Boston Globe Writer Gets To Stay Backstage During

[Guest BoboBrazil]

By Mark Jurkowitz, Globe Staff, 11/6/2002

 

t's a little past noon on Monday when World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon strides into a room in the FleetCenter to map out the night's ''WWE Raw'' show airing live at 9 p.m. on cable network TNN. Seated behind four rows of tables are several dozen writers, announcers, producers, and former wrestlers, including - most conspicuously - the huge, lantern-jawed ex-champ Sergeant Slaughter, who is still reverentially addressed as ''Sarge.''

 

 

Thumbing through the third draft of a script, McMahon previews the 11 segments in that night's show, making tweaks and suggestions. A scene in which female wrestler Victoria is slated to hit announcer Jerry Lawler in the crotch should not be played as ''comedic,'' he warns. Although the script calls for a shot of budding star Batista's ''massive tattooed back,'' McMahon instructs the staff to ''make sure he does the turnaround so I see his face.'' And the big logistical hurdle is making the segue between the main event that ends the ''Raw'' show and an extra 10-man tag-team match being filmed for a TV special to air later. Properly positioning the wrestlers in the ring for the added match while keeping the attention of the crowd will be challenging, he admits.

 

''We do a two-hour movie every Monday night,'' McMahon says, sitting in a makeshift office after the meeting, chomping on a PowerBar and sucking down coffee. ''Tonight it's live ... and you're flying without a net.''

 

As the animating force behind the WWE, McMahon not only presides over a strange entertainment hybrid of sports, sex, scandal, soap opera, and Halloween, he manages an international empire that includes more than 300 events a year, many of which are televised on his flagship shows, ''WWE Raw'' and ''WWE Smackdown!'' The company distributes videos, operates a music label, and publishes books and magazines. However, not all is well in the WWE kingdom. Boffo attractions such as The Rock, who has been making movies, and Steve Austin, who split with McMahon, are out of action. Some observers say recent ''Raw'' story lines - including a mock gay wedding and a strange necrophilia angle - have seemed strained, if not desperate. And the ratings of ''Raw'' are down about 40 percent from a few years ago. (Even so, it is TNN's highest-rated program, and Broadcasting & Cable magazine recently labeled it one of cable TV's ''old faithfuls.'')

 

For 12 hours on Monday, a Globe reporter was granted access to the inner workings of ''WWE Raw'' as part of a new push to invite up-close press scrutiny. McMahon says the company wants ''to allow the media to look at us as we are, not as we are perceived from the outside.'' Given his business instincts, it seems fair to assume he sees this as a marketing opportunity.

 

McMahon says he is busy ''creating new stories,'' and Monday's show is all about reigniting the feud between popular ''babyface'' (good guy) Shawn Michaels and ''heel'' (bad guy) WWE champ Triple H.

 

Michaels was badly and brutally injured by Triple H at the end of a pay-per-view match in August, and the rehabbing victim is preparing to exact his revenge - most likely at another pay-per-view match, for which home viewers will plunk down between $30 and $40 a pop. Michaels is written into several segments of Monday's show, ominously stalking Triple H in the corridors of the FleetCenter.

 

''Tonight, we're teasing [shawn] all the way through,'' says McMahon about the main plot. ''By the end of the night, you're dying for Shawn to come out.''

 

By midafternoon, WWE vice president of operations Steve Taylor is in the middle of a seemingly endless day. A former newspaper photographer, Taylor runs herd on a production crew of 130 people and a nomadic caravan of 17 trucks and six buses. Around 7 a.m., his boys began turning the FleetCenter into a wrestling venue, complete with ring, cameras, lights, and noisy pyrotechnic displays. After the show ends, just before midnight, they'll tear down all the equipment and head out in the wee hours of the morning to Manchester, N.H., where they'll immediately start reassembling the setting for the next day's ''Smackdown!'' taping.

 

''The TV shows are a lot more complex,'' says Taylor. But Monday's event ''is a fairly straightforward production'' that doesn't feature anything as exotic as a pudding match or steel-cage battle.

 

With six hours before airtime, the wrestlers - or ''talent,'' as they are called - slowly, casually get into character. Thirty-year wrestling veteran and legend Ric Flair, who now primarily functions as Triple H's manager, admits he hasn't seen the script and isn't clear whether he'll actually be involved in what, in wrestling lingo, is called ''physicality.'' ''Unfortunately,'' he adds, with a touch of ring baloney, ''I get into it too often.''

 

The popular Booker T flew in from Houston on Monday morning, will be in Boston for about 24 hours, and seems a bit worn down by the grind. He too is a little uncertain about what the night has in store for him. ''I think I'm in a tag match,'' he says. ''A lot of the time I like doing things on the fly. That way you can find out exactly how [the fans] want you to go: What kind of flavor? Are we going to start off hot or cold?''

 

Female champ and glamour girl Trish Stratus has to finish some photo shoots and a CNN interview before she sits down with her ''agent'' (i.e., handler and instructor) to map out her match. While she is slated to wrestle Ivory, the real story line involves her feud with the mercurial Victoria. ''I think people right now are intrigued by my relationship with Victoria,'' she says. ''She definitely has it out for me.''

 

Around 5 p.m. McMahon convenes a smaller meeting with his daughter Stephanie, who's a company executive; executive producer Kevin Dunn; and several of the show's writers, all of whom appear to be in their 20s. They are on script No. 4. For the first match, Dunn insists that the heels - two men known as ''Three Minute Warning'' - enter the ring first. McMahon homes in on the Michaels/Triple H angle. ''Who's writing this?'' he asks about a sketch in which the champion worries about his rival's intentions. ''Triple H has to really sell this in terms of being paranoid. Otherwise it's not going to work.

 

''I try to be as involved as I can, but at the same time I try to delegate,'' McMahon says. Still, it is clear that he passes judgment on matters big and small. A half-hour to airtime, Stephanie asks him to view a risque segment (a number of the backstage bits are filmed before the show) in which Victoria rips off the clothing of another WWE ''diva'' named Terri in the locker room, leaving her rolling around in a thong. ''Is she wearing underwear?'' McMahon asks with concern. Assured that she is, he pauses for a moment. ''I'm all right with it,'' he says with finality.

 

At 9 o'clock, amid an explosion of pyrotechnics and the wild cheers of the predominantly young - and crazed - audience, ''Raw'' goes on the air. Stratus handles Ivory but gets involved in a nasty postmatch brawl with - you guessed it - Victoria. Even dressed in his street clothes, Flair manages to engage in some extracurricular brawling during the main event. Booker T gets serious airtime and wrestles on the winning main event tag team. As for Michaels, the show ends with his charging into the ring to launch a disabling superkick at Triple H, setting up a confrontation likely to be played out at the sold-out pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden Nov. 17. Ka-ching.

 

At 11:30 p.m., McMahon and his agents and writers conduct a postmortem on the show, reviewing the action segment by segment. After a long day, the atmosphere is relaxed, but the critique is candid. The evaluations of the wrestlers are officially off the record. Suffice it to say that some of the ''talent'' are lauded while others have their performances dissected in an unflattering fashion. Dunn voices concern that the show ran three minutes too long. And for his part, McMahon concludes that the pace of ''Raw'' was slowed by the taped pieces that advance the story lines between the actual matches.

 

''Almost every single one of them was way too long,'' he says. ''Too much backstage.''

 

 

 

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/310/livi...g_circus+.shtml

 

Vince's last comment is interesting considering how Raw usually ends up.

[Guest Cataclysm911]

''Tonight, we're teasing [shawn] all the way through,'' says McMahon about the main plot. ''By the end of the night, you're dying for Shawn to come out.''

 

Well, seeing as how I don't want to see HBK on my screen, I guess that's why I thought RAW sucked.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

I wasn't dying to see Shawn come out either, even though he is one of my favorite wrestlers ever, because it was so predictable and I knew exactly what would happen.

[Guest Cataclysm911]

''Too much backstage.''

 

 

Yeah, no shit Vince.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

McMahon concludes that the pace of ''Raw'' was slowed by the taped pieces that advance the story lines between the actual matches.

 

''Almost every single one of them was way too long,'' he says. ''Too much backstage.''

"Duh!" comes to mind.

 

This actually sounds fun. I'd love to go there 7am, help set up the ring, and just hang in the back all day and night and see what goes on.

 

I would have to remember to stay away from the showers and Bradshaw though.

 

If Vince had a real set of balls, He'd invite Dave or 1Bob to spend a day at the show and let them write about the behind the scenes stuff.

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

The evaluations of the wrestlers are officially off the record. Suffice it to say that some of the ''talent'' are lauded while others have their performances dissected in an unflattering fashion.

Steph: HHH was gold. That Jericho sucked ass again as usual.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

I think Dave could get back there if he wants. He's got the connections and most wrestlers like him and he's even friends with some of them, like Ric Flair. I don't think they'd let Bob within 100 ft of the building though.......

 

3 Minutes to long? Is he referring to 3 Minute Warning maybe?

[Guest Suicide King]

A very interesting read, I thought. I had no idea that the pre-show scripts went down to potential camera angles, although in retrospect that makes sense.

 

What do you think the article would have been like had the reporter been at a Smackdown? Other than the obvious "not live" thing.

[Guest Choken One]

I would have liked if the the guy spoke with the wrestlers on their feelings about current storylines...

[Guest buffybeast]

The company may have limited their access to all the talent. Or warned the talent in advance not to answer those types of questions.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

And for his part, McMahon concludes that the pace of ''Raw'' was slowed by the taped pieces that advance the story lines between the actual matches.

 

''Almost every single one of them was way too long,'' he says. ''Too much backstage.''

"Slander-uh!"

 

Booker wins line of the night: "I think I'm in a tag match..."

[Guest art_vandelay]

''Triple H has to really sell this in terms of being paranoid. Otherwise it's not going to work."

 

Well, it didn't work.

 

Has the WWF/E always operated like this? I rewatched the Confidential about the downfall of WCW today, and a lot of the guys mentioned that one of the things they hated the most about working there was that they had no idea what they were going to do on the show just hours before it went to air.

[Guest IB2BLACK]

Don't forget the wrestlers are doing shows and traveling all weekend. So why would they need to know what's happening on RAW, until Monday. I'm sure Vince doesn't travel with the wrestlers, he probably tells them what's happening that morning.

[Guest TheArchiteck]

I like these types of reads. Hope it's a weekly thing.

[Guest art_vandelay]

Don't forget the wrestlers are doing shows and traveling all weekend. So why would they need to know what's happening on RAW, until Monday. I'm sure Vince doesn't travel with the wrestlers, he probably tells them what's happening that morning.

Oh, I don't know... maybe to prepare for their roles? Actors get their scripts in advance in order to practice and prepare for them, why shouldn't wrestlers? And don't you think this also shows a lack of organization and long-term planning?

[Guest IB2BLACK]

All you need is about an hour, maybe to come up with a promo, and maybe to plan the match. And the promos are basically written for them, and you have agents help to plan the matches. besides, it's not like these guys are new to this. They do it every week.

[Guest buffybeast]

I've read that some wrestlers like to have hours, not just one hour, to prepare for a match. Sure you can get it together quickly. But a match at a major ppv or a pivotal RAW/SD take time.

 

I remember reading that Shawn like to have his matches totally prepared and scripted before showtime.

[Guest Brian]

Alot of wrestlers like to put together trial spots and sequences for their matches before hand as well as look at all kinds of bigger spots and transitions, and just map out where they'll be at so and so point.

[Guest papacita]

Has the WWF/E always operated like this? I rewatched the Confidential about the downfall of WCW today, and a lot of the guys mentioned that one of the things they hated the most about working there was that they had no idea what they were going to do on the show just hours before it went to air.

I think that WWF has been working this way since at least 97 or 98. I don't see it problem, seeing as how the wrestlers are playing the same characters every week so it really shouldn't take any more than a couple of hours to get prepared for the show storyline-wise. I think it's a little different than WCW, as most complaints I've heard were either from wrestlers who had no idea what they were doing minutes before they were to go on the air or from wrestlers who were given airtime with little to no instruction on what they were supposed to be doing.

[Guest The Tino Standard]

As for wrestlers who liked to go over spots before their matches, DDP was notorious for having every piece of every match scripted down pat before wrestling the match on TV.

[Guest Brian]

There are lots of guys like that. They try to eliminate as much possibility for injury in some cases, or just want to have more control in others.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I wish the reporter had been backstage during the corpse-humping weeks.

 

I'd love to see Vince go over one of THOSE scrpits...

 

"We dress HHH up as Kane and have him perform intercourse with a corpse in a funeral parlor? I'm all right with this..."