Carlito is pulling back the curtain on what it can actually take for a WWE wrestler to get an idea heard backstage, and according to him, “speaking up” sometimes means chasing writers and Triple H around for weeks just to get a simple yes or no.
During a recent interview with Inside the Ropes, Carlito was asked about laid-back wrestlers sometimes being criticized for not pushing hard enough for themselves creatively. He said that criticism leaves out how frustrating the process can become once a wrestler actually tries to pitch something. Carlito explained that a talent could take an idea to a WWE writer, get a positive reaction, then come back the following week only to discover the writer barely remembers the conversation.
“I remember a lot of times somebody said, ‘Oh, you didn’t speak up.’ Well, the thing is, speaking up is going one week to, let’s say, a writer: ‘Hey, I got this idea.’ ‘Oh, that’s a good idea.’ Okay. Come back next week. ‘What do you think?’ ‘What was the idea?’ ‘Oh, what is it again?’”
According to Carlito, that can turn into getting passed from one person to another while weeks continue to disappear. Eventually, he said, a wrestler might finally get to Triple H and still walk away without an answer.
“‘Oh, talk to so-and-so.’ Okay, now three weeks have gone by. Eventually, you get to Hunter. You’re like, ‘Yeah, what do you got?’ ‘Yeah, let me see. Let me look into it.’ Don’t you run the show? Like, who you got to talk to? Just tell me yes or no or whatever.”
Carlito said that kind of constant backstage chasing simply isn’t something he has the energy or personality to do. If he brings an idea up once or twice, he feels that should be enough without having to repeatedly track people down.
“That’s speaking up. It’s like, bro, I don’t have that kind of energy. You know what I mean? If I tell you once or, you know, at least twice, I don’t have to be chasing you around. Call that lazy. Call it whatever you want. It’s just—that’s not me.”
Carlito’s comments offer an interesting look at the other side of WWE’s creative process. Wrestlers are often told they need to fight for their ideas and make themselves heard, but Carlito’s experience was that getting an actual decision could require weeks of following up with multiple people backstage.
That approach clearly wasn’t for Carlito, and he appears comfortable admitting it. Rather than constantly chase creative for opportunities, he preferred to make the most of whatever WWE handed him and move on.
What do you think about Carlito’s description of WWE’s creative process? Should wrestlers have to chase writers and Triple H for weeks to get an answer on an idea, or is that simply part of fighting for your spot? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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