Select Answers: Producing a match, Accidental Rumble elimination, security

Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.

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How does producing/laying out a match work? You hear stories about Macho Man being very meticulous in his match planning such as Wrestlemania 3 contrast that with other wrestlers who love calling spots in the ring. What are the guidelines or how does that process work in modern wrestling? Thanks Sean super appreciate the work you do!

Talent work directly with the coach/producer, and see what spots are a plausible possibility. Most talent already have a good idea of that, but there may be something that creative has said that they need to get over in a match. That is implemented, and generally the producers also speak with each other, and to the production truck to let them know what to prepare for. The producers/coach are in the Gorilla position sending the spots and cues to the ref via an ear piece if needed. Coaches and Producers typically also take notes on the match.

What would WWE do if the supposed winner of the Royal Rumble accidentally got eliminated? Both on the night and then going forward to Wrestlemania?

Well....that actually did happen in 2005. I guess the answer to your question is "march down to the ring and tear both quads."

But, this actually kind of has happened. In 2005, John Cena and Batista were eliminated at exactly the same time, but Cena was supposed to hit first. The match was resumed and Batista won, as was the plan.

In 2000, The Rock did beat Big Show to win the Royal Rumble. However, The Rock's feet hit the ground first. On TV, you couldn't tell from the angle they showed. However, they brought it up on TV, and made a nice short angle out of it. The Big Show actually won top contendership to the WWF Title at No Way Out, and they had a triple threat match for the world title on Raw in March. Then Rock, Big Show, then-WWF Champ Triple H and Mick Foley competed for the title at Mania. Big Show was factored in to a lot of top house show stories as a result, too.

How does it work with security when wrestlers come through the crowd and hop the barricade? Like are they informed of the spot etc? I’m thinking more so when like a hooded wrestler comes through the crowd and into the ring.

Well, they're supposed to. That's how it almost always happen. However, it doesn't always go that way. At WrestleMania 33, Rob Gronkowski was to get involved in the ring and do a spot with Mojo Rawley and Jinder Mahal. However, Lisa the security guard ran over the prevent it. A bunch of refs smartened her up on the spot, and everything ended up okay.