Does Vince Russo deserve some credit & apologies?

[dwith]

Now that TNA seem's to have some great story lines going and everything makes sense. I mean overall I think the THEY story line whether it be over hyped or not, turned out to be a pretty solid story line, and some great writing, and we all know who does the writing...hmmm

People bash Vince Russo constantly on here, and I honestly think he deserves a pat on the back, and some "I'M SORRY VINCE RUSSO" because like him or not, I haven't seen writing like this in a really long time.

Nothing out of WWE has been this interesting IMO in the last 10 - 15 years, and they have a whole team of of writers. Closest the've come was the whole Vince McMahon murder mystery which got interupted because of the Benoit tragedy.

I know most people who hate Russo won't ever give him prop's for good writing because they only want to believe that WWE has the good writer's.

The last great writing I can honestly think that was this good is when Bischoff, and Hogan, and Nash started to work together in WCW eventually forming the NWO, and made for some great television, and IMO so far TNA is doing it again when people said it couldn't ever be done again. The proof is in the RATINGS. Although not sky rocketing they are steadily climbing from the .8 & .9's they were getting before Bischoff, Hogan, and Russo started working together again.

I just think RUSSO deserves some recognition for what he's writing...

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Vince Russo does get unfairly blamed for the death of WCW. The honchos at Time-Warner were the ones that ultimately decided to cancel the show because they simply didn't want wrestling on their network anymore. While WCW wasn't pulling the ratings it once did, it was still drawing pretty good numbers in general.

Russo, however, most definitely contributed to the demise of quality in WCW in my view. Quality is always going to be a matter of personal interpretation of course, but I honestly don't believe that anybody can legitimately deny that, in particular, the last 18 months of WCW's existence was brutal. Vince Russo does deserve some credit for the good ideas he's had, and yes he has had some good ideas. He's also had some truly awful things come about and the fact that so many of them reared their heads in WCW is ultimately what a lot of people remember.

The IWC hates Vince McMahon. In general, the IWC thinks he's pretty much evil incarnate, a control freak and a heartless businessman that cares more about the bottom line and that's probably all true. But, these are also traits that's helped the WWE to grow to the size that it is. Vince McMahon is also a reason why a lot of Vince Russo's ideas made it onto WWF television. Vince McMahon was Russo's filter and Vince McMahon ultimately decided what went forward and what went in the trash can. Vince didn't always make the right decisions, some of the stuff that went on was still crap anyhow, but you can't predict the future. Russo went to WCW, he had nobody to filter the ideas and whatever he wanted to do is what you saw on Nitro & Thunder. Most of what I saw was, in my view, just a lot of crap. Russo does deserve credit for having some good ideas and he also deserves to take the heat for most of the lousy television we saw from WCW during its final days.

As far as what's currently going on in TNA, some like it and some hate it. As of right now, I'm not all that fond of it because it's something we've seen over and over and over again from Vince Russo and TNA in general. I know that recycled storylines and angles are a necessity in wrestling. It's simply that we've seen the whole faction power struggle/company takeover bit so often in TNA and in such a short span of time that I'm just not interested. It's tired, it's flat and it makes Vince Russo look more like a one trick pony as it seems to be the only kind of storyline he's able to get anybody to really embrace.

 

[Djm]

Lots of people won't acknowledge that he gave us the Desmond Wolfe/Kurt Angle storyline, either.

Along with that, I've always liked that Vince Russo has always been a bit more forward-thinking and outside of the box than the oh-so-lauded "traditional" "old school" "keep it simple stupid" types. He's had some horrible execution, yes, but when the things he does do work, they work well.

He deserves a chance to let his stories play out, just as much as anyone else does, IMO. I'm 51/49 pro-Russo.

 

[BestThereEverWillBe]

Credit for what he's doing now, maybe. Apologies for the sins he's committed to the wrestling industry in the past? Never.

It's one thing to bring in David Arquette to be your heavyweight champ, it's another when you put Rick Steiner in a feud with Chucky of Child's Play. Publicity stunt or not, he's notorious for putting out crap. It won't be long before the chaos backstage affects the product on TV negatively and everybody gets screwed.

 

[Navi]

As far as what's currently going on in TNA, some like it and some hate it. As of right now, I'm not all that fond of it because it's something we've seen over and over and over again from Vince Russo and TNA in general. I know that recycled storylines and angles are a necessity in wrestling. It's simply that we've seen the whole faction power struggle/company takeover bit so often in TNA and in such a short span of time that I'm just not interested. It's tired, it's flat and it makes Vince Russo look more like a one trick pony as it seems to be the only kind of storyline he's able to get anybody to really embrace.

Quoted for truth. Vince Russo likes stables, within stables, within stables. It seems to the be only thing he's good at, so calling him "a one-trick pony" was definitely ironic.

To me Vince Russo deserves all the scorn that can be heaped upon him. Only now are people getting interested again in TNA, and it's not Russo's doing.

It was TNA signing the likes of Hardy, Anderson, RVD and others to get some fan reaction. Where was all the interest in TNA when Styles was champ, it was non existent. No one cared about it except for a core base and now that TNA has someone like Hardy and Anderson to crow about, the fans are coming back.

I think the wrestlers themselves deserve the "pat on the back" for bringing the fans in, not Russo. He didn't do anything for them in the past and I don't see him doing a lot for them now. As soon as this faction situation dissolves he'll be back to where he was before, floundering around.

 

[dwith]

On a 2 hour show once a week, and a roster as big as TNA has I think Vince Russo is smart at putting together stables because more wretlers get more airtime when they normally wouldn't be used.. just my thought on Stables.

 

[Navi]

On a 2 hour show once a week, and a roster as big as TNA has I think Vince Russo is smart at putting together stables because more wretlers get more airtime when they normally wouldn't be used.. just my thought on Stables.

I personally don't care for them myself. Too many things happening and too much confusion sometimes. You know a trained chimpanzee could put together a stable, just by pulling names out of a hat. Besides wrestlers don't have to be on TV every week anyway. Where is it written that has to happen?

You talk about more airtime, I don't agree with that either, let's take Styles for example. Months ago he was the champ, Flair was his mouthpiece and he was actually interesting. He had tons of airtime and was on every show. Now he's part of "Fourtune" and you never hear about him anymore. Any match he's in he does very little. It's almost like he's been forgotten about. If they're going to do that to the "homegrown" former TNA champ, how is that a good thing?

Stables should be for up and coming wrestlers not established single wrestlers that are more than capable of main eventing. Russo is an ass, plain and simple.

 

[dman1373]

your praising him for doing a story done 14 years ago. I will admit it got me reinterested in it, but it still is just an old storyline. When I saw all of the imortals it looked like nwo back in 97. Jesus jeff's heel turn was at the same place hogan turned to start the nwo.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I'm sure Russo has had some good even great ideas but also some really terrible ideas. giving a title run to David Arquette was TERRIBLE! I like having celebrities in wrestling from time to time but to give one a championship is just ridiculous.

just because Immortal is similar to nWo why is that so bad? idealy I guess it would be great if every new story line in wrestling was new but there isn't that much new you can do. I'm sure there are A LOT of story lines that have been done at one time or another. people remember the nWo because it was so big. why is it a bad thing to try and recreate that again? maybe TNA can even learn from some of the mistakes done with nWo such as having way too many people join. when you see stables in wrestling they don't involve half your company.
when you have a stable you have to have at least 1 star. if you had a group of lesser known guys why is there any excitement to watch them?

Russo does deserve some credit for the good things he does, but he also deserves criticism for the bad things he does.

 

[Xemmy]

After watching Bash at The Beach 2000.......

Vince Russo did some great things when filtered through people like Vince McMahon, but when given full control that man is a monster with a one-track imagination. "Suprise Here! Twist Here!"

Vince Russo deserves credit for what he's done, no one can deny that. But He certainly doesn't deserve any apologies.

 

[ilapierre]

Is Vince Russo the head writer at TNA or just one of many writers there? I ask this question because i think there's more than one writer there and Russo gets too much credit/discredit on storylines. He's just one of many leave the guy alone and let him do what he does like every other story writer no one knows about. The They angle was definitely hatched by Hogan and Bischoff, it doesn't look like something Vince Russo would have any part in (or something Vince Russo could even write). The shows are reminiscent of the NWO period. This whole angle reminds me of the angle that led to the revival of the NWO in January 1999. It was a months long swerve. But nobody understood it then and a lot of WWE lovers are having a hard time understanding it now.

I don't think Vince Russo deserves an apology. Yes the guy has received undeserved hate for how WCW died a decade ago. He didn't kill WCW, WCW was already going down the shitter. The writing can be as good or bad as anything, if its not executed right or there's no support from others in power positions, then someone outspoken and annoying like Vince Russo is gonna be blamed no matter how good the writing is.

But in this case i'm confident he had little to do with the writing of the 'They' storyline. It has Bischoff and Hogan written all over it.

 

[Brian in Austin]

your praising him for doing a story done 14 years ago. I will admit it got me reinterested in it, but it still is just an old storyline. When I saw all of the imortals it looked like nwo back in 97. Jesus jeff's heel turn was at the same place hogan turned to start the nwo.

Exactly! I brought this up a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that this is nothing more than a current version of the NWO takeover angle. It's not new and while I like a lot of the "characters" in TNA, I don't see this working out long term for them. Will they do slightly better in ratings? Sure! Why wouldn't they? They've got nowhere to go but up in that regard. But at the end of the day it's just Hogan and Bischoff trying desperately to remain relevant in a business that has passed them by.

 

[BestThereEverWillBe]

Saw a post earlier about how Russo didnt kill WCW.. There's a whole bunch of opinions, but we weren't there.. Read Controversy Creates Cash for a very credible opinion from Eric Bischoff that has the story of WCW from start to finish. Once you pick it up you can't put it down.

 

[SpecialFNK]

Saw a post earlier about how Russo didnt kill WCW.. There's a whole bunch of opinions, but we weren't there.. Read Controversy Creates Cash for a very credible opinion from Eric Bischoff that has the story of WCW from start to finish. Once you pick it up you can't put it down.

there is also a DVD called The Rise and Fall of WCW. it explains a lot of what happened to make them big and to make them fall. while Russo did make mistakes towards the end that I'm sure were bad, it was the merge of Time Warner and AOL where the CEO(or whatever) of AOL had no interest in having a wrestling company. "it was beneath him"

what exactly does Russo do? writer? meaning he writes the story lines and what people do and say? I imagine he isn't the only one coming up with ideas for story lines. right now I would have to say Hogan and Bischoff are having a say in what story lines are going on. before Hogan/Bischoff came along, were there others with Russo? I would think there are/should be other people in TNA management/ect that have ideas on story lines/characters/ect.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

I think it's true, part of what made Russo great was having Vince there to keep some wild ideas in check, but that's not to say that Russo cant come up with some good shit.. It wasn't till the end of WCW that it really started getting too crazy, up until then he was doing some good stuff. I agree a lot of the death of WCW can be credited to the Time Warner merger not what Vince Russo was doing. He was getting WCW's name on some major shows and networks by the publicity stunt angles. Had they let WCW stay on the air, it may have been the company synonymous with wrestling... after someone gets in a fight in the NBA you'd hear announcers saying it turned into a wcw match not wwf like they do now. Vince Russo didn't kill WCW, the ideas he had were hit or miss, but the ones that Hit usually are just that, hits! It's unfortunate that history will have him going down as being a big part of the cause of hte demise of WCW because in reality, had it not been for the merger WCW would probably still be around today

 

[perucho1990]

Vince Russo does get unfairly blamed for the death of WCW. The honchos at Time-Warner were the ones that ultimately decided to cancel the show because they simply didn't want wrestling on their network anymore. While WCW wasn't pulling the ratings it once did, it was still drawing pretty good numbers in general.

Russo, however, most definitely contributed to the demise of quality in WCW in my view. Quality is always going to be a matter of personal interpretation of course, but I honestly don't believe that anybody can legitimately deny that, in particular, the last 18 months of WCW's existence was brutal. Vince Russo does deserve some credit for the good ideas he's had, and yes he has had some good ideas. He's also had some truly awful things come about and the fact that so many of them reared their heads in WCW is ultimately what a lot of people remember.

The IWC hates Vince McMahon. In general, the IWC thinks he's pretty much evil incarnate, a control freak and a heartless businessman that cares more about the bottom line and that's probably all true. But, these are also traits that's helped the WWE to grow to the size that it is. Vince McMahon is also a reason why a lot of Vince Russo's ideas made it onto WWF television. Vince McMahon was Russo's filter and Vince McMahon ultimately decided what went forward and what went in the trash can. Vince didn't always make the right decisions, some of the stuff that went on was still crap anyhow, but you can't predict the future. Russo went to WCW, he had nobody to filter the ideas and whatever he wanted to do is what you saw on Nitro & Thunder. Most of what I saw was, in my view, just a lot of crap. Russo does deserve credit for having some good ideas and he also deserves to take the heat for most of the lousy television we saw from WCW during its final days.

As far as what's currently going on in TNA, some like it and some hate it. As of right now, I'm not all that fond of it because it's something we've seen over and over and over again from Vince Russo and TNA in general. I know that recycled storylines and angles are a necessity in wrestling. It's simply that we've seen the whole faction power struggle/company takeover bit so often in TNA and in such a short span of time that I'm just not interested. It's tired, it's flat and it makes Vince Russo look more like a one trick pony as it seems to be the only kind of storyline he's able to get anybody to really embrace.

And it has happened with different Bookers, Remember Planet Jarrett during the "Golden Years" of TNA? Or the Kings of Wrestling when Dusty was booking?

Russo is a mixed bag, he likes to push the young guys but sometimes he comes with stupid ideas(fight for the right, Feast or Fired), he gets blamed for thing he didnt do (Electrified Cage match, Roxxi getting her head shaved), and last year during the end of 2009, TNA was pushing the young guys hard.. until Hogan/Bischoff arrived and Abyss was pushed as the top dog and the quality went downhill.

 

[JoonDaGr8One]

I don't know who's in charge but, i feeling TNA right now i been watching on demand episodes and it helped me get caught up to speed with what was going on and i gota say i'm hooked. The matches are good but they have begun to talk too much, and are always running out of tv time on the main event.

If they have more matches and eliminate some of the monologs they will be fine maybe let 2 memebers of the immortals talk an episode. They have the advantage in the ring so show it off.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I don't know who's in charge but, i feeling TNA right now i been watching on demand episodes and it helped me get caught up to speed with what was going on and i gota say i'm hooked. The matches are good but they have begun to talk too much, and are always running out of tv time on the main event.

If they have more matches and eliminate some of the monologs they will be fine maybe let 2 members of the immortals talk an episode. They have the advantage in the ring so show it off.

there was more wrestling on this past Impact and you should get more and more as the weeks go on.
I think the reason the main event runs over into ReAction is done on purpose to get viewers for ReAction.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Credit for what he's doing now, maybe. Apologies for the sins he's committed to the wrestling industry in the past? Never.

It's one thing to bring in David Arquette to be your heavyweight champ, it's another when you put Rick Steiner in a feud with Chucky of Child's Play. Publicity stunt or not, he's notorious for putting out crap.

Couldnt have said it better myself. Russo may be doing ok right now, and writing some enjoyable stuff. Well done Vince.

But deserve an apology for criticising his stupid decisions in WCW??? Fuck off Vince

 

[Trill Co$by]

Like seriously, what has RUSSO done to get so much heat? Like give me one good reason why RUSSO is hated, and I'll pull one hundred percent facts to put you in your place.

All I hear are the obvious bull shit Russo insults.

Russo killed WCW
Uhm... NO! Russo didn't come in until after Bischoff with his dumbass went on air and started giving out WWF results. BISHOFF killed WCW and if you don't want to admit it, read Flair's book. He clearly tells you Russo had nothing to do with it except for booking Jarrett as champion. Booker T and Bret Hart also admit to Bischoff being the reason of WCW's fall... And this is Bret saying it AFTER the screwjob... and so did Honky Tonk Man.

Russo isn't creative
Yes... Stone Cold and The Rock aren't creative. DX wasn't creative. Nation of Domination didn't raise ratings. Kane vs. Taker isn't one of the best rivalries in WWE history... i mean it's not still happening is it? AJ Styles winning the TNA title after trying for years didn't raise ratings. Angle vs. Wolfe wasn't worked to perfection. Team Canada wasn't one of the best stables in TNA history. Beer Money isn't the greatest team in the world today (ok, I will let you dispute between them and MCMG). All of these ideas, of course, were from Russo.

Russo doesn't push the right people
Uhm... yeah... he totally didn't bring in younger talent for WCW's dying days to try and revive them. He totally didn't push Rock and Austin to the moon. He totally didn't book an entire TNA roster for YEARS before the Bischoff and Hogan regime came into play. Russo is the king of pushing the right talent.


Russo is one-hundred percent wrestling blood. He knows the business and always knows what he's doing. It's true that he does have the act of a FEW very few bad booking, but who doesn't?

The real reason why Russo gets so much heat, and this is pure honesty, is that after all these years Russo can still work the crowd INCLUDING the IWC. The reason why people don't except that is because the truth hurts. Russo is one of the best writers to ever promote in wrestling history, and without him, there wouldn't be wrestling today. Without him, WWE would caved in and WCW would be the mega giant... and as many have stated in their books before, it was horrible on the inside.

 

[The Main Event]

Uhm... NO! Russo didn't come in until after Bischoff with his dumbass went on air and started giving out WWF results. BISHOFF killed WCW and if you don't want to admit it, read Flair's book. He clearly tells you Russo had nothing to do with it except for booking Jarrett as champion. Booker T and Bret Hart also admit to Bischoff being the reason of WCW's fall... And this is Bret saying it AFTER the screwjob... and so did Honky Tonk Man.

ohhhh really ? maybe u don't know so i tell u ... when bischoff was giving wwf results it was i think 96 ... and WCW was in his highest days .... yeah ... when bischoff giving the results ... WCW fucked WWF in the ASS for 83 Weeks n Straigt .. yeah ( well expect the Raw that mick foley became champion )

u just look at the WCW 2000 and then Look at the WCW 95-99 and u understand why Controversy Created Cash and Russo BullCrap take WCW to the Down hall .. i mean WTF was that fake Jr ... WTF was that comedian Football Player .. WTF was that ???

anybody whoom said that vince russo is creative is an idiot ... yeah i know facts hurts .... your bet ur as it did !!

 

[Zeven_Zion]

ohhhh really ? maybe u don't know so i tell u ... when bischoff was giving wwf results it was i think 96 ... and WCW was in his highest days .... yeah ... when bischoff giving the results ... WCW fucked WWF in the ASS for 83 Weeks n Straigt .. yeah ( well expect the Raw that mick foley became champion )

u just look at the WCW 2000 and then Look at the WCW 95-99 and u understand why Controversy Created Cash and Russo BullCrap take WCW to the Down hall .. i mean WTF was that fake Jr ... WTF was that comedian Football Player .. WTF was that ???

anybody whoom said that vince russo is creative is an idiot ... yeah i know facts hurts .... your bet ur as it did !!

Your spelling can give someone either a brain tumor or internal bleedin' from all the laughing. Interesting language, I've always wanted to learn Laptopganstapatese.

All facts aside, I'd just like to note that Russo IS very creative. Ah! But there's only one issue - there's a FINE line between good creative and I live on the 15th floor and I've always wanted to fly creative. Vince is unpredictable as far as that goes.

However, people ARE giving him a really hard time. The guy fucked up a few times, made some mistakes, we bled through the ears - WHO CARES! As long as he's not doing that shit right now I'll be fine with the goofy bastard.

 

[MisterRob]

Like seriously, what has RUSSO done to get so much heat? Like give me one good reason why RUSSO is hated, and I'll pull one hundred percent facts to put you in your place.

All I hear are the obvious bull shit Russo insults.

Russo killed WCW
Uhm... NO! Russo didn't come in until after Bischoff with his dumbass went on air and started giving out WWF results. BISHOFF killed WCW and if you don't want to admit it, read Flair's book. He clearly tells you Russo had nothing to do with it except for booking Jarrett as champion. Booker T and Bret Hart also admit to Bischoff being the reason of WCW's fall... And this is Bret saying it AFTER the screwjob... and so did Honky Tonk Man.

Russo isn't creative
Yes... Stone Cold and The Rock aren't creative. DX wasn't creative. Nation of Domination didn't raise ratings. Kane vs. Taker isn't one of the best rivalries in WWE history... i mean it's not still happening is it? AJ Styles winning the TNA title after trying for years didn't raise ratings. Angle vs. Wolfe wasn't worked to perfection. Team Canada wasn't one of the best stables in TNA history. Beer Money isn't the greatest team in the world today (ok, I will let you dispute between them and MCMG). All of these ideas, of course, were from Russo.

Russo doesn't push the right people
Uhm... yeah... he totally didn't bring in younger talent for WCW's dying days to try and revive them. He totally didn't push Rock and Austin to the moon. He totally didn't book an entire TNA roster for YEARS before the Bischoff and Hogan regime came into play. Russo is the king of pushing the right talent.


Russo is one-hundred percent wrestling blood. He knows the business and always knows what he's doing. It's true that he does have the act of a FEW very few bad booking, but who doesn't?

The real reason why Russo gets so much heat, and this is pure honesty, is that after all these years Russo can still work the crowd INCLUDING the IWC. The reason why people don't except that is because the truth hurts. Russo is one of the best writers to ever promote in wrestling history, and without him, there wouldn't be wrestling today. Without him, WWE would caved in and WCW would be the mega giant... and as many have stated in their books before, it was horrible on the inside.

Sorry to burst your bubble on a few things, but...

As Bruce Prichard once said in an interview: "There’s a guy over in TNA (Vince Russo) who has taken credit over the years for the creation of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, The Rock, & people like that. At the end of the day, the guy who deserves credit for ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is Steve Austin. He went out & delivered. Steve went out, and he was ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin 24/7. When Russo used to write up all these scripts, Steve would look at it, crumple it up, and throw it in the trash. Steve would go out, and he had a rapport with Vince McMahon, and he used to come to me and say ‘I wanna say this.’ I said ‘Hey man, that’s life, so if you wanna take the ass-chewing when you get back, do what you think is right.’ After a while, Steve gambled, and went out, and he did what he thought was right. He had an ear, and he knew what was working, and what they buying & weren’t buying, and at the end of the day, it may not have been the ideal creative situation that was created, but Steve made it his own, and made it bigger than anything that’s ever been done in the business. Without talent, you can have the greatest creative in the world…if they can’t deliver, it doesn’t matter.”


Russo also left TNA in 2004 and was re-hired in 2006. Team Canada began after Russo left and it's dynasty occurred during those years Russo was gone from TNA and Scott D'amore, who just so happened to be the coach of Team Canada had influence.

And once again, the whole Angle vs. Wolfe storyline comes back to what Bruce Prichard said. It worked because of the two talents delivering in all aspects of that feud/storyline. Look at what happened with Wolfe, because of the writing, after that initial run. Wolfe just went down hill and was so poorly used it was ridiculous. Beer Money is also one of the best tag teams because of their talent, nothing more.. it's not like they've been written amazingly as lackeys in Fourtune. They're loved and over so much because of their wrestling, their matches, and the combination between them. That has nothing to do with writing.

For any praise Russo can be given there's twice as much negativity that can be thrown at him, and deservingly. No one should be apologizing for a thing, because Russo is the most overrated writer in wrestling history.

 

[ABMorales787]

I agree that Vince Russo had a huge role in the death of WCW, the fact that an entire organization leaned on him unnecessarily can't go ignored. He was the band, and WCW was at the helm.

As for his work in TNA, while it may not be grade A (or B at times), it works to at least generate steady interest. He has his hits and misses.

Hits:

• MEM
• Desmond Wolfe/Kurt Angle
• Mr. Anderson/Kurt Angle
• Joe/Styles/Daniels 2
• Christian's face turn

Misses:

• World Elite
• Joe/Booker
• The Band/EY
• Abyss/Dr. Stevie
• Abyss and the HOF ring

Those are just examples. I'm not gonna go into detail because my memory doesn't stretch so far. The point is he has his win's and losses. Unfortunately his past makes the loses stick out more.

Does he deserve credit? Yeah, he does deserve a cookie sometimes. An apology? Come on. Kimberly On A Pole.