Former WWE VP Of TV Explains How The Shield Influenced The Rapid Camera Cuts In WWE

Camera cut, camera cut, camera cut. 

Viewers of WWE TV have no doubt experienced the rapid fire camera cuts when watching the product. Every strike, camera cut. Every step, camera cut. Every little movement, camera cut. 

While most fans are quick to blame WWE Executive Vice President, Television Production Kevin Dunn, former WWE Vice President of Global Television Production Mike Mansury explained that it was not Kevin Dunn who came up with the idea. 

“I will choose to protect the nameless person, but I will say the rapid camera cutting, to my recollection, that came into play when The Shield debuted. The whole purpose behind it, was to make what you see on-screen with the three characters of The Shield and the push, was to make it seem all that more chaotic. At the time, it worked. I can see now, after so many years of doing it, a lot of viewers feel like they’re on a queasy thrill ride, but that was the intent of it initially. A lot of it is done to protect the magic. You don’t want to expose the business. A big part of the business is how it’s done on TV. If you’re exposing the magic, you’re killing the fun for everybody. That’s the approach and the rapid camera cut situation, it was born out of creating and exciting and chaotic feel for when the Shield were doing the three-on-one beatdowns early in their run. It’s hard to break some habits, but shoutout to the gentleman who shares my initials who created that concept,” Mansury said on AdFreeShows with Conrad Thompson.

The Shield (Jon Moxley, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins) debuted at Survivor Series 2012. 

Mansury left the company in May 2020. 

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