Former WWE Writer Matt McCarthy was interviewed by Jeff Rubin of the Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show and spoke about the creative process behind booking pro wrestling, what makes a match memorable, the hardest part of working in the WWE, and what it’s like to have Vince McMahon as your boss.
McCarthy said he heard from members of the current writing team that last year, Vince McMahon already had an idea of what he wanted to do for WrestleMania 30.
“I’m sure Vince knows what he would want to at WrestleMania 50 whether he’s around to see it or not,” McCarthy said. “From the writers standpoint, we try desperately to write out as far as out we can, and try to stick it as much as we can, and God knows the wrestlers would want us to. But, it’s the nature of what that show is and what that business is that makes it very, very difficult.”
He explained that WWE’s creative staff always has a longterm plan, but things get changed around on a weekly basis and it’s often hard to arrive at the original destination.
“You try to map out an entire grid of they’re going to fight here this week, then next week this is going to happen, and that’s going to lead to a PPV match. But, after the PPV, this is going to happen and that is going to happen (sigh), and it always changes every week,” McCarthy said. “You try really, really hard – it’s almost like predicting the weather. The further out it is, the less likely you’re going to be right that it’s going to happen.”
McCarthy called Vince McMahon a “genius” at several times during the interview, with one of his biggest talents being his ability to manipulate live crowds.
“It’s a small, simple little thing, but as a performer, it completely blew my mind,” McCarthy said. “The bad guy was just beating up the good guy in the ring for this tag match and I hear Vince scream into the headset, ‘Somebody put on a hold! Somebody put a hold on ‘em! These people are dead!’ And I’m like, ‘What is he talking about?’ Then, immediately, the bad guy puts the good guy in the headlock and they’re just down on the mat. Like clockwork, the audience starts clapping and cheering; they’re rooting for the good guy to get out of this hold.
“This guy (McMahon) is just sitting back here watching this on TV and he is genius at working the audience and getting them to do exactly what he wants them to do.”
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(Partial Source: PWTorch.com)
