Court Bauer Talks Working WWE Creative, Rey Mysterio Being Buried As Champ, Daniel Bryan, Triple H

I spoke to former WWE creative writer Court Bauer last week, who will be a part of WaleMania on Thursday, March 26th at Taste Nightclub in Santa Clara, CA during WrestleMania week. In part one of the interview below, Bauer talked about working with WWE, the decision to have Rey Mysterio win the title at WrestleMania, Vince McMahon having Rey squashed after winning the belt,Daniel Bryan's title reign and more. Make sure to check back later this week for the second and final part of the interview, where Bauer discussed this year's WrestleMania and his thoughts, if Roman Reigns should be in his current spot, if Brock Lesnar should retain at 'Mania, Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker, Sting vs. Triple H and more.

WaleMania is this Thursday, March 26th at Taste Nightclub in Santa Clara, CA. Tickets start at $15, while VIP tickets are $60 and include a special meet and greet with Rey Mysterio and friends as well as Don Julio Tequila. There will be a fan Q&A with Mysterio and the panel where fans can ask any and all questions. There will be a major after party featuring Rey and other wrestling luminaries after the live in-person MLW Radio session where Wale will perform songs from The Album About Nothing. The event begins at 6:30 and goes to the club's closing. You can purchase tickets for WaleMania atWaleMania.com.

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You'd previously worked with WWE. When did you start working with them?

I started working with WWE at WrestleMania 21, which saw John Cena win his first WWE title. Now here we are at WrestleMania 31, and he's the old grizzled veteran that just might have enough fight left in him to win the U.S. Title when he challenges Rusev. It's interesting to see him come of age, and be positioned where he's going. They've done a good job rebuilding the title with Rusev, and it's been a fun ride for him up until he tapped out and they gave us a strong visual that really hurts a monster.

You mentioned WrestleMania 21, did you start before, or was that your first event? Did you have any input in that event?

No, no. You're basically in that period where you're observing the operations. You get a little more hands on after that. For the first couple of weeks you're observing, you're asking questions. You're on this political tight rope because you don't know who your friends are or if you say something if it's going to impact someone. You have to be very careful, but not be a wallflower. You have to pick your spots. Just like at anything in life, you have to be very tactful, and for those first few weeks I was very tactful. You don't know how people are going to read you there. It's a hyperpolitical and hyperparanoid environment. Just a hyper environment.

How long were you with the company?

I started the summer of 2005, and finished up the summer of 2007. There was a point in which having the WWE on your resume at the height of the Benoit family tragedy wasn't something to have. It's such a great opportunity to do everything from live TV to branding to marketing to writing to character development, and licensing. You're thinking about things wildly different than anyone in a creative capacity would, but try to sell yourself to the outside world when the top story was The Chris Benoit tragedy. My appetite was full at that point and I needed to transition to something beyond wrestling at 27. There were a lot of fun moments and a lot of weird moments.