Although a lot of fans have criticized WWE for allegedly forcing its performers to stick to the script instead of improvising when cutting promos, a new report suggests there are certain wrestlers who prefer the scripted approach.
According to Ringside News , The Miz is among the superstars who feel this way, even though it often seems as if he’s delivering his lines ad-lib. Citing internal sources, the outlet wrote that the former WWE Champion “loves being scripted,” and the reason he doesn’t appear on-script is his skill in delivering the lines the company’s writers prepare for him.
An unnamed creative team official also told the publication that former Women’s Tag Team Champions Bayley and Sasha Banks — who are currently in the middle of a heated feud in the aftermath of their breakup — are two wrestlers who “don’t really improvise” as they benefit more from writers giving them “a lot of input” in their segments.
In addition to the aforementioned superstars, The Street Profits are reportedly less spontaneous than they appear to be on-screen. Over the weekend, Ringside News wrote about this, pointing out that Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins work closely with WWE writer Chris Dunn, who has been with the company for over four years and supposedly “understands” their characters. This is apparently what makes their promos sound “effortless” when they deliver them.
However, the pair does improvise occasionally. The outlet explained that former Monday Night Raw executive director Paul Heyman was instrumental in convincing higher-ups to give The Street Profits more leeway to go off script back when they were still on the red brand.
While these superstars seem comfortable with the lines they’re asked to say on WWE programming, others have called out company officials — particularly chairman Vince McMahon — for creating scripts that purportedly make wrestlers look bad. Current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley said in July that during his time in WWE, he felt pressured by McMahon giving him two-page scripts that made him appear “stupid” because he had to memorize each and every line on live television.
Though more is scripted that fans might think, certain members of the WWE roster are supposedly being given the opportunity to be spontaneous when delivering promos. As quoted by 411 Mania , SmackDown star Jey Uso recently revealed on The Gorilla Position podcast that the promotion trusts him and Roman Reigns to mostly go unscripted during their on-air segments together, because of their familiarity with each other as real-life cousins.