Brian Gewirtz Recalls Ric Flair Promo That Really Upset Vince McMahon
As a former WWE creative writer for more than a decade, Brian Gewirtz has seen his fair share of segments, and of course, not everything can always go exactly how the boss wants it to go. "There might have been an incident in Madison Square Garden once when Ric Flair went off script that got Vince a little heated about what he had said and said, 'Dammit, from then on, I need to know what every single talent is going to be saying going out there,'" Gewirtz said in an "AdFreeShows" exclusive interview. "That was in Madison Square Garden with lots of corporate sponsors and when he said [that he has made virgins bleed] there was, there was a noticeable shift in the amount of approval process growing from that point."
While he was Head of Creative for WWE, Vince would make sure that most promos were scripted, as he wanted promos delivered in a certain way with certain verbiage used. This was especially true in the second 20 years of his 40 years running the company. McMahon has also been known to ban words and phrases that he does not think fit in WWE such as wrestling, wrestler, strap, belt, blood, hospital, and, one that was added to the list in early 2022, pay-per-view. This was due to the fact that WWE began calling their big shows premium live events.
Promos may be less scripted moving forward without Vince at the helm.
Recently on WWE TV, we have seen the words wrestler and wrestling used, as Vince is no longer Head of Creative after announcing his retirement via Twitter on Friday, July 22, 2022. Vince's retirement came following allegations of him paying multiple women hush money in order buy their silence about sexual affairs (via Wall Street Journal). About a month earlier, Vince stepped down as CEO and Chairman of the Board when the initial investigation was launched, however, the stepping down became permanent when he announced his retirement. Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon have since officially taken over as co-CEOs of the company.
Triple H, who was in the ring when Flair cut the promo about making virgins bleed in 2004, has taken over the role of Head of Creative since Vince departed the company. Head of Creative is not the only position the 14-time World Champion has taken on, as he is now the Head of Talent Relations for the company following John Laurinaitis' release due to his involvement with the hush money allegations. Since stepping into the two roles, Triple H has made changes to programming, such as longer matches, and brought back formerly released talent such as Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Dexter Lumis, and Hit Row's Ashante Thee Adonis, Top Dolla, and B-Fab. It remains to be seen how much more freedom talent will ultimately be afforded in promos with Vince no longer in charge.
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