Wrestling veteran discloses the backstage reason why people couldn't pitch ideas to Vince McMahon (Exclusive)
Vince McMahon wasn't the easiest boss to have and that's no secret. Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon are now at the helm. Now that Vince is not in WWE, more stories are emerging about the difficulty that was involved in working with him. Wrestling legend Dutch Mantell revealed the difference between McMahon and Triple H and why it was so difficult to pitch ideas to the latter.
The man who made WWE into a sports entertainment juggernaut it is today, finally retired last month. A system was in place in WWE when Vince McMahon was around. It was always difficult to get direct meetings with him, and there were stories of how even some of the biggest men (physically) would be intimidated to knock on his door and enter his office.
On the latest episode of Smack Talk, wrestling legend and veteran Dutch Mantell detailed how difficult it was to get access to Vince McMahon and how different it is with Triple H. He claims that more people will be pitching ideas to Triple H regardless of whether they are accepted or not:
"I think with Triple H, it's much easier. He's walking the hallways. Vince [McMahon] never walked the hallways. Vince walked into the hallways and everybody reported to Vince. You didn't see Vince till it was about 5 minutes before you went live. That's when he walked out of office and went to sit down in gorilla position. With Triple H, I guarantee you he's not sitting in the office. He's walking the hallways, he's meeting everybody. Instead of you going to see Triple H, Triple H is coming to see the talent. He's talking to them, he's checking the temperature of the room, he's reading the room. And I guarantee you, all those guys are pitching ideas to him because they're relaxed. Whether it's accepted or not, they still pitched the idea. And the worst idea ever is the one that's not pitched. "(2:56-4:04)
You can watch the full video below:
Dutch Mantell on why it was so important to directly pitch ideas to Vince McMahon
Before he spoke about the difference between Vince McMahon and Triple H, Dutch Mantell also revealed that it's not a good idea to pitch ideas to writers as they would "poop" themselves if Vince McMahon asked them a few questions about it.
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He explained how important it was to pitch directly to Vince McMahon:
"If you have an idea, you can't give it to one of those little writers, because they don't get it anyway. If you gave them this angle to take to Vince and Vince asked them some questions, they would poop themselves. Because they don't understand the angle going in. So they can't answer any questions, and that does your idea worse. So never give your idea to a writer or agent. Go see him yourself. It's your idea, so go explain it. And you can only explain an idea if you're face to face with the guy. And you may go in there to pitch your idea and he may have something else he wants to tell you. So your idea gets pushed further down." (2:00-2:55)
The creative process in WWE certainly isn't a simple one.
It will be interesting to see how the creative process transforms under The Game after years of a certain process with Vince McMahon.
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You can watch Dutch Mantell review the latest episode of SmackDown and AEW Rampage below.