An Interview with the Raw GM

This is an interview that was conducted with Real Deal vs Roose’s Raw GM, Dan MacNeal (aka Real Deal) by Kayfabe Magazine writer Ben Shelton.

BS: Hello, Dan.

DM: How ya doin’, Ben?

BS: So the readers are dying to know, how did this blog got its’ start?

DM: Well, John (Smackdown GM Roose) and I were messing around on WWE 2K13 one day, and with the game’s Attitude Era mode, we jokingly said we should divide up the roster and start our own shows. The WWE had gotten a bit stale and we said, “let’s see how interesting we can be”. We had no idea that goofing around would turn into something so big.

BS: What was your favorite storyline?

DM: I have to say my favorite was an accident. For the Royal Rumble, we played the matches, including the Rumble. Of course, Jack Swagger ended up winning the match and earning a shot at Wrestlemania. I was livid, and John thought it was hilarious. I had to come up with someway to keep Swagger looking strong, as to not waste the Rumble, but to force him out of the ‘Mania match.

BS: And you came up with an injury/evil GM storyline?

DM: Basically. I didn’t want my character to be involved much at first. The storyline allowed me to start a feud with Swagger individually and give him a bit of a push. It was funny, a few (storyline) months later, the roles were reversed where I was a friendly GM (but, really, I always was!) and Swagger was a whiny, crybaby heel. It added an extra wrinkle to our feud.

The original feud also involved Alberto Del Rio, who ended up getting fired from Raw after Swagger beat him. John scooped him up, which began a feud between our two shows.

BS: You mentioned you played the Royal Rumble, is that how all the matches were decided?

DM: At first. We booked month by month and let the game decide PPV winners. After a while, we just started booking our own ideas so we could build long term stories and entwine them.

BS: Entwine them? How do you mean?

DM: Like combining multiple stories at once. For example, Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) had a deteriorating relationship, and Bryan won Money in the Bank, while Kane challenged CM Punk for the WWE Title at the same PPV. Punk was aligned with Brock Lesnar, who was feuding with Steve Austin at the time, so those five brawled quite often.

BS: Did any of the storyline animosity with Roose continue outside of the project?

DM: Like wanting to hit John with a chair? (Laughs) Maybe, but not because of the blog. We had a ton of fun doing it and we both got excited about each other’s stories.

BS: Which versions of wrestlers did you use, for example, Chris Jericho or Kane?

DM: I always envisioned it up to the reader. I guess in certain storylines, like when Jericho was a bit of an ally to the Shield early on, he was a veteran. I know John had a ton of veterans (HBK, HHH, ‘Taker) and I don’t exactly know how he was portraying them. I know we tossed retirements or injuries out the window, so we could have guys like Shawn Michaels or Edge.

BS: Is there anything you didn’t like, or wished you could do over?

DM: One moment sticks out, it was early on, I believe after Wrestlemania. CM Punk had just lost the WWE Title to Steve Austin and was cutting a promo. But instead of a scathing CM Punk-type promo, I wrote a John Cena-like promo, where Punk was like, “I lost, shucks, I’m going to try hard to win it back”. And the promo was terrible. John ripped me for a few weeks after writing that one.

BS: So is this the end of the blog?

DM: Unfortunately. John and I have gotten so busy over the past year or so, with work and our girlfriends. And, yes, wrestling nerds can have girlfriends. (Laughs) We had a blast doing it, but unfortunately we can’t commit to doing it and just doing a half-assed product.

BS: Would you ever consider bringing it back eventually?

DM: Hell yeah. But only if we got paid. Maybe WWE or TNA or someone can hire us.

BS: When the project ended, where were you heading, storyline-wise?

DM: I was building towards the breakup of the Shield. Those three guys were going to team with the Undertaker at Survivor Series, as they had a common enemy in the neXt Generation (the new era of DX). ‘Taker was going to be sort of like their mentor, and Ambrose was supposed to not like it.

Eventually he was going to turn on Rollins and Reigns at the Rumble, eliminating them or something to that extent. Then a ‘Mania match between Ambrose and Rollins. Rough details but the storyline would have been put into place. I can’t really speak for John, but I know he was building up for a Cena-Taker match at Mania.

Other than that, I was going to build a Paul Heyman stable with Lesnar, Kurt Angle and a couple others to feud with CM Punk, Austin and others at Survivor Series.

BS: That’ll wrap up our questions today, thanks for taking time out, Dan.

DM: No problem, Ben, thanks for the interview.

Raw 30: Austin Battles Punk; Batista Challenges

Raw opened with a promo from Batista.  Batista went into a verbal assault on Ryback, who he was furious with for attacking him on Raw last week.  He also was confused about why Ryback had an issue to begin with, as he reminded fans that he was trying to be nice to Ryback after an impressive match a few weeks ago.

He then changed his tune, continuing, saying that it no longer mattered and that Ryback made it personal with his attacks.  The Animal challenged Ryback to a match, but he didn’t appear.  He added, that he knew Ryback was scared of him as he left the ring.

Smackdown 29: A Star Returns

Smackdown kicked off with a big surprise. Shawn Michaels‘ music hit and the place exploded for Mr. Wrestlemania as he triumphantly made his return. Standing in the middle of the ring, HBK discussed how his former friends in D-X betrayed him to form a new group. “You see, that’s all fine and dandy that the Pompous Ass Billy Gunn stole my United States belt. I never wanted the damn thing anyway! I was just teaching some young punk like Justin Gabriel a lesson. You see, I have my eyes on a much bigger prize… the World Heavyweight Title. You see John…”

But Michaels was interrupted by the champ himself, John Cena, who joined Michaels in the ring to confront him face-to-face. “HBK, I knew you were going to call me out. I can’t blame you either. You want to get your hands on this belt and you want to get your hands on the best. Well homie, you ain’t [bleep] in my eyes.”

After Cena burned HBK, he was too interrupted as the music of neXt Generation hit. With the mic in hand and Cruiserweight belt over his shoulder, X-Pac led the group down the aisle as he welcomed back Michaels. “I see we couldn’t put your old ass into retirement, Shawn. No matter, our issue isn’t with you anymore. It’s with the fact you think you deserve that belt. Quite frankly, that World Heavyweight championship belongs in neXt Generation where we already hold three championships, not around the waist of some fossil.”

But before X-Pac could continue, Alberto Del Rio‘s music hit. Del Rio explained that he deserved a shot at the belt and that someone like HBK or a group of thugs like the NG shouldn’t disgrace the belt. But HBK interrupted him, telling Del Rio that he will kick his ass later tonight if he’s up for the challenge. Del Rio gladly accepted.

Raw 29: Revenge Sought; Heyman Goads Punk

CM Punk opened this week’s Raw by celebrating that he was able to overcome the odds and beat Brock Lesnar and his former manager, Paul Heyman.  Punk talked about how Heyman tried to get involved, but Punk saw it coming.  He added that despite the circumstances, he proved that he’s still the best in the world.

This brought out Heyman and Lesnar.  Heyman asked, “Best in the world? More like luckiest in the world.”  Heyman began to remind Punk that Lesnar had him beat if it weren’t for an inept referee.  Heyman continued to goad Punk, saying his reign and legacy as WWE Champion would be forever tarnished if he would not give Lesnar one more shot.  Punk said no, telling Lesnar that he had his shot last night and lost. Punk added that he’s onto the next opponent.

SummerSlam: neXt Generation Steals the Show

SummerSlam kicked off with the heavily anticipated Cruiserweight Title Match between six worthy competitors hand-selected by Roose. Roose kicked off the show standing at the stage with the same scale X-Pac had been taunting Rob Van Dam with. Coming out first was Sin Cara, who weighed in at 180 pounds. Next out was Rey Mysterio, weighing in at 168 pounds. He was followed by Justin Gabriel (213), X-Pac (200) and Christian (212). RVD’s music hit and the place erupted. RVD slowly walked to the scale and put one foot on it while the crowd anxiously waited. After stepping fully on, RVD weighed in at 224 pounds, just under the limit.

The match was able to get underway for all six men. About five minutes in, we had our first elimination. Gabriel was rolled up in the middle of the chaos by Sin Cara and eliminated just like that. He argued with the ref but was sent to the back. Sin Cara’s early luck run out right away as X-Pac landed and X-Factor and pinned him for the elimination.

Smackdown 28: X-Pac, RVD Feud Into Summer Slam

The show kicked off with the number one contender match for the World Heavyweight title between Randy Orton and Wade Barrett. The winner would face John Cena at Summer Slam for his belt.

The match kicked off and both Orton and Barrett looked impressive against each other. The match was going great in Barrett’s favor, but he miss-timed his Bullhammer attempt and Orton took control of the match. Eventually, Orton was able to land the RKO and go for the cover. But somehow Barrett kicked out. Orton got in the face of the referee and argued that he should have gotten the three count. Barrett worked his way up to his feet and went for another Bullhammer but missed again. Orton got him with another RKO and this time earned the three count to move on and face Cena at Summer Slam.

After the match, Cena came out and stood at top of the stage. He went on to tell Orton that he is just a speed bump on his road to the Hall of Fame as the greatest champion of all time. “I will do to you on Sunday like I did to the Phenom, the Undertaker, who by the way, will be out of action for some time the commissioner told me. Apparently I almost retired him last week, and Roose is concerned I may have cost him a Money in the Bank winner. Randy, I will leave you broken, lying in a pool of your own blood. Because I am the best there has ever been. The champ… is… here!”

Next up was Brodus Clay taking on one of Roose’s men, Kofi Kingston. Kingston gave Clay a good fight, but the Funkasaurus was in great rhythm as he has been focused the entire month on getting his vengeance against the commissioner who had been screwing with him. Clay landed his patented splash, knocking the wind out of Kofi and earning the 1-2-3.

The third match of the night was a cruiserweight batte between Christian and Sin Cara. Christian had been deemed one of the favorites to win the cruiserweight battle royal at Summer Slam, and he continued to look like one against Sin Cara. Despite wrestling in Sin Cara’s dim lighting, Christian dimmed Sin Cara’s lights with the Killswitch, earning the win heading into Summer Slam.

Continuing with the cruiserweight theme, X-Pac came out to the ring before his match. Once again he was carrying the scale he brought down last week in an attempt to get Rob Van Dam disqualified from the battle royal. X-Pac grabbed the mic and went into another rant about RVD’s weight. “I know last week RVD just got away with not being outed as a cheater when he got lucky and beat me. But I have further proof that RVD is over the 225-pound weight limit. Roll the tapes…”

A video popped up on the boards of security footage of the cafeteria backstage. It showed RVD with a huge plate of food in front of him as he was eating. “Look at him! There is no way he can be under 225 pounds when he eats like The Big Show. I showed this tape to our commissioner and he agreed that all six competitors at the battle royal will have an official weigh in on that very stage this Sunday! And when it’s time for RVD to step on the scale, it will show that he is too fat to wrestle at Summer Slam.”

X-Pac stayed in the ring as he was set to take on Justin Gabriel in singles competitions. Gabriel and Pac feuded before when Gabriel held the US Title. Gabriel continued to look impressive against X-Pac, but he made a major mistake during their match that cost him the momentum. Attempting his 450 Splash on Pac, he was surprised when he made contact with X-Pac’s extended knees. The blow knocked the wind out of Gabriel as X-Pac kicked back up. After landing an X-Factor, X-Pac earned the win.

In the final crusierweight singles action of the night, Rey Mysterio was set to take on Rob Van Dam. RVD controlled most of the match against the smaller Mysterio, and was set to put him away with the Fivestar Frog Splash. But as RVD was perched on the top ropes, X-Pac’s music hit and he came out to the stage, again carrying the scale. RVD came down from the top ropes and began to yell at X-Pac from the ring. The distraction enabled Mysterio to roll up RVD for the win.

RVD quickly rolled out of the ring after losing and made a beeline straight for X-Pac. As the two began trading punches, the rest of neXt Generation came out and beat up on RVD. With Road Dogg and Billy Gunn holding RVD’s arms, X-Pac grabbed the scale and drove it into the gut of RVD. The three left him on the stage holding his ribs and fighting for air.

Last match of the night saw Alberto Del Rio take on Cena. Del Rio went to Roose earlier in the night and asked for a match with Cena. He was upset that Cena cost him a chance at wrestling the Undertaker last week and wanted his main event match. Roose granted him the opportunity to wrestle Cena, but Del Rio didn’t get everything he originally wanted.

He and Cena had a great match going when out of nowhere, Orton’s music hit and he came down to the ring. As Orton stood outside the ring distracting Cena, the champion tried to fend off Del Rio. With Cena up against the ropes, Del Rio took a run at him and Cena flipped him over the ropes. But Orton was standing right there and Del Rio accidentally took him out. As Del Rio and Orton laid on the ground, Cena sat in the ring.

But as Del Rio finally climbed to his feet to get into the ring, Orton pulled him back out and clocked him to prompt the bell. Orton then slid into the ring and he and Cena battled as the referees tried to restrain them as the show went off the air.

Raw 28: Rattlesnake Strikes; Jericho Challenged

This week’s Raw began with Ryback taking on Faarooq with Bradshaw at ringside.  The massive Ryback was impressive in his domination of a strong Faarooq.  After a quick win, he continued to beat on Faarooq until Bradshaw entered the ring.  Bradshaw attempted to avenge his partner, but was given Shellshocked by Ryback.  Ryback left the APA laying in the ring as the crowd booed.

A still limping Real Deal caught up with R-Truth backstage.  Real Deal apologized for all the bizarre endings to his matches recently.  He told Truth to take the night off.  Truth disagreed, saying he wanted to end his losing streak.  The Commissioner overruled him, telling Truth that he’s not on the card for the night.

Smackdown 27: Cena Responds to Taker’s Stalking

Smackdown kicked off with X-Pac‘s music. X-Pac marched down the ramp with what appeared to be a regulation scale over his shoulders much to the confusion of the crowd. After leaving the scale in front of the ring, X-Pac entered and asked for a microphone from the time keeper.

“Now I know why you’re all wondering why I brought this scale down to the ring. But it’s simple. I feel we have a problem within the Cruiserweight division. Certainly, I’m not the problem,” X-Pac said. With that, he rolled out of the ring, walked over to the scale and stood on it to reveal he weighted only 200 pounds, well below the Cruiserweight maximum weight.

X-Pac rolled into the ring and continued his point. “One of the other five competitors is over the maximum weight of 225 pounds though. It certainly isn’t Rey Mysterio or Sin Cara, who combined probably don’t exceed the max. And Justin Gabriel and Christian all check out fine. But a certain RVD…” –  X-Pac mocked the gesture – “… is a bit heavier than the 225 mark. In fact, his bio page lists him at 240 pounds. I have this scale out here to prove that RVD weighs too much. So come on down here Rob, weigh yourself, and excuse yourself from this tournament.”

Raw 27: Punk, Austin Have Words for Heyman

This week’s Raw began with the glass shattering and the first appearance of Steve Austin since his victory at Money in the Bank. Austin went on a tirade, saying he defeated the champion and his buddy, or whatever they are now, and won’t get a title shot because of a contract he signed before Extreme Rules. Austin said that a stupid contract isn’t going to stop him from eventually regaining the WWE Title.

Paul Heyman made his way out to address Austin. He reminded Austin of the contract he signed, negating any future title shots while CM Punk is champion. Austin said he didn’t give a damn who had the title, he deserved a shot, contract or not. Heyman laughed, told Austin to have a fantastic day and left the stage as Austin was furious.

Afterwards, Michael Cole reminded viewers that Jack Swagger would get a title shot later in the night and that Commissioner Real Deal announced earlier that a Lumberjill Match between Trish Stratus and Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s Title would take place tonight.

Smackdown 26: Clay Earns Rematch

Smackdown kicked off with Brodus Clay coming down to the ring. Clay is clearly upset after the cheap way Roose beat him at Money in the Bank. Clay went on to say that Smackdown is run like a circus and that he wanted a rematch with the commissioner. Roose interrupts Clay mid-rant and makes an offer to him.

“Look, Brodus, I’m a reasonable man. I’m not afraid to put my money where my mouth is. If you want a rematch, then I’ll grant it to you. But under one condition… if you can win a match right now, then you will have your rematch.” Music hit and both Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio came down to the ring. Clay still had the mic in hand and said, “Okay, which of these jokers do I have to squash to get my hands on you?” Roose just smiled, lifted the mic and said, “Both.”

The match was underway with Kingston and Mysterio simultaneously beating down on Clay. Clay tried to fight back but he was just too slow to overcome the constant assault from both Mysterio and Kingston. Kingston held Clay down and Mysterio went to the top ropes, landing a splash and pin attempt but Clay kicked out.

Clay climbed to his feet and Mysterio continued his assault while Kingston held his arms back. Mysterio bounced off the ropes and landed a drop kick that staggered Clay. Mysterio went for the drop kick again but this time Clay caught him mid air and threw him on the ground. Kingston then went to attack Clay, pushing him back to create space and attempt a Trouble in Paradise. But as Kingston went for the kick, Clay ducked and Kingston hit Mysterio, who was getting to his feet. Clay threw Kingston out of the ring, landed the body splash and pinned Mysterio for the win. Roose, who was still on the stage, stormed to the back after seeing his team fail him.