Vince Russo - HOF?

[FromTheSouth]

http://www.wrestlezone.com/article/five-for-the-wwe-hall-of-fame-58609

This article got me thinking....does Vince Russo belong in the hall of fame.

All of the hall of fame ceremonies have been out of character, to a point. While the heel/face line is blurred, there is no real mention of backstage. Vine Russo's induction would break down all the walls. The Attitude Era would have to be exposed as something that was written, not purely something that happened as a result of the guys on screen. Would this be enough to keep him out? Would that be too much exposure for Vince, who exposed the business first?

Would Russo's work for TNA be enough to keep him out? He's obviously not going to go while he's working for them, but will his theft of WWE storylines for both TNA and the end of WCW be enough to exclude him? I think the way McMahon holds and then forgets grudges will be the only thing that in/ex-cludes Russo. Will Vince be in that forgiving mood when it comes to be Hall of Fame time?

Finally, do writers even deserve a spot in the hall? This would be unprecedented in sports. It would be akin to letting the person who does promotional giveaways at baseball games or uniform makers into the hall. No one short of hardcore fans even know who these people are.

All in all, I think Vince Russo does deserve a spot in the hall of fame. Many of his ideas and storylines scored the highest ratings for the WWE. Wrestling was at an all time high in public profile because of his work.

Through all this, I think he will not be inducted while the WWE is under Vince McMahon's control. It would be too much exposure for the backstage guys, and it would take too much focus off Vince and the boys on TV.

 

[Pimpin]

Vince Russo would probably get inducted for only his WWE stuff but if it was for his entire writing career overall then I would say not a chance. I'm sure everybody knows how bad WCW's booking was during it's dying years & then there is TNA which quite honestly his booking or most of it which ever one it is has made their programing really tough to watch without changing the channel. Now I do think that if writers have done a superb job of helping get that show's product either decent or spectacular for many years then yeah they do deserve a place in the hall of fame.

 

[klunderbunker]

No. Russo is the most overrated booker/writer of all time, and yes I'm including Paul Heyman. People point to the Attitude Era and say that he proved how great he can be there. No. All he proved there was that when given enough talent, he can write passable angles that get the talent over more than they already are. He was handed Rock, Austin, Taker, Kane, Foley and HHH and wasn't expected to be launched to the moon?

The proof to this is from his time in WCW. When he got there they had fallen some, but the talent was still there. Under Russo, they fell even further to the point that they were wiped out. The storylines made no sense at all and he was trying to immitate what happened in WWF that was so successful. In essence, he ran the same thing. It proves what a roll of the dice his booking really was. He got lucky in WWF because he had the talent to hide his flaws. In WCW, that wasn't the case. No on the HOF.

 

[fossi984]

He got lucky in WWF because he had the talent to hide his flaws. In WCW, that wasn't the case. No on the HOF.

I agree 100%

Regardless of whether he's over-rated or not, him in the H.O.F. would be like them admitting that it's all scripted and fake

 

[Upgrayedd]

What is overrated is the smark hatred for Russo on the wrestling forums. It's the "cool" thing to do, I guess. I never knew why. Most of the people who complain about him didn't even watch the Attitude Era or WCW but still blame Russo for ruining something. I mean to say the reason he wasn't successful in WCW is because he didn't have the talent like he did in the WWF? Are you serious? Hogan, Bret Hart, Roddy Piper, Hall, Nash, DDP, Sting, Steiner, Booker T, Goldberg, Jarrett, Luger, Flair, Douglas, Kidman, Mysterio, etc., etc.? Those guys aren't talent?

In fact the reason that Russo should be looked at as the most successful writer in the business is because he was able to take unknown wrestlers or wrestlers stuck in the mid card and turn them into a household name. What were Billy Gunn and Road Dogg doing before Russo put them together? Road Dogg was Jeff Jarrett's bodyguard and Billy Gunn was stuck doing some lame ass gimmick with the Honky Tonk Man. The Rock was a nobody in 1996 and if it wasn't for Russo pushing for the WWF to go in a different direction I don't think The Rock would have become a huge star. Vince McMahon by himself along with Jim Cornett would NOT have come up with a gimmick for The Rock and allowed The Rock to cut some of the greatest promos in the history of the business.

Mick Foley would have been stuck only doing the Mankind gimmick if Russo didn't push for him to try different things. Russo is the person who pushed for McMahon to hire Austin. Again, you really think Vince McMahon alone would have come up with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin? If Russo wasn't one of the biggest reasons for the WWF's success then why is it that since he left they've done almost nothing creative? I mean sure they've come up with some new stars but no one on the level of The Rock and Austin. They're still relying on Undertaker, Kane, Triple H, HBK even DX and the Mr. McMahon character which were all huge during the Attitude Era.

Why wasn't Russo a success in WCW? No one in that company was on the same page by the time he got there. But to say there wasn't talent is ridiculous. There were too many egos in the ring and out of the ring and even the people who were running the company who didn't want a thing to do with wrestling. The truth is Russo and McMahon NEEDED each other. McMahon helping Russo with his vision was what made the WWF Attitude Era work so well. In WCW, Russo had no one watching his back. He didn't have Vince McMahon backing him and telling the wrestlers to listen to him. That's why it didn't work out in WCW.

 

[klunderbunker]

What are you talking about? Foley's other characters had long since been established. He had used Cactus Jack for the majority of his career and Dude Love had some from the movie he made when he was a teenager. Taker had used the same character for the majority of his career and the decision to sign Glenn Jacobs came from JR. I'm not saying Russo didn't have a lot to do with what WWF accomplished, but some of those things had long since been established. Also throw in Vince McMahon having the final say and apparently writing a good amount of McMahon vs. Austin, Russo deserves a lot of credit, but not all of what he's given.

 

[Upgrayedd]

No, I'm talking about the way he used his characters. In the WWF he would have just been Mankind and that's it. They would have had him sit down with Jim Ross and those interviews are what really took him to the next level. When he came out as Dude Love and then joined the Corporation. There's no way Vince McMahon would have let Foley become such a success if it wasn't for Russo talking to him and pushing for it. You're forgetting at how terrible the WWF was before the Attitude Era. McMahon didn't have a clue what to do or an answer for WCW and the nWo.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

The thing about Russo's time in the WWE is that even though he took part in some of the top rivalries of all time such as Austin / McMahon, it was the other people in the WWE (such as Vince McMahon) that could weed out every shit idea he had and use the 1 good idea in 20 Russo had. Without guys like McMahon that could make his nonsensical BS make sense, Russo wouldn't of had a career in WCW or TNA. He basically took all the success that he piggybacked off of others, and got head booker WCW and TNA and whenever he was by himself and actually had to make decision's without mommy McMahon we all found out he actually doesn't know the anything about wrestling (THIS IS A GUY WHO BOOKED A VIAGRA ON A POLE MATCH FOR CHRIST SAKE!.). From what i've seen, Russo brings nothing to the table except for the once-in-a-blue-moon good idea he got that was probably ripped off from a movie he saw in his videostore and shouldn't even be a thought when it comes to HOF inductions because after he left WWE and was left by himself to run WCW and TNA, both promotions shit the bed horribly (My personal opinion is that TNA has sucked since around the time Russo got rehired, it's funny how that works out sometimes).

 

[thriftwhore]

I sent Kevin an e-mail, and I'll just paste it here to express my thoughts on the subject.

I enjoyed your list very much, and while I agree on your first four I have to draw the line when I first read "Vince Russo". The reason why I disagree is because you can't discount what he did in WCW, especially based on your argument that you can't judge Austin on what he did in WCW.

Russo had control to do what he wanted in WCW, and that showed. If Austin was booking himself, I'm sure he'd do a lot more than just give himself a US Title reign by beating Dustin Rhodes. Still, Austin's accomplishments in WWE weigh far greater than the disappointments and letdowns of his career. I ask you to put the "good" that Russo did for the business on one side of the scale, and then round up all the atrocities that he is still producing to this very day and place them on the other side.

I think taking The Rock, Austin, HBK, Foley, HHH, and Undertaker into the Attitude era is a great feat, and he deserves all the praise for the hand he had in it. But taking the talented roster of WCW (and now TNA) and driving it straight into the ground by trying to mimmick his own ideas is enough to throw him behind a LOT more people who would be more deserving of a HOF induction