Former VP Of TV Reveals The Shield Caused WWE To Bring In Excessive Camera Cuts
Hate WWE's camera cuts? Blame The Shield, apparently
A bugbear of many WWE fans is the often excessive amount of camera cuts WWE employs when broadcasting their product, with some wrestling fans being taken out of the moment by the sheer amount of cuts used in any one segment.
Most fans are quick to point the finger of blame at much-maligned WWE EVP of Television Production Kevin Dunn, but former WWE VP of Global Television Production Mike Mansury explained how the cuts came to be, saying the following to Conrad Thompson on AdFreeShows:
“I will choose to protect the nameless person, but I will say the rapid camera cutting, to my recollection, that came into play when The Shield debuted,” said Mansury. “The whole purpose behind it, was to make what you see on-screen with the three characters of The Shield and the push, was to make it seem all that more chaotic. At the time, it worked. I can see now, after so many years of doing it, a lot of viewers feel like they're on a queasy thrill ride, but that was the intent of it initially.
“A lot of it is done to protect the magic. You don't want to expose the business. A big part of the business is how it's done on TV. If you're exposing the magic, you're killing the fun for everybody. That's the approach and the rapid camera cut situation, it was born out of creating and exciting an chaotic feel for when the Shield were doing the three-on-one beatdowns early in their run. It's hard to break some habits, but shoutout to the gentleman who shares my initials who created that concept.”
H/T: Fightful