"Drove me nuts" – Road Dogg recalls managing top WWE stars as SmackDown's lead writer (Exclusive)
Former WWE Superstar Road Dogg (aka Brian James) opened up about his time as the lead writer for SmackDown.
The former Intercontinental Champion began working as a producer with WWE in 2011 before becoming part of the creative team. He joined SmackDown's writing team in 2016 and was the head writer for the brand before resigning in 2019.
Speaking about his time as a writer on Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Outlaws, Road Dogg detailed that it was one of the toughest jobs of his life. The veteran added that it was hard to manage all the top stars, and he had to walk on eggshells around them:
"Look, that was the most difficult part for me 'cause once I was the lead writer of SmackDown, it was up to me to manage all my top stars' egos. You know what I mean? So, it's the kind of position you take on and there were some top stars. Some of the top stars still there right now were on the show at the time. I didn't like to play the game, I was as honest as I could be with them. I had to practice keeping my mouth shut because I'm not good at it and so I'd practice, like, 'OK, I shouldn't tell them this, I'll just tell them this,' and even that drove me nuts."
Check out the complete edition of The Wrestling Outlaws below:
Road Dogg highlighted his work schedule as a WWE SmackDown writer
Road Dogg continued to talk about his time on the blue brand. The WWE Hall of Famer added that he had a busy schedule and used to be on the road for six days a week:
“Yes, I was the lead writer of SmackDown when it was good. I think three years and I was on the team for eight. It was, I got the full monty, just like you did back in the day, I did this time. I was on the road, literally six days a week.” (from 0:18 to 0:48)
When Road Dogg left, so did SmackDown Live.
The 53-year-old reportedly resigned as head writer of SmackDown after WrestleMania 35. He then settled into a new position at the WWE Performance Center, where he used to train up-and-coming stars on in-ring promos and character development. He was released from his contract in January 2022.
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