Eric Bischoff Says It’s ‘Not Accurate’ That WWE Superstars Have No Say In Their Creative Direction

WWE Hall Of Famer Eric Bischoff is a veteran in the pro wrestling business and is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds to have ever worked in it. He is well aware of the changing landscape of pro wrestling as well.

One of the biggest complaints in WWE right now is that Superstars are always handed a script which they have to remember and speak as part of their promos. A large section of the WWE Universe is not a fan of scripted promos as they feel it highly restricts the characters of WWE Superstars. Fans also believe that WWE Superstars have no say in their creative direction.

While speaking on his podcast, 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about his brief run in WWE back in 2019. He then dismissed claims that WWE Superstars have no say in their creative direction.

“If there is a perception out there that wrestlers really don’t have a voice in their creative in WWE and it’s really all up to the writers, that’s not accurate. I can only tell you about the very brief time that I was involved in the creative process back in 2019 or whatever it was, but talent would often go to the writers with their ideas and it was up to the writers to help shape that idea. No matter how great you are as a performer and how much experience you’ve had as a performer, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re that great at putting together an extended storyline that fits in the framework of what you need for television. As a talent, you could go to a writer that understood the basic building blocks of a story and say I’ve got this great idea and it was up to that writer to work with that talent and come up with an idea that made sense and then present that idea ultimately to Vince McMahon.

Advertising

Advertising

“I saw that a lot and I generally don’t talk about things that Vince and I talked about when it came to business because I generally don’t think I should. But in this case, I’m going to stick up for WWE and at least dispel that rumor because at least I was there. One of the first things Vince said to me was ‘Eric, reach out to the talent. Develop a relationship with the talent, let them give you their ideas, get them involved in the process.’ I am telling you that was some of the early direction that I got from Vince McMahon himself. I think this persistent narrative that oh it’s just a bunch of writers and wrestlers don’t have any choice and they’re forced [to do this]. There probably are situations where talent is asked to do things they really don’t feel as comfortable with or they have ideas that they really want to get out there but for whatever reason they’re not clicking yet. I get that, that happens but I just want everybody to know that WWE, at least when I was there, not only encouraged talent to work with writers but encouraged the people who were in charge of the writers to work with talent to get some of the wrestling perspective into it.”

There are definitely some WWE Superstars who have more creative control and say in their creative direction. However, most WWE Superstars simply have to abide by what the company tells them and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

h/t to Wrestling Inc for the quotes.