Ace Steel has had a heck of a career, both in the ring and behind the scenes. Recently, Steel discussed ‘pipebomb’ promos and using them sparingly. Steel is currently working backstage with AEW. He held a similar position with WWE from January of 2019. Recently, one half of Hatebreed (alongside CM Punk) sat down with the “Wrestling Perspective” podcast and talked about how promos have evolved to have a bit more reality in the mix. Highlights of the interview are below:
On reality-based promos: “I think they’ve always existed, they actually got away from them with the…WWF, back in the day, was all the toys and wrestling buddies and it was all superficial and on the surface. You didn’t know anything about this person, as a person. That worked for a long time. Wrestling was that and it worked for the times, it was geared toward kids and was cartoon characters. The Dusty Rhodes with polka dots, no one cared about and he wasn’t as much of a draw because I didn’t care about that Dusty Rhodes. He was fun to watch and entertaining, but he wasn’t the son of a plumber anymore. He didn’t talk about that guy. He didn’t talk about the ground up, where he came from. He didn’t talk about hard times or loving every woman, every size and every color. They stuck Sapphire with him to maybe get that point across, or whatever the rib is. You got into the 97 Nitro days and they were more ‘shooty’ with their wording and the advent of the cool heel, but it kind of died back down and they could never recapture that glory. I think they went a little overboard but everybody was still trying to be the larger-than-life guy, but we want to talk to you as a real person.
“The promos that touch on real life and say some of the things that are happening in the person’s real life are fine and have been around forever. If you put in NWA, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, and things like that and watch an old (Roddy) Piper video or Don Muraco talk in Georgia, I believe what that dude is saying. As a whole, he just talks about the short-comings of this guy. Some people would touch on the personal life of someone. I think they did it on a grander scale because the promotion in WWE got away from it for so long and by the time CM Punk said something and was given the green light to go with bullet points and then took it a step further and they couldn’t believe what it did.”
On why you can’t overuse ‘pipebomb’ promos: “Everyone is trying to use that as a blueprint. It’s completely fine as long as you’re not reaching. As long as everybody, every week is not trying to cut the ‘pipebomb,’ as it’s been called now. It’s been called the pipebomb and it’s famous for a reason because of the one time it was done. You can’t cut a pipebomb every week. You have to have the animosity there, you have to have the frustration.
“If Sasha Banks walks out next week, and everyone knows the story because the internet is so prevalent now and everybody knows everything that is happening. If she walked out on WWE TV next week and cut her version of a pipebomb, the world would be on the edge of its seat. Wherever she goes and whatever she does. You just can’t use it too much. It’s something you go to when needed or if it applies. MJF has a problem, apparently, with management and making money. He’s there and the world knows it. That is the most truthful thing I can say about all of that. That’s the truth and he spoke about it. He went far and kept going far and I haven’t seen that guy around in weeks. If next week, someone else came out and tried to do the same thing, ‘what the f**k is this guy crying about?’ Go eat ice cream and shut up.”
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