The use of scripted promos have been a big talking point in WWE over the last few years. And while many WWE superstars are asked to follow the script given to them by the writing staff or Vince McMahon, some have more creative freedom than others.
Very few superstars have the kind of creative freedom The New Day has, as they routinely work in their own jokes and references when on-screen. On New Day: Feel The Power, New Day discussed getting more leeway with their promos and their writing process.
"Getting the reigns off of us helped a lot," said Big E. "We have more creative control. That's one of the things I'm thankful for. We don't write our own promos, but we are given promos and oftentimes we are able to say 'we don't really care for this, so we're not going to say that.' So, we huddle in a room for an hour and come up with what we want to say. Our creative process is so fun and easy and organic. I don't like when we have a writer. There's three of us and we'll have a writer in the room, just lingering. It's always easier for the three of us to go into a room, sequestered, and just hash things out. We start popping ourselves and getting on a roll to make things more creative and more us. I don't want to take shots at anyone, but if we read what was given to us on a regular basis....trash."
Xavier Woods continued, noting that aren't many, if any, on the WWE writing team who can relate to the trio. "There are certain situations where, if you have someone writing for you that doesn't have similar life experiences or sense of humor, it's harder for them to write in your voice. That's something we ran into."
Kofi Kingston gave his thoughts, saying Vince McMahon may not understand the references and jokes used by the trio, but trusts them with the material because they are so entertaining.
"He Who Shall Not Be Named [Vince McMahon], talking about how much longer the leash got for us, oftentimes he would get the promo that we sent back and he'd read it and be like, 'I don't get it, but if they want to do it, just let them do it.' He understood the fact that we know our characters well enough and we connect with the people. That's all that he wants. To be able to gain that trust from him, now it's like if anybody wants us to say something, I'm not gonna say it if I don't want to say it. It takes people a while to get to that point."
Finally, Big E wrapped things up by saying that early in his career, he wasn't ready to deliver the kind of promos he's able to do today. And that constant conversations with Vince finally got them to the point where they had more freedom.
"When I think about the early parts of my career, I think about some promos I got that weren't great. But I put some of the onus on myself because I don't think I was ready at the time to deliver it in an entertaining fashion," recalled Big E. "I don't want to put all the onus on creative for all these bad promos. I wasn't a good promo early in my career. We all have to get better. A lot of guys just aren't that good, talking-wise. One of the things I'm really grateful for, which was really frustrating at the time, was sitting outside the office of He Who Shall Not Be Named for weeks and weeks. But that helped build a rapport. So many people are so nervous to talk to him. You need to build a rapport. He respects passion. When you put your career on the line for this, it shows them, 'they take this seriously.'"
Elsewhere during the podcast, New Day discussed Vince McMahon's reaction to them wanting to turn heel after failing to get over as babyfaces. You can view their full comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
