I love the Wrestlecrap site and have enjoyed Reynolds' writing for years, but he's out of his league here. Russo squashes him like Rikishi squashing a lightweight. It pains me to say it because I can't stand Russo, but Reynolds brought a knife to a gunfight.
hate to admit it but Russo won this one, the whole argument was based on did he help or hurt wcw, although he did some goofy angles, the ratings did go up, so technically he did his job reading were 2.6 when he came in and 3.6 when he left, numbers don't lie and Reynolds had no comeback for that fact.
Vince russo - The guy who was the head writer in the most successful time in wrestling history Rd reynolds - An internet mark How can one guy kill a whole company in 3 months, this rd guy sounds like a 15 year old kid
+Big “D” - typical Russo fanboy. Mike has been doing this for year and has also worked with the best at reporting wrestling that were reporting wrestling when Russo ran a video store.
No what makes him an idiot is the fact that hes a 50 plus year old guy with no friends or wife or kids who sits at home an watching wrestling clips all day, Then mocks anyone who doesn't agree with jim cornette hahaha
did you not watch the video at all? he said he has a wife, as do many reporters they are not fucking keyboard marks they type their reviews of the shows and matches then go on with life until they there's another show on. Dave Meltzer has done it for years it's how he supports his family and why these guys get mad is because when wrestling does good they make money when it's not doing good they lose money because no one is watching.
Russo deserves a lot better than this, he's an icon in the industry, whether you like him or not, he deserves to be spoken and treated with a lot more respect than this.
Really appreciate this interview, and encourage people to watch it the whole way through to see the a very important lesson being taught. Wrestling views, right and wrong aside, it would have left a really bad taste in my mouth if it ended with RD Reynold's suggestion that we "start a kickstart so Russo can see counseling". I feel like the way they were able to "understand" each other at the end ended up being way more beneficial than any therapist, because they resolved it at the source. They were able to separate "the doer from the deed", and recognize that they were both still "imperfect" human beings at the end of the day, something a lot of us forget as we look to pump the ego and magnify the mistakes of others, and use it as "evidence" to label others and devalue them as human beings. Therapy's biggest benefit is having someone to genuinely listen to you without judgement, and it doesn't always have to be given by a "certified professional" of some sort, it's what we should be striving to do for each other everyday, because "we all need it".
Noone in wcw killed wcw. This isn't even debatable. AOL when it merged with Time Warner simply decided to sell it and didn't want anything to do with wrestling. Even towards the end in 2000 and 2001, Monday Nitro was still doing better ratings than WWE RAW does today. Yet noone is even contemplating the WWE going out of business right now due to it's bad ratings. If anyone killed wCw, it's the WWE who decided to buy it and simply close it down and not continue it. These internet marks like Alverez and Reynolds have no idea what they're talking about.
Russo gets way too much heat for what happened in WCW. Sure mistakes were made, but it was a sinking ship when he came on board and IMO he never really got the chance to turn things around. That said the shows he did do were terrible, but then again so were most (if not all) of the shows for at least the last 6 months before he got the job. One thing about Russo (relating to that time) that I don´t like about him is that he has never apologized for the Oklahoma character. Ferrara has, so Russo should too.
The Death of WCW book is wildly inaccurate, extremely biased & fails to challenge conventional wisdom. The book is filled with errors, glaring omissions, & biased authors who inject their personal views on cards, talents & decisions. The book is not an accurate historical reference or analysis of the company or how it went out of business. The book if you're being charitable, is incomplete. If you're being honest, it's a quick-buck hack job written by a couple of Dave Meltzer's stooges who weren't there & have their own agenda, so they gleaned selective "facts" from Wrestling Observer Newsletters, basically rewriting Meltzer's work for fun & profit. It's unfortunate that the authors chose to be selective in which targets they went after, choosing to focus on easy & acceptable targets while avoiding ruffling the feathers of their friends even when such criticism was called for. Just one example of where the book loses credibility as a definitive, balanced history of WCW. Page 162 - States plans changed from Goldberg losing to “horrible wrestler” Hulk Hogan & instead to “horrible wrestler” Kevin Nash. Fails to mention Goldberg was also a “horrible wrestler”. Goldberg was actually worse than both Hogan & Nash in regards to knowing how to work a match. Regardless of how “horrible” the book likes to claim they were the bottom line is at that time they were all draws & were over. Page 170 - Claims “they put all the old, stale talent on top & pushed them hard despite the fact the ratings made it clear that fans wanted new blood”. This is an assertion made out to be fact when it is anything but. Page 173 - Mentions Eddie Guerrero’s car crash in January 1999 which nearly killed him correctly stating he fell asleep at the wheel then stating he developed an addiction to painkillers as a result of returning to quickly. While the aforementioned may be true they fail to mention as revealed by Guerrero himself in Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story that he already had a drug problem prior to the car crash & the crash happened because he took GHB for the high & was speeding. The book states years later Guerrero went to rehab & cleaned himself up becoming a success story - he was so clean that he was bigger & more ripped then at any point during his career during in his last WWE run & such a success he died at the age of 38. Page 174 - In relation to the Goldberg vs. Scott Hall ladder match at Souled Out 1999 they surprisingly state it was a good main event (I agree) & that Goldberg was underrated as a performer (which I agree to an extent) however they fail to acknowledge anything in regards to veteran Scott Hall calling the match & carrying the green Goldberg through it (go figure). Page 174 - Claims in theory that had the Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff hair match had a proper build it could have drawn a PPV buyrate or popped a TV rating while subtly mocking WCW's decision to later make the match David Flair vs. Eric Bischoff in a hair match. In a deliberate omission it makes no mention of the fact that WCW built a record audience during the first hour of that edition of NITRO with quarters of 4.9, 5.6, 6.1, & 6.5 (the 6.5 was for David Flair vs. Eric Bischoff). Page 175 - It states the February 1st 1999 NITRO was a 2 hour broadcast when it was 3 hours. Also incorrectly states Stevie Ray had mysteriously become a major part of NITRO. Page 177 - Claims the first taping of WCW Latino show project was a disaster so Eric Bischoff cancelled it. Since the book doesn’t mention it, the show as called WCW 'Festival de Lucha'. Konnan who picked all the junior heavyweights in WCW & outsiders from Mexico for the show claimed in his shoot interview with Highspot called “Wrestling Without Borders” that all the matches were awesome & Jimmy Hart who helped him put the show together said the show was also “awesome”. Konnan states the reason the reason show never happened is because the show would become too much work on top of NITRO, Thunder, PPV’s Saturday Night, Worldwide etc. & they didn’t want to hire more staff to produce show. Page 179 - Says “Benoit & Malenko were outraged when word got round that Kevin Nash had referred to them as vanilla midgets” but it's true! they were. Page 180 - Mocks the decision to take Rey Mysterio's mask off saying he was more marketable with it - asserting that Rey Mysterio was more marketable with his mask because he looked too young without the mask doesn't make it true. Is quite happy to call Roddy Piper vs. Scott Hall an “atrocious match” at SuperBrawl 1999 but fails mention that the perception of the Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair main event at the time according to critics such as Fin Martin of PowerSlam Magazine & Wade Keller of PW Torch, it was a good match & exceeded peoples expectations. Page 181 - Says WWF never acknowledged Goldberg's challenge to Steve Austin on Tonight Show which is incorrect. Steve Austin did acknowledge it on Howard Stern. Says WCW had habit of never showing mainstream footage of anything - which isn't true e.g. WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 6/22/98 - clips of Hollywood Hogan & DDP on Tonight Show WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 02/22/99 - clip of Wrath is shown on Mortal Kombat WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 03/01/99 - clip of Meng is shown on Mortal Kombat WCW Thunder 07/23/99 - clip of Randy Savage & Lex Luger on Arliss WCW Thunder 08/12/ 99 - clip of Randy Savage & Dennis Rodman on Tonight Show Page 182 - Buries Kevin Nash for putting Rey Mysterio over (go figure). No objectivity. Page 182/83 - Blabbers on about Rey Mysterio having problems wrestling outside of WCW in Mexico a week after losing his mask. The reality is WCW paid Rey Mysterio good money to work for them & him having problems in Mexico shouldn't have been of their concern. Page 183 - States Kevin Nash vs. Rey Mysterio was a “fiasco” which means “a thing that is a complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way”. “All of a sudden WCW is on & there is Rey Mysterio Jr. beating Kevin Nash, it give T.J. (Tyson Kidd) & I a belief that we could make money in pro wrestling because we were not even on the physical scale of Bret & Owen - we were even smaller then them - & they were considered small guys” - Teddy Hart (MLW Radio - 24th May 2014) Page 186 - Says that Rey Mysterio vs. Ric Flair was only good thing on show which is a subjective opinion. Says “Some observers strongly believe that if a wrestler is thrown into a swimming pool on every single edition of NITRO, the company would still be alive today” very intriguing information…not. Page 187 - Says Hulk Hogan blamed DDP for the poor rating Hogan vs. DDP match did on the March 29th 1999 edition of NITRO, & said Hogan said it proved DDP wasn’t a main event quality star - no evidence is provided to back up this claim. DDP stated on one of his RUclips videos that Hulk Hogan (& Kevin Nash) made the decision that he would become WCW World Heavyweight Champion at Spring Stampede 1999. Page 191 - Talks about British Bulldog injury on the trap door. Conveniently forgets Davey Boy Smith was already broken down shell of himself in the year leading up to that day & was hooked on crack - as revealed by Ultimate Warrior in his Highspots shoot interview. Page 192 - Says Goldberg decent continued because he wasn’t the main event of Spring Stampede but makes no mention to fact he beat Kevin Nash clean in semi main event of that same show (go figure). Unnecessarily buries DDP saying he was in his 40’s but looked like he was in his 50’s. Page 192/93 - Says the Spring Stampede 1999 main event was a mess & that fans didn’t know what happened at the finish which is a subjective opinion. Page 193 - Says Scott Steiner had become so muscular he could barley move - which isn't even remotely true. Injuries effected Scott's athletic prowess. When the wear & tear of wrestling for 12 years (pus his age) began to catch up, Scott in order to prolong his career SUCCESSFULLY reinvented himself by changing his look, persona & his ring style. Scott actually initially lost weight when he became Big Poppa Pump to take the pressure of his back. Consequently he became more lean which meant he got more ripped & give the illusion he was bigger than ever. He moved fine, his mobility didn't decrease until his WWE run due to drop foot - he damaged nerves in his foot during dying days of WCW. “I weigh 265 now, and I used to weigh around 280. I changed my diet, cut down on the carbohydrates. I'm on a really strict diet, which makes you leaner and makes your muscles stick out more. I had to get my upper body lighter just to take the pressure off my back since I had some back problems. I'm a lot leaner, and I feel a lot better.” - Scott Steiner (Wrestling Digest - October 2000) Page 197 - Says Goldberg & Ric Flair were only two guys who could effect the ratings in a positive way - which isn't true. Page 204 - Says “Sid, you might recall, had left WCW about 10 years prior after nearly stabbing Arn Anderson to death”. Fails to mention that Arn Anderson also stabbed Sid Vicious & Sid may have also bled to death had Vader not applied pressure to Sid's wounds. Page 208 - Says in unscripted moment Randy Savage slapped Torrie Wilson backstage & that she was so shocked she began to laugh on live TV which is incorrect as she was actually laughing before Randy slapped her & stopped after he did. Page 208 - Says Hogan & Savage had a good match (surprising they put the match over) however doesn’t mention the ratings (go figure). The July 12th 1999 edition of NITRO closed the gap in the ratings to the closest margin since April 26th 1999 posting a 3.4 rating compared to a 6.0 for Raw in the concurrent two hours. Hogan vs. Savage match drew a 4.7 quarter hour rating which was the highest quarter hour rating of the show & up 1.0 from the previous quarter hour which drew a 3.7 (hang on I thought only Goldberg & Ric Flair had a positive effect on the ratings). Page 217 - Claims Jeff Jarrett had been a colourless heel in WWF who had just started to get over beating up women (funny how they never described Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko as colourless). Page 218 - They say Goldberg won U.S. Championship from Sid Vicious via blood stoppage which made no sense because later in show Ric Flair “bled a total gusher”. Apparently these insiders don’t know that the guy they have a massive raging hard on for in Ric Flair went into business himself (like he usually does) & cut himself without permission. WCW management fought hard to get the representative from Turner’s “Standards & Practices” division to agree to let Sid bleed. The S&P rep was sold on the idea that Sid bleeding was not being done for the sake of gore, but was part of a storyline. When Flair bled in the next match, WCW management looked bad for being “unable to control their wrestlers.” Page 224 - Claims Goldberg nearly ended his career the night after Starrcade 1999 on NITRO which is false because the incident (Goldberg punching a limousine window) occurred a few days later on a taped Thunder. Says Bret Hart, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall reformed nWo for 87th time (actually it was only the 3rd time & they don't mention that Jeff Jarrett was also apart of the reformed nWo that night). No mention of Scott Hall's promo (which was edited off Thunder when it aired) as being the reason why Goldberg was angry & punched out the limousine window.
My mother, who is no hard core wrestling fan, recognized that Raw and Smackdown were commercials to sell pay per views after only seeing a small amount.
54:00 the more important question is why is a writer making himself a character on the show? That's basically coming right out and telling your audience it's fake. That would be like George Lucas showing up on Return of the Jedi and cutting a promo on Luke Skywalker.
55:27 My guess is that the Russo bashing didn't start until after that promo is because no one knew who he was until then. I had never heard of him until two years ago when I started watching videos on here, but at least now I know whose fault it was that Beaver Cleavage existed.
34:00 he said that at the beginning of the video. He said he took no responsibility for house shows or pay per views, even though the whole purpose of a wrestling tv show is to convince people to go to house shows and buy pay per views.
His argument has been that you have to improve tv ratings first. If you put on a good tv product consistently for a long period of time, your ppv buys and house shows will improve as well. That doesn't happen in 3 months. McMahon had the patience to allow Russo's vision to play out. And in a year of consistent writing, the ratings went up to 4s and 5s. Then after 2 years was reaching 7s and 8s! In WCW and TNA, he never had the same protection from the top that he did in WWE. Most promoters and bookers have the traditional wrestling mindset, while Russo does not. He thinks outside the box. So, he would get replaced within 6 months, or be forced to work with other traditional minded people. Thus not allowing him to build his vision.
Russo says he wasn't on tv but technically he was in 99 on his 1st run when he was the "powers that be" talking behind the camera to the wrestlers. Also that 2.6 nitro he talks about was on Columbus day a "holiday" so not a lot of people tuned in. Before that nitro was doing low 3.0. Russo is just spinning the facts to protect his narrative.
It was 2.5 and 2.6 in the 2 weeks before. So, you can't blame Columbus day. And if the show was good, the ratings wouldn't have been down on a lesser holiday. Columbus day isn't Christmas or Easter.
A mighty heated debate here, but certainly interesting. Though Vince, I've always wondered that whenever the "fall" of WCW is mentioned, and how it became like that, is there any NDA's on things you can't discuss? It just seems like something either Turner or WWE would pull. Because I always feel like there is "more" to the story. Obviously you didn't call all the shots, so the "group" effort of the fall of WCW had to be there, as I HIGHLY doubt it comes down to just a writer "killing" the company. As far as I'm concerned, as someone who watched WCW from 96-99, I feel as if just about anything that could be done, was done within the first few years. Leaving little on the creativity bone by the time you came in. You're givin two options pretty much...go back to more classic wrestling, or evolve the product. The fans demand more than classic wrestling, so you're pretty much left with having to hit the ball far out of left field. A mighty tough choice if I may say.
Backstage politics selfish wrestlers and wreckless management is what killed wcw. They spent more money compared to what they made. No company can withstand that.
So...you don't take credit for the house shows or PPV buyrates. In other words you don't take credit for anything that was designed to MAKE MONEY! You said it.
same old same old same old Vince Russo speech you've heard ten million times. standards and practices, talent wouldn't do this, i had to do this, these marks wanna see wrestling and i don't wanna see it so i won't book it i'll book the sports entertainment with 10 mins of wrestling in two hour shows if i want, i had so much pressure on me for writing these fake wrestling shows for these ungrateful marks and these wrestlers that are marks for themselves. yeah yeah blame everyone else for everything i guess it's Dave Meltzer's fault tna fired you last year too and that you sent a email to Mike Johnson. Russo some advice for you as a person and a fellow religious man myself change your ways grow up take ownership for things you've done admit mistakes and grow as a person, that's not you personally that's something i feel all people should try to do everyday of their life and i will try my best to do that myself.
How come vince russo keeps talking about the attitude era & yet has contributed nothing to wrestling since then. I get it you worked for vince in the attitude era good for you!! What success have you had since? & btw the attitude era was great but ultimately it harmed the business more than it did good for the 4 years it was hot. Vince McMahon broke all the rules of wrestling for the sake of defeating WCW & since then he's realizing why there was rules in the first place. So everything Russo complains about whether it's the Internet wrestling fans or why it wasn't popular as it was in the 80's or why there are no stars in wrestling anymore, well that's all because of the damage the attitude era & ecw did to the wrestling business.
Today, AEW is everything the marks want. The ratings keep going down. TNA had better ratings and probably lasted longer than AEW will. The highest rating at TNA, as well as WWE, were with Russo as the head writer. In his first run at WCW, the ratings went up in a short time, but the rug was pulled out from under him. Who knows what would have happened, but it seems that politics from selfish veteran wrestlers killed the creative. Russo's plan was to get over the younger guys and mid card guys. This threatened the top guys. Having said all that, when Ted Turner lost his position, the executives didn't want wrestling anymore. But if ratings were good, I am sure they could have gotten another station.
Rd is scummy (or was). He made an excuse for not interviewing vince....he said you wont now why would you have then. You piss someone off and then use that as an excuse. He said russo didnt affect merch in one spot but holds him resposible for merch in another company. He makes a foolish analogy about no one being able to write about the civil war. Anyone can write about history but the second they start talking about the ins and outs of war strategy without being in the military themselves they turn into a joke. He talks as if he has knowledge but he's just a mark fanboy.....and thats cool if you are that but leave it there. Dont pretend you are anything more. He is a poor man's skip bayless. A never was with a platform.
Vince won on volume and theatrics, RD won on facts. There are 3 types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics. Vince will spin numbers and selectively attend to what makes him look good.
peckerdecker He was getting more viewers at TNA than some raw shows get now so ye. Another russo hater who ignores the facts and is brainwashed by idiots with an agenda .
@@truthtransistorradio6716 hi. Your correct. Mr Russo is a successful writer. I wrote the above comment several years ago. Please let me know if I should _delete_ my words? Or make em more _softer_ ? Have a fantastic summer 2024 everyone. Thank you
@@peckerdecker I think we have all posted things in the past that we changed our minds on to some degree. There have been a few times where I get a notification of a response to an old comment I made, and I let them know I changed my mind on this one. As far as deleting your comment, that's up to you. But sometimes it's cool to save these things in time.
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Give Reynolds respect. He showed up. The others are too afraid. Having said that Russo destroyed him.
I love the Wrestlecrap site and have enjoyed Reynolds' writing for years, but he's out of his league here. Russo squashes him like Rikishi squashing a lightweight. It pains me to say it because I can't stand Russo, but Reynolds brought a knife to a gunfight.
Fiveinchesofwow haha well said lol
Lol all I know is Hogan sued and won, they had dumb shit like a movie star win the title, some grandma on a pole match?
hate to admit it but Russo won this one, the whole argument was based on did he help or hurt wcw, although he did some goofy angles, the ratings did go up, so technically he did his job reading were 2.6 when he came in and 3.6 when he left, numbers don't lie and Reynolds had no comeback for that fact.
ratings not reading sorry Autocorrect
Vince russo - The guy who was the head writer in the most successful time in wrestling history
Rd reynolds - An internet mark
How can one guy kill a whole company in 3 months, this rd guy sounds like a 15 year old kid
+Big “D” - typical Russo fanboy. Mike has been doing this for year and has also worked with the best at reporting wrestling that were reporting wrestling when Russo ran a video store.
Big - he's a idiot? is that why the wrestlers and other people in the business reach out to him when wwe and tna bullshit the talent?
Big “D” - maybe he has a speech problem lots of people do does that make him not intelligent? no.
No what makes him an idiot is the fact that hes a 50 plus year old guy with no friends or wife or kids who sits at home an watching wrestling clips all day, Then mocks anyone who doesn't agree with jim cornette hahaha
did you not watch the video at all? he said he has a wife, as do many reporters they are not fucking keyboard marks they type their reviews of the shows and matches then go on with life until they there's another show on. Dave Meltzer has done it for years it's how he supports his family and why these guys get mad is because when wrestling does good they make money when it's not doing good they lose money because no one is watching.
Russo deserves a lot better than this, he's an icon in the industry, whether you like him or not, he deserves to be spoken and treated with a lot more respect than this.
+Box13 lol
+WrestleCrafts my respect for him couldn't be lower if it was negative infinity.
+WrestleCrafts Bro I strongly agree with you bro
gdanp78 lol your the one with the shit life bro
Really appreciate this interview, and encourage people to watch it the whole way through to see the a very important lesson being taught.
Wrestling views, right and wrong aside, it would have left a really bad taste in my mouth if it ended with RD Reynold's suggestion that we "start a kickstart so Russo can see counseling". I feel like the way they were able to "understand" each other at the end ended up being way more beneficial than any therapist, because they resolved it at the source.
They were able to separate "the doer from the deed", and recognize that they were both still "imperfect" human beings at the end of the day, something a lot of us forget as we look to pump the ego and magnify the mistakes of others, and use it as "evidence" to label others and devalue them as human beings.
Therapy's biggest benefit is having someone to genuinely listen to you without judgement, and it doesn't always have to be given by a "certified professional" of some sort, it's what we should be striving to do for each other everyday, because "we all need it".
You made a great comment
Russo owned that dude!!!
Noone in wcw killed wcw. This isn't even debatable.
AOL when it merged with Time Warner simply decided to sell it and didn't want anything to do with wrestling. Even towards the end in 2000 and 2001, Monday Nitro was still doing better ratings than WWE RAW does today.
Yet noone is even contemplating the WWE going out of business right now due to it's bad ratings.
If anyone killed wCw, it's the WWE who decided to buy it and simply close it down and not continue it.
These internet marks like Alverez and Reynolds have no idea what they're talking about.
Russo gets way too much heat for what happened in WCW. Sure mistakes were made, but it was a sinking ship when he came on board and IMO he never really got the chance to turn things around. That said the shows he did do were terrible, but then again so were most (if not all) of the shows for at least the last 6 months before he got the job. One thing about Russo (relating to that time) that I don´t like about him is that he has never apologized for the Oklahoma character. Ferrara has, so Russo should too.
He called JR and apologized several years ago.
Its Good to hear Vince Stick up for Hogan and Bischoff in Tna.
The Death of WCW book is wildly inaccurate, extremely biased & fails to challenge conventional wisdom. The book is filled with errors, glaring omissions, & biased authors who inject their personal views on cards, talents & decisions. The book is not an accurate historical reference or analysis of the company or how it went out of business. The book if you're being charitable, is incomplete. If you're being honest, it's a quick-buck hack job written by a couple of Dave Meltzer's stooges who weren't there & have their own agenda, so they gleaned selective "facts" from Wrestling Observer Newsletters, basically rewriting Meltzer's work for fun & profit. It's unfortunate that the authors chose to be selective in which targets they went after, choosing to focus on easy & acceptable targets while avoiding ruffling the feathers of their friends even when such criticism was called for. Just one example of where the book loses credibility as a definitive, balanced history of WCW.
Page 162 - States plans changed from Goldberg losing to “horrible wrestler” Hulk Hogan & instead to “horrible wrestler” Kevin Nash. Fails to mention Goldberg was also a “horrible wrestler”. Goldberg was actually worse than both Hogan & Nash in regards to knowing how to work a match. Regardless of how “horrible” the book likes to claim they were the bottom line is at that time they were all draws & were over.
Page 170 - Claims “they put all the old, stale talent on top & pushed them hard despite the fact the ratings made it clear that fans wanted new blood”. This is an assertion made out to be fact when it is anything but.
Page 173 - Mentions Eddie Guerrero’s car crash in January 1999 which nearly killed him correctly stating he fell asleep at the wheel then stating he developed an addiction to painkillers as a result of returning to quickly. While the aforementioned may be true they fail to mention as revealed by Guerrero himself in Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story that he already had a drug problem prior to the car crash & the crash happened because he took GHB for the high & was speeding. The book states years later Guerrero went to rehab & cleaned himself up becoming a success story - he was so clean that he was bigger & more ripped then at any point during his career during in his last WWE run & such a success he died at the age of 38.
Page 174 - In relation to the Goldberg vs. Scott Hall ladder match at Souled Out 1999 they surprisingly state it was a good main event (I agree) & that Goldberg was underrated as a performer (which I agree to an extent) however they fail to acknowledge anything in regards to veteran Scott Hall calling the match & carrying the green Goldberg through it (go figure).
Page 174 - Claims in theory that had the Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff hair match had a proper build it could have drawn a PPV buyrate or popped a TV rating while subtly mocking WCW's decision to later make the match David Flair vs. Eric Bischoff in a hair match. In a deliberate omission it makes no mention of the fact that WCW built a record audience during the first hour of that edition of NITRO with quarters of 4.9, 5.6, 6.1, & 6.5 (the 6.5 was for David Flair vs. Eric Bischoff).
Page 175 - It states the February 1st 1999 NITRO was a 2 hour broadcast when it was 3 hours. Also incorrectly states Stevie Ray had mysteriously become a major part of NITRO.
Page 177 - Claims the first taping of WCW Latino show project was a disaster so Eric Bischoff cancelled it. Since the book doesn’t mention it, the show as called WCW 'Festival de Lucha'. Konnan who picked all the junior heavyweights in WCW & outsiders from Mexico for the show claimed in his shoot interview with Highspot called “Wrestling Without Borders” that all the matches were awesome & Jimmy Hart who helped him put the show together said the show was also “awesome”. Konnan states the reason the reason show never happened is because the show would become too much work on top of NITRO, Thunder, PPV’s Saturday Night, Worldwide etc. & they didn’t want to hire more staff to produce show.
Page 179 - Says “Benoit & Malenko were outraged when word got round that Kevin Nash had referred to them as vanilla midgets” but it's true! they were.
Page 180 - Mocks the decision to take Rey Mysterio's mask off saying he was more marketable with it - asserting that Rey Mysterio was more marketable with his mask because he looked too young without the mask doesn't make it true. Is quite happy to call Roddy Piper vs. Scott Hall an “atrocious match” at SuperBrawl 1999 but fails mention that the perception of the Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair main event at the time according to critics such as Fin Martin of PowerSlam Magazine & Wade Keller of PW Torch, it was a good match & exceeded peoples expectations.
Page 181 - Says WWF never acknowledged Goldberg's challenge to Steve Austin on Tonight Show which is incorrect. Steve Austin did acknowledge it on Howard Stern. Says WCW had habit of never showing mainstream footage of anything - which isn't true e.g.
WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 6/22/98 - clips of Hollywood Hogan & DDP on Tonight Show
WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 02/22/99 - clip of Wrath is shown on Mortal Kombat
WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 03/01/99 - clip of Meng is shown on Mortal Kombat
WCW Thunder 07/23/99 - clip of Randy Savage & Lex Luger on Arliss
WCW Thunder 08/12/ 99 - clip of Randy Savage & Dennis Rodman on Tonight Show
Page 182 - Buries Kevin Nash for putting Rey Mysterio over (go figure). No objectivity.
Page 182/83 - Blabbers on about Rey Mysterio having problems wrestling outside of WCW in Mexico a week after losing his mask. The reality is WCW paid Rey Mysterio good money to work for them & him having problems in Mexico shouldn't have been of their concern.
Page 183 - States Kevin Nash vs. Rey Mysterio was a “fiasco” which means “a thing that is a complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way”.
“All of a sudden WCW is on & there is Rey Mysterio Jr. beating Kevin Nash, it give T.J. (Tyson Kidd) & I a belief that we could make money in pro wrestling because we were not even on the physical scale of Bret & Owen - we were even smaller then them - & they were considered small guys” - Teddy Hart (MLW Radio - 24th May 2014)
Page 186 - Says that Rey Mysterio vs. Ric Flair was only good thing on show which is a subjective opinion. Says “Some observers strongly believe that if a wrestler is thrown into a swimming pool on every single edition of NITRO, the company would still be alive today” very intriguing information…not.
Page 187 - Says Hulk Hogan blamed DDP for the poor rating Hogan vs. DDP match did on the March 29th 1999 edition of NITRO, & said Hogan said it proved DDP wasn’t a main event quality star - no evidence is provided to back up this claim. DDP stated on one of his RUclips videos that Hulk Hogan (& Kevin Nash) made the decision that he would become WCW World Heavyweight Champion at Spring Stampede 1999.
Page 191 - Talks about British Bulldog injury on the trap door. Conveniently forgets Davey Boy Smith was already broken down shell of himself in the year leading up to that day & was hooked on crack - as revealed by Ultimate Warrior in his Highspots shoot interview.
Page 192 - Says Goldberg decent continued because he wasn’t the main event of Spring Stampede but makes no mention to fact he beat Kevin Nash clean in semi main event of that same show (go figure). Unnecessarily buries DDP saying he was in his 40’s but looked like he was in his 50’s.
Page 192/93 - Says the Spring Stampede 1999 main event was a mess & that fans didn’t know what happened at the finish which is a subjective opinion.
Page 193 - Says Scott Steiner had become so muscular he could barley move - which isn't even remotely true. Injuries effected Scott's athletic prowess. When the wear & tear of wrestling for 12 years (pus his age) began to catch up, Scott in order to prolong his career SUCCESSFULLY reinvented himself by changing his look, persona & his ring style. Scott actually initially lost weight when he became Big Poppa Pump to take the pressure of his back. Consequently he became more lean which meant he got more ripped & give the illusion he was bigger than ever. He moved fine, his mobility didn't decrease until his WWE run due to drop foot - he damaged nerves in his foot during dying days of WCW.
“I weigh 265 now, and I used to weigh around 280. I changed my diet, cut down on the carbohydrates. I'm on a really strict diet, which makes you leaner and makes your muscles stick out more. I had to get my upper body lighter just to take the pressure off my back since I had some back problems. I'm a lot leaner, and I feel a lot better.” - Scott Steiner (Wrestling Digest - October 2000)
Page 197 - Says Goldberg & Ric Flair were only two guys who could effect the ratings in a positive way - which isn't true.
Page 204 - Says “Sid, you might recall, had left WCW about 10 years prior after nearly stabbing Arn Anderson to death”. Fails to mention that Arn Anderson also stabbed Sid Vicious & Sid may have also bled to death had Vader not applied pressure to Sid's wounds.
Page 208 - Says in unscripted moment Randy Savage slapped Torrie Wilson backstage & that she was so shocked she began to laugh on live TV which is incorrect as she was actually laughing before Randy slapped her & stopped after he did.
Page 208 - Says Hogan & Savage had a good match (surprising they put the match over) however doesn’t mention the ratings (go figure). The July 12th 1999 edition of NITRO closed the gap in the ratings to the closest margin since April 26th 1999 posting a 3.4 rating compared to a 6.0 for Raw in the concurrent two hours. Hogan vs. Savage match drew a 4.7 quarter hour rating which was the highest quarter hour rating of the show & up 1.0 from the previous quarter hour which drew a 3.7 (hang on I thought only Goldberg & Ric Flair had a positive effect on the ratings).
Page 217 - Claims Jeff Jarrett had been a colourless heel in WWF who had just started to get over beating up women (funny how they never described Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko as colourless).
Page 218 - They say Goldberg won U.S. Championship from Sid Vicious via blood stoppage which made no sense because later in show Ric Flair “bled a total gusher”. Apparently these insiders don’t know that the guy they have a massive raging hard on for in Ric Flair went into business himself (like he usually does) & cut himself without permission. WCW management fought hard to get the representative from Turner’s “Standards & Practices” division to agree to let Sid bleed. The S&P rep was sold on the idea that Sid bleeding was not being done for the sake of gore, but was part of a storyline. When Flair bled in the next match, WCW management looked bad for being “unable to control their wrestlers.”
Page 224 - Claims Goldberg nearly ended his career the night after Starrcade 1999 on NITRO which is false because the incident (Goldberg punching a limousine window) occurred a few days later on a taped Thunder. Says Bret Hart, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall reformed nWo for 87th time (actually it was only the 3rd time & they don't mention that Jeff Jarrett was also apart of the reformed nWo that night). No mention of Scott Hall's promo (which was edited off Thunder when it aired) as being the reason why Goldberg was angry & punched out the limousine window.
Yes thank you!
That's what I felt also that's why I can't wait for the new book to come out.
But surely what is presented on the TV show is what draws PPV buys and house show attendance?
My mother, who is no hard core wrestling fan, recognized that Raw and Smackdown were commercials to sell pay per views after only seeing a small amount.
Yes but not in three months
54:00 the more important question is why is a writer making himself a character on the show? That's basically coming right out and telling your audience it's fake. That would be like George Lucas showing up on Return of the Jedi and cutting a promo on Luke Skywalker.
Is the King Kong Bundy interview on here? I really enjoyed that one.
Do you really think russo would have agreed to do an interview for the first book? Why is he using that as an argument.
This was the funniest shit I ever seen holy fuck lmaooooo hahahahaha
55:27 My guess is that the Russo bashing didn't start until after that promo is because no one knew who he was until then. I had never heard of him until two years ago when I started watching videos on here, but at least now I know whose fault it was that Beaver Cleavage existed.
34:00 he said that at the beginning of the video. He said he took no responsibility for house shows or pay per views, even though the whole purpose of a wrestling tv show is to convince people to go to house shows and buy pay per views.
His argument has been that you have to improve tv ratings first. If you put on a good tv product consistently for a long period of time, your ppv buys and house shows will improve as well. That doesn't happen in 3 months. McMahon had the patience to allow Russo's vision to play out. And in a year of consistent writing, the ratings went up to 4s and 5s. Then after 2 years was reaching 7s and 8s! In WCW and TNA, he never had the same protection from the top that he did in WWE. Most promoters and bookers have the traditional wrestling mindset, while Russo does not. He thinks outside the box. So, he would get replaced within 6 months, or be forced to work with other traditional minded people. Thus not allowing him to build his vision.
You can just tell these guys hate eachothers guts
Hilarious interview!
Russo says he wasn't on tv but technically he was in 99 on his 1st run when he was the "powers that be" talking behind the camera to the wrestlers. Also that 2.6 nitro he talks about was on Columbus day a "holiday" so not a lot of people tuned in. Before that nitro was doing low 3.0. Russo is just spinning the facts to protect his narrative.
It was 2.5 and 2.6 in the 2 weeks before. So, you can't blame Columbus day. And if the show was good, the ratings wouldn't have been down on a lesser holiday. Columbus day isn't Christmas or Easter.
BRO BRO BRO BRO BRO BRO BRO!!!
+Andrew Mills Hey bro, do you even bro, bro?
A mighty heated debate here, but certainly interesting.
Though Vince, I've always wondered that whenever the "fall" of WCW is mentioned, and how it became like that, is there any NDA's on things you can't discuss?
It just seems like something either Turner or WWE would pull.
Because I always feel like there is "more" to the story.
Obviously you didn't call all the shots, so the "group" effort of the fall of WCW had to be there, as I HIGHLY doubt it comes down to just a writer "killing" the company.
As far as I'm concerned, as someone who watched WCW from 96-99, I feel as if just about anything that could be done, was done within the first few years. Leaving little on the creativity bone by the time you came in.
You're givin two options pretty much...go back to more classic wrestling, or evolve the product.
The fans demand more than classic wrestling, so you're pretty much left with having to hit the ball far out of left field.
A mighty tough choice if I may say.
"I want them to see god through me!" Oh my ...
gkgyver
Allah exists brother. I pray for you.
Backstage politics selfish wrestlers and wreckless management is what killed wcw. They spent more money compared to what they made. No company can withstand that.
So...you don't take credit for the house shows or PPV buyrates. In other words you don't take credit for anything that was designed to MAKE MONEY! You said it.
same old same old same old Vince Russo speech you've heard ten million times. standards and practices, talent wouldn't do this, i had to do this, these marks wanna see wrestling and i don't wanna see it so i won't book it i'll book the sports entertainment with 10 mins of wrestling in two hour shows if i want, i had so much pressure on me for writing these fake wrestling shows for these ungrateful marks and these wrestlers that are marks for themselves. yeah yeah blame everyone else for everything i guess it's Dave Meltzer's fault tna fired you last year too and that you sent a email to Mike Johnson. Russo some advice for you as a person and a fellow religious man myself change your ways grow up take ownership for things you've done admit mistakes and grow as a person, that's not you personally that's something i feel all people should try to do everyday of their life and i will try my best to do that myself.
But if you pay attention you’d know russo tells the truth about the ratings and what fans wanted to see. Take your own advice dummy.
How come vince russo keeps talking about the attitude era & yet has contributed nothing to wrestling since then. I get it you worked for vince in the attitude era good for you!! What success have you had since? & btw the attitude era was great but ultimately it harmed the business more than it did good for the 4 years it was hot. Vince McMahon broke all the rules of wrestling for the sake of defeating WCW & since then he's realizing why there was rules in the first place. So everything Russo complains about whether it's the Internet wrestling fans or why it wasn't popular as it was in the 80's or why there are no stars in wrestling anymore, well that's all because of the damage the attitude era & ecw did to the wrestling business.
He got 2 million viewers at TNA, numbers only Tony Khan could dream off
42:00 lol he didn't even read the book and he's telling the guy who wrote it that it's full of lies.
Today, AEW is everything the marks want. The ratings keep going down. TNA had better ratings and probably lasted longer than AEW will. The highest rating at TNA, as well as WWE, were with Russo as the head writer. In his first run at WCW, the ratings went up in a short time, but the rug was pulled out from under him. Who knows what would have happened, but it seems that politics from selfish veteran wrestlers killed the creative. Russo's plan was to get over the younger guys and mid card guys. This threatened the top guys. Having said all that, when Ted Turner lost his position, the executives didn't want wrestling anymore. But if ratings were good, I am sure they could have gotten another station.
Russo belongs on Fox "News," because the hosts on that channel also spend more time talking and not letting the guests say anything.
Rd is scummy (or was). He made an excuse for not interviewing vince....he said you wont now why would you have then. You piss someone off and then use that as an excuse. He said russo didnt affect merch in one spot but holds him resposible for merch in another company. He makes a foolish analogy about no one being able to write about the civil war. Anyone can write about history but the second they start talking about the ins and outs of war strategy without being in the military themselves they turn into a joke. He talks as if he has knowledge but he's just a mark fanboy.....and thats cool if you are that but leave it there. Dont pretend you are anything more. He is a poor man's skip bayless. A never was with a platform.
Vince won on volume and theatrics, RD won on facts. There are 3 types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics. Vince will spin numbers and selectively attend to what makes him look good.
greggraffin what hell did you watch! Come on man!!
If Mr russo is a great writer - then why hasn't Mr russo made any decent wrestling shows in the last 17 years? Thank you l
peckerdecker He was getting more viewers at TNA than some raw shows get now so ye. Another russo hater who ignores the facts and is brainwashed by idiots with an agenda .
As head writer of TNA, he got 2 million viewers! Something AEW has never sniffed!
@@truthtransistorradio6716 hi. Your correct. Mr Russo is a successful writer.
I wrote the above comment several years ago.
Please let me know if I should _delete_ my words? Or make em more _softer_ ?
Have a fantastic summer 2024 everyone. Thank you
@@peckerdecker I think we have all posted things in the past that we changed our minds on to some degree. There have been a few times where I get a notification of a response to an old comment I made, and I let them know I changed my mind on this one. As far as deleting your comment, that's up to you. But sometimes it's cool to save these things in time.
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