Conrad Thompson: "Hey, hey, it’s Conrad Thompson, and you’re listening to a teaser episode of The Star-Maker Podcast! Today, we've got a special one lined up for you as we dive deep into the world of wrestling. But I’m not doing it alone—joining me every episode will be my co-host, a man who knows more about wrestling than just about anyone else I know. He’s the encyclopedia of wrestling history, the guy with some of the hottest takes in the business, the Star-Maker himself—give it up for Josh Ross! Josh, how are you doing today?"
Josh Ross: "Hey Conrad, I’m doing great! Enjoying retirement but there’s nothing I love more than talking pro wrestling. After 20 years in the business it’s hard not to, and every comic-con I’ve been to over the last year or so has been full of fans asking me to start this podcast with you haha. We’re going to go over my whole career over the last 20 years as one of the head bookers, starting from the very beginning. Let’s get into it!"
Conrad Thompson: “Well, I’ve been in the same boat with everyone clamoring for these weekly sit-downs with one of the greatest minds of the Ruthless Aggression era. A lot has been said behind the scenes over the years, about how much you changed the landscape of the WWE back in the mid-2000’s. A lot of people say you’re the brains behind multiple traditions that are still going on today, such as the Money in the Bank match, Tag Team and Women’s wrestling revolution, NXT etc. as well as the man behind the World Title pushes for superstars such as Shelton Benjamin, Carlito and Rob Van Dam among many others. You earned your Star-Maker nickname in the WWE after 3 straight world champions credited you with trusting them to take things to another level and giving them the boost they needed.”
Josh Ross: “I mean most of these things I get a ton of credit for were collaborations, but I’ll take all the credit I can get. Especially now that my career has wound down haha. Even when you look at how I got my start, a lot of people credited me for bringing back Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble in 2005. But I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with Brock if it wasn’t for Paul Heyman. I’ve been lucky enough to be someone that is remembered for the good ideas, but I’ve had plenty of bad ideas as well. I was really pushing for a world title run from Maven out of the gate, I wanted him to have the “Ultimate Opportunist” gimmick that took Edge to new heights. He was the first person I tried to make a star and we know how that went haha. I get so much love for bringing some indie stars to the big leagues - the AJ Styles, the Bryan Danielson’s of the world. But very few people know how hard I was pushing behind the scenes for management to stop booking the big beefy wrestlers like Batista and Bobby Lashley. Or that I was trying to turn Triple H into a full time authority figure while he was still wrestling. The good comes with the bad. Plus, I think I got a pass from some of the guys in the back because they just assumed I was Jim Ross’ nephew cause we shared last names haha.”
Conrad Thompson: “Luckily we’ve got plenty of time to get through some episodes and go through your history in the business. We’re going to start with your first couple months with the WWE, but before we start with that life changing decision you made - let’s talk more life changing decisions. Have you been thinking about purchasing a home? Well NOW is a great time, mortgage rates are at a 15-month low and inventory is up 36% this year on Realtor dot com. Whether you’re looking to purchase your first home or want to sell your current home and move into your next one, we want to help make that a reality! #SaveWithConrad”
Conrad Thompson: “Alright folks, let’s get back into it. Josh was talking about some of his early wins and losses backstage. But before we get into that, let’s go to the very beginning. When did you officially start working, and what was your job title when you got hired on?”
Josh Ross: “I got hired in October or November of 2004 as a writer. They already had a ton of writers working, so I was able to kind of come along slowly and just help out all over. Raw and Smackdown had their head writers already, and there were certain superstars like Triple H and The Undertaker who had their own angles going on. It took some time to earn their respect. But I couldn’t even argue with their results, if you remember this is around the time period Triple H had Evolution and led to the big Batista title win at Wrestlemania 21. So my first 2/3 months I didn’t have a ton of responsibility and was just focusing on the lower card - which might explain why I thought someone like Maven could be a star and fit in the Money in the Bank match. I was really wanting to expand Tough Enough, and make winning that a big deal. I wanted to help establish these guys and set them up for success. I remember my first pay per view being Survivor Series in 2004 and that was a very interesting time. Smackdown was chalk full of talented wrestlers and captivating individuals, with JBL as WWE Champion, John Cena as US Champion and Spike Dudley won the Cruiserweight title that night. Raw was similarly stacked with star power. Every week saw fantastic matchups that the audience had been dying to see. The Triple H reign was going on, with Hunter commanding Monday Nights. Shelton Benjamin was on the outskirts of stardom, starting his rise as Intercontinental Champion shortly before I was hired. Trish Stratus was still the top diva in the WWE. There were so many tag teams at this time, you’d think they would be one of the highlights each week. But with Kenzo Suzuki and Rene Dupree treading water as champs on Smackdown, and Rob Conway and Sylvan Grenier doing the same as champs on Raw - it was time to change things up and increase the focus on the tag division. I started there, and was also given instructions to work on a program within the Cruiserweight division.”
Conrad Thompson: “I definitely want to hear about your influence on the tag division, but you brought up the Cruiserweight Title and that program. Is that the Spike Dudley/Maven program? You kept bringing up how you wanted to establish Maven, was that your way of establishing the Tough Enough show?”
Josh Ross: “Absolutely. I came in after Maven had won Tough Enough, but he was sort of just bouncing around with no real direction. He was getting the push, he was in the Main Event of Survivor Series as part of Randy Orton’s team - but with no real plans going forward aside from some losses to Triple H. So I made the pitch for him to come over to the Smackdown brand and run the cruiserweight division as a heel. I wanted people to see Tough Enough as a legit stepping stone into the business. It didn’t matter to me whether he was a face or heel, I just wanted the success of the wrestler to match the vision for the show.”
Conrad Thompson: “That makes sense, Tough Enough stayed around for a few years but was never quite as successful as people hoped. But I'm sure it helped to show the people in charge what kind of decisions you make, and why you would make them.”
Josh Ross: “I had some talks with Vince and the head writers at the time, and they definitely appreciated my thought process and how I was able to build a small picture while preparing for the big picture. It set me apart from the other new writers who were somewhat seasonal and didn’t really comprehend the business haha, we’ve seen that countless times over the years. Then like you talked about earlier, bringing Brock Lesnar back and helping turn some tag teams into stars.. That really helped solidify my spot and gave me some feeling of job security in a business that doesn’t always carry much of it. Once the Royal Rumble happened and Brock returned, it felt like I had to sink or swim. Vince told me I’d be working with Paul and Brock on his angles, so having those first couple of months was huge. Then with Vince getting injured at the Rumble, and having legal troubles all throughout the year causing him to step away from the business - that REALLY shoved me to one of the top writing gigs. And I feel like I showed them I learned a thing or two from Mr. McMahon by turning his retirement into a huge angle for Wrestlemania 22. Shane and Stephanie really trusted my mind for the business at that point and I truly had creative freedom to “become the Starmaker” so to speak, you know I always hated that nickname because-”
Conrad Thompson: “What?! Buddy, that’s one of the best nicknames in the business, ESPECIALLY for someone who’s never been in a match. You didn’t feel some sort of pride being deemed that by the people you’re actively trying to make stars?”
Josh Ross: “I mean that’s the thing, you just nailed it. I’ve never been in a match. It feels crazy to me that a WWE Superstar would call me a “Starmaker” when they’re the ones out there putting their bodies on the line. They were the ones working their asses off, I was just having fun trying to put them in their best possible situations. But as the years have gone on I’ve come to admire the nickname. It means a lot that these guys see me as someone who helped them along the way. But I always want to give all the credit to the actual Stars, ”
Conrad Thompson: “We’ll have plenty of time to do that. We talked about this a little off microphone, but I think the way this podcast will go is we’ll run through the lead up to a pay per view, then do a watch through of the pay per view the following episode. Starting with that first month and working our way to the end of your career. Maybe with some special guests every now and then. What say you? Sure, we’ll touch on your backstage work behind the scenes of course, and any insight you may have on what was going on or why you did things the way you did them - but we’ll focus on the stuff that happened in the ring and how it’s shaped the WWE into the global titan it remains today. Today is just the ten minute teaser episode, and on our next episode we’ll really get the ball rolling talking about the WWE post-Survivor Series in 2004 on the Road to Wrestlemania 21. I’d like to thank Josh Ross for joining me today, and agreeing to give the wrestling fans across the world a journey into the mind of one of the greatest this business has seen. If you’d like to join the LIVE Q&A’s we’ll be doing on patreon, head over to adfreeshows.com! We’ll see you next week on ‘The Starmaker Podcast’.”
OOC: So this BTB is going to be a little different than most, and I hope I can do it justice for the ideas I have come up with. It’s going to be a retelling of WWE History like a normal BTB, but I’m going to be using a Conrad Thompson podcast to navigate and move through a little quicker without having to write weekly shows while giving my reasoning for the booking decisions through a discussion with Conrad or whoever we have as a guest on the podcast. As stated in the podcast dialogue (which I’ll hopefully get better at writing. Some of the dialogue may be clunky and repetitive but maybe that’s realistic? Who knows, but I’ll take any advice or constructive criticism) - this isn’t a BTB where I am just randomly the head booker. A lot of WWE’s main storylines in 2005 will still happen, as if my career as a writer started on a smaller scale. Triple H vs. Batista will still headline Wrestlemania 21, there will still be some moments in WWE history that will unfold similarly to the way they did in real life BUT also plenty of moments that are different. I’m trying to make some stars that didn’t fully pan out in WWE, without taking too much away from the stars they DID make. Vince McMahon won’t really be a part of this, as in my universe he still gets hurt at the Royal Rumble, and then faces legal troubles that cause him to step down in 05 which we will use in a Shane/Stephanie storyline for Mania 23. So hopefully you guys find it a fun ride to see what changes and what stays the same in this universe.
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