OFFICIAL: Vince Russo and TNA Part Ways

[It's Damn Real!]

@TNADixie:

TNA and Vince Russo have mutually parted ways as of this week. The separation is amicable and professional.

We are glad for the opportunity to have worked together and wish each other nothing but good luck and success in the future.

--

This is obviously a huge shake-up in TNA, though Russo has seemingly been on the outs for a while now citing being burned out, and having taken a largely regressed role as part of that team for months now.

Please keep all discussion here.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

If They let lagana do the things he'S doing with the Ra ka King show in India, he could see something good coming out of this because that show is 10 times better then Impact is right now.

 

[Raven]

Hmm, Interesting. I hope we really get to see a diffrence in the storys from here on out, but i don't know how. Honestly I never really saw what was so bad about Russo, sure he had the occasional really suck-ass storyline, but hey so does wwe and pretty much every major wrestling promotion. Anyway I hope we see a diffrence and a real direction for people who deserve it, See: Samoa Joe

 

[enviousdominous]

I don't think TNA can ever die. They're not pissing away money like WCW was, even if they suck people will still go for the lack of anything better to do while they're on vacation in the area.

Russo is synonymous with crappy storylines, but he's been blamed for bad storylines and matches that he had nothing to do with. I figure it'll still be the same show I'm used too. One week will be five star and the next four weeks will be horrible, which as I see it is a better record than Raw or Smackdown.

 

[UnBEARaBULLfan]

TNA has taken a bunch of steps in the right direction lately and to me this is another one, I have never been a fan of Russo so I'm happy this has happend. With the success Lagana has been having with the Ring Ka King promotion hopefully it will carry over to TNA.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I think this is the culmination of something that has been a work in progress for a while now. He had his role significantly reduced a while back, and now they have simply finished the job. Ease him out the door gradually, for optics sake for Russo, and give the new guy some time to step into his shoes.

The TNA product has been improving in recent months. Maybe it's a coincidence or maybe it means something more, but the improvement seems to coincide nicely with the diminishing role of Russo. If that is truly the case, this could bode well for the future of the company. Out with the old blood and the old school line of thinking, and replace it with something a little more contemporary.

Now, if they could follow up on this line of thinking and excise two more vestiges from yesteryear, they might really be on the road to success. Not WWE level success, of course, let's not get crazy here, but success nonetheless.

 

[Rayne]

I don't think TNA can ever die. They're not pissing away money like WCW was, even if they suck people will still go for the lack of anything better to do while they're on vacation in the area.

I'm not sure if that follows. TNA/IW isn't getting a majority of money from their rental/access agreement with Universal Studios, that's for damned sure.

They aren't pissing away money, and they aren't in danger of going out of business soon unless there are severe hidden liabilities. (I don't see why there would be.) But any company can go out of business, for a lot of reasons. It could be sold for cash or assets to another company, who could change the productive direction in a negative fashion. It could lose its deal with SpikeTV should they choose to change focus. (Not likely anytime soon, but you can't rule that out. SpikeTV has not been as successful as hoped when it was rebranded into a male-oriented network.)

If they suck, people stop watching, which means Viacom via SpikeTV pays them less for their content, as they are getting less from advertisers for space on Impact. It's not a death from a lack of seats being filled at the Impact Zone, it's a death via the shrinkage of all your asset streams.



As far as Russo? Old news, I'd think. This sounds like when the Soviets would announce that they had tried, convicted, and executed a major leader, three months after the fact. It's not a Russo product right now; it just doesn't have the shape of anything he's been doing his whole career. Let's face it, Vince Russo has had more than enough time in his position. I'm not a Russo hater, he's been hit and miss in my opinion (some epic misses, though...), but sometimes you just need to go to fresh blood for fresh ideas.

 

[IHW]

Great move by TNA.
I heard alout of good things about Dave L.
I wonder if WWE thought of when releasing him. Did it ever cross their minds that he could join TNA and improve the product?

 

[Evenflow DDT]

I have two questions.

1. I thought Bruce Pricthard was promoted to Head Of Creative back in OCt.

2. When does Lagana offically take over? Shows/Angles are typically booked out months ahead of schedule. So I get the feeling we wont see any real change until after Lethal Lockdown unless he is able to tweet Russo's scripts.

 

[dimice76]

While Dave L may not do anything with the PPV, and major angles, its possible he could start as soon as tomorrow with Impact to rebuild the lower card angles. One thing I hope Dave does is finally establish faces and heels. I am so sick of one guy being a face tonight, then next week with no explaniation becomes a heel and vice versa. However if Dave does fail, just remember there is no Russo to blame any more. I wonder what Eric and Terry think of all this.

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

It's not like Russo is the only shitty writer on the planet, Lagana could totally fuck this up. I'm confident he won't but you never know! Don't just instantly assume the product is gonna go from shit to top class wrestling, you're more likely to be disappointed if you expect too much. I'm just glad Russo has finally fucked off, maybe we'll have less stupid ass shoot promos and more great wrestling!

 

[Krossbreed]

ever since vince russo went to wcw ...wcw sucked...and i dont care if he was one of the writers from the attitude era...u cant write a stone cold or degeneration X...most of there stuff were shoots...thats just luck...what people like about wwe is there making the wrestlers wrestle more...but i would love for tna to cut out the back stage girl see girl fight break out every friggin week, i'd rather they follow them to the gym and watch them work out.

So people are appreciating a slower product which tna needed to be all along. Anybody know what happened to Abyss...and if u do please keep him there. Wasnt he in a feud with bully ray...then he vanished...one flaw of tna is they r pushing bishoffs kid like he is all that...would rather that spot go to a aj styles instead and g bishoff fakes a leg injury or neck injury to put gunner over as a real threat.

 

[dimice76]

Looks like its not true. Apparently Dave L is there helping out. Russo isnt there but Bruce P is in charge of creative. Looks like someone may have jumped the gun.

 

[ilapierre]

Vince Russo is not head writer of TNA Impact anymore. So what? I can't wait for WWE's Brain Gerwitz to get fired. He writes crap. Russo didn't cause WCW to die. WCW was dying a year before WCW even hired him. You know who was in WCW running things after Russo in mid 2000 to March 2001? Johnny Ace and Kevin Nash. Nash began booking in WCW at about the time things started dying. The Johnny Ace era in WCW was by far the worst period for any company I ever watched. The writing after Russo left was a million times worse. That's saying something. So we can dump on Russo forever but that's just copying what everybody else says. Johnny Ace and Kevin Nash did a worse job in creative positions. Nash and Ace were part of the big WWE angle with CM Punk late last year and Ace is still around. I'd like to start hearing less about Russo and more about how Gerwitz and Ace need to lose their powers. Whoever writes WWE storylines can't write and Johnny Ace just flat out sucks. I don't need to watch some no-name backstage ass wipe in the main event picture playing the lame ass heel boss. Maybe WWE should borrow Russo so they can throw him out there with Ace and Nash. Have them form a tag team called `Creative Control`. lol

 

[legorilla]

Posted in: TNA
More Details on the TNA, Vince Russo and Dave Lagana Reports
By Marc Middleton
Feb 12, 2012 - 6:44:02 PM

- In regards to reports going around, Dave Lagana is not replacing Vince Russo as the head of TNA Creative. Lagana is at tonight's Against All Odds pay-per-view to help out, according to one top source within TNA. Lagana was hired by TNA to work on Ring Ka King and other projects, not the Impact brand but is at the pay-per-view tonight helping with backstage segments.

Russo is not at the pay-per-view tonight and while some believe he is gone, nothing has been announced to the TNA roster or staff yet.

The head of TNA creative remains Bruce Prichard. Russo and Matt Conway have been writing scripts for Impact in recent months with those scripts going to Prichard for tinkering and then Eric Bischoff for his own feedback in production meetings at TV tapings or pay-per-views.

per lordsofpain.net

That was last word, and even if Lagana was in the roster is still a hotmess of uneven. Too many other broke things that a new writer can't fix.

 

[MB1025]

Per Dave Meltzer on the F4Online message board

Bryan's not in town. As soon as he gets home we'll do an update.

I believe Lagana is writing the TV tomorrow. Hard to get a lot this close to the PPV, but this has been inevitable from the day Lagana left ROH. Just a question as to when Russo would quit. The found the guy who can actually script a show but Dixie would never fire Russo.

This is not a change in creative direction. Eric & Prichard are in charge. Russo's power lessened when Prichard was put in charge. You can tell by less nonsense on TV and less stuff crammed into the show.

Nothing in recent weeks led to the change. It was happening for months.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

Doesn't really matter. Russo was reduced to basically writing bullet points on cue cards for the wrestlers booked by Prichard, and Bischoff a couple months ago. They took away his power and ability to really screw things up so I don't see why it matters. Booting him would just be the final step.

 

[MB1025]

The thing people are over looking is that he can bring fresh ideas to the table as lead writer. Bischoff and Prichard and even Russo have been aoart of a time in wrestling when everything was tried. We have a guy who hasn't been around all that who may have frsh ideas to bring to the table.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

Might I finally watch TNA again? Lagana did a great job with his Smackdown run in the early/mid 2000's.

We know logic and WRESTLING will be focal points, there will be less stupid stipulations.

I will watch Impact this week and I hope it's different then the last time I watched 6 months ago

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Might I finally watch TNA again? Lagana did a great job with his Smackdown run in the early/mid 2000's.

We know logic and WRESTLING will be focal points, there will be less stupid stipulations.

I will watch Impact this week and I hope it's different then the last time I watched 6 months ago

Make way for the Super Smark! I will only watch a show if the people who write it are different! Where did all the wrestling fans go?


True or not, I just hope Lagana doesn't fuck the shows up. They've been going really steady lately, it's getting better, it's getting more fun, it's nice. Russo being fired/demoted doesn't concern me and I won't parade over the guy's potential professional demise in TNA. All I want is a better product and if Lagana can make it that way - Lagana it is.

 

[snoopy]

Boy the wrestling fans are slow and it's sad! I Tna is doing great right now with their unpredictable booking and people just can't stand it. Tna and the WWE have finally gotten the upper hand on the dirtsheets and wrestling fans and critics don't know what the hell to do!

If people think that Tna booking is going to change their kidding themselves! Just look AAO PPV , That was a great show booked to perfection , It solved some questions and opened up some new ones so people can be excited for thursdays Impact Wrestling episode . And yet people still complain about the booking?

Tna is doing so many things right but the main thing their doing right, is staying ahead of the dirtsheets ! And fans and critics just haven't figured it out!It's funny how unpredictability has become a negative for Pro Wrestling and they've even given it a negative word "SWERVE''.

Wheter it's Bobby Roode losing at Bound for Glory 'when evetybody thought he would win' or James Storm winning the title on Impact ,the wrestling Insider had no clue! They couldn't predict it so Tna booking sucked, which I find to be ridiculous logic ,But that's the state of the Pro Wrestling Industry and some of it's fans,Give me what I want and if you don't you suck and I will not watch again until you do.

 

[i'm a cm punk girl]

Wait for the rumours to start again about Paul Heyman joining TNA now.

Seriously though, a Lagana/Heyman partnership possibly could be really good for TNA, Smackdown was producing by far its best ever product when these two were running the show, it was upstaging Raw which obviously annoyed Vince Mcmahon so he took steps to turn SD into a pile of shit.

 

[ABMorales787]

I don't expect many changes onscreen. The feuds have been held on a very simple manner lately, so at this point it's just a formal backstage change. The real change came when Brother Love joined prior to Bound For Glory last October and the changes then were and are notable.

 

[Rayne]

Boy the wrestling fans are slow and it's sad! I Tna is doing great right now with their unpredictable booking and people just can't stand it. Tna and the WWE have finally gotten the upper hand on the dirtsheets and wrestling fans and critics don't know what the hell to do!

Oh boy. Another "the world is against TNA" post. These might have made sense a year ago, but if you actually look at this thread, you'll see no one taking direct shots against TNA/IW. Indirect ones would even be hard to find.

If people think that Tna booking is going to change their kidding themselves! Just look AAO PPV , That was a great show booked to perfection , It solved some questions and opened up some new ones so people can be excited for thursdays Impact Wrestling episode . And yet people still complain about the booking?

Solved some questions and opened up new ones is what you're supposed to do when you're telling an ongoing story. That's the very basics of storytelling. The next step is having those questions be ones that the audience wants to have answered. No one is interested in Garrett Bischoff, for example.

I see no one in this thread complaining about the current booking of TNA/IW, except me, with the Garrett Bischoff angle. I won't have much trouble finding support in that opinion.

Tna is doing so many things right but the main thing their doing right, is staying ahead of the dirtsheets ! And fans and critics just haven't figured it out!It's funny how unpredictability has become a negative for Pro Wrestling and they've even given it a negative word "SWERVE''.

Who the hell is using swerve in the negative sense?

How are they staying ahead of the dirtsheets when their shows are spoiled 3-10 days in advance?

How is staying ahead of the dirt sheets important towards making money?

How is simply being unpredictable a good thing? Bobby Roode could take a shit in the middle of the ring on Thursday, and I certainly wouldn't be able to predict it, but it wouldn't make any money.

Wheter it's Bobby Roode losing at Bound for Glory 'when evetybody thought he would win' or James Storm winning the title on Impact ,the wrestling Insider had no clue! They couldn't predict it so Tna booking sucked, which I find to be ridiculous logic ,But that's the state of the Pro Wrestling Industry and some of it's fans,Give me what I want and if you don't you suck and I will not watch again until you do.

Well, yes. "Give me what I want" is sort of the center of American consumerism. If you want to run a business in this country, you are required to give your customers what they want, or they will go somewhere else to get it.

I also didn't see a soul complain about the James Storm title win. I did see a few complain about Bobby Roode's loss to Kurt Angle, but I'd hardly call that enough people to warrant an "addressed to everyone" post.


So many complaints about wrestling critics (thank you, at least, for not saying "IWC") are merely complaints against strawmen. Because you see one idiot espouse a stupid opinion, that does not mean that there is a majority of people who support that opinion. As we can see here, the blessing and curse of the internet is that every random idiot gets to have their say.

 

[snoopy]

Dude do you just stay here on Wrestlezone ?There are plenty of sites or Wrestling talk shows that constantly bash Tna !Just to name a few The Law, Pwtorch ,PwInsider .

Staying Ahead?What I mean is not Reading Impact spoilers but giving away storylines and Heel and face turns.But now do you see these type of spoilers no and if you do then where ?Dirtsheets used to routinely give away storylines not anymore.

Give me what I want and then what?What about the million to two million other fans why I'm I special ?Everybody can't and will not get exactly what they want because it's impossible to please everybody .So if you're going to watch it why not try and enjoy everything?

My first post wasn't a sympathy cry for Tna or Russo .But a post to point out the wrongful criticism that this company continues to receive now when it's warranted then fine but when they get criticised for things that the critic missed or flat got wrong then that's what hard to accept .