boywithatoy
Occasional Pre-Show
i think you're being a bit harsh on steiner. Do you know how many matches he has won in TNA since he's been there? Five. That's five matches in how many years of Impact and how many ppvs? He's hardly being pushed!
Is Vince Russo really that bad?
- Thread starter gully side adidja
- Start date
i think you're being a bit harsh on steiner. Do you know how many matches he has won in TNA since he's been there? Five. That's five matches in how many years of Impact and how many ppvs? He's hardly being pushed!
I wouldnt go as far as some people do, who seem to consider Russo the Satan of Wrestling, but I do NOT like the man. He sticks out as an arrogant, smug prick even in a business where that seems to be the norm. Plus, after I read that Q&A thing with him where he went on about wanting to influence the product with his born again crap...
Bull_Dawgz
Dark Match Winner
Vince Russo is the best. I'm a huge fan. Not only did he help create the attitude era, but he put the belt on the greatest WCW champion ever. David Arquette. LOLZZZZ.
I understand that WCW was in deep deep trouble before Vince Russo was in charge of the company, but if Vince Russo is so amazingly great and a wonderful genius. WHY does his booking for TNA suck more than a hooker using a vacuum?
I understand that WCW was in deep deep trouble before Vince Russo was in charge of the company, but if Vince Russo is so amazingly great and a wonderful genius. WHY does his booking for TNA suck more than a hooker using a vacuum?
Let me start by saying that I give major props to Lord Sidious for attempting to shed some light on the other side of the story...Russo's side.
It is my belief that anyone who has had to rely on heavily edited/biased WWE DVD's to form an opinion on Vince Russo and who wasn't actually watching Wrestling at the time during the late 90's cannot possibly have an objective opinion, much less, a credible one.
Vince McMahon Jr's ego is a hundred times larger than Russo's will ever be. Russo, very publicly, does go out of his way to duly give credit where credit is due to those who helped him during his WWF tenure ('94-'99). But for him to not receive any credit either from those same people he gave it to, or stupid WWE marks today, is bullshit and unfair.
The WWE would NOT be around today if it wasn't for Vince Russo! There, I said it...It's the fucking truth! Here's why:
What a lot of people fail to realize is that the general structure of the WWF creative team from 1996-1999 was vastly different than it is today. With just Russo and Vince McMahon writing and producing the TV from '96-'99 with Ed Fererra replacing McMahon in 1999.
Now, the WWE has a hoard writers and assistant writers below Steph, Hunter, Michael Hayes, Brian Gewirtz and Vince McMahon himself. This 'committee' approach to booking has never worked, and it continues to not work effectively.
In 1995, as WCW was just starting to really take off, Vince Russo was editing the WWF Magazine and penning all the TV interviews for the guys. It was Vince Russo who created Dustin Runnels' shocking for the time Goldust character and persona for example. As the WWF's on-screen product progressed to depths not even the most pessimistic fan could imagine, Vinnie Mac realized he needed change. More specifically, he needed to rid himself of the 'Yes' men and phase out the 1980's Wrestling the WWF was producing at the time and bring the product into the 90's.
After the disastrous episode of Raw in May '96 which drew a 1.2 cable rating, Vince McMahon called a staff meeting at Titan Towers. WWF bigwigs of the time such as Jim Cornette, Bruce 'Brother Love' Pritchard, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Jack Tunney, Michael Hayes, Shane McMahon and Kevin Dunn were all present. Vinnie Mac threw down a copy of the WWF magazine and simply stated that this is what his company needs to be. Referring to Vince Russo's fun, thoughtful and creative writing.
Vinnie Mac proclaimed that Russo is the man they're going with and anyone who screws with him, is screwing with McMahon himself. Almost immediately, the Freddy Joe Floyd's, Mantaurs' and Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese's were gone and in their place were characters that identified more closely with the Wrestlers real-life personalities.
It was Vince Russo's idea to rename the WWF's flagship show to Raw Is War in March of 1997 and do away with the horrible and dated red, white and blue ringropes by replacing them with red ones and generally making the tone of Raw more aggressive.
It was Vince Russo's idea for the Titantron too. Vinnie Ru was incorporating more depth to the shows and wanted to increase the impact of pre tape promos and live backstage vignettes which would play a major role in Vince Russo's development of characters and also enable him to be more creative with angles. It also helped bring the product into the 90's.
Vince Russo would write for each character individually. There was no cookie cutter mentality such as there is in WWE today. Russo would have each character act and react differently when placed in different situations, no two guys where the same.
In October of '97, as the WWF's fan base began to grow and gain some ground on the superstar heavy WCW, Vince McMahon allowed Vince Russo's vision of 'Attitude' to be realized.
If anyone dismisses the advent of 'Attitude' being a Russo creation, check out the December 1996 WWF magazine. Vince Russo A.K.A Vic Venom, writes a four page, in-depth spread about the WWF's new-found 'Attitude'...Eleven months before the campaign started! He outlines what the WWF product is lacking and how it's changing.
Vince Russo is credited with creating Degeneration-X, Turning Rocky Maivia into The Rock, The rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin and all of his memorable angles from '96 - late '99, The original Undertaker/Kane angle (which I might add was a highly detailed, 9 month storyline), All the NOD stuff, The Corporation/DX feud, The Ministry of Darkness/Greater Power angle and most importantly, the mega successful Austin/McMahon feud that took the WWF and Pro Wrestling to dizzying heights of popularity and enabled them to surpass the then mighty WCW to become the number one Professional Wrestling company in the world.
Vince Russo truly was Vinnie Mac's right hand man in the WWF and when Russo left for WCW in October '99, on short to no notice, Vince McMahon described the phonecall as the and I quote: "Most devastating call he'd ever received". Russo left with the next two episodes of Raw & Smackdown written entirely and headed off to WCW.
Let's not forget though, the Vince Russo penned 'This Is Your Life' segment from the September 27th 1999 Raw, featuring Foley and The Rock is the highest rated segment in the history of the WWF and pro wrestling in general for that matter! Ouch! That's gotta hurt Russo detractors...
I challenge anyone to watch an episode of Nitro from August or September 1999 and compare it them to episodes of Nitro from October 4th '99 - January 2000. There's a HUGE difference in the product! Pre tapes now have meaning, under utilized undercard wrestlers were awarded face time on TV and ultra talented guys such as Eddie Guererro, Billy Kidman, Rey Misterio Jr along with Konnan and Torrie Wilson formed the entertaining Filthy Animals stable and received an increased TV presence.
Bret Hart was utilized and pushed to the top as Heavyweight champ, nWo 2000 formed over a creative three month build-up...I could go on and on. The product improved, the live crowds became larger and more vocal and most importantly, TV ratings INCREASED by a whole ratings point on average from a 2.2 the week before Russo started to a 3.3 in only three months! At the same time, Raw's ratings DROPPED by a point, which indicates Russo drew viewers away from Raw at the time.
As other have stated, Russo encountered many obstacles in WCW, aside from the confusing political atmosphere, guys were working their own angles and disregarding directions by going into business for themselves to name a couple of instances.
WCW of summer '99 couldn't draw flies to a shit factory, there were no real 'money matches' to be made, company morale was in the toilet as Hogan and Flair were working on top of the cards, guys like Chris Jericho had fled for greener pastures at the WWF and guys who were 'over' previously, were no longer over!
It was a precarious position for Vinnie Ru to find himself in and he did the best he could in a desperate situation whilst constantly being undermined by J.J Dillon and his cronies.
One last thing I'd like to add, I stated earlier that people shouldn't base their opinions on Russo from biased WWE DVD's...In the Rise & Fall of WCW DVD, Russo get's the blame for the horrible and expensive ($250K) KISS concert on Nitro in August '99 which bombed in the ratings, he also get's blamed for the Master P/No Limit Soldiers crap from July '99 too...Russo was still at the WWF when both these took place! He had nothing to do with them! Fuck Vince McMahon and his re-writing of history.
It is my belief that anyone who has had to rely on heavily edited/biased WWE DVD's to form an opinion on Vince Russo and who wasn't actually watching Wrestling at the time during the late 90's cannot possibly have an objective opinion, much less, a credible one.
Vince McMahon Jr's ego is a hundred times larger than Russo's will ever be. Russo, very publicly, does go out of his way to duly give credit where credit is due to those who helped him during his WWF tenure ('94-'99). But for him to not receive any credit either from those same people he gave it to, or stupid WWE marks today, is bullshit and unfair.
The WWE would NOT be around today if it wasn't for Vince Russo! There, I said it...It's the fucking truth! Here's why:
What a lot of people fail to realize is that the general structure of the WWF creative team from 1996-1999 was vastly different than it is today. With just Russo and Vince McMahon writing and producing the TV from '96-'99 with Ed Fererra replacing McMahon in 1999.
Now, the WWE has a hoard writers and assistant writers below Steph, Hunter, Michael Hayes, Brian Gewirtz and Vince McMahon himself. This 'committee' approach to booking has never worked, and it continues to not work effectively.
In 1995, as WCW was just starting to really take off, Vince Russo was editing the WWF Magazine and penning all the TV interviews for the guys. It was Vince Russo who created Dustin Runnels' shocking for the time Goldust character and persona for example. As the WWF's on-screen product progressed to depths not even the most pessimistic fan could imagine, Vinnie Mac realized he needed change. More specifically, he needed to rid himself of the 'Yes' men and phase out the 1980's Wrestling the WWF was producing at the time and bring the product into the 90's.
After the disastrous episode of Raw in May '96 which drew a 1.2 cable rating, Vince McMahon called a staff meeting at Titan Towers. WWF bigwigs of the time such as Jim Cornette, Bruce 'Brother Love' Pritchard, Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Jack Tunney, Michael Hayes, Shane McMahon and Kevin Dunn were all present. Vinnie Mac threw down a copy of the WWF magazine and simply stated that this is what his company needs to be. Referring to Vince Russo's fun, thoughtful and creative writing.
Vinnie Mac proclaimed that Russo is the man they're going with and anyone who screws with him, is screwing with McMahon himself. Almost immediately, the Freddy Joe Floyd's, Mantaurs' and Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese's were gone and in their place were characters that identified more closely with the Wrestlers real-life personalities.
It was Vince Russo's idea to rename the WWF's flagship show to Raw Is War in March of 1997 and do away with the horrible and dated red, white and blue ringropes by replacing them with red ones and generally making the tone of Raw more aggressive.
It was Vince Russo's idea for the Titantron too. Vinnie Ru was incorporating more depth to the shows and wanted to increase the impact of pre tape promos and live backstage vignettes which would play a major role in Vince Russo's development of characters and also enable him to be more creative with angles. It also helped bring the product into the 90's.
Vince Russo would write for each character individually. There was no cookie cutter mentality such as there is in WWE today. Russo would have each character act and react differently when placed in different situations, no two guys where the same.
In October of '97, as the WWF's fan base began to grow and gain some ground on the superstar heavy WCW, Vince McMahon allowed Vince Russo's vision of 'Attitude' to be realized.
If anyone dismisses the advent of 'Attitude' being a Russo creation, check out the December 1996 WWF magazine. Vince Russo A.K.A Vic Venom, writes a four page, in-depth spread about the WWF's new-found 'Attitude'...Eleven months before the campaign started! He outlines what the WWF product is lacking and how it's changing.
Vince Russo is credited with creating Degeneration-X, Turning Rocky Maivia into The Rock, The rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin and all of his memorable angles from '96 - late '99, The original Undertaker/Kane angle (which I might add was a highly detailed, 9 month storyline), All the NOD stuff, The Corporation/DX feud, The Ministry of Darkness/Greater Power angle and most importantly, the mega successful Austin/McMahon feud that took the WWF and Pro Wrestling to dizzying heights of popularity and enabled them to surpass the then mighty WCW to become the number one Professional Wrestling company in the world.
Vince Russo truly was Vinnie Mac's right hand man in the WWF and when Russo left for WCW in October '99, on short to no notice, Vince McMahon described the phonecall as the and I quote: "Most devastating call he'd ever received". Russo left with the next two episodes of Raw & Smackdown written entirely and headed off to WCW.
Let's not forget though, the Vince Russo penned 'This Is Your Life' segment from the September 27th 1999 Raw, featuring Foley and The Rock is the highest rated segment in the history of the WWF and pro wrestling in general for that matter! Ouch! That's gotta hurt Russo detractors...
I challenge anyone to watch an episode of Nitro from August or September 1999 and compare it them to episodes of Nitro from October 4th '99 - January 2000. There's a HUGE difference in the product! Pre tapes now have meaning, under utilized undercard wrestlers were awarded face time on TV and ultra talented guys such as Eddie Guererro, Billy Kidman, Rey Misterio Jr along with Konnan and Torrie Wilson formed the entertaining Filthy Animals stable and received an increased TV presence.
Bret Hart was utilized and pushed to the top as Heavyweight champ, nWo 2000 formed over a creative three month build-up...I could go on and on. The product improved, the live crowds became larger and more vocal and most importantly, TV ratings INCREASED by a whole ratings point on average from a 2.2 the week before Russo started to a 3.3 in only three months! At the same time, Raw's ratings DROPPED by a point, which indicates Russo drew viewers away from Raw at the time.
As other have stated, Russo encountered many obstacles in WCW, aside from the confusing political atmosphere, guys were working their own angles and disregarding directions by going into business for themselves to name a couple of instances.
WCW of summer '99 couldn't draw flies to a shit factory, there were no real 'money matches' to be made, company morale was in the toilet as Hogan and Flair were working on top of the cards, guys like Chris Jericho had fled for greener pastures at the WWF and guys who were 'over' previously, were no longer over!
It was a precarious position for Vinnie Ru to find himself in and he did the best he could in a desperate situation whilst constantly being undermined by J.J Dillon and his cronies.
One last thing I'd like to add, I stated earlier that people shouldn't base their opinions on Russo from biased WWE DVD's...In the Rise & Fall of WCW DVD, Russo get's the blame for the horrible and expensive ($250K) KISS concert on Nitro in August '99 which bombed in the ratings, he also get's blamed for the Master P/No Limit Soldiers crap from July '99 too...Russo was still at the WWF when both these took place! He had nothing to do with them! Fuck Vince McMahon and his re-writing of history.
Mighty NorCal
SHALL WE BEGIN?
Um, fuck yes. As a matter of fact, I was just about to come into this section and make a case for him being the most terrible thing to happen to wrestling EVER. The most destructive person EVER.
Think of it. My opinion on the Attitude Era is evident. It practically ruined wrestling beyond all repair, and thats why we are suffering right now. So, fucking ruined wrestling in general, 1.
2 fucked up WCW. Who the fuck DIDN'T WCW have? EVERYONE at one point. Yet still, utter and complete shit. Utter. Shit. A fucking WRITER couldn't check his ego for the best wrestler of ALL FUCKING TIME. Fuck him. Which leads me to my next one, and the worst one.
3. Fucking Bash At The motherfucking Beach. Jeff Jarret, Vince Russo, you are both absolute fucking sacks of shit. Just because your punk bitch ass career mid card fucking self, and a delusional writer, couldn't check their egos you do the ULTIMATE fucking no - no, and just totally destroy everything. Not only that, but during a PPV main event. A fucking show that people paid their hard earned fucking money to watch, you fucking piece of trash. I don't give a shit HOW the fuck you feel about Hulk Hogan, YOU DO NOT FUCK OVER THE FANS. FUCKING EVER. Just so YOU can throw a little fit. If you cant tell, that entire situation makes me absolutely fucking livid.
I will NEVER forgive Russo or Jarret for that. That day is likely the day that Wrestling truly died. It makes me fucking sick. It destroys every last fucking ethic that has ever fucking existed in Wrestling. Russo, you are the biggest piece of shit in the history of professional wrestling, and you don't deserve to be near ANYTHING that a fan is going to spend their hard earned money to see. Fuck you.
Think of it. My opinion on the Attitude Era is evident. It practically ruined wrestling beyond all repair, and thats why we are suffering right now. So, fucking ruined wrestling in general, 1.
2 fucked up WCW. Who the fuck DIDN'T WCW have? EVERYONE at one point. Yet still, utter and complete shit. Utter. Shit. A fucking WRITER couldn't check his ego for the best wrestler of ALL FUCKING TIME. Fuck him. Which leads me to my next one, and the worst one.
3. Fucking Bash At The motherfucking Beach. Jeff Jarret, Vince Russo, you are both absolute fucking sacks of shit. Just because your punk bitch ass career mid card fucking self, and a delusional writer, couldn't check their egos you do the ULTIMATE fucking no - no, and just totally destroy everything. Not only that, but during a PPV main event. A fucking show that people paid their hard earned fucking money to watch, you fucking piece of trash. I don't give a shit HOW the fuck you feel about Hulk Hogan, YOU DO NOT FUCK OVER THE FANS. FUCKING EVER. Just so YOU can throw a little fit. If you cant tell, that entire situation makes me absolutely fucking livid.
I will NEVER forgive Russo or Jarret for that. That day is likely the day that Wrestling truly died. It makes me fucking sick. It destroys every last fucking ethic that has ever fucking existed in Wrestling. Russo, you are the biggest piece of shit in the history of professional wrestling, and you don't deserve to be near ANYTHING that a fan is going to spend their hard earned money to see. Fuck you.
It's...Baylariat!
Team Finnley Baylor
I thought I had already weighed in on this subject for some reason. Guess not, as there's no post in here from me. Vince Russo is bad. He's pretty bad. As NorCal said, he has an ego. He's a person who believes in giving younger guys a shot, but at the same time, the younger guys he gives a shot to aren't worth a damn. Mike Sanders anyone? But Russo has some positives. When he's able to be censored or has someone to tell him no, he's not too bad. It's when his ideas aren't amended or monitored that can be a problem.
I personally liked the Attitude era, because it gave us something different. I won't say it ruined wrestling, but it did spoil us as wrestling fans. And as far as what Russo did at Bash at the Beach? That was stupid. It didn't ruin wrestling, but it was the final nail in WCW's coffin. There are certain things you don't do, and airing backstage stuff in the ring doesn't do anything except confuse the fans. Hogan is the biggest name in wrestling history. If he wants the damn belt, give him the fucking belt. The fans wouldn't have minded seeing Hogan with the belt. Even if Jarrett's ego was too swelled to put him over. Jarrett is overrated on a larger scale. He was great in Memphis, but just flat out bad in his first run in the WWF/E and WCW, and in his second runs with those companies. But enough about Jarrett.
Yes, Russo is that bad. Look at his body of work, and look at some of the things he did as a creative director for WCW during its final days. If I were to start a promotion and needed to choose someone to write my stuff, I'll choose someone like Cornette or Heyman to do my writing. Russo's next to last on my list, slightly ahead of Les Thatcher.
I personally liked the Attitude era, because it gave us something different. I won't say it ruined wrestling, but it did spoil us as wrestling fans. And as far as what Russo did at Bash at the Beach? That was stupid. It didn't ruin wrestling, but it was the final nail in WCW's coffin. There are certain things you don't do, and airing backstage stuff in the ring doesn't do anything except confuse the fans. Hogan is the biggest name in wrestling history. If he wants the damn belt, give him the fucking belt. The fans wouldn't have minded seeing Hogan with the belt. Even if Jarrett's ego was too swelled to put him over. Jarrett is overrated on a larger scale. He was great in Memphis, but just flat out bad in his first run in the WWF/E and WCW, and in his second runs with those companies. But enough about Jarrett.
Yes, Russo is that bad. Look at his body of work, and look at some of the things he did as a creative director for WCW during its final days. If I were to start a promotion and needed to choose someone to write my stuff, I'll choose someone like Cornette or Heyman to do my writing. Russo's next to last on my list, slightly ahead of Les Thatcher.
SavageTaker
Everybody Has A Price!
Vince Russo is seen as such a crappy writer because of all of the crap that he has done. I dont think I need to list examples of some of the horrible things he has done because other people in this thread have already done that. But on the flip side, like some people have mentioned, he has also had his fair share of good writing. For example, the Attitude Era. He wrote a lot of great storylines back then and he was pretty good. Now hes in TNA and hes doing a decent job there.
So, overall I would have to say he really isnt as bad as people say he is, but he also isnt as great as some other people say he is. Im sure that if he didnt come up with things such as Viagra on a pole match then he would probably be looked at more positively than negatively. There is just so much thats so good that he has written yet he has ruined it all by doing so much bad so its not fair to call him a shit or great writer. I guess I would give him a 6 to 7.5 on a scale from 1 to 10.
So, overall I would have to say he really isnt as bad as people say he is, but he also isnt as great as some other people say he is. Im sure that if he didnt come up with things such as Viagra on a pole match then he would probably be looked at more positively than negatively. There is just so much thats so good that he has written yet he has ruined it all by doing so much bad so its not fair to call him a shit or great writer. I guess I would give him a 6 to 7.5 on a scale from 1 to 10.
Wrong! The WWF was sinking into a sea of debt by late 1995. The product truly was a steaming, stinking pile of shit. Vince Russo brought the product into the 90's with a bang! Resulting in the biggest boom period in the history of the sport. Without Russo, No Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, DX, the 'Evil Mr. McMahon' character and business changing angle with Austin. To name a few examples.
Wrong again!
The reason why the WWE today blows dogs for quarters is because of talentless, ex sitcom writer nerds like Brian Gewertz penning Raw. It doesn't help that the WWE has a list of personnel involved in 'creative' that's almost as long as they're in-ring roster! There's no time in production meetings for them to develop meaningful, fresh and exciting feuds for the guys to work. when they have to listen to 10 or 12 people have their 2 cents and weigh in on the product. All the time and effort goes towards the main event and everyone else is forgotten. The WWF and Russo's replacement in October '99 Chris Kreski just rode the wave Russo had created for a year after he left. Everyone was already in place and the talent was developed. That's why simplified, predictable storylines and angles once again became the norm in the WWF from 2000 onwards.
No, fuck you NorCal!
In the summer of 1999, WCW was a total mess. Guys who were over previously were no longer over! There were no real "money matches" to be booked in WCW by the time Russo arrived in October 1999. That's why the slate was wiped clean and a new, revamped, modernized and unpredictable product hit the airwaves.
The ratings for Nitro rose by one whole point in only a 3 month span! Between October 1999 and January 2000, Nitro was consistently scoring 3's and over. Right before Russo came in, Nitro was doing 2.2's. This rise in the Nielson's was accompanied by Raw dropping that same number! Therefore, Raw LOST viewers.
Wake the fuck up! Hogan didn't want to do business at BATB 2000. The original idea was for Hogan to put Jarrett over and have him retain the title. Hogan was going to win the title at that years Halloween Havoc by pinning Jarrett. But as always, the radioactive looking, 'tan bed titan' wanted to be on top!
All that was trying to be achieved was Russo taking WCW in a different direction by featuring younger athletes. Which is precisely what he and Vinnie Mac did in the WWF to great success.
Oh and by the way, Jarrett lying down for Hogan was scripted with Hogan's consent. It was just the verbal lashing Russo laid on Hulk after the Vampiro/Demon graveyard fiasco that Hogan claimed he wasn't in on.
Some advice NorCal, I suggest you actually download some WCW events from Russo's tenure and check them out instead of listening to the useless and biased talking heads on WWE's DVD's where you clearly form your opinion from. As a fan who literally watched WCW week in and week out between October 1995 and March 2001, I saw a great change in WCW with Russo's acquisition. The crowds became larger and more vocal, Younger wrestlers were given a fucking break and actually got air time and the product became unpredictable.
I think the biggest overlooked factor in WCW not being able to regain their past glory was the popularity of the WWF itself. Russo/McMahon and Fererra had taken it to such dizzying heights that it may just have been mission impossible anyway.
tk_anderson
Dark Match Jobber
The answer is YES. Russo is everybit as awful as he is accused of. I've read this thread and hear the word visionary. That is soooo wrong.
Here's were everything falls and lays with Russo: ego. The man is a mark for himself and over credits himself for every thing. He was a magazine worker for WWF Magazine and was very fortunate enough to be given a role with the creative team. He had no previous wrestling experience. He was just a mark who was let in the back door. And to the success he had in WWF, he had the most creative mind the business has ever known, the only true visionary in wrestling: Vince McMahon. That McMahon is a visionary is indisputable, the way the business is today is SOLELY because of McMahon.
But to not get off subject, if Russo is such the visionary, such the success that people believe he is, why has his career been such a failure since he left McMahon's watch? Did anything he did in WCW ever achieve any measure of success. Nope. Not the slightest. WCW was hurt when he came in, but Russo did nothing to increase them and he got no one over. He basically hammered the last nails in WCW's coffin.
What has he done in TNA? Has his booking upped the ratings? Nope. Hogan and his old timers upped them mainly because of the 1.9 rated hour that went unopposed to Raw. Has he helped sell more PPVs? Nope, TNAs buyrates are at an all time low. He continually reaches into the rehash bag and bastardizes tired WWE angles that come off worse than they did 10 years ago. The guy is a hack and the only reason he has a job is because when he had the book in WCW he made life time mid-carder Jeff Jarrett world champ. How did that work? Oh yeah, Jarrett refused the title in 2001 because he didn't want to be the one that put WCW under. Too bad he and Russo did that the previous year putting the strap on that cat. Russo is pure, over hyped, ego maniacal garbage.
Here's were everything falls and lays with Russo: ego. The man is a mark for himself and over credits himself for every thing. He was a magazine worker for WWF Magazine and was very fortunate enough to be given a role with the creative team. He had no previous wrestling experience. He was just a mark who was let in the back door. And to the success he had in WWF, he had the most creative mind the business has ever known, the only true visionary in wrestling: Vince McMahon. That McMahon is a visionary is indisputable, the way the business is today is SOLELY because of McMahon.
But to not get off subject, if Russo is such the visionary, such the success that people believe he is, why has his career been such a failure since he left McMahon's watch? Did anything he did in WCW ever achieve any measure of success. Nope. Not the slightest. WCW was hurt when he came in, but Russo did nothing to increase them and he got no one over. He basically hammered the last nails in WCW's coffin.
What has he done in TNA? Has his booking upped the ratings? Nope. Hogan and his old timers upped them mainly because of the 1.9 rated hour that went unopposed to Raw. Has he helped sell more PPVs? Nope, TNAs buyrates are at an all time low. He continually reaches into the rehash bag and bastardizes tired WWE angles that come off worse than they did 10 years ago. The guy is a hack and the only reason he has a job is because when he had the book in WCW he made life time mid-carder Jeff Jarrett world champ. How did that work? Oh yeah, Jarrett refused the title in 2001 because he didn't want to be the one that put WCW under. Too bad he and Russo did that the previous year putting the strap on that cat. Russo is pure, over hyped, ego maniacal garbage.
tk_anderson
Dark Match Jobber
Hi. Im TK. And I'm not one to call people liars or one to tell some one they're wrong. But you sir are a flat out liar and you are dead wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Firstly Nitro hadn't done 2s since 1997. Your lying right there.
Nitro had done a few 4s the month before Russo got there and was toiling in the low 3s the weeks before he got there, when he got there they NEVER, EVER went above 3.5 for the first three months and THEY NEVER ROSE AN ENTIRE POINT. Within six months they never did above 3.5 Russo NEVER IMPROVED THE RATINGS WHATSOEVER. They were doing 4s and 5s in the early part of 1999 and went to 3s before he got there and NEVER WENT HIGHER. Your lying and your wrong.
Then you say Raw was putting up similar numbers. Your lying and your wrong. They were putting up 5s and 6s like no ones business, absolutely destroying WCW, and when Russo took over, they killed that poor bastard too. The average WWF Raw rating compared to the average WCW rating in Russo's first three months there are a monstrous 6.2 to a paltry 2.9. So what the hell are you talking about? Your just blurting out absurd lies and your totally wrong. Don't believe me, I don't care, its the truth.
Some advice Steve, before you go spouting off lies and stuff you obviously don't know, you should get your facts straight and definitely don't talk down to people. It's rude. It's uncool. And it's not nice.
Oh yah, and if you want to try and come back you can't. The numbers are right here: http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/wwf/wwfraw.htm
p.s...people tell me TK stands for "the knowledge"
Sorry Pal, but you're incorrect here...Nitro pulled 2's in July '99 & the August 23rd, 1999 edition scored a final 2.9.
Never once did I claim Raw was pulling similar numbers to Nitro at that time!!! For the record, what's the highest rated segment in the history of Raw? Or Professional Wrestling on cable for that matter!? That's right...The This Is Your Life skit involving Foley and The Rock which I will add, was entirely penned and conceived by Vince Russo! That night, September 27th 1999, Raw pulled a quarter hour of 8.1 for that skit.
Also, a little known fact about Vince Russo is that from 1994 - late 1995 Vinnie Mac had him attending indy events and spending a great deal of time in the developmental leagues before he was promoted to anything to do with creative. He was posted to these places to "learn the business". Also, starting in 1992, Russo had his own Wrestling Radio show in the New York area called 'Vicious Vincent's World of Wrestling' which was successful for it's time.
He then became Editor in Chief of the WWF Magazine and later launched Raw magazine as an alternative for older, more mature fans. So he wasn't and isn't totally clueless as you and so many other people claim.
tk_anderson
Dark Match Jobber
Dude, you're so wrong. THERE ARE NO 2s ANYWHERE IN JULY 99. EVER. Where do you see that? Where are you getting your numbers from? And all your points are moot. I hate to say this, but you don't know what your talking about, or to quote the great Walter Sobchak; "You're out of your element."
So what if Russo penned the highest rated segment of Raw? Big freakin whoop. It was an awful skit but it was so highly rated because of the talent, Rock and Mankind, not because of this supposed genius you see in Russo. So what, he wrote some terrible garbage that two extraordinary talents salvaged? Your point? He went to WCW wrote even worse garbage and took a decent rated program and flushed it straight down the shitter. You were wrong about everything fella. He never got anyone over, just tried to put himself and his buddy Jeff Jarrett over, and how did that work? Yup.
And so what if Vince had him attending indies? What do watching indies have anything to do with a global company like WWF, considering that the E was booked completely different to any indy in existence at that time. And so what if he had a radio show? He was still a mark.
Face it pal, without McMahon there to filter and edit his ideas, Russo has had absolutely no success anywhere outside of WWE. Period. TNA is garbage and WCW basically died under his watch. He has had no successful storylines, has made no new stars. He's done NOTHING. So if he were so responsible for the WWE's success than why is WWE still succeeding and everywhere Russo has gone has either died or has remained stagnant? You can call a piece of shit a piece of gold but anyone with a clue will tell you its a piece of shit.
So what if Russo penned the highest rated segment of Raw? Big freakin whoop. It was an awful skit but it was so highly rated because of the talent, Rock and Mankind, not because of this supposed genius you see in Russo. So what, he wrote some terrible garbage that two extraordinary talents salvaged? Your point? He went to WCW wrote even worse garbage and took a decent rated program and flushed it straight down the shitter. You were wrong about everything fella. He never got anyone over, just tried to put himself and his buddy Jeff Jarrett over, and how did that work? Yup.
And so what if Vince had him attending indies? What do watching indies have anything to do with a global company like WWF, considering that the E was booked completely different to any indy in existence at that time. And so what if he had a radio show? He was still a mark.
Face it pal, without McMahon there to filter and edit his ideas, Russo has had absolutely no success anywhere outside of WWE. Period. TNA is garbage and WCW basically died under his watch. He has had no successful storylines, has made no new stars. He's done NOTHING. So if he were so responsible for the WWE's success than why is WWE still succeeding and everywhere Russo has gone has either died or has remained stagnant? You can call a piece of shit a piece of gold but anyone with a clue will tell you its a piece of shit.
The segment was successful because the characters involved had 'character.'
The TV audience cared enough about Rocky and Mick's on-screen characters to view it in enormous numbers. Every single promo Rocky or Mick ever did whilst they were feuding ('98 - early '99) and also as a unit ('99) was penned by Vince Russo. The fans of the 'Attitude' era were so loud and vocal because they cared about these guys alter ego's. It's that simple.
Now, there is zero personality on display from WWE performers as compared to the time period of '96 - '99. The reason?...well not a single writer has had the creative freedom that Russo had to actually be creative with the roster. Yes, Vinnie Ru had a filter in Vince McMahon, but Russo would write the entire show, then present it to Vince so he could make 'nuances' with the script. Minor details that Vinnie Mac would see that would make something great, that little bit better. Vince Russo has said this many times.
I am truly starting to believe that you have never watched an episode of Nitro from Vince Russo's stint before! Go ahead, watch a boring, flat, half empty arena Nitro from March - September '99. Then, watch anything from October to December '99.
There is a HUGE difference in the quality of programming! Regardless of what biased and edited WWE DVD's will allow you to believe. A fine example of this is on the Rise & Fall of WCW DVD...The WWE tries to blame Russo for booking the 'KISS' concert on Nitro in August of '99 which sunk like a rock in the ratings and cost WCW $250 000 in one night!
Um...One problem with that, Russo was still gainfully employed by the WWF at the time, masterminding Triple H's rise to the top of the heap.
Also, on the same DVD, Russo gets slammed for incorporating Master P and his 'No Limit Soldiers' into an angle with Rey & Konnan. Wrong! That all happened between June and July 1999 whilst Russo was busy at the WWF!
By having Russo 'learn the business' from the bottom up, It gave him a further understanding of the business, between the ropes. Which was the main knock against him from the old timer's who were clinging to their jobs at that time.
Bullshit! Vince Russo's last month in employment in WCW was October 2000. After he was shown the door by WCW in January 2000, the company lost all momentum it had built and the fans they had drawn back to the product switched back to the WWF when Hogan & Flair were pushed on top again shortly thereafter.
The biggest hurdle Russo had to overcome and the most overlooked reason why WCW couldn't recapture their audience was the WWF itself! The popularity of the WWF at the time was immense!
The WWE, by the standards they set is NOT succeeding. Sure, they're making $50 Million a year now, but the WWF made a Net profit of $125 Million in 1998 and $155 Million in 1999. As I alluded to before, the WWE audience has been eroded down over the course of years, so that now, it's made up of women and children who drink Vinnie Macs coolade and accept whatever he tells them to.
WCW died due to Jamie Kellner. The top brass executive due to the Time Warner/AOL merger in 2001 who loathed wrestling. He's the one who canned WCW, not Vince Russo.
TNA has remained stagnant for years due to many reasons. Most of which are marketing issues and a one location taping schedule for the most part. Vince Russo only gained total creative control in October last year in TNA, so it's really unfair to blame TNA's lack of marketing and promotion on him solely.
If Vince Russo is so terrible, then why did Vince McMahon rehire him in July 2002? Russo walked out after seeing what a shambles the creative department was.
I highly suggest you check out the excellent 'Beyond The Mat' documentary made by Brian Blaustein. In it, you can clearly see Vince Russo directing traffic in the WWF in many backstage WWF scenes.
Better yet, check out his shoot interviews with Wade Keller and also his 2003 RF Shoot. In them, you will hear Vince Russo clearly outline what his duties were in the WWF and WCW and you will hear him duly give credit to those where credit is due.
Vince Russo has never come out and publicly stated he is the sole reason for the WWF's former success, but he was a very large part.
As Konnan said in his excellent RF Shoot: "Russo is a genius"
tk_anderson
Dark Match Jobber
What the hell are you talking about? The numbers toiled under Russo. he never drew any fans back, ever. He just lost more. The numbers went down. I saw Nitro under the Russo watch, it was garbage. The ego-stroking "powers that be" Hacksaw gettin the TV title out of the garbage. All of it, too bad no one could pull WCW out of the garbage, including Russo.
Dude, the fans never came back, ever. The arenas were still looking good before Russo got there, then things got fairly pathetic in 2000. And I am unaware of any DVDs that bash Russo, but you sir are brainwashed by shoot interviews. He was just getting his side of the story and it's full of it. Dude is an egomaniac. He left WWE because he didn't have the power he once had and his ideas were garbage. WWE got along just fine without him.
And what has Konan ever done outside of Mexico? Jack shit, thats what, so what does it mean if he calls anyone a genius? NOTHING. Get over it, YOU'RE misinformed and your wrong.
Dude, the fans never came back, ever. The arenas were still looking good before Russo got there, then things got fairly pathetic in 2000. And I am unaware of any DVDs that bash Russo, but you sir are brainwashed by shoot interviews. He was just getting his side of the story and it's full of it. Dude is an egomaniac. He left WWE because he didn't have the power he once had and his ideas were garbage. WWE got along just fine without him.
And what has Konan ever done outside of Mexico? Jack shit, thats what, so what does it mean if he calls anyone a genius? NOTHING. Get over it, YOU'RE misinformed and your wrong.
King Douche
Pre-Show Stalwart
I give credit for Russo in what he had done with the WWF in the late 90s, as he is a better booker then the current WWE writers and VKM himself, not to mention Hulk Hogan. But I do not give him credit for wCw as he did some stupid, terrible stuff. Things he did should not even had happen on a wrestling show.
Vince Russo is a creative genius. He along with Vince McMahon basically created the Attitude Era. The two key words in those first two sentences were Vince and McMahon. Which is why Vince Russo in WCW and in TNA will never be as good as he was. Because Vince was the perfect filter for Russo's ideas. Vinny Mac is the one man who knows how to effectively use Russo's storylines and have the grapefruits to deny the bad ones. So really Vince Russo isn't that bad, he just needs a really good filter like Vinny Mac to help keep him in line and focused. Every great writer does. Except for Ed Ferrera, he sucks regardless.
Ambiguous Turd
Mid-Card Championship Winner
Yep.
And Vince McMahon is doing such a stellar job on his own as the Head Writer for WWE Creative, ever since Russo left.
Ever since Russo left, McMahon stayed afloat with Chris Kreski around 2000 and so, but has not been able to sustain a product anywhere near as compelling as what he had when Russo was with him.
Vince McMahon was lost in which Creative direction to take before Vince Russo came aboard and when WCW was kicking his ass.
Russo then came aboard and had a novel approach to how to revamp the WWE and change it's image. McMahon for once in his life listened, and the rest was history.
Now, take a look at WWE year and years later with just McMahon at the helm of the Creative team. His Lead writers are Brian Gewirtz for Raw (who has been doing that for way too long) and Michael Hayes for Smackdown, who does a little better than Gewirtz does.
Then there's Ed Koskey on ECW, who Vince seems to allow to do his own thing because he doesn't care about the show.
WWE has been terrible in a Creative capacity without Russo as a Writer. Meanwhile, TNA has been doing just fine in a Creative capacity with him as Lead Writer.
proofinlife
Pre-Show Stalwart
Just to add a spark of debate, but the bolded text in the quote you say that Vince Russo and Vince McMahon created the attitude era, and that Russo only came aboard after WCW was kicking his ass.
If memory serves me correctly, Russo LEFT WWF/E in 98 and stayed with WCW until 2000. How could he have been in two places at once?
Vince Russo was writing all of WCW's trash while Nash and another laundry list of un-qualified people were booking the show.
But for sure, Russo and McMahon ignited the "Attitude Era" Grungy writing and storylines, but it was the competition between WCW and WWF that pushed WWF to go to new heights (or new lows, depending on how you look at it). However, Russo was not with WWF when they started crushing WCW in the ratings post '99.
Ambiguous Turd
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I credit more Vince Russo as opposed to Vince McMahon for the Attitude Era. Vince McMahon marks can't seem to bring themselves to accept that notion, though as they have to protect what they feel is Vince McMahon's image as a "genius".
WCW Nitro took over in the ratings war and kicked WWE's ass before Vince Russo was named Head Writer for WWE. At the time, Russo was working for WWF Magazine.
After McMahon had enough, he brought Russo aboard on the Creative Writing team, after Russo successfully pitched a new Creative direction for WWE to go in. Russo outlined the vision for WWE to go in, he was the Head Writer and probably given the most leeway of any writer on the Creative Team, and he brought about WWE's most popular Era in history.
Russo didn't leave WWE in 1998. He left towards the end of the year in 1999. And where as one year may not seem like a big deal, it was in this case, as the Attitude Era really didn't last that long in the big scheme of things. So that was another year the WWE had under Russo's belt.
Then, in October of 1999, Russo left for WCW, after WCW was hurting in the ratings war against the WWE's new direction with the Attitude Era and also due to Creative problems between WCW and AOL/Time Warner, who did not want wrestling on their TNT network after the merger took place, which was documented in Bischoff's book.
WWE was crushing WCW in the ratings while Russo was still with the WWE, thanks to the Attitude Era programming.
Observe the ratings chart.
November 2 of 1998 was when the tables turned for good, after swinging for several weeks back and forth.
I think the best thing he did was convince McMahon that he needed the product to be like a mainstream ecw and it worked out for them. Honestly if it wasn't for ecw, I don't think there would have been an attitude era in wwf.
Yes he is very bad. He once suggested an idea that wrestling shows should not have a wrestling ring! This guy hates to book shows that have long matches. Also to him title belts are just props and it's no big deal if they change hands every week.
Like a lot of people said, he was good in wwe because he had Vince with him, but look at wcw and tna. He made wcw horrible and hasn't turned around tna significantly. I think it's because of Hogan and Bischoff that ratings have been slightly rising.
Yes he is very bad. He once suggested an idea that wrestling shows should not have a wrestling ring! This guy hates to book shows that have long matches. Also to him title belts are just props and it's no big deal if they change hands every week.
Like a lot of people said, he was good in wwe because he had Vince with him, but look at wcw and tna. He made wcw horrible and hasn't turned around tna significantly. I think it's because of Hogan and Bischoff that ratings have been slightly rising.
There are many ways to answer this question, but I suppose I'll go with the simplest. It isn't possible to either blame Russo for WCW or revere him for WWF because there were so many other factors in both. If it had been WWF that went down the pan, we'd be having the same Arquette discussion we always have, except it'd be about Beaver Cleavage. Russo was never a creative genius, but nor was he a moron. What he did was come up with two storyline tools that changed wrestling forever. The first was an angle against authority. The second was the frequent heel and face turn.
When it was new, these were good ideas, but then what he did was repeated them ad naseum. We can even see them in TNA today. People can talk about how great the WWF was under his tenure, but if it hadn't been for Vince putting all of his eggs in one basket and getting Mike Tyson for WrestleMania 14, it might have been different. That single event was where the tide changed in the ratings, and it had absolutely nothing to do with Russo. Austin rode the crest of that wave, and while it may have been Russo driving it, without Austin, the whole thing would have collapsed.
Russo then goes to WCW and you can look at what happened next in two ways. One was that he's to blame, the second is that he did all he could. I don't think either is true. He was presented with a clusterfuck, yes, but he made it worse. By doing things like turning Goldberg heel then face again, constantly vacating the title etc. the product got unfollowable. People say a lot about creative control, but the fact of the matter is I can't believe it was any stronger than the edict of McMahon over who Russo could and couldn't push.
Now he's in TNA, and he's doing the same storylines he did in WCW and WWF, except sligtly toned down. Main Event Mafia? Millionaire's Club. Matt Morgan's a heel, a face, a heel, a face? Goldberg in 2000-1. Beautiful people? PMS.
Russo is a guy with a couple of good ideas that worked. The problem is, is that he spent the rest of his career doing the same things again. That's the honest assessment, but few people ever say it.
When it was new, these were good ideas, but then what he did was repeated them ad naseum. We can even see them in TNA today. People can talk about how great the WWF was under his tenure, but if it hadn't been for Vince putting all of his eggs in one basket and getting Mike Tyson for WrestleMania 14, it might have been different. That single event was where the tide changed in the ratings, and it had absolutely nothing to do with Russo. Austin rode the crest of that wave, and while it may have been Russo driving it, without Austin, the whole thing would have collapsed.
Russo then goes to WCW and you can look at what happened next in two ways. One was that he's to blame, the second is that he did all he could. I don't think either is true. He was presented with a clusterfuck, yes, but he made it worse. By doing things like turning Goldberg heel then face again, constantly vacating the title etc. the product got unfollowable. People say a lot about creative control, but the fact of the matter is I can't believe it was any stronger than the edict of McMahon over who Russo could and couldn't push.
Now he's in TNA, and he's doing the same storylines he did in WCW and WWF, except sligtly toned down. Main Event Mafia? Millionaire's Club. Matt Morgan's a heel, a face, a heel, a face? Goldberg in 2000-1. Beautiful people? PMS.
Russo is a guy with a couple of good ideas that worked. The problem is, is that he spent the rest of his career doing the same things again. That's the honest assessment, but few people ever say it.
^Actually ecw was doing angles that had people against authority when Tod Gordon was getting beat up every week on ecw tv in 1995. That was before Russo was doing it in 1998. There are other things ecw did before wwe did with their "attitude", but that's for another topic.
I do agree with you though when you say he had some good ideas that he is still recycling to this day. You forgot to compare the Jim Mitchell/Abyss thing to Kane/Paul Bearer. Before he came to TNA he said in his book that wwe is not evolving with their product, but neither is he! He's acting like it's still 1998 and 1999(mud wrestling was cool back then, but now it's stupid). Jim Cornette said it best when he said "how the hell can any company still be interested in hiring Vince Russo?!" Something like that.
I do agree with you though when you say he had some good ideas that he is still recycling to this day. You forgot to compare the Jim Mitchell/Abyss thing to Kane/Paul Bearer. Before he came to TNA he said in his book that wwe is not evolving with their product, but neither is he! He's acting like it's still 1998 and 1999(mud wrestling was cool back then, but now it's stupid). Jim Cornette said it best when he said "how the hell can any company still be interested in hiring Vince Russo?!" Something like that.
shattered dreams
Hexagonal Hedonist
The people that blindly blame Russo for wcw 2000 are hilarious. Especially since he was in charge for maybe 6 out of the last 15 months wcw was in business. They put Nash (if I tell everyone I am sexy they will believe it right?) in charge for 3 months and then Russo had his concussion issues towards the end. Russo worked the middle of that year and was too good at drawing heat to his "character" and became the scapegoat for the company. Faceless execs are boring to hate on and of course the fans are not going to blame the wrestlers. Anyone who thinks Russo has been below average let alone bad at his job is seriously misguided IMO.
Yeah.... I just sat through two months of Vince Russo programming, so this is really fresh in my mind. But yes, Vince Russo is indeed that bad. As a matter of fact, people actually underrate how bad he is. The fact may be that while WCW was dying, it was him that shut the final nail in the coffin, and it is indeed that decided to desecrate the body with countless run ins, title changes to cheapen the value of the belts, "shoot" interviews to make it all seem so real, stipulation matches, which overall ruined the reasoning for having stipulation matches, heel and face turns that left wrestlers with absolutely no distinguishing characters, and stunts, which mind you led to the death of another reason in the WWE, that were extremely harmful to his untrained, unprepared wrestlers.
So how was bad was old Vinnie Ru, you asked? Why, my dearies, let us count the ways. Remember David Arquette winning The WCW World Heavyweight Championship? That was Russo. Or how about Russo himself winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship? What about David Flair and The Screamer? Or how about that ridiculous storyline about Buff Bagwell's mom? The worst of the WCW Russo era were the various "real" moments and interviews with wrestlers that were complaining about backstage politics and stuff. I don't care about all your whining and poor you having to work at WCW. And all the "real" stuff just took away from the storylines and made them seem meaningless. Maybe even worse than that were the various attempts at boy band-type wrestlers that were designed to draw a female audience.
As a matter of fact, Vince Russo was reprehensible from the fucking start? How reprehensible, you ask? Well, let's find out, with a little guessing game! We're trying to find out what was Vince Russo's first order of business when he got into WCW. So, if anyone thinks they know, what was the first thing Vince Russo saw fit to do with WCW after he joined with them?
a.) Remove Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Lex Luger of their creative control to give several wrestlers some spotlight
b.) Push the right gifted talent over the crippled, no-talent slugs
c.) Motivate Ric Flair and give him a respectful World title reign he rightfully deserves or
d.) Have Ed Ferrera ridicule their former boss Jim Ross by donning a gimmick called "Oklahoma".
If you guessed D, congratulations!!! You've successfully managed to crawl into whatever feeble and tiny brain Vince Russo has, and guess what he felt was "ratings grabbing television". You can also have my soul, as having done research on Vince Russo has left me a huddled pool of skin and broken spirit. You've left me to rubble and broken dreams, Vinnie, and believe me, I'm not the only one. Anyway, as you correctly guessed earlier, knowing Vince Russo is quite the "******", as they call them nowadays, Vince Russos first act was to humiliate RAW announcer Jim Ross with a copyright that no one sans Jim Ross got, by mocking JR's Bells Palsy disease. This was the first of many tasteless and mind-numbingly ******ed booking moves that Russo would bring to WCW, which included a female wrestler named Madusa (a also known as Alundra Blayze in WWF) winning the WCW Cruiserweight title. Mind you, this was also the same woman was booked into a thirty two man tournament, which they really should have reworded "person" for the WCW Heavyweight Championship. Trust me, newbies, it's only going to get better from here. Also, during this same time period, he would orchestratea hoax of a title feud involving Goldberg, Sting, Sid Vicious and Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1999 (where Hogan laid down to Sting and Sting was squashed by Goldberg later that night, who had earlier brutalized Sid in a match that should've headlined Starrcade 99), all for.... Well, no reason in particular, really. The given reason was something along the lines of "he wanted to work the boys". Trust me, we'll go in depth on this angle later. He would also book Bret Hart's lackluster heel turn after finally becoming a sympathetic babyface and winning the World title in a horrendously booked title tournament. Mind you, the reason Bret was such a sympathetic babyface because his brother and all around good guy, Owen Hart, would die doing one of Vince Russo's fucking ridiculous angle. Still, according to Vince Russo, it made all the sense in the world to turn Bret Hart heel.
And that's not even touching into the absolute worst about Vince Russo. Oh no, my pretties. The absolute worst of Vince Russo were those god damn "shoot" interviews. You know, the ones that broke kayfabe, and allowed Vince Russo to vent about his personal life, though absolutely no one gave a fucking damn. It was these shoot interview, done on a consistent basis, that drove away viewers by the millions. Let's watch this, and you tell me if any of this is fucking entertaining to anyone.
Yeah, not entertaining, really whiny, and ultimately no one gave a shit. I'm not sure why anyone would try to defend him, but then again, looking up at the posters who have, I'm really not shocked. Vince Russo was a shitty booker who did nothing but draw away eyeballs from WCW. When he had Vince McMahon's ability to hold off his wild ideas, he put on decent television, which was good by the fact that he had the greatest wrestlers of all time to carry out his stories. When separated from all of these, everyone found him out to be the fraud that we all know him as. Yes, Vince Russo really is as bad as everyone makes him out to be. Period, end of story.
So how was bad was old Vinnie Ru, you asked? Why, my dearies, let us count the ways. Remember David Arquette winning The WCW World Heavyweight Championship? That was Russo. Or how about Russo himself winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship? What about David Flair and The Screamer? Or how about that ridiculous storyline about Buff Bagwell's mom? The worst of the WCW Russo era were the various "real" moments and interviews with wrestlers that were complaining about backstage politics and stuff. I don't care about all your whining and poor you having to work at WCW. And all the "real" stuff just took away from the storylines and made them seem meaningless. Maybe even worse than that were the various attempts at boy band-type wrestlers that were designed to draw a female audience.
As a matter of fact, Vince Russo was reprehensible from the fucking start? How reprehensible, you ask? Well, let's find out, with a little guessing game! We're trying to find out what was Vince Russo's first order of business when he got into WCW. So, if anyone thinks they know, what was the first thing Vince Russo saw fit to do with WCW after he joined with them?
a.) Remove Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Lex Luger of their creative control to give several wrestlers some spotlight
b.) Push the right gifted talent over the crippled, no-talent slugs
c.) Motivate Ric Flair and give him a respectful World title reign he rightfully deserves or
d.) Have Ed Ferrera ridicule their former boss Jim Ross by donning a gimmick called "Oklahoma".
If you guessed D, congratulations!!! You've successfully managed to crawl into whatever feeble and tiny brain Vince Russo has, and guess what he felt was "ratings grabbing television". You can also have my soul, as having done research on Vince Russo has left me a huddled pool of skin and broken spirit. You've left me to rubble and broken dreams, Vinnie, and believe me, I'm not the only one. Anyway, as you correctly guessed earlier, knowing Vince Russo is quite the "******", as they call them nowadays, Vince Russos first act was to humiliate RAW announcer Jim Ross with a copyright that no one sans Jim Ross got, by mocking JR's Bells Palsy disease. This was the first of many tasteless and mind-numbingly ******ed booking moves that Russo would bring to WCW, which included a female wrestler named Madusa (a also known as Alundra Blayze in WWF) winning the WCW Cruiserweight title. Mind you, this was also the same woman was booked into a thirty two man tournament, which they really should have reworded "person" for the WCW Heavyweight Championship. Trust me, newbies, it's only going to get better from here. Also, during this same time period, he would orchestratea hoax of a title feud involving Goldberg, Sting, Sid Vicious and Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1999 (where Hogan laid down to Sting and Sting was squashed by Goldberg later that night, who had earlier brutalized Sid in a match that should've headlined Starrcade 99), all for.... Well, no reason in particular, really. The given reason was something along the lines of "he wanted to work the boys". Trust me, we'll go in depth on this angle later. He would also book Bret Hart's lackluster heel turn after finally becoming a sympathetic babyface and winning the World title in a horrendously booked title tournament. Mind you, the reason Bret was such a sympathetic babyface because his brother and all around good guy, Owen Hart, would die doing one of Vince Russo's fucking ridiculous angle. Still, according to Vince Russo, it made all the sense in the world to turn Bret Hart heel.
And that's not even touching into the absolute worst about Vince Russo. Oh no, my pretties. The absolute worst of Vince Russo were those god damn "shoot" interviews. You know, the ones that broke kayfabe, and allowed Vince Russo to vent about his personal life, though absolutely no one gave a fucking damn. It was these shoot interview, done on a consistent basis, that drove away viewers by the millions. Let's watch this, and you tell me if any of this is fucking entertaining to anyone.
[YOUTUBE]APcCE6IdmmU[/YOUTUBE]
Yeah, not entertaining, really whiny, and ultimately no one gave a shit. I'm not sure why anyone would try to defend him, but then again, looking up at the posters who have, I'm really not shocked. Vince Russo was a shitty booker who did nothing but draw away eyeballs from WCW. When he had Vince McMahon's ability to hold off his wild ideas, he put on decent television, which was good by the fact that he had the greatest wrestlers of all time to carry out his stories. When separated from all of these, everyone found him out to be the fraud that we all know him as. Yes, Vince Russo really is as bad as everyone makes him out to be. Period, end of story.