The WWE writer who knew nothing about WWE

They say comedy is hard... but apparently it's not as hard as being in WWE.

Kenice Mobley, who was recently hired by WWE to be part of their creative team, didn't last too long. The New York native is a comedian by trade and has made several television appearances. Mobley has a background in both performance and production, and once did her stand-up routine on 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon'.

Those are all fine accomplishments in the entertainment industry, and pretty impressive things to put on a resume. There's only one problem: She knows nothing about pro wrestling or WWE.

She wasn't shy about that fact, either. During a recent appearance on a podcast called Asian Not Asian, Mobley admitted that she was basically clueless about the storylines and characters currently on WWE programming.

She was hired to work on RAW, but stated in the interview that she didn't even know who WWE Champion Bobby Lashley was. (Mobley mis-pronounced his last name as 'Ashley'.)

Then she said the one thing that probably got her axed:

"(It was) a surprise for me... They didn't even require me to know anything about wrestling."

Once word got back to the folks at WWE headquarters, Ms. Mobley was kindly relieved of her duties with the organization. Needless to say, the idea of hiring someone who publicly acknowledged that they weren't qualified for the job left the company with significant egg on their face.

And now Kenice Mobley has been let go from WWE.https://t.co/QChPmo869m

— Sportskeeda Wrestling (@SKWrestling_) June 25, 2021

This situation is not all about Kenice Mobley or her lack of a wrestling resume, it's a microcosm of a much bigger issue within WWE.

This woman clearly does not deserve our disdain. In fact, she probably deserves our respect for her honesty. At least she had the guts to state the obvious.

It's clear that Mobley is not the only person the promotion has hired with no background in terms of sports entertainment. She's just the first one to come out and admit it in such an overt and public way.

However, there have been other stories over the last two decades about writers being brought into WWE who also had little or no product knowledge. Many of them have produced scripts for everything from sitcoms to dramatic motion pictures. But they have no idea what attracts wrestling's rabid fan base to the action in the squared circle. It's unfortunate, but it's also true.

They also rarely have the proper appreciation - and in many cases, respect - for the history of the grappling game. Although it's technically a pseudo sport, pro wrestling is held in high regard by its fan base. Anything that could be considered a slight to the industry they love is greeted with animosity and a whole lot of mean tweets.

Mobley's off-the-cuff interview made it sound as if she was lowering herself to be a part of WWE. It's almost as if she couldn't cut it out in Hollywood, so she had to go 'slumming' by entering the weird world of pro wrestling.

So, like many people who don't really understand the WWE Universe, Mobley was as awkward as a pig on roller skates. She was basically being thrown into the deep water, without any swimming lessons.

Even with all that stacked against her, it's still not Mobley's fault for accepting the job. It's WWE's fault for offering it to her in the first place.

I didn't agree with people dragging Kenice Mobley. Was it the most wise interview to give? Probably not.But she was exactly what #WWE wanted when they hired her. She did nothing wrong, at all. Just as Adnan Virk did nothing wrong.

— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) June 25, 2021

Because of WWE's incessant need to go more and more mainstream, this situation will likely continue in the future

It's no secret that Vince McMahon and executive producer Kevin Dunn have always positioned WWE to focus more on the 'entertainment' part of their name, rather than the 'wrestling' part.

Sometimes the company finds an outsider who makes the transition to sports entertainment. Brian Gewirtz is an example of that. He ingratiated himself with stars like The Rock, got to know their characters, and wrote material specifically for them.

He now works for The Rock out in Hollywood, so everything came full circle. Gewirtz took a trip on the wrestling train, only to end up back where he started in the first place.

More often than not, though, the use of people who did not cut their teeth on turnbuckles ends badly. Anyone who has observed the slow, draining downfall of the WWE product over the past two decades can attest to that. The company seems to have lost touch with what brought them to the dance.

Whether they want to admit it or not, WWE is a WRESTLING company first. Their fans aren't part of a 'Universe', they are WRESTLING fans. There's no shame in that. Nor is there any shame in being the worldwide leader in the WRESTLING industry.

But for some reason company heads continually try to drag WWE into some kind of pop culture spotlight. They try to deny their roots, and insist that they are a production company - not a wrestling company.

The hiring of people like Kenise Mobley is a perfect illustration of that. It's almost as if McMahon and Dunn love to employ people who are blank pages.

As far as fans are concerned, they still want what's always been on the marquee. That's the middle 'W' in the promotion's name.

WWE can hire all the comedy writers they want, but it won't bring them back to their former glory. That's because of a lack of vision and appreciation when it comes to their die-hard audience.

The only people who are still left watching are longtime fans, and the lack of focus on the in-ring product is alienating many of them as well.

And that is certainly no laughing matter.