WWE Hires Soap Opera Writer

Written by Richard Gray on Apr 16, 2011 - 10:16:48 PM

Tom Casiello has been hired by WWE as a member of the creative team. Casiello confirmed his hiring today on his Twitter account.

Casiello is best known as a writer for “The Young And The Restless” soap opera.

via WrestlingNewsWorld

I know this is old news, but I just wanted to say if this Casiello is not responsible for the Zack Ryder/John Cena/Eve and the current AJ/Punk/Bryan storylines, I’ll eat my hat.

These stories are also increasingly focusing on women.  Obviously the first one ended horribly with Eve just becoming a “hoeski,” and even throughout she was more of a prop than anything, but maybe it was the first step in an evolution.  The entire plot had a completely unique feel until they bottomed out and Eve became a whore and the show continued as “normal.”  Given the reactions of everyone online as this one played out, it clearly had a slightly different feel to it than what we were used to. 

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this AJ storyline may be one of the most unique things I’ve ever seen in WWE.  It has really comically entertaining similarities to a bad teen drama (made even better by Bryan and Punk’s confused and shocked reactions to being kissed by a woman), but it’s putting a woman in a (albeit confusing) position of power and control.  AJ’s character has been quiet, yeah, but at times the deliberate nature of her silence is even more interesting than if she were to “explain herself” (and, really, what would be the point at this moment in the story?  There’s still two weeks of television until the pay per view, and who says anything with her even has to be resolved then?)

I know some people may be overly cautious with this story, given WWE’s track record, but I think if you’re paying attention, this story is clearly in someone else’s hands right now.  Let’s hope that continues.

The AJ/Punk/Bryan angle is like a storyline out of DeGrassi: The Next Generation, but told within the confines of a wrestling show.

I love that in wrestling, “teen self mutilation” = “threatening to put yourself through a table.”

This storyline is so god damn good.

(edit: just realized I wrote “confides” and not “confines”)