‘Am I f***ing going over?’ This time, however, he was to lose his match via disqualification. He would keep his title. I said to him, ‘Well, sort of.’ Then Hunter froze. He said, ‘What do you f***ing mean, sort of?’ I said, ‘You lose the match via DQ, so you still keep the title.’, ‘What page?’ he growled. After I told Hunter the page number this occurred on, he ripped that page out, threw the rest of the script to the floor in a rage, and slammed the door in my face. Needless to say, the next day during the agents’ meeting, the script had somehow changed and now HHH won his match – cleanly. This was hardly an isolated incident.”
Wow. No wonder this *** gets bashed a lot. He wants to put himself over every time and not even read the script. Thats all that matters to him. Thats bad for business :HHH2
In a business filled with hypocrisy, lies, distrust and fluctuating allegiances, how seriously should fans take the reports about Triple H's reign of terror backstage? What exactly has he done to earn this fearsome reputation? Seeing inside opinion, your writer quizzed several WWE employees, past and present, about Triple H and his impact on WWE booking. The answers may surprise you. For a laugh, I contacted one WWE writer whom I hoped would be willing to contribute to this article but expected to decline, for reasons I cannot divulge. To my surprise, the subject of Triple H's escapades backstage so deeply affected him that he sent me a lengthy reply in which he detailed Levesque's standing and maneuverings in the company. Here is a reproduction of one section of his e-mail that I thought would particularly interest Power Slam readers. It is, as i'm sure you'll agree, a revealing view of the WWE backstage workplace...
Since we're on the topic of Stephanie, here is another WWE writer, Alex Greenfield, saying that he's quite fond of her, though he admits that the negative stories about her are also true. Just adding some nuance to both sides of the Stephanie debate:
WrestlingINC: So, what was the experience of being the head writer?
Greenfield: Abso-f--king-lutely miserable. [laughs]
WrestlingINC: That's pretty much all we hear from anyone in creative about their experiences.
Greenfield: Yeah. I had a lot more fun working with Court and Dusty (Rhodes) and our team, under Dave Lagana when I wasn't running the thing. Because there's no buffer between you and Vince at that point. At the end of the day, it's his money and he can do whatever he wants with the show. But, Court and others will tell you, I was literally in screaming fights with Vince every day we were back at the office. About half the time when we were at TVs.
My wife and I were on our honeymoon and I called and gave my notice the day we got back. That one, 10-day taste of freedom was, "Oh. This is what my life would be like if I wasn't fighting with a megalomaniacal billionaire every day."
WrestlingINC: It does seem like the product has been on a decline for some time and a lot of that can be blamed on how things work over there.
Greenfield: Obviously, I'm not involved in any way and I don't have the inside track on the day-to-day creative process is these days. Time and again over the last few years -- the Nexus run, C.M. Punk dropping that nuclear bomb of a promo and the immediate few weeks after that. Those really felt like they could be some revolutionary moments and I swear to God, I could feel Vince cutting the cord and taking it in a wrong direction because he gets freaked out by the feeling of change. Maybe, I don't know.
This was true then and just watching the product as a fan, now, it seems even more the case. I think he's calcified in his thinking and I just don't think he's got the same creative sense of daring and sense of play that it felt like he had even in my time. Or obviously during the years of the Monday night wars.
WrestlingINC.com: As you mentioned with the C.M. Punk thing. It seems like they were really onto something there and now he's just booked like any other top baby face.
Greenfield: Yeah. I don't know, maybe you didn't share the same feeling, but I, and most of my friends, felt it made new wrestling fans from that period of Money In The Bank through SummerSlam. It really felt like it was capturing the culture in a way that it hasn't in a very long time. Then, (Kevin) Nash and wondering if he's teaming with Triple H -- it just seemed like bizarre decisions almost undercut what they had the possibility of by design.
WrestlingINC: It was bizarre. Just watching as a fan, after watching wrestling for a long time, I kind of assumed that they were going to drop the ball but I was hoping that they'd follow through. It definitely felt like it was bringing back a lot of fans that are no longer in to the product or watch it very casually. It seemed like the first interesting thing to happen in a while. After Triple H beat Punk, he's been booked as any other babyface that everyone else has been. What do you think the main reasons are for that? Do you think it's just Vince changing his mind all the time?
Greenfield: Oh, that's apart of it. I think one of the reasons Vince came down so hard on me and we fought all the time was because on some level he's amused by that. He likes people fighting him. On the flipside, he does a pretty good job of breaking writers and making them more concerned with telling Vince what Vince already has in his mind and what he wants to hear rather then their most engaging and creative ideas. So, it sort of becomes this self-perpetuating echo-chamber more concerned with Vince's sense of humor and various capricious ideas. Presenting the best possible product to the audience is not the primary concern. It's making sure that the emperor who's wearing no clothes is happy.
That's not a good process to be in. When the emperor's taste are exactly what the people's tastes are then that's great. When they're not and [the writers] are concerned with whatever crazy thing [Vince is] concerned with, then it doesn't help the audience at all.
WrestlingINC: What was it like working with Stephanie McMahon?
Greenfield: If you read various interviews with writers from my generation, I'm sort of the solo oasis, here. I really dug working with Steph. I thought she was creative as hell and funny. I've said for a really long time that I think she has better creative instincts than Vince. I know for sure that she has better creative instincts than her husband (Triple H). For a long time, I've been a person who says that the day Stephanie takes over -- if that's what happens -- everyone's in for a real treat. Especially after she immediately fires Kevin Dunn about two seconds after she takes over. [laughs]
When people like Court or Andrew Goldstein do interviews where they talk about all of the terrible stuff Steph did, they're not wrong. I think that everything I'm saying is absolutely true but nothing they're saying is wrong. I think that one of the things about Steph is working with her gives each individuals who's working with her a very unique experience. I have nothing but good things to say. I thought she was fantastic to work with, but a lot of people disagree with that. [laughs] They're not wrong in anything they say.
WrestlingINC: What are your thoughts on Triple H?
Greenfield: I did not get a lot with Hunter too well. Look, he's a guy who is very sure of himself because -- to some degree -- he's earned that. He's the -- whatever he calls himself now -- the 29 time world champion and he's certainly built himself a legacy that is not spoken of by his actual level of talent from my perspective as a fan. What are you going to say?
But, I found him backstage to be manipulative and self-serving. Not a great joy and pleasure to work with in any respect. [laughs]
WrestlingINC: When the time does comes for Triple H and Stephanie to take over from Vince, will that be a good thing or a bad thing?
Greenfield: It's tough to say. This is a reality of being on the outside. Certainly it's portrayed publicly that Triple H is going to be 'the guy'. I think that would be terrible for the company. If the reality is that Steph is going to be in the position that Vince is in now, I think it'll be a great thing.
This is something, I think, people should understand. [This] happened at least when I was there at the company; she's perfectly capable of disagreeing with and vetoing Hunter. At least that was the case at that point. It's sort of a common meme or whatever that they're in lock-step and speak with one voice. At least in my time with the company, that certainly wasn't the case. They both had their own ideas and Stephanie's were usually about a bagillion times better. [laughs]
And here is that same writer, Alex Greenfield, talking more about working with Vince, Stephanie, and HHH. He says that he liked working with Steph the best out of the three, and says that his own direct experiences with her were good, but he doesn't like how she treated the other writers. Says she treated them like "absolute dogshit." He sees their side of things, even though he likes Steph. He also explains why he doesn't like HHH.
Fast forward to the 1:10 mark in the first video:
Pt. 1:
Pt. 2:
He recently did an interview with Wade Keller for PWTorch. Here's the video:
I typed up some of the more interesting stuff, but you really should listen to the whole thing when you have a chance. It's so much better when you can hear the back and forth exchange. Plus he said a toooooon more that I'm just too lazy to type:
Greenfield: [Triple H] just burying every baby face.
Keller: That moment on that stage, with that line "don't cross it." Dave Meltzer and I were engaging with Sean Waltman on Twitter about this. Dave chimed in and said think about what would have happened in the AWA territory, had Wally Karbo or Stanley Blackburn or someone, said "Crusher if you cross this line, you're fired." And Crusher stood there and said "yes sir. Tell me what's next that I should do."
Greenfield: The crowd would have booed [Crusher] out of the building, is what would have happened! They literally would not have believed what they were watching.
Keller: They wouldn't respect him anymore.
Every guy on that stage Triple H knows is expendable, because I believe that Triple H books himself, and fosters that with other people who "give him ideas" -- but they know what ideas he wants to hear. Triple H sees himself through a very focused, tunnel-vision, lens...
Greenfield: A very rose-colored lens.
Keller: And everything -- everything is about him.
Greenfield: Did you read the long interview he did with Grantland? It was really, really, interesting because I don't feel like he was playing a character. I think that he was being as close to Paul Levesque as you can be. This is the interesting thing. If you gave him a dose of sodium pentothal -- and asked him "do you bury guys to get yourself ahead?" I think that he would absolutely pass a lie detector --
Keller: I do too.
Greenfield: In saying "no, of course I don't do that!" Bear in mind, I've sat and WATCHED him do that. I sat and saw him do that with CM Punk, talking to Arn Anderson and Shawn Michaels. "Ah, this kid isn't ready." I've seen him do it. But I think that he is 100% convinced that his way is the only way that works.
Keller: Yep, yep, which is really scary.
Absolutely right. Bruce Mitchell talked about how every wrestler -- if you lined up the top 100 wrestlers from the past 100 years, every single one of them, if you sat Triple H down, and asked him what do you think of this guy? Triple H would be able to explain to you articulately why he cannot draw, and should not be pushed.
Greenfield: [Huge Laugh] That would not surprise me at all.
Keller: He has an incredible skill to tear people's weaknesses apart, and not see their strengths. Or to not be confident enough to think that "yeah, despite maybe certain weaknesses, there's enough here that we can work with."
And "maybe, in the case of Daniel Bryan, we should not be talking about the things that Triple H said behind close doors that make me think that he's not worth pushing. Maybe we should hide those, and try to make money with Daniel Bryan, by accentuating those strengths."
[Keller then goes on to give examples of what would happen if in the past, promoters consistently bashed their top talents under the guise of an angle]
..........................................................................
[After a caller asks about the Punk/Triple H thing]
Greenfield: I do think you're right. After the little mini-program that stalled [Punk's] advance...with Nash and Hunter, Punk was never the same as he was coming off Pipebomb hot. I don't think he should have lost it that Summerslam, and I think everything would have been a much bigger deal if he had gone against 'Taker with the title. There was a better way to tell that story, and Hunter got his grubby fingers all over it. And that has happened to a lot of guys, and it's really, really, frustrating.
But I think eventually someone will bubble up with the right combination of work, and charisma, and political intelligence -- because it takes a lot of that to become that guy.
Talking about Randy Orton:
Keller: I want to talk to you about Randy Orton's personality. He's a fascinating person to watch. There's like an emptiness in his soul, when I look into his eyes, not to psychoanalyze too much. And they play off of that on television. That you look into his eyes, and there's just something not there. There almost seems to be an unhappiness or something about him, and they play into that.
Greenfield: Yeah, "the voices in my head." I'm glad they embraced that.
Keller: Help me understand Randy Orton. Or at least share your experiences of what makes him tick, and what's his deal.
Greenfield: First of all, I liked working with Randy a lot. I didn't get to do it very often. But yeah, he's an intense dude, man. We started working together around Wrestlemania 21. When I was first starting out, he really -- the people who had been around there, had been waiting for him to be like a doofus, frat boy, type. And he wasn't that at all. I produced a few backstage things with him, and he really wanted to explore the sort of dark territory. And I liked that a lot. And the dude was a hilarious clown in the dressing room. Like, one time I slipped outside for a cigarette. And who should I find, but Randy Orton standing out there. And a bunch of fans come to the fence -- this is outside an arena, and are waving. And he's like "don't smoke kids" with that completely blank look. Randy's an interesting cat. I can't say that I knew him really well, but he was on time, he was super intense, and I think I did more one take promos with him, more than anyone other than JBL [Meaning that Orton was well-prepared, and able to do them all in one take - My note].
Keller: Now who did get close to Randy Orton during that time that you were there? Who did you think got to know him well, and that he had a rapport with?
Greenfield: Oh gosh.
Keller: Who are you most likely to see him sitting next to at a Denny's or whatever afterwards...
Greenfield: He seemed to hang out with Carlito a lot. But nothing else is really jumping to mind. And it's interesting, because you do sort of associate guys together. Because they ride together, you know, from place to place or whatever.
Keller: Yep.
Greenfield: But yeah! I don't really [know]...nothing really stands out with Orton. That's interesting. I never really thought about it before right now.
Keller: I've asked other people too. And that's why I'm kind of coming after you with that line of questioning. Because he -- more than Jeff Hardy -- is the enigma. You know, trying to figure him out is fascinating. He's a top guy, people absolutely respect the hell out of his work in the ring. And people don't generally say that he's a bad guy. But you can't find people who think that they know him. And they don't even know who does know him. So it's...
Greenfield: No, no, no, it's interesting. He must be a pretty private guy. Because, like, I think about that -- and I've never thought about it before -- but yeah, I don't really associate Randy with anyone.
Keller: Yeah.
Greenfield: But it's not that he -- like, understand, he dressed in the locker room with all of the other guys, and had a rapport with everyone, and talked, and joked, and joshed...but just that sort of, you know, some guys hang out with each other all the time...and I don't remember him hanging out with anyone.
He also mentions that Vince was deciding between Cena and Batista, as far as who to go with as the face of the company. I typed out what he has to say about this, and posted it here.
Says that Edge's ascension was kind of a surprise to everyone. He was only scheduled to hold that first title for three weeks. They were all impressed by how over with the crowd he got, and how over he helped Cena get. Said that the chemistry between the two of them was great.
Talks about how the Vince/JR situation is like the classic bully dynamic.
He shits on Kevin Dunn again.
He talks about how big of a fan he is of Bray Wyatt, and he thinks that the vignettes were awesome, but he's afraid of how Vince tends to lose interest within an instant.
Also says that he feels that Daniel Bryan's size will always be a detriment and deterrent in Vince's eyes. He said that Vince had the same attitude toward Rey Mysterio.
He also said that Vince is personally responsible for those yuppy type of babyface speeches. He said that he wrote something for Mysterio, and Vince came in there and personally acted out for Rey what he wanted Rey to say instead. It was one of those "I'm just happy to be here/lifelong dream" type of speeches. I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it. Vince has a very 80s concept of babyfaces, Greenfield says.
I might type up some more of the interesting things he had to say later.