Former WWE Vice President of Global Television Production Mike Mansury, has revealed that The Shield caused WWE to start using rapid camera cuts.
In recent years, WWE fans have become accustomed to seeing brawls and faced paced portions of matches punctuated by a series of rapid fire camera cuts.
The cuts are quick to show multiple angles of the action, in an effort to convey the high energy nature of what is being filmed. However, this style has been criticised by sections of WWE’s fanbase who find the style distracting.
While WWE Executive Vice President, Television Production Kevin Dunn is often said to be behind rapid cuts, it has now been revealed that the idea actually came from elsewhere.
Speaking during an appearance on AdFreeShows, with Conrad Thompson, former WWE Vice President of Global Television Production Mike Mansury, explained that the style was linked to the debut of The Shield.
“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. 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 and 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 shout-out to the gentleman who shares my initials who created that concept,”
The Shield, made up of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley), made their debut at Survivor Series in 2012. The trio proceeded to reign supreme over WWE for the next two years before Rollins turned on his brothers in arms in the summer of 2014.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.