WHY HAVING A CHARACTER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FLIPING, FLOPPING and FLYING, Vince Russo
WHY HAVING A CHARACTER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FLIPING, FLOPPING and FLYING
By Vince Russo
Hello to my good friends from down under. Let me first say that it is both an honor and a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to share my thoughts on pro wrestling with you. As a citizen of the United States, visiting your beautiful country has always been on the top of my bucket list. Not only to experience the beautiful landscape, but also to see if there are indeed kangaroos hopping around golf courses, as I’ve been told.
If you’re familiar with my writing from WWE, WCW and TNA, then you should be very familiar with my style. I am all about character and storyline and always have been. The reason for that is simple: EVERYBODY can wrestle—EVERYBODY. You can practice the same moves, get them down perfectly, but what does it matter if everybody else on the card has them down perfectly as well? At that point you are ALL WRESTLERS, and nothing separates, or distinguishes Wrestler A, from Wrestler B.
However, when you perfect a “character”, then you have a unique trait, or gimmick that nobody else can perfect. Why—because, it is yours. It is what makes you stand out, and what makes you “different. There can only be ONE YOU, that’s why creating a great character in the wrestling business is an absolute MUST.
So you ask—HOW do you achieve that? To be honest, the answer is quite simple.
First, you must realize that wrestlers ARE NOT professionally trained actors—they are WRESTLERS. Being a good actor involves a completely different skill set. So, as a writer you can’t expect wrestlers to be seasoned actors. Very few wrestlers actually have the talent to excel at both wrestling and acting. So—as a performer, what do you need to do?
The answer to that question is actually quite simple. It lies deep within you. You need to reach down and find something that is not only unique to YOU, but also IMPORTANT to your very being. WHO are you? WHAT makes you tick? What is part of your very fabric? What is IMPORTANT and PERSONAL to you? THAT is the key right there. We all have personality traits that are unique only to ourselves. It is what makes us different.
When I used to develop characters, whether it be Edge, Val Venis, Christian, it didn’t matter, I always dug deep within their soul to examine WHAT was important to them. What were they PASSIONATE ABOUT?
From there, you take that element, or those elements, and you MAGNIFY THEM 1000x’s over. You make those traits, or personalities that are LARGER THAN LIFE. Steve Austin was a legitimate “BAD ASS” and he was legitimately from Texas, however, he wasn’t a “Rattlesnake” who drove beer trucks into arenas. That was the LARGER THAN LIFE aspect that drove his character to superstar status. Taking one speckle of dirt and transforming it into thousands of miles of sand dunes.
THAT is the key. To take something that is unique to you, a fabric of who you are, and turn it into a MILLION DOLLAR IDEA!!!
Good luck on your journey!!!
