Script for Impact on 1/3/08 (with working link)

[Guest LuckyLopez]

What part of "the show has already been taped" are some people not understanding here?

 

I understand that it was already taped. I think what a lot of people are finding hard to believe is that TNA has a show scripted down to things like "Wrestler A steps up to Wrestler B", "The referee gives his attention to guy on the outside while wrestler A sneaks in for an attack", or "Wrestler A roll-up Wrestler B for a close 2-count as we fade to commercial". Just odd to think they would be that meticulous in their scripting.

I actually think some of the stuff people find hard to believe are just script elements people are unfamiliar with. I've only taken a few course, done a few projects, worked on some small scale stuff. I've never run a 2 hour TV show, obviously. But writing out scripts for performers was always the norm. You don't send someone in to wing it. But how much the individual performers are actually expected to stick to their script or how much leeway they have to improv? That obviously is something different. I doubt ultimately that Christian is expected to recite his script word for word. Is Kaz? I don't know. But many of these guys are experienced public speakers and promo men and allowing them to be natural and work with it just makes sense. And practically speaking, if Christian, Booker, Angle, AJ, Tomko, Joe, Cornette, Nash, Lethal and others ARE reading directly off scripts and sounding as natural as they do then they're truly gifted actors. Its very easy to believe that Don West or Kaz are reading directly off scripts because they're not very good at it. Perhaps Christian is just better. But that improved skill may just be what allows them to loosen the reigns on him.

 

If the extremely scripted nature of the SCRIPT is something that bothers people that just seems kinda silly. Its a script. Of course its going to have the choreography and interviews. "The referee gives his attention to guy on the outside while wrestler A sneaks in for an attack" doesn't strike me as meticulous at all. Its the necessary story element that the performers, announcers, director, cameramen, lighting guys, and editors all need to know. There are a LOT of people who hold those scripts and they have them so that they can all be on the same page. You write out that element because you want to get the right camera shot. You want everyone to react properly.

 

If moves were scripted out THAT would be meticulous. But this just seems like a basic script. I mean, shouldn't we presume that there was a script somewhere last night that said "Hardy pins HHH. Cut to HHH with approving look." It was the story that they surely thought up before hand. And they wanted to make sure that they had the camera shot at the right time and that the announcers had the story and that Hardy reacted properly.

[Jacques 0]

Didn't AJ came out and screamed "TOMKO" before running off at the end of the last show before the PPV? I thought I read that in the spoilers.

[Silence 0]

It's going to be on the next Impact.

[luke-o 0]

It's almost as if people on here expected a TV taping script to look like the booking screen of EWR.

 

Of course things are as detalied as they are. It's a TV show. Scripts for 24 don't read "Jack says something angry at a Terrorist".

 

Russo has always said that some wrestlers prefer their promos to be written out word for word, some don't. For example, Austin would just want bullet points whereas Val Venis would want it written verbatum.

[Jingus 0]

I have never, ever heard any wrestler say "man, I'm so glad that I had a script telling me every single thing to do". Not once. From anyone. Meanwhile, I've heard countless workers say that the current Hollywood creative teams and their meticulous prefab writing are their least favorite thing about the business.

 

Wrestling shouldn't be scripted just like other TV shows. Wrestling is at its very worst when it tries to be like other TV shows. Writing promos for a guy who can't talk is one thing, but Vince Russo writing promos for Jim Cornette AND writing out how the wrestlers should be working their matches is inexcusable. Look at any of the times Russo got physically involved in the ring: even aside from being slightly less athletic than me, he clearly had no instincts or understanding whatsoever of how in-ring action should go.

[Jacques 0]

I remember reading that Cornette books his segments and Christian writes his promos.

[Guest LuckyLopez]

Those scripts do NOT have everything written out or even close to it. They have the promos written out. And we have no idea how much the individuals have freedom to stray from the script. But its perfectly reasonable for Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, and Christian Cage to go in knowing what Christian intends to say. For all we know Christian wrote that script out. And that information should then be passed on to all the important parties. That's what the script is for. We'll only know how true they stay to the scripts when the show airs.

 

But the matches are NOT written out. Major changes of pace in the matches are written in. "Heels double team, face comes in and makes comeback, heel stops comeback." There is a very general outline of the matches written. That would seem to me to be pretty standard for the performers involved to have a basic idea of how their matches will go. But I don't remember any moves actually choreographed (I don't have the script in front of me). Its just the stories that are. And while I have no personal experience with what a wrestler may want or need as far as that I do know that the director and his crew would want and need that to do the best job they can (not to say they couldn't cover the matches like a legitimate sporting event with no scripting, but that takes on unnecessary risks and hardships and decrease the chances for the best job being done).

 

I would think the idea way to script matches is to create a basic outline of the match's story and psychology, to let the individuals work out any particular spots or moves they want, and then to rely on their basic ability to effectively tell the story and incorporate the spots. But it would seem reckless and lazy to me to not have that outline prepared before hand. And like I said, makes things harder for the production crew.

[Jacques 0]

And those scripts aren't 100% concrete either. In the script Tomko catches Angle's hand and threatens to break it, while according to spoilers Tomko threatens to break Angle's "puny" neck. Perhaps Angle didn't liked that part and got it changed.

[Jingus 0]

Those scripts do NOT have everything written out or even close to it. They have the promos written out. And we have no idea how much the individuals have freedom to stray from the script. But its perfectly reasonable for Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, and Christian Cage to go in knowing what Christian intends to say. For all we know Christian wrote that script out. And that information should then be passed on to all the important parties. That's what the script is for.

Yes, obviously they need some idea of what they're talking about. But to script it out word for word, for every single promo, is just stupid. It completely kills any spontaneity and turns promos from speaking from your heart, which is what they should be about, into just reciting lines.

 

This isn't just my opinion. (Although considering I spent five years as a wrestling announcer, talking for hours every week (without ever having a script), I'd like to think my opinion carries at least a little weight.) Go read Mick Foley's books, where he bitches at length about the creative team fucking his promos up whenever they make him go by a script. And where he talks about the best promos not being memorized lines, but being created by the wrestlers themselves and based out of genuine emotion. And in case you don't trust Mick Friggin' Foley's opinion, go read Dusty, Flair, and Terry Funk's books, where they say the exact same things.

 

But the matches are NOT written out. Major changes of pace in the matches are written in. "Heels double team, face comes in and makes comeback, heel stops comeback." There is a very general outline of the matches written. That would seem to me to be pretty standard for the performers involved to have a basic idea of how their matches will go. But I don't remember any moves actually choreographed (I don't have the script in front of me). Its just the stories that are.

It is unheard of for matches to be scripted out to that extent. WWE doesn't even do that, as one of their scripts which was leaked a couple years back showed. There isn't a single independent company in the country which does that. I can guarantee you Mexican and Japanese companies don't do it. TNA is the only place around where the writers script the matches on paper. And guess what? They've also got overall the worst, most emotionless, by-the-numbers workrate in the entire fucking world. Think that's a coincedence?

 

And while I have no personal experience with what a wrestler may want or need as far as that I do know that the director and his crew would want and need that to do the best job they can (not to say they couldn't cover the game like a legitimate sporting event with no scripting, but that takes on unnecessary risks and hardships and decrease the chances for the best job being done).

No. TNA's camera crew fuck shit up and miss important stuff all the time. If that's the point of the script, clearly it isn't working.

 

I've talked about this script with at least half a dozen various wrestlers since it leaked, and all of them were amazed at TNA's ridiculous level of preplanning. (This is aside from just how banal and shitty the show itself is, even on paper.) Seriously, we pretty much just make fun of how dumb it is. TNA hasn't had the best reputation among most workers, and shit like this makes them look like even more of a joke.

[Guest LuckyLopez]

Yes, obviously they need some idea of what they're talking about. But to script it out word for word, for every single promo, is just stupid. It completely kills any spontaneity and turns promos from speaking from your heart, which is what they should be about, into just reciting lines.

 

This isn't just my opinion. (Although considering I spent five years as a wrestling announcer, talking for hours every week (without ever having a script), I'd like to think my opinion carries at least a little weight.) Go read Mick Foley's books, where he bitches at length about the creative team fucking his promos up whenever they make him go by a script. And where he talks about the best promos not being memorized lines, but being created by the wrestlers themselves and based out of genuine emotion. And in case you don't trust Mick Friggin' Foley's opinion, go read Dusty, Flair, and Terry Funk's books, where they say the exact same things.

I don't disagree with you or Foley that reading off a script can be a real problem that stilts speakers. I have enough public speaking experience to know that I'm horrible off of a script. And in fact I'm someone who never did well writing my stuff at all and basically created an outline that I followed loosely and went on the fly. But writing out your speech before hand and practicing it a few times is pretty common public speaking procedure. When it comes to actually performing it things vary. Some people will read right off a script or cue cards. That can be stilting and awkward for many, but necessary for some. Some people can use the script as a mere guideline to keep them from wandering too far away and keeping to their point. And some people can just work largely out of their own heads. I'm sure wrestling has any level of varying performers and guys like Christian and Cornette are much more capable to work from their own heads.

 

But writing a script is pretty common public speaking. What you're presuming is that they're forced to stay to it word for word. We won't know how true they stay to it until the show airs. I'd be pretty surprised if there isn't quite a bit of divergence from the script. But its completely reasonable to have a script so that the performer knows (a) what he's supposed to be saying and (b) how long he's supposed to go. TNA sent Samoa Joe out to cut a loosely outlined promo at Turning Point and he reportedly went well "off script", upset people, and went down a path that caused much confusion as to its meaning.

 

It is unheard of for matches to be scripted out to that extent. WWE doesn't even do that, as one of their scripts which was leaked a couple years back showed. There isn't a single independent company in the country which does that. I can guarantee you Mexican and Japanese companies don't do it. TNA is the only place around where the writers script the matches on paper. And guess what? They've also got overall the worst, most emotionless, by-the-numbers workrate in the entire fucking world. Think that's a coincedence?

Can you maybe point out to me a section of the script that is terribly scripted? Because I see things like:

" - Wrestler A shines on heels.

- Wrestler A eliminates Wrestler B.

- Wrestler A blows small comeback on Wrestlers X, Y, and Z

- Wrestler C shuts down Wrestler A. "

 

and

 

"- A and B get heat on C.

- Hot tag to D.

- D over A"

 

Am I looking at a different script than some? Because to call that an unheard of scripting out of a match? To say that's "emotionless" and "by-the-numbers"? That makes no sense to me at all. THAT's meticulous? THAT's too much scripting? If that's too much then what does the typical WWE script look like? I'd be interested to see.

 

" - Wrestler A and X wrestle.

- Wrestler X wins."

 

Is that the necessary amount of scripting or is it too much?

 

No. TNA's camera crew fuck shit up and miss important stuff all the time. If that's the point of the script, clearly it isn't working.

So if someone does something bad you should just not try at all to do it well? The bad production crew would do better if it had nothing to go on?

 

I've talked about this script with at least half a dozen various wrestlers since it leaked, and all of them were amazed at TNA's ridiculous level of preplanning. (This is aside from just how banal and shitty the show itself is, even on paper.) Seriously, we pretty much just make fun of how dumb it is. TNA hasn't had the best reputation among most workers, and shit like this makes them look like even more of a joke.

Then if you have this experience and insight I'm really curious as to what the common amount of scripting or planning is. Because that seems pretty basic and simple. Its absolutely the bare minimum of what I'd think you'd do. The scripted promos are the only thing that seems to be terribly carefully scripted are the promos, and again that strikes me as pretty basic public speaking and performance. If most wrestlers don't write out some kind of script before doing a speech then they're probably the only entertainment business that doesn't. How carefully they follow it can vary pretty heavily. And like I said, I'm willing to bet Christian and Brother Ray get more leeway than Kaz or Borash.

 

I have no experience in the wrestling business. This is the first script I've ever seen. I can only judge based on my real world experience, schooling, and personal opinion. But at this stage I'm really thinking that you and I are looking at two entirely separate scripts because there's no way I can imagine that these matches are too carefully planned out. But I could obviously be very wrong. I have no doubt of that. But I can't figure what it is that people think is the proper level of script.

 

If anything the fact that this show is all Gauntlets probably makes the matches seem more scripted out because there are so many elements of the match. A simple 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 match would seem to have a much smaller section of a script if they maintained this style of scripting. But the only non Gauntlet I see on the script is a tag match that actually has NO scripting. Just a match time and "TBD."

[Jingus 0]

What you're presuming is that they're forced to stay to it word for word. We won't know how true they stay to it until the show airs. I'd be pretty surprised if there isn't quite a bit of divergence from the script. But its completely reasonable to have a script so that the performer knows (a) what he's supposed to be saying and (b) how long he's supposed to go.

If they follow the script closely, it stifles individual creativity and completely eliminates the vital rapport between the performer and the live audience. In wrestling, you can never be completely sure how the crowd is going to react to any particular thing, and if they shit all over it, you have to improvise something else. But if they don't follow the lines closely, then what's the point of having them written out in the first place? Why not just give them an outline and a time limit and let them go at it?

 

TNA sent Samoa Joe out to cut a loosely outlined promo at Turning Point and he reportedly went well "off script", upset people, and went down a path that caused much confusion as to its meaning.

That's the fault of the dumbass management handing a live microphone to someone with a grudge, and Joe for going over time, he's been doing this long enough that he should know exactly how long to talk.

 

Can you maybe point out to me a section of the script that is terribly scripted? Because I see things like:

" - Wrestler A shines on heels.

- Wrestler A eliminates Wrestler B.

- Wrestler A blows small comeback on Wrestlers X, Y, and Z

- Wrestler C shuts down Wrestler A. "

That is over-scripting for anything less complicated than an important and complicated PPV main event. Once again, it gives no thought whatsoever to the naturally spontaneous nature of a wrestling match. If the script keeps telling them to go with Plan A which is supposed to make the crowd cheer the babyface or boo the heel or whatever, and it ain't working, the preplanned nature of the show leaves them no room to try something different.

 

Also, words can't express how funny the phrase "blows comeback" is. First of all, it's such a staggeringly obvious double entendre I wouldn't be surprised if Russo wrote it that way on purpose while giggling the whole time. Secondly, they made that term up. Nowhere, not in the WWE or any other locker room in the world, will you see or hear the phrase "blows comeback". In wrestling jargon, the term "blow" means that you're failing to do something, like "Kennedy blows a spot in every single match, he never stops fucking up" or "the WWE really blew the Invasion angle, they could've made so much money but instead the ratings went down". Furthermore, they're not using "comeback" right either. Comeback means that the babyface is coming back from a beating and is now on offense against the heel. But over and over again in this script, they use the term "comeback" for someone who gets in the ring for the first time and attacks their opponents, which is just wrong. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the TNA wrestlers repeatedly use "blows comeback" as a regular punchline behind the writers' backs.

 

If that's too much then what does the typical WWE script look like? I'd be interested to see.

 

" - Wrestler A and X wrestle.

- Wrestler X wins."

The WWE script that I saw months ago looked a lot more like that. Of course they made note of run-ins and other activities which would clearly need to be predetermined, but it didn't get so specific as to tell the wrestlers when to beat someone up and when to get beaten up.

 

Then if you have this experience and insight I'm really curious as to what the common amount of scripting or planning is.

On indy shows? Practically nothing. There's a piece of paper taped on the wall with the lineup, and usually the time you're supposed to go, which referee you've got, and who goes over. Then you talk to the booker personally and he tells you the finish.

 

Hell, that's not just indy shows, that's how TNA did it just three years ago. Back in Nashville, they had a big dry erase board with the full lineup, and you talked to the management people to find out the details of what they wanted you to do. Often, the details were just "Red vs. AJ, buncha highspots, AJ goes over, 10 minutes". This level of micromanagement on paper is a new phenomenon. WWF and WCW didn't do this back in the Monday Night Wars, the shows were often changed on the fly and sometimes were still being written even after they had gone on the air.

 

If anything the fact that this show is all Gauntlets probably makes the matches seem more scripted out because there are so many elements of the match. A simple 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 match would seem to have a much smaller section of a script if they maintained this style of scripting. But the only non Gauntlet I see on the script is a tag match that actually has NO scripting. Just a match time and "TBD."

That could be true. But then again, the non-gauntlet match is for their syndicated Explosion show (read: Velocity), which they've historically not given a shit about. It probably means that they only really care about Impact and look at the Explosion match as nothing but a time-filler.

[Guest LuckyLopez]

If they follow the script closely, it stifles individual creativity and completely eliminates the vital rapport between the performer and the live audience. In wrestling, you can never be completely sure how the crowd is going to react to any particular thing, and if they shit all over it, you have to improvise something else. But if they don't follow the lines closely, then what's the point of having them written out in the first place? Why not just give them an outline and a time limit and let them go at it?

I completely agree about the creativity and comfort. But my point is that you and I have NO idea what directions come with those scripts. You and I have no idea if TNA expects them to memorize those scripts and stay as close to them as possible or if they just want them as outlines for both the performer and the crew to make sure everyone stays more or less on track. I've written out scripts that the actors/commentators didn't follow closely purely because we were trying to create an outline, come to a decision about what to say, and make sure the timing was all right.

 

That's the fault of the dumbass management handing a live microphone to someone with a grudge, and Joe for going over time, he's been doing this long enough that he should know exactly how long to talk.

And it theoretically could have been avoided by going over what Joe was supposed to say. And by Joe running the "superstars" angle past them and them taking it off the table. But it was obviously a rushed job. And judging from this script I presume they wouldn't have done that had it not been the result of a no-show (not that I don't think they should have sat down in the 2+ hours of the show preceding that and worked it out).

 

That is over-scripting for anything less complicated than an important and complicated PPV main event. Once again, it gives no thought whatsoever to the naturally spontaneous nature of a wrestling match. If the script keeps telling them to go with Plan A which is supposed to make the crowd cheer the babyface or boo the heel or whatever, and it ain't working, the preplanned nature of the show leaves them no room to try something different.

A battle royal that determines rankings IS complicated, isn't it? They need to script out the eliminations and entrances, don't they? And isn't that 75% of what that script is? The only other scripting in the matches are changes in the flow of the match. And there's no timestamps on them or moves assigned to them. The wrestlers appear to have the freedom beyond the script to dictate those things. I would think its pretty basic procedure for a pair of tag teams to go into a match knowing that the face team will have some big spots early on, the heel team will dominate 1 wrestler for awhile, and then a hot tag will be made and the faces will regain control. No?

 

Also, words can't express how funny the phrase "blows comeback" is. First of all, it's such a staggeringly obvious double entendre I wouldn't be surprised if Russo wrote it that way on purpose while giggling the whole time. Secondly, they made that term up. Nowhere, not in the WWE or any other locker room in the world, will you see or hear the phrase "blows comeback". In wrestling jargon, the term "blow" means that you're failing to do something, like "Kennedy blows a spot in every single match, he never stops fucking up" or "the WWE really blew the Invasion angle, they could've made so much money but instead the ratings went down". Furthermore, they're not using "comeback" right either. Comeback means that the babyface is coming back from a beating and is now on offense against the heel. But over and over again in this script, they use the term "comeback" for someone who gets in the ring for the first time and attacks their opponents, which is just wrong. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the TNA wrestlers repeatedly use "blows comeback" as a regular punchline behind the writers' backs.

No argument from me. I found most of the terminology of that script to be amusing or tough to get. I figured "blow comeback" was a negative as well until I read it enough times to put together it must be the opposite. But it doesn't really seem like anything more than something for us to chuckle at. If they all understand their terminology than it works fine.

 

The WWE script that I saw months ago looked a lot more like that. Of course they made note of run-ins and other activities which would clearly need to be predetermined, but it didn't get so specific as to tell the wrestlers when to beat someone up and when to get beaten up.

Then count me very surprised. Part of me is surprised that the script doesn't have time stamps on it to get across how long each portion of the match should last. But it doesn't strike me in anyway strange that wrestlers would know ahead of time that the story of the match was expected to be heels dominating, face coming back. ESPECIALLY in a battle royal where a new wrestler is added every 60 seconds and wrestlers are routinely eliminated.

 

On indy shows? Practically nothing. There's a piece of paper taped on the wall with the lineup, and usually the time you're supposed to go, which referee you've got, and who goes over. Then you talk to the booker personally and he tells you the finish.

 

Hell, that's not just indy shows, that's how TNA did it just three years ago. Back in Nashville, they had a big dry erase board with the full lineup, and you talked to the management people to find out the details of what they wanted you to do. Often, the details were just "Red vs. AJ, buncha highspots, AJ goes over, 10 minutes". This level of micromanagement on paper is a new phenomenon. WWF and WCW didn't do this back in the Monday Night Wars, the shows were often changed on the fly and sometimes were still being written even after they had gone on the air.

Yeah, but isn't that a common complaint about how poorly run WCW was? That the scripts were often unavailable and being changed segment to segment? That they were unorganized and many of the wrestlers had no idea what they were expected to do?

 

I'm not surprised that indies don't have much scripting because theirs is primarily a one time show. I would think DVD entities would have a slightly more worked out plan so that the proper serial stories can be told and the wrestlers can be kept as strong or weak as intended. And TV shows would have to at LEAST be planned well enough so that they had the timing down and the camera men knew what it is that they were expected to record. Or the announcers what story they were telling. But if this isn't common for wrestling (or just WWE/TNA) than I stand corrected. But it seems pretty common sense from what I know. Obviously TV Wrestling is a fairly young and limited genre.

 

That could be true. But then again, the non-gauntlet match is for their syndicated Explosion show (read: Velocity), which they've historically not given a shit about. It probably means that they only really care about Impact and look at the Explosion match as nothing but a time-filler.

Where does it say that? The script says that's "Match 1" and it follows 3+ minutes of pretaped segments, recaps, and the show entrance. That certainly looks like Impact opener to me. If I'm reading the script correctly the Cornette promo isn't schedule to begin until 9:08:50.

 

That being said it does look like just an opener/time filler with 4 of the participants not involved in the Gauntlets, but my point wasn't to suggest that that would be the common scripting for non-Gauntlets. It was that the only non-Gauntlet on the card was obviously useless to us to come to any conclusion about TNA's scripting habits. My guess is the average Tag Match would look much like the Gauntlet. But since it would only involve 2 teams, it wouldn't be 2 pages of directions.

 

- Team 3D M&E (HEEL)

- Motorcity Machine Guns M&E (FACE)

MATCH Team 3D vs Motorcity Machine Guns (6:15/21:32:10)

- Machine Guns shine on 3D.

- Brother Ray shuts down Shelley.

- 3D get heat on Shelley.

- Sabin gets hot tag.

- Sabin over on Devon.

- Machine Guns beauty shot.

 

That's basically "The two teams come out, the Guns start in control, Team 3D take control and beat Shelley down, Sabin gets the hot tag and pins Devon." That really doesn't look over scripted to me at all. But again, zero wrestling experience to speak of. Just some general TV and talk/magazine shows.

[Jingus 0]

Most of this stuff is just quibbling, so I'm only going to address the important points:

 

The only other scripting in the matches are changes in the flow of the match. And there's no timestamps on them or moves assigned to them. The wrestlers appear to have the freedom beyond the script to dictate those things. I would think its pretty basic procedure for a pair of tag teams to go into a match knowing that the face team will have some big spots early on, the heel team will dominate 1 wrestler for awhile, and then a hot tag will be made and the faces will regain control. No?

Once again, TNA is the only wrestling company in the history of the world that writes out on paper beforehand telling the wrestlers the "changes in the flow" in every match. Nobody has ever done that before, and personally I think it has a lot to do with TNA's matches being all so cookie-cutter now. Wrestlers don't like being nitpicked in that kind of detail by untrained writers, they mostly prefer to just go out there and work. Having that instinctual feel for when to change the flow in the match is part of being a good worker, and it relies so much on reading the feelings of the live crowd and reacting from how the match is progressing that there's no really good way to write it all down ahead of time and predict with any accuracy how well it's going to work out, especially since, once again, the majority of the writing staff have never been wrestlers themselves.

 

I'm not surprised that indies don't have much scripting because theirs is primarily a one time show. I would think DVD entities would have a slightly more worked out plan so that the proper serial stories can be told and the wrestlers can be kept as strong or weak as intended. And TV shows would have to at LEAST be planned well enough so that they had the timing down and the camera men knew what it is that they were expected to record. Or the announcers what story they were telling. But if this isn't common for wrestling (or just WWE/TNA) than I stand corrected. But it seems pretty common sense from what I know. Obviously TV Wrestling is a fairly young and limited genre.

No. I worked as a television commentator for five years, we did weekly live shows out of which we produced a weekly television show. The booker made the match lineup, told the guys the finishes and what he generally wanted from the match (which, often times on the indy undercard, is just "go this long and have a good match", and on the indies often times those instructions aren't exactly followed to the letter) and that was it. The cameramen never knw what was going to happen. Why would they? The only way that would work is if they knew move-by-move exactly what would happen in every match, and obviously that's impossible. Me at the announce desk didn't know what was going to happen, partly because I preferred it that way (it's easier to get real emotion in announcing when you don't even know who's gonna win), and partly because it just wasn't all that organized. Granted, it was a very low-budget TV show that was shot on prosumer equipment and aired on the Shop At Home channel, but even when I went to more prestigious and better-run shows like NWA Wildside they never had more than a couple of pages worth of lineup and notes, and the cameramen certainly never knew what was coming next.

 

Where does it say that? The script says that's "Match 1" and it follows 3+ minutes of pretaped segments, recaps, and the show entrance.

It says, right at the top of the second page, "XPLOSION MATCH".

[Guest LuckyLopez]

You're absolutely right and now that I reread it I see that its not included in the segment numbering. I have no idea how I missed that. My apologies.

 

I'll take your word on the SOP of wrestling and wrestling TV. I'm shocked because it seems like a poor way to run a TV show. And it really doesn't strike me as a big deal to map out the very basic outline of a match. But I have no experience and it doesn't seem like we're going to meet any mutual ground on that.

 

And as someone who's worked as a cameraman and director I can't imagine not having some basic directions of what they should be looking for. I've worked sports events as well and its more haphazard, but missing a key shot is a real risk and its one I'd absolutely try and avoid if I could. If they were actually scripting matches or times for the change in match I'd agree that this was overdone. But as someone with zero wrestling experience and some TV experience (and a wrestling fan, clearly) this is roughly how I'd script the program. Provided that (a) the performers were involved with the creation of the script or pre-show edits and (b) a reasonable amount of improv leeway was left ("reasonable" varying from performer to performer likely).

 

Of course you and I are at a clear disagreement on the quality of TNA so how we feel this approach works compared to what you say is the standard will clearly differ.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

First off, Lopez, TV Wrestling has been around as long as television has. Networks aired wrestling as programming from the get go because it was cheap. The show was already there, they just had to add cameras. Wrestling was tried on the radio, but if you can't see the action it would take an incredibly talented announcer to clearly translate what was going on for it to be interesting on radio.

 

Secondly, what I think Jingus is trying to get across about scripting in a match is that you are taught when you learn to wrestle (if you learn from someone respectable) that you have to work with the crowd in creating a match. The match is a product to the reactions of the crowd. If you script out the match, then you're losing a lot of possible drama. Using the Team 3D/MCMG reference, if you tell 3D to work on Sabin, and the crowd that night doesn't happen to care about Shelley, then the hot tag is not going to be that hot. That's something you can't establish before the actual show. What we don't know is how much leeway TNA gives their workers in going off the script. Either way, it's not the best way to shoot a wrestling show. Said by someone with experience in broadcasting and a bit in wrestling.

 

As for being the cameraman/director, it's just like any other sport. Over time you get used to how the action flows and you start to pick up on where to go to get the best shots. If you're a good cameraman or director, that is.

[Bix 0]

I'm sure wrestling has any level of varying performers and guys like Christian and Cornette are much more capable to work from their own heads.

What? Christian made his career based on scripted promos.

[Guest LuckyLopez]

First off, Lopez, TV Wrestling has been around as long as television has. Networks aired wrestling as programming from the get go because it was cheap. The show was already there, they just had to add cameras. Wrestling was tried on the radio, but if you can't see the action it would take an incredibly talented announcer to clearly translate what was going on for it to be interesting on radio.

I guess I was just speaking relatively. There's a fairly limited number of them compared to sports, magazine shows, or

 

Secondly, what I think Jingus is trying to get across about scripting in a match is that you are taught when you learn to wrestle (if you learn from someone respectable) that you have to work with the crowd in creating a match. The match is a product to the reactions of the crowd. If you script out the match, then you're losing a lot of possible drama. Using the Team 3D/MCMG reference, if you tell 3D to work on Sabin, and the crowd that night doesn't happen to care about Shelley, then the hot tag is not going to be that hot. That's something you can't establish before the actual show. What we don't know is how much leeway TNA gives their workers in going off the script. Either way, it's not the best way to shoot a wrestling show. Said by someone with experience in broadcasting and a bit in wrestling.

And I'm fine to concede that I know nothing about the inner workings of wrestling and can't offer any counter for people saying wrestling does it one way or another. It just really doesn't surprise me that the wrestlers and writers and agents would go in with some vague idea of how the match would go. I agree with you. I would think that the wrestlers should have a certain level of leeway to adapt to the crowd or throw in their own flairs. That's part of what wrestling is. But we have no idea what if any TNA gives and it seems like we were just presuming that it was very little.

 

And again, I think that this show is ALL Gauntlets means this is probably an abnormal script. Jingus said only main event style matches get this level of scripting detail. That's basically what Gauntlet matches are, no? Its a weird, arguably over gimmicked show as TNA is prone to do but I would be curious as to how a regular match and show script compares.

 

As for being the cameraman/director, it's just like any other sport. Over time you get used to how the action flows and you start to pick up on where to go to get the best shots. If you're a good cameraman or director, that is.

Sure. But even the best director and cameraman are going to miss shots from time to time, especially with live shows. With taped ones the script serves as a usefl tool for the editor so that the shots he and the director want get shot. I would think that the general match would work like any sporting event. But when you want to grab a "beauty shot" or have some sort of subtle body language or storytelling you want to get across, its good to have it in the script so the cameramen and director know to get it.

 

People can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the major difference I'm having with the reactions is that I'm presuming this script was written WITH the performers or with them involved in edits. And that there is room left for the individual producers to work with the performers in a segment for changes and for the performers to improv. I get the impression that other people are sort of imagining Russo, Jarrett, and Dutch writing out a script on their own and handing it to the performers to follow to a tee. No influence, input, revisions, or improv.

 

Plus, the script feels more to me to be for the production crew. From Russo, D'Lo, and Gilbertti to the director, camermen, and co. I can appreciate that others are thinking of it as far as how Christian, Angle, and Tomko use it. But again, we have no context for this script and no idea of the details.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

From the latest F4W:

 

There is a TNA script that done got leaked on the Internet. Never have men laughed so hard. It's for the January 3rd Impact. The individual responsible for Dear Dixie, which is a column burying TNA that has appeared anonymously on the Wrestling Observer website, leaked the script on our message board Sunday, and within hours it was all over the entire Internet. The best part was people e-mailing me asking if I'd seen it, which is at least understandable, but should tell you how fast it spread around. By Tuesday it had been downloaded more than 31,000 times (that's apparently stats from one of several sites it appeared on). From talking to someone who has seen recent WWE scripts, the TNA version is like something out of the dark ages of sports entertainment (read: 1998 -- you're shocked, I know). The drafting is "crude and antiquated by WWE standards". This person did notice that TNA is now following WWE's lead in calling folks "producers" instead of "agents". They added: "Talk about obsession. Aspiring to be WWE to that extent? My God someone please help these people." They noted the Russo consolidated all the work and assigned himself to virtually all the segments, which explains the "poor quality and logic flaws" on nearly every segment. They noted that he writes the exact same way for everyone, regardless of whether they're a man, woman, heel, babyface, etc. I should note that the script does make some things clear which had not been made necessarily clear to me on television. Chris Harris is still considered a babyface. I know this because BABYFACE is written next to his name in all his segments. I'd have never known. Petey Williams is also, shockingly, a BABYFACE. The video recap at the start of the show is supposed to run down AJ looking for advice, AJ's indecision, Kaz's attack on Dustin, the Roode/Booker T fight, the Sharmell/Traci fight, and the Abyss sitdown interview. All of this is given a grand total of 60 seconds. Vince Russo is, as noted, producer for nearly every segment. What a shocker. The show opens with, seriously, "PYRO AND BALLYHOO". I laughed. Everything is completely scripted, and, as noted, it all sounds exactly the same. Glenn Gilbertti, the former Disco Inferno, is listed as a producer of a few of these segments. This is the show with THREE GAUNTLET MATCHES, all three of which conclude in less than 25 minutes (that's total, not each). No joke. They break the matches down minute-by-minute and script out who is doing what to whom during that minute. I would last literally zero days in this company. I would be handed this script and quit on the spot. Angle is given dialogue designed to make him look stupid, like a line about how he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. The one thing I got more than anything else out of this script is that when you watch Impact, it's patently clear that the people primarily responsible for writing this show have no understanding of wrestling. This is magnified 100 times when you read this script. These people have NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE DOING. AT ALL. The script is also more impossible to follow than the TV show, which is mind-boggling.

[Jingus 0]

I understand where LuckLo is coming from now that he explained that he's worked in the television industry, it makes his opinion much more understandable. Other people in entertainment are often shocked by how loose and unorganized most wrestling shows tend to be, to the point of not believing it at all. TV and media people tend to be the very first ones to insist that Mankind must have been wearing some kind of padding under his outfit when he fell off the Cell, and it's often a chore trying to explain to them just how much improvisation and go-with-the-flow type of nonplanning tend to categorize a lot of wrestling matches. Not ALL of 'em, lord knows there are hundreds of guys on the independent (mostly northeastern) circuit who call every single move in the locker room and can't work on the fly if their lives depended on it, but there's still a big difference between the wrestlers calling the whole match and the writers doing it.

 

My point is, would anyone here claim that WWE or TNA now is better than WCW in 1996 or WWF in 2000? Probably not. Yet the shows are much more heavily scripted now than they were then. So, to me, it's pretty obvious that the point-by-point scripting simply is not effective in making wrestling shows any better, and it might in fact make them worse.

 

 

From the latest F4W:

I would last literally zero days in this company. I would be handed this script and quit on the spot. The one thing I got more than anything else out of this script is that when you watch Impact, it's patently clear that the people primarily responsible for writing this show have no understanding of wrestling. This is magnified 100 times when you read this script. These people have NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE DOING. AT ALL.

That's the money quote right there. I have similar feelings, based on the infamous time when the camera caught Tenay and West reading their lines off paper and not even watching the action. If any company ever told me to announce like THAT, I'd tell 'em to go fuck themselves. If you want a mindless repeater, get a news anchor or an MTV VJ, leave the actual wrestling announcers alone.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah and that's why I tend to cut Tenay and West some slack, because they are blatantly reading stuff instead of doing actual announcing with the occasional fed line.

 

Wrestling needs to be scripted to some degree, but more like this:

 

Match 1: Kurt Angle vs. Christian. 15 minutes. We go to a DQ when Tomko and Styles do a run in and beat down Christian.

 

Interview with Borash, Angle, Styles, Tomko. Angle rants about Christian not joining his faction and how he's going to kick his ass.

 

Match 2: Team 3D vs. Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt. 5 minutes. Team 3D goes over clean with their finisher.

 

See what I mean? A general outline and some points to make during interviews is all that is really needed. Since it's taped they can redo stuff that didn't quite work.

[Jacques 0]

I don't really have a problem with matches being scripted. As much as the booking sucks in TNA, the wrestling always delivers. So I don't care if matches are called in-ring, by agents, or scripted.

[Guest LuckyLopez]

My point is, would anyone here claim that WWE or TNA now is better than WCW in 1996 or WWF in 2000? Probably not. Yet the shows are much more heavily scripted now than they were then. So, to me, it's pretty obvious that the point-by-point scripting simply is not effective in making wrestling shows any better, and it might in fact make them worse.

No real argument with you as far as the eras. I think its probably safe to say that if you had the performers, writers, directors, etc, with the necessary skill and knowledge to be able to do a weekly show loose and well that would probably be the best way to do it. But I can understand why companies may want a bit more structure. Its a big project. Lots of people involved. Organization helps makes things easier usually. But I certainly wouldn't argue that when it comes down to 2 guys in the ring the ideal would be for them to be able to work together to make it work best.

 

Maybe its just my inexperience and a crutch for TNA. Its quite possible this just isn't ideal, and if it wasn't the way they were doing it in the heyday or at large then that's a good case to be made. But it seems like a reasonable approach, if not an ideal one.

[edgehead69 0]

Script for Impact on 1/3/08

 

Is there another link?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Script for Impact on 1/3/08

 

Is there another link?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/zlnu2g

[Mecca 0]

IMPACT SCRIPT

 

By: Bryan Alvarez

The Fight Network

[email protected]

 

The TNA script that was leaked two weeks ago was an eye-opener.

 

When I first glanced at it I thought, "No surprises." But then as I actually examined it I was struck with the fact that all those problems I see every week on TNA are magnified ten thousand times in this script. I often watch Impact and think to myself, "Boy, these people have no idea what they're doing." Upon reading this script I suddenly realized that -- and I must use all caps here to illustrate the magnitude of this revelation -- THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

 

My buddy Vince printed out the script for me. We decided we were going to engage in some HOT THESPIAN ACTION and act out a few of the segments on our radio show. The printed-out script is 23 pages long. That alone floored me. A script for a pro-wrestling television show that is twenty-three pages long? Perhaps it's my old-school mentality here, but I cannot fathom why a 23-page script would ever be necessary, especially for IMPACT of all things. There are five pages of a Raw Homecoming script floating around on the Internet. That's for a three-hour show, and the five pages cover most of that period. How could you possibly need a 23-page script?

 

I could write 23 pages on this script alone, so this week I'm going to concentrate on just one thing, the fact that every single solitary promo is typed out word for word. This is what Krystal says, this is what Bubba responds, this is how Krystal reacts, this is what D-Von says, and so on. Although it doesn't seem like much, this is a humongous problem and actually illustrates nearly every major issue the company has.

 

What is the point of a promo? The point of a promo is to build up a match, to get people interested in seeing two or more individuals have a fight, and, in the longer term, get people interested in seeing them fight on a pay-per-view. Nowadays, the best promos in this business are either cut on UFC shows, boxing shows, or WWE 24/7. You rarely see a good money promo in modern WWE, although they do exist and sometimes are very good, and you never EVER see them in TNA. Why? Because the best promos are those where a person vocalizes an issue they have with another person, and because they believe in that issue they are able to vocalize it with passion. There is rawness to it, a sense of reality even if you know deep down that they don't fully believe what they're saying. A good example is Floyd Mayweather Jr. During the 24/7 build-up for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya on HBO this past spring he buried the Golden Boy at every turn, saying he (Floyd) was the better man and was going to whip this guy's ass. He was a perfect heel. People bought into the dynamic to the tune of 2.4 million buys. But when it was over, Mayweather was a perfect gentleman, praising De La Hoya. So when, six months later, HBO did another 24/7 series, this time with Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, I would think most boxing fans would have to know that Mayweather was merely playing his heel role again. It didn't do the business of the De La Hoya fight in the US because, well, Ricky Hatton isn't Oscar De La Hoya, but it still came close to a million buys and did even better in the UK. It worked.

 

With boxing and UFC promos, even though most hardcore fans of those sports understand that guys sometime play roles and say what they're "supposed to say" to build up fights, they can still get into it. In a way, there is a suspension of disbelief that goes along with boxing and MMA promos that we don't get in pro-wrestling, where suspension of disbelief is key. Why? Well, we may understand that Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn't really the rich, cocky prick that he portrays on television, but it's easy enough to believe that he is. Now compare that to, say, the TNA promo where Jim Mitchell is talking about how Chris Abyss' mom shot his father four times in the back or whatever the story is. How could anyone POSSIBLY suspend their disbelief for that story? And, moreover, who would even want to? Who could possibly care about the actions of two characters we've never even heard of or know a thing about? In the Mayweather/Hatton special, we had the mothers of both men talk about how they (the moms) would like to whip their son's opponent's ass. That was money. In TNA, Abyss, a complete freak, is under the mind control of Jim Mitchell because of something his mom, who we know nothing about, did to his dad, who we know nothing about, twenty years ago or something. This is not money. This is a failure.

 

As is every promo in TNA. Vinny and I read some of the script and sometimes I had to have him read his line again because I had no understanding of it the first time around. It's so horribly written, and worse, everyone's promo is written the same horrible way. Stupid sentences, stupid comments, stupid references to 1998, everyone is required to say the same stupid stuff, and they all sound stupid saying it. There is no emotion in it because they're all reading lines scripted by the same writers, and the promos never make you genuinely interested in a single thing they're selling. On top of that, because they all read the same stupid lines, nobody actually learns how to really cut a promo. When you take into account these scripted promos and the general booking of the show, it's pretty easy to see why everybody on the show is a midcarder. It's impossible for anyone to break out of the pack even if the company tries to break them out. They're still just another guy reading just another stupid promo, and everyone seems capable of beating everyone else on any given day and it never matters in the end (see Angle, Kurt and Machismo, Black). There is a reason UFC business in 2007 won't come close to 2006 levels. It was the year of upsets and most of the top stars were handed major defeats. At least UFC had no control over those outcomes. TNA has total control and manages to screw it up. When everyone is a midcarder, nobody is a star. There isn't a single real star in TNA, and every real star that has entered the company over the last three years, the most recent being Booker T, ended up just another guy within weeks.

 

To be successful a wrestling company needs to have superstars (not just wrestlers) who have issues with each other and are able to vocalize those issues in such a way that fans become interested in paying money to see them settle these differences. TNA's lame scripted promos illustrate everything wrong with the company and why they continue to fail in such a spectacular manner.

 

****

 

For more pro-wrestling and MMA news and analysis with Bryan Alvarez, please visit www.figurefouronline.com.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

It's funny, because one of the things I actually kinda like about TNA is that anybody can beat anybody on any given day. It's a double-edged sword: on one hand, the elevation potential IS there for midcarders like Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, and Robert Roode, but on the other hand it's not going to mean anything considering not a single person is really treated as a star or put over on TV as being worthy of hanging with "the best" on their TNA merits.

 

I could see scripting the finish, so that way the workers and camera crew and everybody else could focus on that perfectly, but the heat segments...yeah. And it's Russo, so the constant references to 1998 (a better time for him) make too much sense.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

So did they end up doing the show exactly as it was in this script?