Vince Russo Dragging TNA Down?

[wwerookie]

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It doesn't matter who is running what. the bottom line is TNA sucks, every time I try to watch it's non stop garbage, the few good things they have are destroyed by Angle and his wife. For whatever reason these morons bury the talent that's been there and constantly push the WWE Rejects, which in turn makes the company look weak. What did Vince McMahon always do with the WCW Rejects? bury their asses before doing anything with them..

Stop wasting everyones time with VKM/Kevin Nash and the like, the X Division is what put your product on the map, not Kurt Angle. Samoa Joe is one of the top stars in all of wrestling, not Karen Angle.

and for the love of God FIRE DON WEST. How does a QVC reject end up with a job as a wrestling color commentator?

There are so many inconsistancies with the product, storylines that make no sense, the CONSTANT need to have run ins during matches. You can make the loser look strong without interference(just look at Jeff Hardy at NWO).

The roster is way too big, you should have a set group appearing every week and not have a rotating roster. Decide on a core and stick with them, fire the useless guys who are stealing your money.

 

[Marty2Hotty]

Vince Russo as many know is on the TNA creative team along with Dutch Mantel and a few others, thing is I just finished reading the Death of WCW and boy he really did speed the process up. He came up with stupid matches, stupid feuds, stupid skits and ridiculous gimmicks, and I thought to myself man isn't this what TNA is now? A comedic gimmick show? I know he had been there since the beginning and so I guess you could say he has had some success within TNA, but the man who apparently was behind the Attitude Era as he likes to tell everyone is doing lousy at the moment.

You believe that book? It says you are 17 on your profile, so at age 6-9, you will definitely will not have understood the attitude era or WCW 2000. Better watch the shows he wrote in full before judging the guy. He's IMO the greatest writer ever for pro wrestling and can still write

You can't believe Dave Meltzer becuase they grew up watching the 70s wrestling era and want that type of show back, which will unfortunately not work in 2008. Russo updates the product and is a key part in attracting a whole new audience who currently sees the business a certain negative way

 

[SpiralHands]

You believe that book? It says you are 17 on your profile, so at age 6-9, you will definitely will not have understood the attitude era or WCW 2000. Better watch the shows he wrote in full before judging the guy. He's IMO the greatest writer ever for pro wrestling and can still write

You can't believe Dave Meltzer becuase they grew up watching the 70s wrestling era and want that type of show back, which will unfortunately not work in 2008. Russo updates the product and is a key part in attracting a whole new audience who currently sees the business a certain negative way

To a certain extent yes I do believe the book, the people who wrote it are very critical of it but then they are supossed to be, and the fact that they must be well educated within the business otherwise they wouldn't have written it. And I dont believe every word as most of it is opinion based, they said that WCW in 1999 and 2000 was dam right awful but personally I really enjoyed it back then so you know.
Yeah im 17 and yeah thats right I would have been around 6 then but doesnt mean I havent seen the attitude era, I go on youtube most nights and watch matches plus I have tonnes of PPVs on VHS so im not that uneducated in that time period.
At the end of day it all comes down to opinion on weather you liked that kinda rubbish he rights, or you dont. Obviously you do and I dont.

 

[LooseCannon]

It has been reported that Dutch Mandell is only working with the TNA knockouts. This has also come from the mouth of Glenn Gilbertti. So pump the breaks on that old inaccurate news about Russo only being a script writer.

It's also been reported (by Meltzer in WON, I believe) that Mantell is the one behind the Abyss/Mitchell/Judas storyline (with input from Abyss) and that Jarrett is the one who determines the matchups, while Russo is the one who scripts the build-up to those matches.

 

[AnthonyM4]

I think TNA was much better before Russo came in around late 2006. Since he's come back, TNA has been a poor man's wwe. Before that, it was a true alternative to wwe. It was a good wrestling show that stressed on the in-ring action moreso than nonsense. I loved TNA in 2005 and 2006. The product was great in those years. All of 2007 and 2008 so far have been subpar and I think Russo is definitely one to blame. Not the only one, but I definitely see a lot of his influence that's dragging the product down.

 

[SpecialReferee]

I personally don't mind Russo and his booking. Some of it is comical..

Sure, some of his WCW stuff was ridiculous but most WWF/E shit was too.

I don't see people ripping Vince a new one about the Katie Vick idea..

Nor about this incest angle that is currently going on.

When Russo got to WCW he pushed the young guys (Booker T and Storm) and many others.. He just couldn't to a degree develop new names (Natural Born Thrillers)

When he was in TNA in 03/04, the stories weren't half bad..

And people are acting as if Russo is bringing in WWE stars.. Thats most likely all Dixie.. Not Russo, he is working with what is provided to him..

Simple.

 

[Los666]

I can't stand Vince Russo. His booking is terrible and his storylines aren't that much better! The whole Abyss/Judas Mesias/Mitchell storyline was an almost complete rip-off of the Undertaker/Paul Bearer/Kane storyline from years ago.

Booker T walks into TNA and is put in a rivalry with Robert Roode!? How do u go from the main event at Genesis 2007 to wrestling in the midcard overnight? AJ Styles has been made a fool of over the last few months, acting like whiny little girl when he was with Christian and then becoming whiny little bitch when he joined Angle. He usedto be so much better, but thats Russo for ya!

 

[Shipititez]

I don't think it is fair to base your opinion of Vince Russo, from the book "The death of WCW" which was vary opinionated and biased with an anti Russo stance. I am not going to argue that Russo's time spent as WCW booker was perfect, but to blame him for speeding up the process of its demise is very unfair. I personally think that some of his later WCW stuff was very creative and entertaining, it has just been overshadowed by some of the headline grabbing events. WCW's demise had everything to do with the AOL / Timewarner merge.

 

[SpiralHands]

Ok Shipititez I agree its not fair to blame it on Russo, and yeah the main reason is because the AOL Time warner merge as well as the whole WCW was already falling part, but face it Russos glory days of Attitude era are way behind him TNA needsa fresh young new writers, Russo does try to live in the past too much and hes known for stupid gimmick matches, heel and face turns all the time as well as random other crap so he is part to blame for WCW and for TNA now wouldnt you agree?

 

[psykohurricane]

I don't think that Russo in particular is dragging TNA Down, i think the whole booking team and Agents are dragging TNA Down. Let'S face it, the biggest problem in TNA is how they Book TNA IMPACT every week. Instead of trying to please everybody on the roster all at once, why not just focus on the a group of wrestlers that you want to push a make more time to push them. Guys Like Shark Boy and Curryman should be use to get other wrestler over not to be put over by somebody else.

If everything in TNA worked my way, we had more feud like The Robert Roode/Booker T feud and less feud like the Sharkboy/Curryman vs Team 3D feud. I like comedy has much as the next guy but that not what i want to see when i watch TNA. I want to see wrestling like what they did during the Global Impact show. So is Russo dragging TNA down, absolutely not it's not just him it everybody involve in the Booking process.

 

[The_Mega_Powers]

The folks at TNA better watch their backs because if they start losing money I am pretty sure Vince McMahon will try to buy out TNA. I don't want to see it happen but the momentum they was carrying is now gone. The gimmicks like Shark Boy and Curry Man(Christopher Daniels) needs to stop. Team 3D needs to get backl where they was in the WWE as a team who likes to put people through tables like they did Mae Young or other females just to make a point that they are out to punish people. TNA has really killed D-Von and Bubba Ray, WWE can sure use them to make the tag team division good again.

 

[Slyfox696]

The folks at TNA better watch their backs because if they start losing money I am pretty sure Vince McMahon will try to buy out TNA.

Will never happen. Panda Energy has more money than Vince could dream of, and TNA is used as a tax break.

I don't want to see it happen but the momentum they was carrying is now gone. The gimmicks like Shark Boy and Curry Man(Christopher Daniels) needs to stop.

Why would two incredibly over gimmicks stop? That makes no sense. The gimmicks are over, the fans like them, so they should stop doing it?

Team 3D needs to get backl where they was in the WWE as a team who likes to put people through tables like they did Mae Young or other females just to make a point that they are out to punish people.

One word, two syllables.


BOR-ING!


We saw that already. Why are wrestling fans so resistant to evolution?

 

[Seal]

If Team 3D/Dudley Boyz were still putting people through tables, they'd get called WWE Rejects and has beens. They're doing something new now, and they've so far proved that they can provide genuine comedy as well as play great bully type heels. And they were totally over with the fans during their periods as faces as well. They've stayed as tough as always and are far more dominant than in the E, were they were considered the third best tag team ever.

Vince McMahon isn't going to buy out TNA in a hurry either, they're constantly improving even if they haven't been playing the right moves as of recently. Besides, Vince doesn't love buying and selling companies, he did so with WCW/ECW because they were going bankrupt anyway, he basically gave most of their performers jobs and chances they didn't receive in WCW (e.g cruiserweight performers such as Rey Mysterio jr., chavo guerrero jr. etc.) because WCWs eyes were too focused upon the aging heavyweight performers such as Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan.

 

[AJ Phenomenal]

Tonight's live broadcast was a complete train wreck and their booking was subpar. The unfortunate thing is, it will probably get a good rating due to it being live.

They really need to go by the saying, "less is more". They are trying to do too much. Go back to the basics.

It all starts by firing Vince Russo. Crash TV is a thing of the 90's my friend.

 

[josh [-4-]]

ya the live impact probably sucked because, well it's tna. They probably hyped up their live airing by having the most shitiest commentators talk about it instead of calling a match. The thing is tna can't live up to the hype.

wwe can. If you ask me the last 7 wwe ppv were great. Tna cant say the same thing about theres.

every tna ppv invovles:
1. someone screwing someone out of a victory
2. a run-in like every other tna show
3. a stupid gimmick match that sounds cool but ends up as crap

ya, all the blood, barbwire, tacks, and falls from 20 ft struture looks cool, but it's not entertaining watching it every ppv.

russo needs to go...

 

[RussoFan]

Yeah Fire Russo. he must have been the one who booked a show with no real in ring segment, tons of wrestling, lame promos and nothing happening.

Some of you morons need to get your own opinions and learn that Russo isn't he inventor of gimmick matches. Dusty did them when he booked TNA and Jeff Jarrett and Dutch mantell did it all the time when they couldn't make fans care about their storylines and feuds other than by having the wrestlers literally kill each other in their gimmick and garbage matches.

But who am i talking too anyway. 14 year old internet smark sheep

 

[MVP305]

Russo is dragging tna down in the sense that when impact went to 2 hours we were told longer matches and that hasnt happened yet but i think we will see soon, because russo doesnt write for wrestling his more the into entertainment than the wrestling and he said this in his shoot interview. I think he does get a lot of crap written about him but he isnt as bad people make him out to be. He has got people over in tna i was sceptical when he came back in 2006, but tna has improved in the past few months and some of it is due to russo.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I'm so sick of the blame being put on Vince Russo for everything bad that's happened in the last 8 years. When he had total control in the WWF without being removed after the start of every major storyline the WWF was getting some of the best ratings in the history of the business. I'd much rather have Vince Russo writing and booking TNA than Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantell.

 

[STENA]

I agree russo makes some terrible decisions but it aint just him ist dutch and jarett like @ lockdown why in the hell wud u have a reverse cage match a ahnd cuff match and stop reading now cuz its a SPOILER* eric young adn Kaz tag champs wtf? my suggestion is let cornette do the booking eitehr on his own or with paul heyman or d'amoore that wud take tna to the top

 

[AndySmithers]

I must say, having Eric Young win that with the super Eric gimmic pissed me off a bit. I would have preferred Hernandez to have won it. I don't like the super Eric crap, and i hope they get rid of it soon.

 

[BRandonkin]

Will never happen. Panda Energy has more money than Vince could dream of, and TNA is used as a tax break.

Why would two incredibly over gimmicks stop? That makes no sense. The gimmicks are over, the fans like them, so they should stop doing it?

One word, two syllables.


BOR-ING!


We saw that already. Why are wrestling fans so resistant to evolution?

So it borning for them to put people through the table because we saw it already, but okay to look at stone cold, macho man and simlar gimmicks and storylines over again.

 

[Slyfox696]

So it borning for them to put people through the table because we saw it already, but okay to look at stone cold, macho man and simlar gimmicks and storylines over again.

It's boring for a tag team to have the same gimmick for 13 years, especially in this day and age, with television being like it is, and everyone working every week.

Stone Cold was Stone Cold for less than 5 years continuously. Macho Man was not a gimmick as much as a ring name. Macho King was a gimmick for only a few years.

The Dudleys are evolving, and getting away from the things that a) they have done for over a decade and b) things that would get them face pops, which is counter productive to a heel.

 

[Greenlight13]

I think Russo has just become arrogant in his own ability, he created some genuinely good gimmicks back in the 90s but then he moved to WCW and im sorry but he booked David Arquette and himself to win the belt didnt he? WCW was in trouble already but he was doing his best to kill it off for good, then he left and it began to slowly but surely turn but by then it was too late and it went under.

I also think early TNA sucked, no offence to any die-hard fans, im very loyal myself, but looking back at that first year or two, it was just bad. The whole S.E.X. thing was terrible.

In my opinion TNA was at it's best from 2005-2007 and Russo got re-hired at the end of 2006 and since then it has had a slow slip so you do the maths. I dont know if he came up with the Shark Boy and CurryMan ideas, or having Storm wrestle Harris in a blindfold match, or putting Karen Angle on tv for longer than anyone else, but whoever is doing it is an idiot.

They need to build their storylines around actual wrestling, Joe vs. Daniels vs. Styles worked because they put on incredible matches and everyone knew what they could do together. Angle vs. Joe was amazing at first because it was this dominant bad-ass animal of a wrestler in Joe versus the best pure-wrestler in the world who had just arrived in the company. It worked for a rematch because you wanted to see them in the ring again. Then the third and fourth time it was about Karen Angle, it was about every title, and then there was an MMA match. None of that interested me.

Bottom line is i dont know exactly what Russo is responsible for in TNA but something needs to change in TNA. I've been informed that as of April 17th Russo has been re-hired by WWE so keep watching TNA and if it improves, blame Russo, if not, there is a deeper problem in Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling.

 

[AndySmithers]

I was thinking, maybe russo is really a genius... Maybe he never actually stopped working for Vince, but he was sent in to sabotage things for WCW and now TNA. lol. And if what Greenlight12 is saying is true, then maybe TNA clocked on to this with his bad gimmicks and he is returning to WWE. Just a though

 

[Slyfox696]

I think Russo has just become arrogant in his own ability, he created some genuinely good gimmicks back in the 90s but then he moved to WCW and im sorry but he booked David Arquette and himself to win the belt didnt he? WCW was in trouble already but he was doing his best to kill it off for good, then he left and it began to slowly but surely turn but by then it was too late and it went under.

You should read Eric Bischoff's "Controversy Creates Cash". Does a great job of explaining booking ability in WCW at the time.

In my opinion TNA was at it's best from 2005-2007 and Russo got re-hired at the end of 2006 and since then it has had a slow slip so you do the maths.

He was hired in October 2006, and TNA was at its best in 2007.

What maths am I supposed to do?

I dont know if he came up with the Shark Boy and CurryMan ideas, or having Storm wrestle Harris in a blindfold match, or putting Karen Angle on tv for longer than anyone else, but whoever is doing it is an idiot.

Yeah, good thinking.

Nevermind that both Sharkboy and Curryman are incredibly over gimmicks, following in the footsteps of another incredibly over gimmick in Black Machismo.

Nevermind that Karen Angle is a GREAT story character and does a great job of progressing stories and giving them purpose.

They need to build their storylines around actual wrestling,

Works for ROH, doesn't it. Wait...who?

Joe vs. Daniels vs. Styles worked because they put on incredible matches and everyone knew what they could do together.

Wasn't that when they were getting .6 TV ratings? What are they getting now? 1.2? Yeah, worked great.

Angle vs. Joe was amazing at first because it was this dominant bad-ass animal of a wrestler in Joe versus the best pure-wrestler in the world who had just arrived in the company. It worked for a rematch because you wanted to see them in the ring again. Then the third and fourth time it was about Karen Angle, it was about every title, and then there was an MMA match. None of that interested me.

Both the all titles on the line and Joe's career vs. Angle were infinitely more interesting to me than some smarks wet dream match.

Bottom line is i dont know exactly what Russo is responsible for in TNA

Then, I'll tell you. He takes the booking of Jarrett and Mantel and puts it into a working TV script. Additionally, he offers creative ideas, but doesn't actually book the show, so everything he suggests has no impact on the show unless Jarrett or Mantel approve it.

but something needs to change in TNA.

Why? They're doing some of their best ratings ever.

I've been informed that as of April 17th Russo has been re-hired by WWE so keep watching TNA and if it improves, blame Russo, if not, there is a deeper problem in Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling.

Source?