Details Behind WWE Unreal On Netflix, Season 2, And Reactions
WWE’s Unreal series on Netflix has debuted, and Fightful spoke with a number of people in the company regarding their thoughts.
We were able to learn many of the things that were “set up” so to speak, and some others of which the reality surprised many that appeared.
One subject that appeared on the documentary but wasn’t a featured performer said that they actually didn’t even realize that they were being filmed for the show. They clarified that WWE had cameras around so much that you didn’t always know what they were for.
WWE talent claim that they weren’t given anything that they weren’t allowed to say, and were pretty well able to talk about what topics they wanted. Outside of some general language that they kept away from. One talent joked that they realized how much “fuck” is said backstage from the show.
There was a scene at the Royal Rumble that was heavily influenced. The women’s locker room was asked to empty out to cheer for Charlotte after she won the Royal Rumble. They weren’t told it was specifically for the Netflix show, but were just asked to. They were not forced to do it. For those asking, it was claimed to us that Charlotte Flair knew about this prior to the report.
There were members of the women’s roster who speculated that the Charlotte Flair/Tiffany Stratton promo “derailment” was manufactured for Netflix, but we should be clear that those were only theories. Nobody we talked to involved with the segment ever claimed that. On typical WWE shows, talent are still completely scripted verbatim. For example, even Paul Heyman and CM Punk’s promos were fully scripted and included on internal scripts this past week.
One WWE producer we spoke to said that they were concerned about authenticity when the show was announced. However, they were very pleased with how it turned out. Specifically we heard from a number of people in the company that feared it would be a “work-shoot” program when a trailer highlighted the IShowSpeed Royal Rumble appearance in a way that appeared “unplanned.” As one talent watched the show, they said the handling of that made them think this would be an honest portrayal.
Production crew we spoke to said that they legitimately did not know about John Cena’s heel turn, as perpetuated in the show. It was admitted that doesn’t happen very often, with CM Punk’s return being one of those times.
Some of the featured acts weren’t quite sure how things would be edited and how things would turn out, and were interested in what the reaction online would be.
There were a number of wrestlers who said that with most programming, they don’t watch it because they’ve already lived it. However, almost all of the people we spoke to that typically follow that, said that they were going to check it out because of how it was promoted to them.
WWE sources we spoke to were especially happy about the buzz the show received within the wrestling world.
Fightful’s Joel Pearl and Jeremy Lambert spoke to Chris Weaver, the director of Netflix’s WWE Unreal.
Weaver said that he was very fresh to pro wrestling and storylines when starting this project, but had someone with him that was very familiar. He knew very little about the workings of wrestling, but learned a ton while working on the show. One of the biggest thing he realized was that WWE treats it like a weekly episodic drama show.
He’s not heard too much from WWE about the response, but said that they seem happy with it, as do Netflix and NFL Films. He doesn’t use social media much, but was expecting a big response from the wrestling audience.
He said there was some things they couldn’t do too much on, like Jade Cargill while she was injured. But they particularly wanted to focus more on Demiti Bennett and Phil Brooks than Rhea Ripley and CM Punk, and hoped they achieved that.
Weaver said that with any show like Unreal, Quarterback or the like, it’s important to be able to appeal to non-wrestling fans. However, there was someone there that kept them honest with the stories. Chris Weaver said that when you get into explaining storylines, things can get murky, so they tried to streamline it. The non-fan was in their mindset, but they didn’t want to alienate avid fans.
Weaver also spoke about the music involved in the show, which he said he was very proud of. He also spoke about the location scouting.
Weaver thinks they captured 900 hours of footage, but nothing specific comes to mind that they left out that they wanted to. They always intentionally capture a ton of footage, because it’s better to have too much than not enough.
The Chris Park/Abyss producing segment where he’s freaking out over Seth Rollins and CM Punk going over time was a scene that Weaver loves. He, like most everyone, put over Park as a person. He also said Michael Hayes is a great television performer, character and interview, and said that his interview with Hayes is one of his favorite he’s ever done.
Weaver said he assumed Cody Rhodes was going to turn heel at WWE Elimination Chamber, and he found out that it was going to be the Rock 15 minutes before it happen. He said that he interviewed Bruce Prichard, Ed Koskey and Triple H in order. He felt their interviews were so good that they were able to piece the story together with just those.
There was a great explanation of why it was that they have people on the show mention their ring name, government name and nicknames. He said that while filming, he heard Paul Levesque referred to as Paul, Triple H, Hunter, Trips, among other things. He thought that clarifying for a new audience would be a great intro.
He didn’t commit to the future of the show but said that he and NFL films are hoping to keep going. He called it a great change of pace.
WWE Unreal looks like it is moving forward, at least on the surface.
WWE Unreal isn’t officially renewed for a season 2, but it certainly seems like WWE and Netflix are continuing to work on it.
Fightful Select noted that WWE Unreal director Chris Weaver was backstage in Gorilla Position during Seth Rollins’ cash in and was filming content. Those we spoke to say they expect that the entire angle will be covered for the next batch of episodes, whenever that may be. Weaver spoke with Fightful and wouldn’t confirm the second season, but said he wants it.
Throughout the week, those that we spoke to in WWE still hadn’t quite made up their mind on how they felt about the show. There were some talent who were featured, who hadn’t been told that they were being filmed for the program. Talent also said that it was already worked into their contract, and there are always signs up saying that they were subject to being filmed, but they did worry about the emotions that run high in the Gorilla position being one less “sacred” area where they could be vulnerable.
Also, featured talent we heard from said they weren’t paid anything extra for the show, at least that they’re aware of. The ones we heard from didn’t particularly mind that, but did note it.
You can see our interview with director Chris Weaver at this link.
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