Is Russo in trouble?

[WCCWfan]

Now that Hogan is TNA, a big question comes to my mind. Lets go back to WCW where Double J laid down for Hogan and Russo berated him on PPV. Memory serves, that was the last time we saw Hogan and Russo fired him the next day. Now that Hogan has more clout in TNA than Russo, Ferrara, Dixie, Kentucky, and the New England Partriots, is this bit of the past going to have us see a 'Russo on a pole' match? Will Russo have a job? Will Ed have a job? Will they made jobbers for Cody Deaner? Opinions, please.

 

[chillicothewrestlingfan]

Russo will be gone, he has not done anything for TNA to get ahead or have a better product. With Hogan taking over, it gives them an upgrade, but I dont think it will never be good enough to beat out the WWE

 

[detroitking02]

yeah hogan and bischoff doesn't like russo and I'm sure guys like Nash, Stenier, Sting, and other former wcw guys don't really care for him so I can see him being fired

 

[UFOcalling]

Look at the gold that was created in the late nineties from Russo's writing team in the WWF. If that was a product of Russo's storylines and McMahon's "filtering", then maybe Hogan and/or Bischoff can act as Russo's filter in TNA....that's a big "maybe" though, considering all of the MASSIVE egos that are in play.

If all four of these men (Bischoff, Hogan, Russo & Ferrara) could put their egos aside, they could be the epitome of a booking "dream team". We would possibly see the best wrestling shows since the Attitude era.

 

[KamaKazie]

Russo should've been gone three, four months ago. He's been in trouble and should be fired and never let near the business ever again. Russo should be removed from wrestling archives like Chris Benoit. Russo is the most horrible booker/writer ever. Period. And anyone who thinks otherwise is as naive and unknowledgeable about the business as Dixie Carter.

 

[G3]

Now that Hogan is TNA, a big question comes to my mind. Lets go back to WCW where Double J laid down for Hogan and Russo berated him on PPV. Memory serves, that was the last time we saw Hogan and Russo fired him the next day. Now that Hogan has more clout in TNA than Russo, Ferrara, Dixie, Kentucky, and the New England Partriots, is this bit of the past going to have us see a 'Russo on a pole' match? Will Russo have a job? Will Ed have a job? Will they made jobbers for Cody Deaner? Opinions, please.

Does it matter really?

Russo hasn't done a good job in TNA at all. Best if he would leave. I know he isn't responsible for matches but just interviews and shit, but they're not doing a good job in that department.

 

[kobylee]

i totally agree....

Russo does not belong in the wrestling business anymore, he had his run, which was not good at all and it ruined a whole company, and he is just not good at doing what he doing anyways

 

[Eric]

Here is all the latest news on Hogan, Bischoff, Russo that I've read today.

Will Hogan’s signing effect the future of Vince Russo in TNA? Early indications suggest that Russo is in no danger of losing his job and acted unsurprised of the signing.
When asked about Vince Russo (the current head of TNA creative), Hogan said as long as Russo knew his place in the company then everything would be fine.

Bischoff’s role in TNA Wrestling will be mainly behind the scenes, working deals with TNA, SpikeTV and many others. Bischoff will also be participating in the creative department, helping bring a new feel to TNA and a new direction in terms of storylines.

Despite what's being said elsewhere, several TNA sources are saying that Bischoff and Hogan are not taking over creatively. Hogan will likely have creative control over his character but word is that Russo and company are not being replaced. Hogan has suggestions of talents he would like to see brought into TNA but there are currently no wrestlers or other personalities 100% set to come in.

The belief right now is that Hogan will be a regular personality on TNA iMPACT! but will only wrestle sparingly. He may end up in the role of some type of authority figure.


So it sounds like Russo isn't going anywhere.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

God I hope so.
I bet that russo's day's in TNA are numbered. With Hogan having more pull than anyone backstage at this point I think him and bischoff will basically be writing the show for now on so whats the need for russo, to have another Viagra on a Pole match? It's definitely an upgrade, besides Russo and Ferarra are the definition of pulp, they are a useless waste of matter that do nothing for nobody and the wrestling business would be better without them (but to be honest I'm not entirely sold on Hogan either, if he puts his ego aside TNA will do very well with Hogan at the helm, but if history has shown us anything, that is a big IF).

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

i totally agree....

Russo does not belong in the wrestling business anymore, he had his run, which was not good at all and it ruined a whole company, and he is just not good at doing what he doing anyways

LOL. Russo didn't "ruin WCW". WCW was already ruined before he actually got there, thanks to the AOL/Time Warner Merger that Eric Bischoff wrote about in Controversy Creates Cash. They were not interested in having a wrestling show on TNT, in the first place.

The organization was going to die, regardless.

However, things went downhill internally primarily because of egos backstage and wrestlers being given the book that shouldn't have been given the book. Hell, Russo had zero control over how Hulk Hogan was booked in WCW, and that was all Hogan. Russo was the one that wanted to push the younger guys like Chris Benoit, at the time .... but often had his hands tied due to Creative Control clauses in contracts. That is why I am a little uneasy about Hogan having it this go round, but I can only hope all of them learned from their mistakes in WCW, which they claimed they have.

The amount of shit that Russo gets from the IWC is absolutely unfounded.

Hell, he didn't even have control over the books at TNA until just about a month or two ago. And since he has, I have had zero problem with his work. And what I have seen on Impact as of late has sure as Hell been world's better than anything I have seen on Raw.

But it should tell you something when even Eric Bischoff, who doesn't care for Vince Russo, didn't even blame Vince Russo for the demise of WCW, when he has had numerous opportunities to state as such.

 

[Randolph H]

Watch Hogan vs Jarrett at WCW bash at the beach 2000. I think there is still a lot of bad blood from that. I believe this is when Bischoff left WCW and Russo was given absolute power, He decides to pull a Vinnie Mac... Hogan believes this guy doesn't deserve a job in any wrestling company. I believe that Bischoff believes the same thing. Russo is in big trouble in my opinion. Russo is the real reason why WCW tanked viewership wise.

 

[Eric]

Does anyone realize that BEFORE Russo joined WCW the NWO storyline was old and dead and nobody in that company had a plan B after the NWO ran its course, AND at the same time that Russo joined WCW not only was the Rock and Austin huge in the WWE but it was the same time Triple H was getting a major push in the fued with Mick Foley.
Therefore when Russo came into WCW he was forced to try anything and I mean anything to draw attention back to WCW and it didn't work because the competition (WWF) had the huge stars that Russo actually created such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock.
And on top of that, as mentioned before when Turner had to sell WCW it lost the money behind it.
So anyone saying that Russo was the reason why WCW failed obviously doesn't know the story.
Lack of money, lack of a plan B after the NWO, WWF youngers stars (Austin, Rock, HHH) pushed and became huge, are the reasons why WCW failed, NOT RUSSO.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Watch Hogan vs Jarrett at WCW bash at the beach 2000. I think there is still a lot of bad blood from that. I believe this is when Bischoff left WCW and Russo was given absolute power, He decides to pull a Vinnie Mac... Hogan believes this guy doesn't deserve a job in any wrestling company. I believe that Bischoff believes the same thing. Russo is in big trouble in my opinion. Russo is the real reason why WCW tanked viewership wise.

Well, if that's your prerogative.

What many even fail to state (ironically enough) is the popularity of the Attitude Era for the decline of WCW. Given how cutting edge the Attitude Era was and how it actually overshot Nitro, are we truly to believe that this did not contribute to the fall of WCW? That was arguably the most popular time in all of WWE history.

As far as on the WCW side, virtually all of the top stars had Creative Control clauses in their contracts. When this happens, the booker is essentially locked into doing what they want, or the entire company is at risk of being sued for breach of contract. So, either do what they say, or risk the company being at the mercy of a lawsuit.

I am not a fan of active wrestlers having Creative Control clauses in their contracts, for this reason. It simply creates more problems then its worth. Especially, if several wrestlers have Creative Control clauses, which makes it even more complicated.

However, Russo had his hands tied.

David Arquette was an act of desperation on his part to capture attention. But things were already in the shitter by this point.

However, it should be noted that Vince Russo was all for what I hear everyone bitching about on here ... and that was actually pushing the younger guys. However, the Creative Control clauses from the older guys was an obstacle to making that a reality.

Russo wanted to push the Chris Benoits and the Booker T's.

Now, they are in a situation to actually capture Hulk Hogan, which is a huge enough acquisition to actually take the company to the next level. It's obvious that nothing else is working to capture the public's attention, and that Dixie Carter simply doesn't have what it takes, nor recognizes the problem in her lack of Marketing efforts for the company.

So do you bite the bullet and take the chance to take the company to the next level while giving Hogan Creative Control .... or do you turn down the Creative Control clause, lose Hogan and Bischoff in the process .... and keep things the way they are with TNA never getting ahead.

I personally think it is a risk worth taking and that Carter did the right thing. This is already capturing boat-loads of attention and is stimulating interest in the entire wrestling industry. If Vince McMahon is unhappy, then you know you are doing something right.

All we can hope is that Bischoff and Hogan really did learn from their mistakes from the last time. But the ball is really in TNA's court right now, since they actually have the advantage with having more leeway in the rating, this time.

Essentially, the roles are reversed with TNA being having the ability to produce the more cutting edge programming geared towards adults and older teens ... while WWE has ......... Hornswoggle dancing around the ring for the small children, along with overly stale main events that everyone has already seen 50 million times before .... like Undertaker vs Big Show in a Casket Match at Survivor Series.

 

[Randolph H]

Hogan is in no condition physically to do what he did in WCW. He will have creative control but it will not effect the younger talent.

Russo was the guy who started the Attitude Era but there was a reason why Vince got rid of him. Russo had one good idea, but everything else he had was cheesy. All the young talent in TNA have been extremely unhappy with Russo.

Believe me that Bischoff wants to get to Vinny Mac. He will be more involved than what you may think. Most people that have worked under or for Bischoff has loved the guy. It is very rare that you hear about people disliking him. But guys like Vinny Mac and Russo, you have a long list of people that hate them.

When Bischoff steps in behind the scenes, you are going to see a cultural change in the locker room. It is going to become more professional and the talent is going to love it.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Hogan is in no condition physically to do what he did in WCW. He will have creative control but it will not effect the younger talent.

Russo was the guy who started the Attitude Era but there was a reason why Vince got rid of him. Russo had one good idea, but everything else he had was cheesy. All the young talent in TNA have been extremely unhappy with Russo.

Believe me that Bischoff wants to get to Vinny Mac. He will be more involved than what you may think. Most people that have worked under or for Bischoff has loved the guy. It is very rare that you hear about people disliking him. But guys like Vinny Mac and Russo, you have a long list of people that hate them.

When Bischoff steps in behind the scenes, you are going to see a cultural change in the locker room. It is going to become more professional and the talent is going to love it.

Well, once again you have your facts wrong.

Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara resigned from WWE. They were not canned by Vince McMahon. Actually, reports out indicated McMahon was actually very unhappy when they decided to leave for WCW.

And they were on record for resigning because of the increased workload from Vince, without hiring any additional writers. McMahon wanted Russo and Ferrara to take on responsibilities of writing both a live Raw, Sunday Night Heat, and a newly debuting Smackdown .... and at the time, they stated that they needed more assistance. They didn't get it. So they decided it wasn't worth what Vince was currently paying them, without giving them a raise for the additional responsibilities. So they bolted.

It's really aggravating when posters spout out what they believe to be facts, but in reality are complete garbage as a result of total ignorance .... mostly re-iterating garbage from what other posters spew.

I can understand disputing opinions, such as Russo being good or not for the business. But when we talk about something factual, like how Russo left WWE, and a poster is completely misinformed yet spouts off stuff as if it is true (when it can even be looked up on the Net to be verified) ... it is just mind-blowing.

 

[Randolph H]

Well, once again you have your facts wrong.

Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara resigned from WWE. They were not canned by Vince McMahon. Actually, reports out indicated McMahon was actually very unhappy when they decided to leave for WCW.

And they were on record for resigning because of the increased workload from Vince, without hiring any additional writers. McMahon wanted Russo and Ferrara to take on responsibilities of writing both a live Raw, Sunday Night Heat, and a newly debuting Smackdown .... and at the time, they stated that they needed more assistance. They didn't get it. So they decided it wasn't worth what Vince was currently paying them, without giving them a raise for the additional responsibilities. So they bolted.

It's really aggravating when posters spout out what they believe to be facts, but in reality are complete garbage as a result of total ignorance .... mostly re-iterating garbage from what other posters spew.

I can understand disputing opinions, such as Russo being good or not for the business. But when we talk about something factual, like how Russo left WWE, and a poster is completely misinformed yet spouts off stuff as if it is true (when it can even be looked up on the Net to be verified) ... it is just mind-blowing.

Does responding with an essay make you feel better? There is a difference between reality and what was written afterwords. Don't believe everything you read. It is stupid to believe that Russo and Ferrara were running the companies shows alone. It just doesn't ad up.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I was reading some stuff regarding the press conference when it was announced on the net that Hogan had signed with TNA. There were a lot of fluff questions, as expected, but there was a least one question regarding Vince Russo and how Hogan thinks the two of them would get along. Hogan said something to the effect that things between them would be fine as long as Russo knew his place.

Now, I personally find that statement to be something of an indicator when it comes to Hogan. There were rumors floating about a few months back that Dixie Carter would even fire Vince Russo in order to sign Hogan if that's what it took. It makes me wonder just exactly what "place" Hogan is referring to. Russo is supposed to be head booker, but I just have a feeling that he's not going to have the say over any angle, feud or match that Hogan is involved in.