Kemo
03-29-2017, 12:57 AM
Former WWE announcer Justin Roberts recently did an interview with Memorabiliaguy.com to promote his new book, Best Seat in the House: Your Backstage Pass through My WWE Journey. The book is getting rave reviews, with Roberts detailing his journey living out a childhood dream and the good & bad aspects he experienced throughout his 12 year run with the company. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
The claim in his book that Vince McMahon does not care what fans think:
“When you do a live wrestling show you have a live audience telling you what they like and what they hate. Instead of appeasing the fans and writing the show the fans like, and believe me they have some of the greatest minds and talent in wrestling, they could put on a Wrestlemania every week. Like the attitude era. You watch it now and its really flat for three hours and once in while the crowd kind of like some of it. It’s not the talents fault. As an example, say the crowd really like Cesaro but the company wants you to like Sheamus so they are going to give you Sheamus until you like him in the same way you like Cesaro. Look at Roman Reigns, the company wants you to accept him, but if you like someone else, no you have to like who the company wants you to like. The fans aren’t getting a show that is catered for them, it’s catered to running with the guys who they want to push.”
Why the fans aren’t getting a show that is catered for them:
“The higher-ups at that company are the sort of people who say, “You’re not going to tell us what to do. This is our company and we will run it how we want” – that’s it. Wrestling fans are so loyal they will find one or two things every week that they like about a show, even if they hated everything else. Its unfortunate and I want WWE to thrive. I just want the fans to have great shows and the shows I had growing up. I loved wrestling as a kid because it was great, and I want it to be the same way for current fans. I want the business to keep going strong.”
The claim in his book that Vince McMahon does not care what fans think:
“When you do a live wrestling show you have a live audience telling you what they like and what they hate. Instead of appeasing the fans and writing the show the fans like, and believe me they have some of the greatest minds and talent in wrestling, they could put on a Wrestlemania every week. Like the attitude era. You watch it now and its really flat for three hours and once in while the crowd kind of like some of it. It’s not the talents fault. As an example, say the crowd really like Cesaro but the company wants you to like Sheamus so they are going to give you Sheamus until you like him in the same way you like Cesaro. Look at Roman Reigns, the company wants you to accept him, but if you like someone else, no you have to like who the company wants you to like. The fans aren’t getting a show that is catered for them, it’s catered to running with the guys who they want to push.”
Why the fans aren’t getting a show that is catered for them:
“The higher-ups at that company are the sort of people who say, “You’re not going to tell us what to do. This is our company and we will run it how we want” – that’s it. Wrestling fans are so loyal they will find one or two things every week that they like about a show, even if they hated everything else. Its unfortunate and I want WWE to thrive. I just want the fans to have great shows and the shows I had growing up. I loved wrestling as a kid because it was great, and I want it to be the same way for current fans. I want the business to keep going strong.”