Raven On Scripted Promos Hurting The Wrestling Business, Helping CM Punk In ROH

Raven recently was interviewed by ESPN and below are some of the highlights:

Scripted promos being bad for the wrestling business:

“I think it’s bad for the business. Now they write promos for people. In the old days, you got bullet points. They said, ‘Here are the points you gotta hit, so do it in your character.’ If you didn’t know how to be a character or how to be a star, you didn’t get over.

Now they write for everybody, which is good for the lower-tier guys who can’t write, who aren’t creative enough yet or don’t have enough psychology yet. But for guys who have potential star power, you’re really killing it, because [Steve] Austin would’ve never came alive if they would’ve been writing his character for him. If they told him to just stay with these promos. It’s a whole different world now.”

The lack of original characters in professional wrestling:

“Ninety-nine percent of the business is two-dimensional. They don’t have points of view. People used to complain when they worked with Shane Douglas and he’d go, ‘The Franchise doesn’t do that,’ talking in the third person. I loved that about him because I want a guy that knows what his character would and wouldn’t do — because that I could work with. The character is three-dimensional. You know his point of view. The fans could probably tell you, which is ultimately what I wanted, what he would do in any situation.”

CM Punk crediting him for being the first veteran to teach him psychology during their ROH feud in 2003:

“I never realized I helped him that much. Maybe he was listening when I thought he was arguing with me. I thought he would’ve looked back with less than fondness on me because we butted heads quite a bit, but I’m glad he didn’t.”