My Story Of How The WWE Screwed Me Out Of A Job
One of the first websites I ever developed was WrestlingGeeks.com and it focused on the world of professional wrestling. The site has been dead for five years because I was so angry at the WWE. Why? Because they stole an idea that I pitched during an interview for a Creative Writer position, but didn’t hire me for the job.
Here is an excerpt from my story. The full article can be read at the re-designed, WrestlingGeeks.com
I reached out to several of my contacts from the WWE who helped me land a job interview to become a member of the Creative Writing team. Before I came in for the interview, I went through several weeks of conversations with a WWE recruiter about the position and the grueling demands of the job.
Most writers are initially brought on for a 3-month temporary basis. The reasoning is simple. Are you talented or not? Can you handle the travel or not?
On a normal week, a writer travels on Sunday night to the city where Monday Night RAW is being held. At the end of RAW on Monday night/early Tuesday morning the writing teams travels to another city for the Smackdown taping. On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning everyone would travel back to Stamford and put in a full day of work. Thursday is an office day in Stamford.
Friday and Saturday are off days, except for PPV weeks when the travel schedule would start on Saturday.
In addition, writers were expected to be “on call” at any point to re-write storylines in case of injury, Wellness failures or arrest.
The schedule sounded grueling, and truthfully, I wondered if I would last. However, getting the chance to join the creative writing team would fulfill all of my professional dreams and aspirations and there was no way I wasn’t taking a shot. Early discussions about a salary were between the $50,000-$60,000 range.
My first interview in the Stamford, CT headquarters was pretty intimating…
It was the first time I ever set foot in the WWE building.
I remember almost getting giddy seeing the “old-school” workout facility [right] — the cheesy one with the neon WWF lights that were featured in a number of commercials and promotional videos in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
As I walked through the halls, I remember the recruiter giving me advice — you never know who you’ll see walking the halls, but when you see them, don’t go crazy like a fan.
I was brought to a smaller boardroom that had some memorabilia in it, but was clearly used for low-priority business dealings. I sat down with the recruiter and someone from the human resources department. She was a woman with the last name McMahon but they told me she had no relation to the owners. Odd…
Nothing too exciting came from the interview, but I was called back to meet with the writing team the following week.
When I went back for my second and final interview on Thursday, May 29th 2008, I met with Brian Gewirtz, the head writer for RAW and Ed Koskey, the temporary head of the Smackdown team. Koskey was filling-in while Michael Hayes was serving a 60-day suspension for dropping the N-bomb to Mark Henry during some Wrestlemania 24 festivities.
This time I was taken to an even smaller room with Gewirtz, Koskey, the recruiter and myself.
Let me make something perfectly clear, I’m pretty shitty at interviews. I tend to have difficulty articulating my skills but at the age of 25 I had a pretty decent resume of accomplishments in the media business.
One thing that always stuck in my head….
They asked me about my favorite wrestlers, but it wasn’t in the “who would you like to work with” way, but rather in the “hey little buddy, who is your absolute favorite wrestler ever” way.
I remembered the advice from the recruiter during my first interview — don’t sound like a crazy fan — this is a business. Plus, I figured that a new writer would work with some of the younger talent anyway, so I coolly rattled off some of the “up-and-comers,” and of course Triple H — like a good future corporate kiss-up.
During the whole interview I was waiting for the opportunity to “show-off” my wrestling mind and I finally got my chance when they asked me what I liked and disliked about the current product.
My best idea…
If you remember back to April/May 2008, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels had one of the best feuds in the WWE. Michaels was coming off of his emotional victory over Ric Flair at Wrestlemania and Jericho was needling HBK over sending the Nature Boy into retirement.
What you probably don’t remember — — during that time Chris Jericho was the reigningIntercontinental Champion. You probably don’t remember because Jericho rarely defended the title and most times wouldn’t even carry the belt with him into the ring or to interviews. Simply, the belt was being underutilized.
Here was my pitch to the Creative team…
For the whole story check out WrestlingGeeks.com
