Chris Jericho was recently a guest on the Jim Ross Report podcast. During the podcast, Jericho and Ross were talking about a potential heel turn from Roman Reigns. The conversation ended up being a pretty interesting insight into Vince McMahon’s booking philosophy.
Below are some quotes from Jericho, including what Vince says about booking (via Wrestling INC):
“There’s one thing that people have to realize and it’s that you can’t change the booking [as a performer]. Not even I can change the booking. Not even Brock Lesnar can change the booking. If the booking dictates, ‘well, here’s the finish of the match with A, B, C, and D,’ and you think it sucks, it doesn’t matter. Vince [McMahon]’s big quote is, ‘I just book this s–t – you make it work.’ If he books something that’s not good, you’ve got to do your best to make it work and sometimes it doesn’t work and it’s not the talents’ fault. Nobody’s going out there and dictating their own finishes or dictating their own angles and storylines. You can have influence, but at the end of the day, there’s one guy that decides what we all do. And I think sometimes the fans need to relax a little bit and realize, ‘hey, it didn’t work, but those [performers] put on a good show and did the best they could do under the circumstances,’ and give them a round of applause.”
Jericho added:
“In my case, he made me a lot of money. I made him a lot of money in return. And there is some give-and-take as far as, ‘I think this idea is better.’ And, again, nine times out of 10, if talent really feels it and Vince [McMahon] has respect for you because you have a good track record with ideas with him, he’ll go with it. But even still, once in a while, ‘Vince wants this’ and you’re like, ‘alright, there’s only so much I can do!’ And that’s it. And it’s your job. If you’re an actor and you go get a part in a Steven Spielberg movie and you don’t like the script, you don’t go up to Steven Spielberg and go, ‘hey, Steven, this doesn’t work for me. I need to change this.’ ‘f–k off, man. I’ll get someone else to play this part. It’s only wrestling, man. And we do the best we can with what we’re given and the part we’re supposed to play. And you can put your two cents in it and even for me sometimes, I’ll come up with ideas that Vince goes, ‘they don’t work!’ But you do the best you can with what you’re given. And at the end of the day, as long as people are making noise and go home with a smile on their face, and feeling they’ve got their money’s worth, that’s all that matters.”