Road Dogg Thinks Wrestling Booking Is Now About The Money, ‘WWE Feels Like A Money Grab’
Road Dogg discusses how things changed when AEW came around.
AEW has become a prominent competitor to WWE, making competitive monetary offers, securing top wrestlers who have left WWE, and landing two shows on network television.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, fellow DX member Road Dogg was asked about how things changed in WWE since AEW has been around.
“It’s definitely a thing. When it comes to renegotiation time, you’re going to lock some people down that you don’t want to go there. Truth me told, there is such a wide range of talent. I don’t watch shows for one talent. The rosters are such that you’re going to see a range of talent, male and female. It’s definitely a think you’re going to talk about. If Santos Escobar is going to go there to make a difference, maye you say, ‘We’ll re-sign you for three years.’ The difference is, I think the booking used to be about wrestling and maybe it’s always been about the money, and I just thought it was about the wrestling. It feels like it’s all about the money now. They can go over there and make some money too, so the money is deciding everything. It feels like WWE, for me, was a money grab. It didn’t feel right,” he said.
Asked how much of the business influenced certain booking decisions, Dogg replied, “I really don’t know. It seems like the later it got, the more decisions were made above the writing room’s head and the inner circle’s head. They are business people, and they do good business. Record-setting everything. The facts don’t give an F about your feelings, and that’s the facts. I don’t know how you argue with that. To argue with that would be business stupid. No business wants to be business stupid. It gets down to, ‘How business do you want to be?’ It felt like it turned into the business wrestling instead of the wrestling business, and in my mind, that’s backward. In my wallet, it makes perfect sense. It felt weird and I wanted to get out there.”
Dogg departed WWE in March, leaving his position as co-lead writer of WWE SmackDown.
Elsewhere during the interview, Dogg gave more insight into his WWE departure.
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