Vince Russo is one of the personas that shaped wrestling, good and bad. He was the mind behind many storylines and had a fair share of controversy in those storylines. In these forums, I have read countless threads against him. Which brings up my question: Does he deserve that much criticism? You might think he should be criticized even more maybe?
I don't have a clue who he is, never met him, and I can only comment from his storylines, and a few backstage incidents that happened. I think he is criticized more than what he deserves by IWC. In that regard, his accomplishments overall is a bit underrated.
He become the Head Writer of WWE in 97. This is the year when Stone Cold become a superstar! Yes, his famous speech was in 96 but I still think his real stardom started in WM 13. This is also the year Rocky Maivia become a heel and joined the Nation of Domination. This is also the year D-X was formed. These 3, without a question, were the biggest names that eventually give WWE the steering wheel in Wrestling Entertainment. If we are still watching WWE today, they might be the main reason behind. I always heard that Vince McMahon was the one who was filtering Russo with his over the top ideas. I am sure that would be the case. However, just a few years before that, McMahon was giving the OK to the Plumbers, Clowns, Mummys and all sorts of abnormal gimmicks as well. Also, after his departure McMahon also gave his OK to all of the controversial ideas that shaped an Era. If you don't have a "smart enough" idea, what is the point of filtering it? Edgy or not, if anyone can come up with one of the ideas, like D-X, Taker-Kane, SCSA-McMahon or the transition of RockyMaivia to the Rock, he deserves to be praised for what he brought. He is also criticized for his Edgy Style Booking. He was always seen as the reason of the adult oriented Era for WWE. However keep in mind he was the head of WWE between early 97- late 99. When I think about most of the "over the top angles" of the Attitude Era, it mainly starts with 2000. Sure, we had Sable and Godfather and Val Venis before 2000, but when I think of girls kissing each other in the ring, taking eachother's bras out and all that sort of extreme angles, a huge chunk of them started with 2000 and continued on the next few years. Strangely enough, Godfather and Val Venis, the gimmicks that were criticized today as being Russo's ideas, continued with their air time, well after Russo left the company.
Then in 2000 he started with WCW. When you think about WCW, when was it's best years? Way before 2000! It's not like WCW was in their prime and Russo stuffed everything up. They actually brought Russo for a reason! WCW was already getting crushed and was sinking. In his time, ratings were not going down for a while and stabilized at least. One of the main incidents happened in that era were Hogan not wanting to job to JJ using his Creative Control. I can't blame Russo for not wanting Hogan to win in year 2000.
I am not writing this because Russo is an angel, he is the mind behind many non-sense bookings as well. I am writing all this because people tend to criticize Russo for too many things. I know he produced too many controversies and made wrong bookings. But sometimes I just think that we are overreacting against him like we do to so many wrestlers/writers. IWC is hard to be pleased, but for just what he brought to WWE when it was running out of business, we should appreciate what he has done as well. In that regard, his accomplishments are a bit underrated by IWC considering what he has done.
I don't have a clue who he is, never met him, and I can only comment from his storylines, and a few backstage incidents that happened. I think he is criticized more than what he deserves by IWC. In that regard, his accomplishments overall is a bit underrated.
He become the Head Writer of WWE in 97. This is the year when Stone Cold become a superstar! Yes, his famous speech was in 96 but I still think his real stardom started in WM 13. This is also the year Rocky Maivia become a heel and joined the Nation of Domination. This is also the year D-X was formed. These 3, without a question, were the biggest names that eventually give WWE the steering wheel in Wrestling Entertainment. If we are still watching WWE today, they might be the main reason behind. I always heard that Vince McMahon was the one who was filtering Russo with his over the top ideas. I am sure that would be the case. However, just a few years before that, McMahon was giving the OK to the Plumbers, Clowns, Mummys and all sorts of abnormal gimmicks as well. Also, after his departure McMahon also gave his OK to all of the controversial ideas that shaped an Era. If you don't have a "smart enough" idea, what is the point of filtering it? Edgy or not, if anyone can come up with one of the ideas, like D-X, Taker-Kane, SCSA-McMahon or the transition of RockyMaivia to the Rock, he deserves to be praised for what he brought. He is also criticized for his Edgy Style Booking. He was always seen as the reason of the adult oriented Era for WWE. However keep in mind he was the head of WWE between early 97- late 99. When I think about most of the "over the top angles" of the Attitude Era, it mainly starts with 2000. Sure, we had Sable and Godfather and Val Venis before 2000, but when I think of girls kissing each other in the ring, taking eachother's bras out and all that sort of extreme angles, a huge chunk of them started with 2000 and continued on the next few years. Strangely enough, Godfather and Val Venis, the gimmicks that were criticized today as being Russo's ideas, continued with their air time, well after Russo left the company.
Then in 2000 he started with WCW. When you think about WCW, when was it's best years? Way before 2000! It's not like WCW was in their prime and Russo stuffed everything up. They actually brought Russo for a reason! WCW was already getting crushed and was sinking. In his time, ratings were not going down for a while and stabilized at least. One of the main incidents happened in that era were Hogan not wanting to job to JJ using his Creative Control. I can't blame Russo for not wanting Hogan to win in year 2000.
I am not writing this because Russo is an angel, he is the mind behind many non-sense bookings as well. I am writing all this because people tend to criticize Russo for too many things. I know he produced too many controversies and made wrong bookings. But sometimes I just think that we are overreacting against him like we do to so many wrestlers/writers. IWC is hard to be pleased, but for just what he brought to WWE when it was running out of business, we should appreciate what he has done as well. In that regard, his accomplishments are a bit underrated by IWC considering what he has done.