Working in the WWE writers' room is a lot like being in the fashion industry. One day you're in. The next, you're out.
Former WWE writer Tom Casiello was hired by WWE in April 2011 and spent over five years with the company. Speaking to The Agenda Podcast, Casiello said that he many of the wrestlers didn't even bother to learn his name at first due to the high turnover rate among writers.
"To say it was rough the first year, is putting it mildly," said Casiello. "The turnover rate for the writers, it's not so bad now, but in 2011, it was brutal. People were coming and going every two months. My first two weeks, even the talent was like, 'We're not gonna learn your name because you're gonna be gone in a week."
Casiello continued with a story about meeting John Cena.
"He shook my hand and he said, 'I'm not gonna learn your name. You're not going to be here next week.'"
Casiello then clarified that Cena's intentions weren't to be mean. "I love John. He wasn't saying it to be a dick. He was saying it because it was probably true. I wasn't cut from the same cloth as these guys. I came from a much more, calmer world, than WWE.
"It was brutal that first year. People were not nice. But, I get it. There were a lot of folks coming in who were not lasting longer than two or three weeks. The people who had been there awhile, just assumed I'd be one of them."
Casiello worked his way to Managing Lead Writer before being fired in December 2016.
The former WWE writer talked openly about his time in WWE, sharing tales about Vince McMahon not liking long stories and pitching Kaitlyn as a member of the Wyatt family.
