Select Answers: Wrestler of the Year, WWE scripting, Britt Baker

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.

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given we are headed into the last quarter of the year I was curious who your pick for wrestler of the year is? For me its Bandido. Thanks for all your hard work.

Bandido, Konosuke Takeshita, and IYO SKY are my top three picks. IYO Sky being on the stage she is, with the limited number of opponents she has, and being the most consistent performer in wrestling is outstanding. Bandido, despite already being viewed as a huge talent, was able to improve incredible since before his injury. Takeshita has just had an insane year and is really showing the benefits of a dual contract.

You mentioned how a good chunk (if not all) of WWE promos are completely scripted. In the discord you said the Becky/Ozzy line was more than likely scripted but I wanted to ask about something from last year. Was Punk’s “Say his name” line to Drew scripted? And if it was, why do you think it was approved especially since it seems like last year that Vince was a no go in any sense.

Yes, almost all of the WWE promos you see on screen are scripted verbatim. Some of the retorts, or reactions to the crowd aren't. I never saw the specific script for that CM Punk/Drew McIntre promo, but everything I was told at the time was that Punk's reaction line was not scripted. In fact Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar at that time were not to be referenced whatsoever on TV. There were people that I spoke to were worried it would cause more of a stir than it did.

Do you think we see Britt Baker back on AEW tv before the end of 2025?

Yeah, I think so. She always stays in shape and is ready to work. From what I understand, she's always been willing to come back. If AEW has five women's titles across ROH and AEW, they certainly should bring her back. I think that time away will have benefited all sides of the relationship. She's got over a year left on her deal. It's clear that AEW felt like she needed some time away, but I think now is a good time to bring her back.