In a recent interview with Richard Deitsch as part of The Sports Media Podcast to promote this Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, WWE SmackDown superstar Seth Rollins discussed his approach to promo work, scripted promos, what is considered ‘fair game’ among performers and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On scripted promos for himself: “I would say almost zero percent scripted, in the sense that, I don’t write things down on a piece of paper and read them and memorize them, like that doesn’t really work for me. Scripted in the sense that I have a pretty good idea of what I want to say when I go out to the ring and grab a microphone, but like I said, it’s not written down, it’s almost like written in my head on a little tablet in my head, there’s no piece of paper for me, I can’t do that, I’ve tried it and it just doesn’t fly for me, I can’t be authentic in that way.”
On what is considered ‘fair game’ for promos among performers: “Everybody is different in that regard, everybody you go out there and have a promo with is different, they’re all going to have a line drawn in different places for each person. Cena for example, this is just off the top of my head, when I’ve done stuff with him, promos with him, he always told me I don’t care what you say when we’re out there, anything in front of the camera, I don’t care, I never take it personal so he’s a guy who will let it all fly and when we get to the back, it’s different, it’s work, nothing is personal and some guys aren’t like that and some guys and girls are very protective about certain parts of their life and don’t want that to be in the public and you have to respect that as well. The mileage varies from person-to-person, but I do think most of us have been in the game long enough, especially when we get to the level, you mention John and Roman with their promos and break down that wall a bit, they’ve been in the game long enough where everyone sorts of knows it’s business and there’s going to be personal jabs in there, but if you can’t take that stuff, if your skin isn’t thick enough, then you’re probably in the wrong business. It’s all about conflict, conflict is what sells and that real-life thing, one twist of real-life is really going to be sometimes the difference between a wrestling story and a real story that people get invested in, especially nowadays when the curtain is pulled back so deep.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
