Vince Russo

[iamwrestling]

I think that ever since Vince Russo is in as the top writer for TNA, the show has just gotten better and better every single week. I mean, instead of wasting time in the show on wrestlers that aren't in the main picture yet, he let's the top wrestlers like Christian, LAX, AJ Styles, Abyss, etc. fight every week or every other week and I just think that's awesome. TNA impact used to be very short and boring. But now, it's just so much better because it's not just pointless matches with jobbers followed up by a quick three minute video segment of a top wrestler. Now it's just top wrestlers every match. Not only is impact getting better, but I like what he's done with the James Gang giving them a more DX type character like they used to have. And now, they're having Kazarian and Bentley enter a new Raven's flock? Awesome! My only problem with him is that he's not letting Petey Williams be seen. He's so good, it's a shame he's being wasted by not wrestling ever.

 

[iamwrestling]

What is everyone's opinions on Russo?

 

[mysticx0]

i think he was great under vince. he was kept in line. but when he went to wcw and actually created himself a on tv character, that was the end for him. the storylines he came up with were trash and wcw never got better after him than it was before him. he was the same in TNA and the highlight of tna before it became what it is now is when piper confronted him in the ring and told him everything every fan wanted to say to him themselves. i really hot piper was going to kill him, if anyone else has seen this im sure youll agree. that was not a 'worked' spot by the way.

i think you may be giving russo too much credit the man has only been a part of the team for like two weeks and when i say 'part of the team' i mean just that. he doesnt have lone control of anything, so im prone to believe his impact as yet is near nil.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I think he has plenty of ideas, all of which are at least intresting. He just need's somebody to filter the ideas that have potential and the ones that are hopeless.

 

[JoshK1985]

Russo will get ALOT better when he gets the two hour slot... TNA is going to grow by leaps and bounds... He is a genuis and created the WWE Attitude Era which was one of the BEST in wrestling that created superstars like HBK,HHH,Rock, and Stone Cold and I could go on and on.. Now he is about to do the same thing for TNA and create some GREAT guys...and when I say GREAT I mean it.

 

[mysticx0]

holy cow ive never heard anyone say russo created the attitude era! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

now thats FUNNY

sorry dude even russo wouldnt agree with that statement. first off he had ed ferrera also, lets not forget his ideas. o yeah and the fact that vince, patterson and ross HEADED the creative team. he may HELPED bring the attitude era but your giving him way too much credit.

he was the brain behind hooking up owen to the rafters. nice job. if he was so good then why didnt he save wcw? why were there world title changes every 3 weeks? (seriously do the math, youll see) david arquette as champion? he gave himself the freakin title! and ed ferrera the cruiserweight title!

then the whole TNA stint when he created the johnsons and his team S.E.X. and wrestled as mr wrestling III.....

russo WAS good. but that was 10 years ago from this year. hes done nothing since...sometimes you just run out of ideas. it happens. but he ran out of ideas in like 99...can anyone name something cool he has done since leaving the wwe that outweighs the stuff i listed?

 

[attila]

- I have every episode of Nitro from start to end and have watched each twice (airdate and over the last 3 years) and WCW in late 99/2000 under Russo was much better than WCW in early 99 through to November 99. Not so much better that it was able to achieve great things, but better.

- Giving JJ and Booker T the WCW title, when nobody could fathom anyone but Nash, Flair or Hogan holding it.

- The XXX-AMW feud.

- Some of that early S.E.X. stuff was pretty good (around the time Raven first came in)

- Giving AJ Styles the title when everyone else was saying he was too small, he was too good a wrestler (I never understood how this was a negative, lol), he couldn't talk, blah blah.

- Surprising the fuck out of everyone by putting Angle up against Joe in the his first week live.

There is heaps more but I can't be fucked looking for the details. Bottom line is that people always shit on Russo coz its easier to remember the bad stuff. Russo panicked in WCW, got carried away and tried too much in too little a space of time. He went for too much shock value and it failed. WCW was on its deathbed and he experimented new "medical procedures" to try and save it. Not many experimental therapies work.

Sure he has had some shitty ideas, but who the fuck in wrestling hasn't. OK OK Gabe Sapolsky and Paul Heyman, but that's different. But given that Paul hasn't pissed on Vince yet for the travesty that is ECW and for destroying the legacy he created thru ECW, you could argue even Paul E is making some bad decisions. In all honesty, if I were Jeff or Dixie, I would throw the book to Gabe and Paul. OMG would that make for an interesting product - just like in the old days, the two evil masterminds back at it together.

But back to reality. Stop shitting on Russo. Dude is different and he isn't up for doing the same shit he used to. He hasn't disappointed as of yet, apart from a few things, but even that is in the name of quickly re-shuffling what he feels has been done wrong (i.e. the X-Division title on AJ). People are too quick to judge and call a mistake and point out inconsistencies before TNA gets a chance to bring light to the matter. We had a 6-minute storyline last week with Sabin and AJ. But who said that was over and done with. Maybe what everyone saw as the open and close of the book was just the prologue. Wait before passing judgement.

P.S. Patterson and Ross were in no way affiliated with creative during the success period of the WWF. They were there before Russo and were removed from it when the WWF was about 60 days away from bankruptcy. And you want to talk about stupid ideas. Has nobody here watched the WWE lately?

 

[Brilliance In Supremacy]

Russo appears to be taking TNA in the right direction. A lot of you guys have already stated by points and I find it unnecessary to restate them. However, one of the things I'm incredibly releaved to see is that the squash matches are being reduced and the talent that we'd actually like to see are involved in competitive matches. Some of the match ideas are bizarre (Russo's idea or someone else's?), but that hopefully will improve over time.

However, I do have one thing to bring up. I've got my nose in a book 1/4 of the 24 hour day and I've done my fair share of reading. I have yet to find a wrestler who stated in their book that they liked Russo. They said that there were some guys he just liked and some guys that he didn't like. And if he liked you, he'd make the world revolve around you. If he didn't, you'd seldom be seen on TV at all. Hopefully Russo likes the same guys as us (Angle, Joe, Styles, Daniels, Christian, X-Division guys, LAX, etc.) and allows them to grow as superstars.

We won't see what Russo is capable of doing when (if?) TNA expands to two hours. Matches will be lengthened and storylines will be given more of a chance to develop. I'm itching for the second hour

 

[JoshK1985]

Russo is a genuis and maybe he didn't create the attitude era like I said.. BUT HE HAD ALOT TO DO WITH THAT.... Now Owen and his accident.. Don't pin that on Russo, Sting was doing that ever damn night in WCW and he never got hurt, it has been proven that it was Owens fault and it was an accident. Now onto him not saving WCW when he came over... Well there is a simple answer to that.. WCW was over paying talent that was not worth it.. Hogan was overpaid, Flair was, Hart was, Goldberg was, Hall and Nash were, Luger, Stiener etc etc etc and all thoes guys were on the downside of there career. Not to mention Nash was given booking duties which a bad idea! So don't blame the end of WCW all opn Russo... Now onto his first stint in TNA I never saw it or paid attention to it... But there is alot of talent Russo has and he will make TNA a force to be reckon with... VInce better watch out the times are changing and these big mucsle heads and giants he loves aren't going to cut it anymore

 

[iamwrestling]

holy cow ive never heard anyone say russo created the attitude era! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

now thats FUNNY

sorry dude even russo wouldnt agree with that statement. first off he had ed ferrera also, lets not forget his ideas. o yeah and the fact that vince, patterson and ross HEADED the creative team. he may HELPED bring the attitude era but your giving him way too much credit.

he was the brain behind hooking up owen to the rafters. nice job. if he was so good then why didnt he save wcw? why were there world title changes every 3 weeks? (seriously do the math, youll see) david arquette as champion? he gave himself the freakin title! and ed ferrera the cruiserweight title!

then the whole TNA stint when he created the johnsons and his team S.E.X. and wrestled as mr wrestling III.....

russo WAS good. but that was 10 years ago from this year. hes done nothing since...sometimes you just run out of ideas. it happens. but he ran out of ideas in like 99...can anyone name something cool he has done since leaving the wwe that outweighs the stuff i listed?

Well to laugh at the statement that Russo created the attitude era is a pretty big over exhaggeration. See, Russo is the one who created the Stone Cold v. Vince McMahon storyline. If it wasn't for him creating the NWO, then the DX would never have been formed. So, while he didn't exactly create it, he still helped and played a big role.

He came up with the Owen Hart rafters thing? I thought he was in WCW at the time. That's an interesting fact to hear.

Yeah, that whole Arquette thing was ridiculous. That disgraced the industry.

 

[iamwrestling]

Russo is a genuis and maybe he didn't create the attitude era like I said.. BUT HE HAD ALOT TO DO WITH THAT.... Now Owen and his accident.. Don't pin that on Russo, Sting was doing that ever damn night in WCW and he never got hurt, it has been proven that it was Owens fault and it was an accident. Now onto him not saving WCW when he came over... Well there is a simple answer to that.. WCW was over paying talent that was not worth it.. Hogan was overpaid, Flair was, Hart was, Goldberg was, Hall and Nash were, Luger, Stiener etc etc etc and all thoes guys were on the downside of there career. Not to mention Nash was given booking duties which a bad idea! So don't blame the end of WCW all opn Russo... Now onto his first stint in TNA I never saw it or paid attention to it... But there is alot of talent Russo has and he will make TNA a force to be reckon with... VInce better watch out the times are changing and these big mucsle heads and giants he loves aren't going to cut it anymore

Flair was overpayed simply because they weren't using him right. The guy is the best wrestler ever and when they had him in the ninties, he was still in great shape and deserved to be in the spotlight...at least more than Hogan, Nash, Hall, Steiner, Goldberg, or anyone else they had in the spotlight. I don't know why he continued to refresh his contract.

 

[mysticx0]

iamwrestling: you obviously didnt see the confrontation between piper/russo in tna where piper confronted him about the angle that got owen killed. owen died in may of 99, russo was in fact still there. and yes it was an accident but it was something that owen wasnt comfortable with.

atilla: wow dude try replacing some of those cuss words with real vocabulary. i kno its not 'cool' nowadays with the hip hop influence and all...but anyway ross and patterson were absolutely head of creative. russo was promoted to the wwf creative team being headed by Vince McMahon, Jim Cornette, Jim Ross, Pat Patterson and a few others in 1996. as i recall that was when wcw was kicking their butt. check the facts.

 

[noone911]

Well to laugh at the statement that Russo created the attitude era is a pretty big over exhaggeration. See, Russo is the one who created the Stone Cold v. Vince McMahon storyline. If it wasn't for him creating the NWO, then the DX would never have been formed. So, while he didn't exactly create it, he still helped and played a big role.

I'm pretty sure Russo did not create the nwo.

 

[attila]

These people need to get schooled. Alright I'll do it, lol.

- Owen Hart was Russo's idea. They did a test run a few hours prior on the night of the accident, all went well. When it came time for the show it went bad. Russo and Owen were very close and Russo took a long time to get over it. And in fact the Raw Is Owen tribute show the next night was all his idea. Vince had originally planned to go on with business as usual like nothing ever happened. (Cold-hearted ass motherfucker).

-Russo had nothing to do with the nWo. In fact he wasn't even booking for the WWE when the nWo started. Russo did create DX. In addition, he made the NOD and gave Steve Austin and The Rock the opportunities they needed to become what they did.

-Russo DID create the McMahon/Austin feud.

-Russo DID (with the help of Ferrara) create the Attitude Era. He and Ferrara were the writers at the time and they gave the WWF its edge. Otherwise they would still have had their cartoon character gimmicks pulling the company on their shoulders.

-Russo wrote the whole Ministry of Darkness/Corporation and the Corporate Ministry shit. This is widely regarded as the hottest period in WWF history. It was basically an extension of the McMahon/Austin feud that just took the whole thing to the next level. It started to involve a lot more wrestlers and a lot of the guys involved got over with the fans in a major way as a result of it.

 

[iamwrestling]

iamwrestling: you obviously didnt see the confrontation between piper/russo in tna where piper confronted him about the angle that got owen killed. owen died in may of 99, russo was in fact still there. and yes it was an accident but it was something that owen wasnt comfortable with.

Oh, I wasn't trying to bash you or anything. I honestly had no idea Russo was still with WWE at that time. Back then I didn't really follow wrestling as closely as I do now.

 

[mysticx0]

no offense taken lol we are just talking wrestling

 

[attila]

iamwrestling: you obviously didnt see the confrontation between piper/russo in tna where piper confronted him about the angle that got owen killed. owen died in may of 99, russo was in fact still there. and yes it was an accident but it was something that owen wasnt comfortable with.

atilla: wow dude try replacing some of those cuss words with real vocabulary. i kno its not 'cool' nowadays with the hip hop influence and all...but anyway ross and patterson were absolutely head of creative. russo was promoted to the wwf creative team being headed by Vince McMahon, Jim Cornette, Jim Ross, Pat Patterson and a few others in 1996. as i recall that was when wcw was kicking their butt. check the facts.

U are arguing my point bro. Russo took over. I know who was in charge beforehand, I was pointing out that their failure to adapt to the times and develop a compelling product to compete with WCW lead to Russo being brought on board. When Russo proved to be a success, over time he became the head of creative. And what cuss words??? lol. Not trynna be cool, just being myself, and I was anry at the time of writing. As you come across my name in the forums, you'll realsie I am always an angry guy and do cuss a lot, but cant help it. Beyond all that, I know my shit and I do contribute some intellectually stimulating thoughts with orgasmic grammatical delivery, which compliment an unparalelled syntax prowess and puntuality that will make you jaw drop.

 

[mysticx0]

lol no problem

russo definitely left his mark on the industry and deserves alot of credit but i sometimes feel he gets too much credit...

 

[Dj Martyn]

I really like russo's writing and to be fair what he did with WCW in my opinion wasnt all bad, and with someone to filter his idea's a little (vince) he managed to write WWE's best era and some of there best storylines. I think with TNA he has a chance to create a boom and help the company expand and when they get a two hour iMPACT going he will really have time to shine and they will also filter some of the better storylines and booking from the old tna creative team to create a varied but interesting show.

I was so glad he had Angle Vs joe in the first week, i thought they would have minced around it for like a year before they let that kick off.

 

[Kasey]

I think the main problem that Russo had to deal with in regards to WCW is that he was forced to jump in a snake pit from the outset and then try and sort things out and turn a whole company around almost overnight (because of WB's impatience). There were too many established stars with bloated contracts who couldn't deliver half the show that the WWF main-eventers could in those days (with a few exceptions, of course). The workrate had gone south as far as the world title was concerned (thanks Hogan, you ********), and as Vince Russo himself has said before, he had to work at getting the younger talent over and established, otherwise it would've been a scene reminiscent of what happened in WWF during 1994-5 after a lot of the previous regime of stars vanished and the younger guys were forced to pick up the slack immediately (hence the nosedive in WWF attendance).

There was a solid roster in WCW in the late 90's (some say the deepest in history), but the mismanagement of everything was beyond ridiculous. I mean, what the hell is going on in a company where Roddy Piper is allowed to pin Bret Hart...with Will Sasso as the ref?!? Not to mention burying Hart in the US title hunt? This is a guy who was WWF's flagship athlete and could work circles around Flair and Hogan's wrinkled, old, asses. Sting was also relegated to second fiddle because of Hogan and Bischoff's meanderings. They spent a year and a half pushing Sting and then squashed his push overnight in early '98. Russo was right to not push Goldberg heavily as he was the prime reason the show was beginning to sink. It's never any good having a main-eventer that can't make it past ten minutes with your title on the line. I don't care how cool the spear looked. After the first 100 times, it became more stale than month-old bread. Russo saw all of what was happening, because he was on the opposite end of the playing field, helping WWF to climb back in and eventually stomp Nitro into the street. With the pool of talent TNA has at present, and with Russo's creativity and apparent passion for the company, they can only get better, and I think they will.