JBL believes acting coaches would benefit wrestling significantly as some segments are “cringeworthy”
While speaking on the Something to Wrestle podcast, Conrad Thompson asked WWE Hall of Famer JBL (John Layfield) about the idea of professional wrestling having acting coaches. Thompson said the following…
“We spend so much time working on the mechanics of the match and making sure that we can move and take care of our opponents, but we don’t spend nearly enough time worrying about the camera and the emotion.
And I’m not criticizing WWE production. They do all their parts. But I’m saying, what’s wrong with just calling it what it is and having an acting coach there to say, ‘Hey, maybe a little more like this or a little bit less like that,’ or that sort of thing.
Why doesn’t that exist?”
Here was JBL’s response…
“I don’t know. And I think it should. Back in the day, we didn’t want to let outsiders into the business, and I don’t think nobody wanted to admit there was as much acting as there was. It was basically the character was an extension of yourself.
But George Steele was not an animal who ate turnbuckles. He was a high school coach. That was a really smart guy, by the way.
I don’t see any problem with this. You look at what some of these skits are done now—say, skits or whatever they call these scenes. Pre-tapes. They’re cringeworthy.
I mean, some of them are freaking horrible. Now, some of them are very good but they’ve always been like this. Some have always been bad. You look at some of them and they’re freaking horrible. People overact, they underact, they don’t respond right.
I mean, get somebody there that can show people that don’t know what they’re doing, even the ones that know what they’re doing. Make them better.”
JBL later stated the following…
“I think if you could give people that through an acting coach or whatever it is, look, it doesn’t matter if it’s real or if it’s acting, if people perceive it to be authentic. That’s the main thing. And it doesn’t matter otherwise. It’s just what the perception is.
And so I think it’s a great idea to have acting coaches. I think it would help our business significantly.”
Former WWE star Jinder Mahal responded to JBL’s comments in a post via Twitter/X…
“I agree. Every WWE talent can benefit from acting classes. WWE does offer them. The resources are there, but you have to ask for them. Same goes for access to financial resources and language programs.”