MLW owner Court Bauer recently spoke with The Insiders podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Bauer told stories from his mid-2000s time as a WWE writer.
Regarding why WWE cartoon rumors never materialized, he said:
“Well, there’s two projects. One was a Rey Mysterio cartoon in ’05 I think with Eddie Guerrero. We had art mockup done for it. I remember the art for whatever reason, it was like imagine Duck Tales, but with Lucha masks. They weren’t ducks, but the art was so similar in its style. I remember Eddie Guerrero was going to be the villain in it. It was going to be Rey Mysterio. They were gonna introduce new characters as a part of it. Where we were going to find the talent to then crossover and be actual wrestlers in WWE, I don’t know. But then you know, Vince was lukewarm on it and it didn’t really get too far out of development. There was support across the company, but the Emperor had to sign off and he didn’t sign off.”
“Then there was the recurring conversation of a Saturday morning cartoon. It would pop up once in a while. The peak was when we brought back Saturday Night’s Main Event. When we brought back Saturday Night Main Event, it was like this feeling of nostalgia. Let’s do some other things that kind of lean into that. I think Hogan had come back at that point. Let’s go do more of that. Vince’s opinion was it cost too much money, took too long to produce, and had no interest in doing it. We then tried to tell him, ‘Look, we’ve done the research. Animation can be done quicker and more cost effective. You can outsource it to international companies.’ I think we had one in South Korea that was interested. But ultimately, no. He didn’t think the cartoon 80s was like the seminal event that hooked fans and kids and the whole generation. He saw it as a pain in the ass, like, oh my god, what a nightmare to deal with.”
“A lot of times Nelson Sweglar, who was the original Kevin Dunn who was head of production at WWE, he was the head of my production for a period of time, he would tell us how during that process, they would do a whole season, but a lot of the guys that were in first season had left the company by time it aired. So there’s this weird thing that would happen where it’s like, we’re now actively pushing people that aren’t there. Jimmy Snuka, no longer in the company, yet he’s a great popular character in the cartoon. It got funky and awkward. So I can see where Vince had apprehension, but I look at that as that was one of the key things that got me interested. I thought that was a great cartoon. I got my wrestling superstar LGN figures and that was like the gateway drug for me as a kid.”
For those who missed it, click here for Bauer’s comments about Bret Hart’s return to WWE and how it was originally planned for WrestleMania 22.
You can listen to the complete podcast at AdFreeShows.com.
(h/t to Wrestling News for the transcription)
