Professional wrestling legend and inductee of the WWE Hall of Fame, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, currently under contract with AEW, expressed feelings of sorrow witnessing wrestling talents adhere strictly to scripted dialogues written on their behalf.
The professional wrestling industry is no stranger to criticism over the enforced reciting of prepared dialogues by its talent. Many detractors argue that the wrestlers should instead have the autonomy to devise their own verbal exchanges.
While appearing on a recent episode of the “Insight” podcast, Roberts mused on his famous ‘Avarice’ speech from WrestleMania 6 and contrasted the situation to the present state of affairs. The iconic wrestler shared,
“No one had [delivered a speech quite like that before.] I don’t think anyone has since and I doubt they ever will. Nowadays, the power to create those moments has been taken from the hands of the talents. It’s tragic that their words are ghostwritten.”
Interestingly, there have been accounts of WWE talent having much more control over their professional personas in the past year, regardless of the longstanding critique regarding scripted promos.
As part of a major reshuffling in WWE’s creative team, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque has now been appointed as the new leader. The former head, Vince McMahon, split ties with WWE in January 2024.
[embedded video featuring Jake “The Snake” Roberts preparing for his WrestleMania VI match]