Disagree on your assessment of SMW, it produced several top talents who Cornette was able to introduce into the WWF - notably Kane, Al Snow (who got his first main exposure there), D-Lo Brown and the Headbangers were perhaps the most notable names. Kane of course needs no justification, but without the Unabomb/Snow team and the SMW working relationship things would have been very different for Taker.
Firstly, the same principle can be applied to the eventual success of many talents over the years who have honed their in-ring craft at a lower level and gone on to find varying degrees of success in either WCW or the WWF/E.
It's not necessarily a reflection on Cornette's ability to create stars, as all of those men listed above improved greatly in every measurable aspect as performers once the inked dried on their WWF deals. Especially true in the cases of Brown and Kane.
When D'Lo performed for Smokey Mountain and other low-rent indy leagues at the time, He was a near 400-pound slob. Once He made it on WWF screens as a henchman for Faarooq, as part of the original Nation of Domination, no less than Vinnie Mac himself refused to use Brown as an active competitor in-ring primarily due to his weight/appearance.
Which is not hard to fathom when it comes to McMahon, Remember, Vince famously concluded after one dark match (prior to an August '08 Raw) appearance, that super-worker Takeshi Morishima resembled a "Giant, fat girl" and refused to sign him to a deal.
I personally enjoyed D'Lo's WWF run, his European title stint yielded many memorable moments at a time in Wrestling when the mid-card was on fire. His constant re-billing of where He hailed from before his televised matches as Euro champ and the chest protector gimmick after Dan Severn abdominal stretched him into oblivion (much like 'Cowboy' Bob's cast in the 80's) gave fans reason to care about D'Lo and his bouts.
I also have listed his SummerSlam '98 curtain-raising effort against a then motivated Sean Morley as one of my favorite PPV openers ever.
With all that said, none of that could have been possible if D'Lo wasn't given the "lose weight or you're gone" ultimatum from WWF management in '97 and certainly Cornette's dealings with him in SMW years prior had no bearing on his eventual although limited success.
As a side note, even though Jim Ross always rated the 'Sky High' and Lo-Down' practitioner highly, at a time when he was in-charge of Talent, D'Lo was only going to reach a certain level, No matter how loud the crowd popped for his entrance, which they did for a short time in '99 as he was never one of McMahon's favorites.
D-Lo was perhaps the best example, Cornette brought him in for a small role, he proved himself in the Nation and he became the Euro-Continental champion... for a time D-Lo was a massive draw and the mid-cards most reliable worker. As someone said not sure of dates, but I am thinking Kreski was the one responsible for D-Lo's push, as Russo had used him as more of a "lackey" type.
I wouldn't use the term "massive draw" when describing any part of D'Lo's WWF/E tenure. He was over at a time when Wrestlers seemingly became genuine stars just by being associated with the WWF!
Also, D'Lo was given his break by Vince Russo! Not Kreski...Russo was in charge of Creative right up until late September '99. D'Lo's career entered a sharp decline in which it never recovered when Russo bailed to the seemingly greener pastures over at WCW.
By the end of 2000, Kreski most notably paired Brown with Headbanger Mosh/Beaver Cleavage/Chaz in a team which not only saw them don full-faced turbans but even worse they were managed by perennial bore Tiger Ali Singh.
By this time the WWF had lost interest in D'Lo and had nothing compelling lined up for either man, Hence they were a thrown together shambles of a tag-team that no one gave a shit about and were left to quietly disband.
The important thing is that no one guy can take credit for each story, as many within WWE have said in countless interviews, it's a collaborative process - nothing would have gone through from either man unfiltered, undiscussed or unadulterated.
The first line of this particular sentence is true for the most part. Successful booking in Pro Wrestling has always been a collaborative effort, the major difference between Russo and Chris Kreski's time in the hot seat is that Russo worked best and was allowed to work in two-man teams.
Even though Russo didn't take up poll position in WWF Creative until March '97, He, McMahon, Cornette, Pritchard and a couple others were a team in '96.
By March '97, it was just Russo and McMahon with finally everyone's favorite Jim Ross impersonator Ed Ferrara replacing McMahon in Late '98 to work alongside Vinnie Ru.
Evidence of this can be seen on the September 21st, 1998 Raw Is War broadcast, when in a backstage promo handled by Michael Cole, Vince is seen reviewing the Raw script with Russo and Ferrara in a blatant Russo-esque assault on Kayfabe!
Whereas with Kreski, He worked under Stephanie and was forced to work within a system which is largely still in place Today and is the main reason why Wrestling sucks nowadays when compared to times past.
McMahon's confidence in Russo's abilities at the time, afforded Russo more power over the WWF/E's Creative direction than anyone else in history not named McMahon.
If the question is about who was more creative - then I think Kreski did more - he wrote stories for a LOT of new talent that not only got over but who became HOF level like Jericho, Angle, Eddie, Benoit (not getting into the debate) and some that revitalised stale talent like Edge & Christian, the Hardyz and the APA.
To me that's the decisive thing... of the guys Kreski wrote for in that 99-2001 period these became world champions later:-
Edge
Christian
Eddie
Benoit
JBL
RVD
Russo only ever really elevated The Rock and Foley to the World title - everyone else, like Austin and Trips began the process before he took over.
Of your list of guys here:
Edge and Christian both got there breaks and were given characters that got over by Russo. They were already solid mid-carders when Russo left. Kreski rode that wave.
Not to discredit the good work Kreski did with E&C, However they were already established prior to his input.
Eddie, Malenko and Saturn alongside Benoit were hired by the WWF in January 2000 more so to hurt the ailing WCW at the time. Benoit was the real star of the group and the only guy the WWF seemingly had any real kind of plans for. His role was to oppose the WWF guy, put forth a good match before inevitably staring at the lights for the likes of The Rock, Austin, Angle and Jericho.
Benoit's talent was responsible for his rise to the top and almost was a foregone conclusion.
Kreski's well executed 'Mamacita' angle devised for Eddie alongside Joanie 'Don't call me Chyna' Laurer firmly established Guerrero as a WWF guy and got over huge with the masses.
Eddie's impeccable in-ring work and hilarious portrayal as the sleazy, mexican guy worked a treat.
In later years, when the WWE roster was starting to thin out, Eddie ascended the ranks and cracked the main event.
Kreski was long gone by this point and had nothing to do with Eddie's 2004 success.
Triple H's rise to the top began under Russo too. Russo was instrumental in not only Hunter's 'Connecticut Blue Blood' character and the rise of DeGeneration-X, But also his transformation into 'The Game' in April '99. 'Honker' Hearst-Helmsley was also booked to win his first WWF World Title by Russo in August '99. Therefore, once again, Kreski rode that wave.
RVD basically brought his ECW act to the WWF in 2001. Little in the way of Rob's televised persona was altered from what he and Paul E. developed together in ECW. Also, Rob's first (and only) title win came years after Kreski was sacked. He was long gone.
Overall, Chris Kreski did a wonderful job in hindsight brief as his tenure ultimately was.
The key is, when Russo took over the top spot in Creative, the rating for Raw was a 1.9. When Russo left, it was hitting 6's and 7's (with the occasional 8.0!) consistently. Russo took the WWF from the outhouse to the penthouse!
Whereas Kreski, basically kept Stephanie McMahon's seat warm for a year.
