WWE: Sami Zayn on WWE’s Chaotic Creative Process, Bruce Prichard Undergoing Surgery, Alexa Bliss

WWE

Jun 11, 2022

Sami Zayn Comments on WWE’s Chaotic Creative Process & Constant Changes in Plans

A recent episode of the After the Bell with Corey Graves podcast had Sami Zayn as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Zayn’s thoughts on WWE’s chaotic creative process and environment and how talent are able to make it work every week.

Corey Graves – “Much like all four Beatles, everyone on the roster is fully prepared to go, ‘We don’t know what we’re doing tonight, that’s alright, we’re gonna go out there and do it anyway. Week after week.”
Sami Zayn – “If only people knew how good everyone in WWE is. They don’t know, and they’ll never know.”
Graves – “We say this all the time, things can go crazy on a regular basis, a weekly basis, it happens. We are there, every week, things are constantly in flux and constantly changing. Why is that? Because we have the best team and crew on planet earth and despite all the changes and chaos and variables, we are going to go out and get the job done. Things are constantly changing, but even when something gets blown up, right in the middle of the show, welp, we’ll figure it out and course correct. Between the talent on-screen and the amazing crew backstage and at ringside and every aspect of this business, when we converge and we’re on the same page, you can’t touch it.”
Zayn – “There are times when I’m frustrated with it, when things are going awry, and I’m frustrated and I’m about to go out and I go, ‘this just shouldn’t happen. This should be the week where it all explodes to where it never happens again.’ It never happens, we always pull it off. It’s a testament to how talented everybody is. It’s crazy. This shouldn’t work, but it does. Just once, I’d love for it to not work so we go, ‘guys, we can’t keep operating this way. We need to have things set beforehand, we can’t have it this close to the wire.’ No, we always pull it off, that’s why it keeps happening.”
Graves – “Exactly, nothing will ever change until something goes wrong, but the way everyone is firing on all cylinders, nothing truly goes wrong. It’s the beauty of live TV. There was a few weeks back, you’ll know what I’m alluding to, when things changed in a very drastic manner on Monday Night Raw and I walked back through the curtain and I walked up to our fearless leader [Vince McMahon] and he had a grin on his face. ‘Hey, it’s live TV, nothing can go wrong, right?’ He just laughed and shook my hand and went about his business.”
Zayn – “I think he secretly loves it. He loves the chaos.”
Graves – “I think he does too. It keeps the crew on their toes.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Bruce Prichard to Undergo Torn Rotator Cuff Surgery

During a recent episode of the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast, WWE Executive Producer and host Bruce Prichard revealed that he will be undergoing surgery next week to repair a torn rotator cuff injury.

“I have a torn rotator cuff. Torn, clean off the bone, ain’t nothing there. I’m going to get it fixed. I’m going to get it fixed next Wednesday.Six months. Six months rehab.”

Prichard also revealed that a recent bout with colitis was the source of his injury.

“I wish I had a good story for that. I had colitis. I changed my diet, started working out, started getting healthy and feeling good. I put on weight because I’m working out, getting stronger and all this good shit, feeling good, but my shoulder was bugging me. I was going in for treatment on my shoulder. one day, I look in the mirror, and my entire right arm is black and blue, the ugliest thing you’ve seen in your life. I said, ‘what is this?’ Didn’t hurt, matter of fact, my shoulder pain had gone away. I went to the doctor, said, ‘what is this bruising from?’ They look at, ‘you tore your bicep, clean off the bone, from your shoulder.’ How the hell did I do that? I did nothing where I can say, ‘I heard that pop.’ Nothing like that. I continue my training, I’m stronger than ever, I do all my stuff, next thing I know, my shoulder starts hurting again. This time, it’s a different pain and it’s intense and it’s not going away. I got it check out at WrestleMania and the doctor says, ‘Bruce, your rotator cuff is torn.’ ‘How can you tell that from examining me?’ Well, he’s the top top guy. Got an MRI — had a panic attack when they put me in the MRI thing, a little claustrophobic because they put me in a tube that is the size of your left toe — I got it done, it’s torn, I’ll get it fixed. It got to the point where I was in pain all day long and I don’t feel like being in pain all day long. I’ll just be in pain for six more months knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Alexa Bliss on Origin of Her Lilly Doll

WWE Deutschland held a recent interview with Alexa Bliss. One of the topics discussed included Bliss’ thoughts on the origin of the Lilly doll for her character in WWE.

“Love it, I love it [seeing younger fans with the Lilly doll]. It’s so great. You know, Lilly was a fun concept to bring to life. I texted Jason [Baker] who does all the work on the masks that you see on WWE, all of the — the crown that I wore with the black goo coming out of it. Him and his wife did that and they are incredible talent and any kind of prop work that you see that’s a little extra special, that definitely comes from them. They did a lot of puppets for the Firefly Fun House, Alexa’s Playground, they came out with Lilly and it was really cool because I had texted Jason and I was saying, ‘I really want a doll to interact with’ and he was like, ‘A doll?’ I said, ‘Yeah. I want a doll’ and I was like, ‘I want it to look like someone scribbled her, like a child scribbled her on a piece of paper. She just popped off the page.’ I was like, ‘Button eyes, 3D teeth, want it to kind of look like me but scary’ and they came up with — they showed me Lilly and it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen and you know, I was so happy that WWE went for it because I know that it was something special about Lilly and the fact that she has resonated with so many people, especially the younger generation of fans because it just shows that they enjoy her as much as I do and it’s a lot of fun to work with Lilly and it’s just so cool. I always just wanted to have, you know, something that people can just, you know — tangible they can play with and it’s Lilly and it’s awesome.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com