Brian Gewirtz: Vince McMahon Might Not Be Up On The Latest Trends, But The Mad Genius Still Exists

Brian Gewirtz is perhaps the most famous writer in WWE history, helping lead the company through the tail end of the Attitude Era, into the Ruthless Aggression era, and beyond.

Now, Gewirtz is the SVP of Television at The Rock’s Seven Bucks Studios and an executive producer on “Young Rock,” the NBC series focusing on the life of The Rock. Fans will see many recognizable names in the series including Randy Savage, Andre The Giant, and Vince McMahon. 

Speaking to Comic Book, Gewirtz discussed casting the role of Vince McMahon and easter eggs in the series. 

“It was a lot of fun. Adam Ray is a very, very skilled comedian/actor and we hired him,” Gewirtz said. “He does a huge standup and I got to know down here and it was great putting him into Vince’s suit — circa-1982 Vince suits, of course. It’s an interesting time because Vince… He’s on the cusp of taking over but he hadn’t taken over yet. So he’s still working for his dad. We wanted to make sure his office… I don’t want to like spoil anything, but there’s posters in the office that both current Vince and [Dwayne Johnson] himself would definitely appreciate. DJ actually making a lot of suggestions for it,”

Gewirtz worked closely with McMahon over the years and while fans may believe Vince can no longer create a star, Gewirtz doesn’t believe this is the case.

“I would say to anyone…the snarky ones who sit back and go, ‘the old man’s lost it,’ or ‘he’s not attached,’ or what have you, I would say you don’t mean Vince,” Gewirtz explained. “I think the best example is us sitting around the room one day and then, almost at the top of his head, he pitches the entire Nexus angle — if you recall from 2010 when all the NXT guys turned on [John] Cena and stripped the ring. It was very, very highly buzzed about. It just seemed like maybe the idea did percolate in his head, but he verbalized it for the first time in the meeting. We were all looking at each other like, ‘wow, that was absolutely amazing.’ He might not be up on the latest social trends or whatever, but the mad genius still exists and probably always will.”

“Young Rock” airs Tuesdays on NBC. 

Fightful reviews “Young Rock” every Thursday during The Distraction, which airs at 3 p.m. ET on YouTube.