How far ahead of time are WWE storylines created?

Answer 1

Some storylines are created as far as a year ahead of time. Those created with this length of time in mind are usually for megastars like Hulk Hogan, Triple H, John Cena, Ric Flair, The Rock, Steve Austin or Undertaker. Also, the storyline involving the Wrestlemania Money In The Bank Match Winner is usually made at least 6 months to a year ahead of time, but has been known to change to meet a particular need. Such was the case this year with CM Punk.

Most storylines are generated at least three months ahead of implementation. Some though are generated spur of the moment due to either death such as in the event of Chris Benoit's suicide-death, injury such as Randy Orton's recent clavicle injury, unexpected release, suspension or signing of a Superstar such as with the recent suspension and kayfabe firing of William Regal and the recent signing of Kofi Kingston. Also, impromptu storylines have been added simply due to ideas being generated by Mr. McMahon or by the superstars themselves.

A good example of a major event which caused several abrupt ends to storylines and the abrupt beginning of many others was the move of Smackdown to it's new network and that network's request that many of the big name superstars be moved to SMACKDOWN from RAW in order to make SMACKDOWN the number one WWE show in order to boost their initial network ratings. That completely forced the WWE to shake things up with the WWE Draft more than it had planned.

Much like a daytime soap opera, WWE employs a chief storywriter and small teams of storywriters to develop storylines for each of it's WWE Superstars. These storywriters develop storylines to promote different superstars at different times, respond to requests from superstars to work with certain superstars for a period of time and to make storylines which will allow for big main event draws at their monthly Pay-Per-Views, from which WWE derives a third of it's annual profits. Past and current chief storywriters for WWE have included Vince McMahon, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Gorilla Monsoon, JJ Dillon, Jerry Brisco, Vince Russo, Jim Ross, Eric Bischoff, Michael Hayes, Shane McMahon, Les Thornton, Greg Gagne and Johnny Valentine. Currently, Hayes is the chief writer for SMACKDOWN, Rhodes is the chief writer for RAW and Vince McMahon is the chief writer for ECW with the assistance of Joey Styles.

For all of the hatred aimed at McMahon these days, it should be noted that as a young man who took over the company from his father, Vince served as the chief plot/story writer for the then WWF and is the man responsible for many of the legendary storylines that have catapulted fan favorites Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Shawn Michaels and Triple H to wrestling stardom and who guided Monday Night RAW through it's earliest years to the powerhouse ratings show it is today.