New Vince Russo Blog (AKA Holy Crap I agree with Vince Russo)

[Schizophrenic]

Vince Russo has posted a new blog, check it out…

"If I didn't complain, I'd have nothin' else to talk about!"

Mee Maw

16 & Pregnant

You gotta love that line from Mee Maw in MTV's "16 & Pregnant". I guess that just about sums up where the 99% of the negative energy comes from in this business. Those that give into the theory of "Good News" doesn't sell, should Goggle how many copies of the Bible have been sold in our lifetime.

Nuff said.

Why am I so highly entertained by "reality" TV? "Teen Moms", "Dr. Drew Drug Rehab", "Bad Girls Club", and of course "Jersey Shore". Man, I would just love to be slapped around by J-WOW even if it was for one stinkin' night. That is my kind of girl. What's odd, is that I guess somebody like me, a professional writer because I get paid to do what I do, should watch these shows and just rip them to shreds. I mean, "Bill & Gulliana", is a "reality" show that is so badly scripted, that I should start my own on-line newsletter and rip it to shreds every week. The only reason I don't is because I WATCH IT, and I AM ENTERTAINED BY IT.

Which brings me to "IMPACT!". I'd like to thank all of you for giving us a 1.3 rating for three weeks in a row. I don't think we've ever done that before. I can't believe that we have reached that height for the first time–and yet–as somebody watched the show with a stop-watch–there was only 16 minutes of wrestling on the show!!!"

I've got to be honest with you, for the last month I haven't really been myself because I've been dealing with a health issue. A health issue serious enough that I was forced to go to a doctor for the first time in a decade. Now grant it, as I stated in "Forgiven", I am a hypochondriac, but believe me–this time there was something to worry about. As the days grew long, and the symptoms persisted, I just couldn't help but to think every day about my life. The things that got me here, the things that really made me tick, the things that I've done, the things that I still want to do. But, the one vision that just keep itself burned in my mind no matter what I did was my family. If anything happen to me–I can't even describe into words how much I'd miss them. I couldn't stop thinking about that. Almost 50 years on this planet, and what it came down to was a hand full of people. Then Matt told me that somebody actually posted on line the minutes we had of wrestling on Thursday's show. I couldn't help but ask myself, "How can something so trivial mean so much to somebody that they would actually sit there and count how many minutes of fake wrestling were on a fake wrestling show in the course of two hours?" That just put everything in perspective for me.

Point: Enjoy wrestling, we all do, just don't let it consume your life because there are just so many things in life that are far more important.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

I'm listening to Barry Manilow as I write this and I really don't care what anyone thinks.
I'm not a Michael Jackson fan, BUT–if you want to see a true, true artist at work you should rent "This is It".

I was impressed with Orlando Jordan. He carries himself like a star–rare in this business.

Eric Bischoff may work as hard as Vince McMahon–and I truly mean that.

Nick Hogan is a good kid.

Bubba the Love Sponge can work all the angles he wants–it was ME who pulled Awesome Kong off of him–why doesn't he talk about THAT on his radio show?!!!

"Rope Opera" is coming out in 5 days–really proud of the book. I wrote it almost "diary style" as I got towards the end. It was amazing to see my feelings change day, to day, right before my very eyes.

Looking forward to "Lost" on February 2nd. I wonder if I'll start understanding it this year.

Probably not.

Can you imagine having Michael Scott as your boss?

I'm glad the Jets lost because Bill Banks & Taz are avid Jet fans. Does that make me a bad person?

I wonder how many minutes during a baseball game, the ball is actually in-play? Bet you it's not even 16. HMMMM.

Bret Favre needs to come back.

My favorite store to shop at? "Goodwill", go there at least two times a week. Just bought a 20 year-old framed poster of Michaels Jordan
and Spike Lee for $3.50. Tell me WHERE are you going to get a deal like that. Right now I'm typing in a "Borat" t-shirt that cost me .99.

Watched a Britney Spears doc this morning. Man, was she a lost soul–hopefully she's completely out of it.

One month ago I never thought I'd be saying this, but man, It's an exciting time at work right now. Strange, especially when many were calling for a lethal injection to Russo come Jan. 4th.

Peace,

Vince



All I can say is that I agree with Vince Russo (it pains me to say that) in what he said about wrestling fans. When did we become so nit picky that we sit and watch wrestling and worry about how long the matches are? Totally ridiculous. I laughed very hard at his comment abou the baseball game. Great analogy to wrestling fans.....most still wont get it though.

Vince Russo actually got Kong off Bubba......I NEED THIS FOOTAGE!

Not surprised to hear Bischoff works as hard as Vince. Guy is a work a holic. Met him once and he was very kind and talkative but you could tell he had a million things going through his mind.

 

[jccool420]

I agree with Russo, that wrestling should not consume people's life... It is just a tv show...

But, with them calling TNA pro wrestling... It would be nice to have more in ring time and actually showcase the talent of the roster instead, it usually feels like a sitcom with matches thrown inbetween...

 

[Schizophrenic]

I agree with ya. Id like to see more wrestling but the fact that people know the exact minute and seconds is ridiculous

 

[Kamaria]

"How can something so trivial mean so much to somebody that they would actually sit there and count how many minutes of fake wrestling were on a fake wrestling show in the course of two hours?" That just put everything in perspective for me.

Because they're probably wrestling columnists that do this. They write results on a website. It's their job to record these things.

Russo is really out of touch if he thinks wrestling doesn't matter on a wrestling show. I know it's been said before, but just because it's fake doesn't mean it doesn't matter. It's really not obsessive to point out a valid criticism of a -wrestling- show. Are we not allowed to criticize Russo's work now?

Now, I'll agree, the IWC does nitpick sometimes, and counting minutes does seem nitpicky, but if there's only 16 minutes of wrestling in TWO HOURS of content, then something is wrong. It's a wrestling show, not a soap opera. The idea is to carry the story through a mixture of wrestling and segments, not just one or the other alone.

 

[gingerbeef]

Russo is definitely right. Fans have definitely become very picky about things like match lengths. Although, regarding TNA, we wouldn't be so picky if they actually had more than 16 minutes of wrestling. The only reason we notice this is the matches are too short and there are too few of them. WWE had longer matches, but also fewer promos and other bits. That allows them to have longer matches. TNA constantly wants to turn all the backstage continuations of storylines into a freakin' soap opera. They focus on that, and have les time for the matches. But, I do have to give credit to TNA because the matches they have are usually really good and action packed. But that is most likely due to trying to fit many awesome ideas into a short timeframe.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Regarding the "16 minutes of wrestling" criticism being thrown around, what can I say? Russo is absolutely right in his defense. Because despite the fact he may have only put on 16 minutes of wrestling, I was far more entertained with these episodes of Impact than anything I have seen out of Raw for the most part in probably 5 years.

Personally, I would like people to chime in with this thread in our revamped General Wrestling Discussion section, which has a ton of new threads ... in which this actual topic is discussed and debated on what should the purpose of Weekly TV be:

http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=94077


What Impact is doing is telling stories and developing characters to actually sell wrestling on the PPV's. That is what the formula always used to be.

At some point, Vince McMahon took the ramp on an exit and decided to get off the highway. In doing so, he tried to use "wrestling to sell more wrestling on the PPV's".

It doesn't work that way, folks, and the formula has been fucked with by McMahon. And you wonder why WWE fans are so bored by the action on there these days.

So if someone can put on an entertaining broadcast with a 2 hour show and feature just 16 minutes of in-ring action .... then more power to them. If that gets me excited to look forward to the real in-ring confrontations on the PPV's, then that's great.

So yes, I defend him on this one.

 

[Marty2Hotty]

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/art...-mins-of-wrestling-talks-kongbubba-more-95307

It looks like the new blog is on his Wordpress page: http://vincerusso.wordpress.com and it's currently up on his Facebook page as well: http://facebook.com/vinnyru

To me, professional wrestling has always been about entertainment: great realistic promos, fast-paced action, good entertainment, and great twists and turns. I was basically debating with Wade Keller for a long time and actually gave him posts on what people REALLY thought of him – they weren’t positive. He ignored my posts and chose not to respond.

I thought January 21 was one of the best shows and I loved the ending. TNA has actually done 8 out of 9 straight shows with a 1.3 back in February-April 2009! I agree with counting the minutes of wrestling on a show is pretty ridiculous. I also think putting a "star rating" on wrestling matches is pretty damn stupid unless you're rating it based on creative outcome, creative run-ins, situations, happenings. Wrestling should be looked at as a television show - not a 'rasslin show based on real sport. Face it - wrestling is NOT a real sport! Nobody will EVER believe it's real no matter how hard you try and make it.

They can however embrace the fact that it IS entertainment and an episodic television show that requires the television viewer to follow every week. TV critics should be talking about the story and situations that happen - those critics, no matter how critical they are, should be taken MORE seriously than a pwtorch/wrestlingobserver who are only concerned with the rasslin aspect. They don't have an opinion on the story.. only when it gets too complicated for their little brains to comprehend is when they start bitching about it.

I actually enjoyed the Orlando Jordan match and the realistic ending: Pope had an injured leg and Jordan capitalized by clipping his leg for the win – realistic? Yes!

 

[DirtyJosé]

I'm glad it seems his health has improved, but Russo is acting like a ****** here. What I think raises the most red flags is that he is almost telling everyone to stop watching, or at least stop spending any money on TNA.

Then Matt told me that somebody actually posted on line the minutes we had of wrestling on Thursday's show. I couldn't help but ask myself, "How can something so trivial mean so much to somebody that they would actually sit there and count how many minutes of fake wrestling were on a fake wrestling show in the course of two hours?" That just put everything in perspective for me.

How? Well, perhaps a professional writer (you know, someone who gets paid to provide content to a web magazine or industry news video show) gathered this information as part of a review of the product. I'm sure that Russo can appreciate one who is passionate enough about writing about a favorite past time (seeing as that's how he got a fucking job in the industry in the first place). So why does he spend the whole blog to set up a scene, with him on his death bed:

[interior: hospital room. Russo sits on the edge of the hospital bed, next to an open window. Outside, bird songs fill the summer morning.]

[phone rings. cut to silence. Russo answers]

Russo: Hello?

Matt: Russo...... it's me

Russo: Matt? I don't understand.....what is it?

Matt: It's the fans, Russo. They.....well, they...

Russo: What?! What are you trying to tell me?!

Matt: There was only 16 minutes, Vince! They counted!

Russo: WHAT?! [Russo's eyes water up]

Matt: Someone actually counted. God dammit, they used a stop watch and they timed it.

Russo: I don't believe it...

[Russo drops the phone, and rises to face the window. Zoom to face as a tear runs down his cheek].

Now, to be fair, this accusation can be lobbed at WWE just as often as TNA. Both often do a terrible job of using the time provided. TNA's 1/4 was atrocious; three hours where 2 hours would have been sufficient. All the extra time was for selling ads and "waiting for Hogan". Pitiful.

So here, Russo is really asking why anyone would ever sink so low as to actually care how much wrestling was on a wrestling show. And saying that anyone who cares that much should find other things to care about. Fair enough Russo; but I hope you guys find your legs fast, because if everyone took your advice and just stopped watching (and caring about) TNA (and really all wrestling), you would no longer have a job.

As far as the baseball comparison is concerned, I guess it wouldn't be too hard to find out, seeing as it's a REAL sport, and by Russo's logic I guess that it's worth caring about, unlike Russo's product. Is that what you're trying to tell us Russo?

Well, guess what? I agree with Vince Russo also. His writing...it's not worth caring about. We should just stop watching

 

[Schizophrenic]

Now, to be fair, this accusation can be lobbed at WWE just as often as TNA. Both often do a terrible job of using the time provided. TNA's 1/4 was atrocious; three hours where 2 hours would have been sufficient. All the extra time was for selling ads and "waiting for Hogan". Pitiful.

Because allowing sponsors who will pay you to be on your show is a bad thing. Yeah on January 4th it was a bit much but only because EVERYONE wanted in. They are not going to take their chances and tell one company no we dont want your spot because then they never get that chance again. If you can write a better show with better times and everything else involved please go ahead.

Well, guess what? I agree with Vince Russo also. His writing...it's not worth caring about. We should just stop watching

We won't miss ya pal. Go ahead and stop watching TNA, everyone hee could really care less if ya do.

 

[Pedro08]

The problem is that Russo feels justified with having so little in-ring action based on the ratings. However, I believe that you have to incorporate more in-ring action than 16 minutes. Otherwise, eventually people will get tired of all the talking and tune out and the ratings will fall.

 

[VencomHardcore]

Because allowing sponsors who will pay you to be on your show is a bad thing. Yeah on January 4th it was a bit much but only because EVERYONE wanted in. They are not going to take their chances and tell one company no we dont want your spot because then they never get that chance again. If you can write a better show with better times and everything else involved please go ahead.


We won't miss ya pal. Go ahead and stop watching TNA, everyone hee could really care less if ya do.

Get Real ! TNA not having more than 8 minutes of wrestling per show IS A PROBLEM. You can't convert WWE fans that are used to seeing more action on Smackdown to the TNA Brand if it has less to offer.

I watch 1/4 with WWE fans that the Biggest Complaint everyone had was TOO MANY COMMERCIALS with TOO LITTLE wrestling.

No one enjoys spams, loves to watch commercials and sit through hours of infomercials. They want content.

TNA needs a new Motto - CONTENT IS KING ! Because if the product is good , people will pay, tell thier friends and give glowing reviews. But if all they have to say is out of 4 matches only 2 were good and they only saw a few minutes in two hours, TNA DID NOT provide a better experience compared to WWE.

If they are going to compete and only have 2 hours = Use the Smackdown Format and minimize your storylines to 3 until you get more hours on the show or another show to do a Raw Style Entertainment Format.

If people like this fan leaves the show in mass, TNA will not be able to replace him so easily. Don't Believe Me. Read the TNA Forums posted after last weeks show. Out of 597 that I read through about 90% were angry customers. And any business that wants to stay in business must satisfy thier customers in order to turn a profit.

It's wrestling, It's Fake and It's Entertainment. But at the end of the day, It's a Business and Must Be Treated like one. Your customers rarely complain to you, They go to your competition.

 

[wrestling fan 666]

I disagree with the "only 16 minutes of wrestling" crap. TNA was billed as pro wrestling; NOT "sports entertainment". That's why people got behind the up and coming promotion. I was afraid of Hogan and Bischoff's crap turning it into entertainment. I don't know about anyone else, but I for one am sick of all talk no action in the WWE. It's become so laughable it's not funny. We tune in to see the talent perform; not talk. Back up the talk with some wrestling (and not only on PPV's).

Has anyone seen the episode of South Park called "WTF"? It was all about wrestling. The boys came out of a WWE live show and wanted to be wrestlers. So the next day in gym, when they learned they had to actually wrestle, they hated it. So they decided to "perform" for live shows where they all consisted of talking. That was their perception of wrestling. I realize this is just a show, but there are kids out there that think it's all about the talk.

I realize that "what happened to our generation of wrestling fans?...they grew up" can be true; but the next generation should be shown what drew us in to begin with.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

So his health issue is so serious that he has time to bitch at the people that pay his salary? Typical bullshit from Russo.

Bragging about a 1.3? Hogan and Bischoff were the second coming of the Monday Night Wars and he brags about a 1.3? I guess apparently fans are not buying what they're trying to sell, because if Hogan can't draw more ratings than that they're going to be in trouble.

As far as the wrestling goes TNA would always pride themselves on their in ring action. At this point if that goes away they are basically RAW Jr. Which is exactly what Russo wants.


He's failed at everything he's tried without McMahon. To this day that eats him alive.

 

[Twanfusco]

I have no real opinion on russo as to whether or not he's a talented writer and what he is or is not responsible for but the business he works in is pretty simple; two guys have beef with each other, instead of killing each other like a soap opera they settle it like men in the ring. The other side to the business is that these guys act as though they are competitive and want to be the best at what they do which is wrestling, be the top dog.

How can 16 minutes of wrestling in a two hour show illustrate and represent these ideas when you have a huge roster of guys supposed to be gunning for titles or for each other.

Pretend for a second that you don't know it's fake, wouldn't you be like WTF! Why no fights?? Pretend for a second you appreciate the wrestling side of this business, wouldn't you just turn off and watch MMA or on occasion wwe? Pretend for a second that you don't care how much wrestling there is you just want to be entertained by 40+ year old guys talking, conspiring and making empty promises of a better future...oh wait, no need to pretend. Just don't try and tell wrestling fans that it's a real alternative to stale wwe when really it's worse than hornswoggle segment!

 

[DirtyJosé]

Because allowing sponsors who will pay you to be on your show is a bad thing. Yeah on January 4th it was a bit much but only because EVERYONE wanted in.

I saw no Pepsi ads, or Nike. Not everyone was banging their doors down for TNA.

They are not going to take their chances and tell one company no we dont want your spot because then they never get that chance again.

Sure they can, because they are in business to MAKE A GOD DAMNED SHOW, not an infomercial. Revolutionizing the product does not include 30 mins of commercial break, return to Mike Tenay telling us Hogan is almost here, cut to commercial break. The last 20+ mins of the first hour (the best time TNA had to hit the viewers before Raw started) was literally that. Limo shot, ad, limo shot, ad. There is no justification for vaporprogramming. There was honest to god nothing done for the better part of an hour, and by that I mean no goofy promos, no real interviews, just "wait for Hogan...wait for it....wait for it.". I understand the need for revenue, but that was cheap and underhanded towards the viewers, and coupled with the shitty production quality will nail the ceiling of TNA ratings at the mid 1's. It's unfortunate, I want them to be good, but something has to go.

If you can write a better show with better times and everything else involved please go ahead.

I don't think I could write a better show, not with the environment at TNA being what it is. Russo can be an idiot sometimes, but he didn't get this far on nothing at all. I actually looked forward to a clean sweep this summer, leaving really only Russo in charge of what's what. Then came the Hogan announcement, and Russo was automatically slammed into lame duck mode for almost two months. No real progress could be made on major storylines. No real sense could be made from the booking. Everything had to wait until Hogan arrived (wait for it....wait for it....).

Regardless, I don't have to write a better show, I just chose to watch a better product most of the time.

We won't miss ya pal. Go ahead and stop watching TNA, everyone hee could really care less if ya do.

It's quite clear that you would prefer TNA to remain an isolated company; inaccessible to and intolerant of casual wrestling fans, happy to remain only truly competing in ratings with Superstars and maybe ECW. This saddens me, as a real alternative would really do wonders to the industry. I want to enjoy watching TNA, I really do, but I can't deal with watching the same train wreck I watched 10 years ago, with the same idiots behind the wheel, including a booker that tells me that I shouldn't take his product seriously at all, and that I should take it or leave it. Message received loud and clear guys.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

How DARE the fans criticize how much wrestling is on a wrestling show, when TNA's tagline (one of many of them) is "We Are Wrestling!"

I also get the feeling that Russo hates the fact that he's a wrestling writer. I think that deep down, he hates everything about wrestling and therefore has to put his awful writing at the forefront. He thinks that the actual wrestling gets in the way of his writing, and when the WWE upped its match times after he left he commented 'They went back to the old crutch of wrestling. When the shit hits the fan thats what they do.'

Russo is a detriment to TNA. They have so many talented wrestlers that can really go in the ring. Russo doesn't care about that. He wants his so cliched that it wouldn't even work on a soap opera writing to be at the forefront of TNA. At many times, Russo's writing is terrible and unoriginal. There are also times where terrible and unoriginal cross paths.

Raw can afford to be storyline heavy. They more than make up for the wrestling on ECW, Superstars, and Smackdown. Smackdown is the best show out of all of them, because they mix good storylines and good wrestling together. Raw also features more wrestling in two hours than Impact. TNA only has one show a week right now, where if they're going to be a true alternative to the WWE, then they need to showcase their young talent that can excite fans. Cruiserweights were such a huge draw for WCW and always worth watching. Why not feature more wrestling featuring cruiserweights? People tune into a wrestling show for a balanced mix of storylines and wrestling. It's a shame Smackdown wasn't Raw and Raw wasn't Smackdown if that makes any sense. Smackdown is so well-done that it deserves more attention.

Sixteen minutes of WRESTLING on a TWO HOUR WRESTLING PROGRAM is unacceptable. Flat out.

I wonder how many minutes during a baseball game, the ball is actually in-play? Bet you it's not even 16. HMMMM.

This attempt to justify writing sixteen minutes of wrestling here in a two hour program is asinine. A baseball game is all about the skill and talent of the players and how they balance their run scoring and run prevention.

So if someone can put on an entertaining broadcast with a 2 hour show and feature just 16 minutes of in-ring action .... then more power to them. If that gets me excited to look forward to the real in-ring confrontations on the PPV's, then that's great.

Then what about the guys who won't ever sniff PPV? TNA has a very loaded roster. Those people need to work too. There's no reason why they can't run storylines to fill a show with actual wrestling. Those mid and lower-tier storylines can help talent get over. They can still limit the wrestling time the stars get for PPV, and be able to fit the storylines in.

With TNA getting a permanent move to Mondays for Impact, they need to make the Thursday show a two hour one as well. The WWE before the brand extension ran Raw and Smackdown featuring one solid roster just fine. They can differentiate the two shows, just like the WWE with Impact being storyline heavy and the Thursday show being more on the talent of the roster that they have.

The fact that TNA doesn't have a true secondary title is mind boggling. They were making progress on that front with Eric Young making the Global Title the equivalent to the IC/US Title, but that went to shit with Rob Terry taking it, which is another topic entirely. It just shows how starved TNA is for actual wrestling content.

If TNA paid me to fly to Florida, my room and food expenses, and paid me $12 an hour, I'm sure that at the very least I could direct a better product than Russo.

 

[BladeRunner]

I think this debate of "drama" vs. "wrestling" has probably been going on since the dawn of professional wrestling. Like those old beer commercials "great taste" versus "less filling".

Obviously you can't have one without the other, and different people are going to prefer different stuff.

The drama people want a show or entertainment. The wrestling people want a sport. This is why they call it sports entertainment.

It truly is a balance. But different shows are going to appeal to different people.

2 hours of wrestling with nothing but wrestling is boring imo. I like a point to the fights. A storyline or reasoning behind each fight.

And also, if I just wanted to watch wrestling, why not just watch UFC? It's got real fights and real wrestling. And that's all it is. Just the fights and nothing but the fights.

But if you want something more from the sport of wrestling, you add the entertainment aspect, and thus you get pro wrestling.

So like I said, if you don't like or want the entertainment aspects, there's always UFC and strikeforce for just fighting.

 

[Pedro08]

I agree that it's a balance. On average TNA has about 1:30 minutes of on-air programming every Thursday (cutting out commercials). So to only have 16 minutes of in-ring action is pathetic. You can get away with it every once in a while, but it cannot become your standard formula.

You could have 5-6 matches of 7-10 minutes and still have plenty of time to do promos and interviews.