WWE Hall of Famers Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and "Road Dogg" BG James recently got together for a discussion on Waltman's "#XPAC12360" podcast. You can find the full interview in the video above, or via Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The show also sent us highlights from the interview.
Regarding James' new role with WWE NXT, he said he gets a relationship and camaraderie that he missed as the lead writer of SmackDown.
"For me to get to work with the guys and build a relationship with them and have that camaraderie because it is something I missed as the lead writer [of Smackdown]…. For Smackdown I wouldn't even go out there and do rehearsals anymore. I very rarely talked to the talent because I was just in the writers room or in with Vince going over the show or you know whatever we were doing. I was kind of isolated away on the creative side of the railroad tracks so this is a disconnect. And then the talent calls me on a Wednesday when I'm in prepping for a meeting to go in to pitch a show or whatever...," James said.
James also praised the formula that has been used to build to the NXT Takeover events. James pointed to the recent NXT "Takeover: XXV" event and said that proved these specials don't need to "piggyback" onto another, larger event like a WWE pay-per-view.
"What I love so much about it is and I think it's part of the formula that people like is; look there's five matches," James said. "You go to the live event you can probably get six or eight matches but you tune in for Takeover you get five matches, six tops. And all the titles are on the line and it's not every month, so the titles and the story can build a little longer... revenue is great for the for the Takeovers and this last one proved that it doesn't necessarily have to coattail or piggyback a bigger event so it stood on its own, in a town that we don't run a whole bunch anymore and so it did really well."
James revealed that he worked as the producer for Matt Riddle's win over Roderick Strong at the 25th Takeover special, which was the opening match. "Road Dogg" let Riddle and Strong have a lot of control with the match.
"So I was the producer on that match and I don't think I'm telling stories out of school here," James revealed. "But they came to me and I said, 'Guys I'm 50 years old and I got over by ducking a clotheslines and wiggling my knees. I don't dare put my foot into your wrestling ring today because I'm just gonna screw you up. So y'all do your thing and let me wrap my head around all the things you're doing so that I can make sure cameras are in the right place so we can shoot it.'"
James is also working at the WWE Performance Center under the new NXT gig. He said there is no official job title for him at the PC yet, and that the job is still evolving.
"The job here is not etched in stone and it's kind of still evolving," he said. "You [Sean Waltman] were there with me yesterday when we worked all day on entrances and you know I'm not great at the technical wrestling crap but I'm pretty good at the television aspect of what we do."
No comments:
Post a Comment