Let me get this straight... Vince says that the reason his writing suffered so badly during his time in WCW was due to him cutting promos and wrestling every week? I mean, he's writing himself into those storylines so it's kind of a problem of his own design.
@@kiereanm3254 yeah because he's an egomaniac who thought he was the sole reason for WWF's success. Turns out it takes a lot more than 1 person to make a successful wrestling company who would've thought
Vince was never a fan of real wrestling 🤼 and the technical aspects that are as much a part of it. The moves, acrobatics and selling can be electric when done right but his writing ✍️ was shock and cheap stunts. He used real life issues like with Scott Hall. Self inserting himself , more of an egomaniac than McMahon 😂🤣😂 and that says a lot .
Vince was never a fan of real wrestling 🤼 and the technical aspects that are as much a part of it. The moves, acrobatics and selling can be electric when done right but his writing ✍️ was shock and cheap stunts. He used real life issues like with Scott Hall. Self inserting himself , more of an egomaniac than McMahon 😂🤣😂 and that says a lot .
It's a thin line between love and hate. I never waste more than a few seconds occasionally thinking about people I dislike or don't respect. Obsessive rumination hints at some kind of jilting, usually.
I was at that Thunder when the fake blood missed Nash. It bounced off the ring and hit the first couple rows of the front. I was one of the people that got splashed. I was so mad (I laugh now at it). WCW gave us T-shirts as an apology (mine got stolen years later). Good lord, that was almost 24 years ago…
Felt very jelly-like, if I remember correctly. Made a comment they should have given us peanut butter if they were going to splash us with jelly. Oh, stupid 14-15 year old me. I wore my school shoes to the event, didn’t have time to change them beforehand, and I was sticking to the floor the next day. Didn’t realize how bad my shoes had gotten until I nearly fell on my face.
Imagine being Russo and getting asked if you were a plant, because your booking was so bad it had to be intentional lol. Despite nothing he tried in WCW drawing enough, he insisted on also making himself a huge part of the show. Where you'd see his clear bias for people who kissed his ass and couldn't draw vs guys like Goldberg and sting who could make wcw successful with a good world title run. But instead let's give myself and David arquette that belt once and jeff Jarrett fifty times
@@kevinlee9929Oh please, Vince M was going with him and Shawn anyway as the next generation of stars to lead the new era. Furthermore one good idea in a 100 that moron had doesn’t detract from all his other stupid ideas and lack of respect for the buisness. If Jerry Springer wasn’t a thing then he would of had almost no ideas.
@@thegreatone03 I honestly can't understand it any other way how he's so incompetent but managed to get jobs with WWE, WCW and TNA it honestly goes beyond belief unless he was a secret agent 🤣🤣 probably by the time he got to TNA shitty booking and being an asshole was all he knew how to do
Best thing Vince did in WCW was putting the belt on The Hitman. The problem was by the time Vince arrived and did that, it was way too late. WCW was doomed way before Vince ever got involved.
Agree, the worst things though outweigh that. Like how he put the belt on Booker T (HELLO, promote that!!!), making himself champ (stupid). Re-doing Chyna and Jarrett with Madusa and Oklahoma…that STUPID blood, putting HIMSELF over Ric Flair!! Things like this outweigh his Bret moment sadly
@@Zack_410 never said that but facts prove my point, wrestling was cool then for the only time in my lifetime People in bubble think it is now but its all a myth, most people don't know who cody Rhodes is
38:42 Kevin Dunn was sent to Pro Wrestling USA (I think that’s what it was called) by Vince McMahon as a producer working in the TV truck/studio where the AWA, Jim Crockett and Memphis all joined together to fight the WWE. And when they were to put their shows on TV the signal was blocked buy the main producer and WWE was shown instead, that’s why Kevin Dunn had a job for life or as long as Vince McMahon was in charge. This is a story Roddy Piper said on Kayfabe Commentary’s WWE 1984 Timeline show, Piper never said Kevin Dunn’s name but Piper wrote a name down on a piece of paper and showed it to the host Sean Oliver who said “you will all know him as a long serving high ranking executive in WWE.” And who is a high ranking executive in WWE with the knowledge to sabotage a TV signal and made sure WWE’s programming was sent out to people’s homes instead? It could only be Kevin ‘Bucky Beaver’ Dunn
Vince Russo is like the M Night Shamalyn of wrestling, his gimmick/way or writing was heralded and he thought his brain was above everyone else and then it just went super off the rails
24:44 this just reminds me of how much I love La Parka and how underrated he was and still is. Gimmick, look, moveset, charisma, everything. He needs a remontada, or at least we need to give him his flowers.
Every UK Wrestling RUclipsr is a clone of the last. All the same opinions. All the same sanitized WWE Network narratives. All the same vapid, statist political stances. Pointless, witless and talentless in equal measure.
WrestlingBios is the only one I can stomach. 1) Cause most of his stuff is retrospective, based on when wrestling was palatable 2) Dude seems to do good research offers balance in his views 3) He doesn't speak with someone pretending to have the authority of an industry insider which most of these wrestling channels do because they've got thousands of subscribers
@@WrestlePod I don't how old you are and I don't know if you were watching wrestling when Russo was writing for WWE. Let me set the scene, during the attitude era, fans didn't talk about the wrestling business, we didn't talk about bookers, putting people over, kayfabe, shoots and works. None of that stuff. Because we were too invested talking about the stories, characters and events of that era. The fact modern wrestling fans have to talk about the wrestling business and the behind the scenes and industry talking points, is a symptom of the issue that there's not enough to talk about with regards to the shows, stories and characters because they're awful and they have been for 20 years. It's impossible to get invested in the modern wrestling as a TV show, so you're left only being to discuss the logistics of the business. That's tragic. Whatever you want to say about Vince Russo, he got people invested in the story, not the business.
Russo was a great guy to have on the creative team. He’ll give a bunch of off-the-wall ideas during brainstorming. That said, he needed to be part of the team not in charge of it. He needed someone saying “no” to all the crap he came up with. Take the brawl for all, for instance. Terrible, stupid idea. But McMahon could and should have said no.
he was an idea guy who spit out 100s of ideas, 90 % of which were rubbish. He had to work with someone over him who could pick out the 10% that were feasible.
You sure? WCW: Russo is heavily challenged and politicked against; relegated to a Booking Committee which must approve his ideas. TNA: Russo only books with absolute authority for a brief period in late 2009/early 2010. This period sets records for the highest ratings and buy rates in the company's history. WWF: Russo is essentially left alone. To the extent that Vince McMahon actually convenes a production meeting during which he makes the statement "If you have a problem with Russo, you have a problem with me". The politics and backstabbing stop (much to Cornette's chagrin) and WWF go on to achieve the highest numbers in the history of the business. Seems like it's the exact opposite.
@@TheRageaholicShut Up Razorfist, we all know you are friends with Russo ;). Russo was Good in His Role. He failed when he tried to do too much. He's the Zack Snyder of Wrestling. Give him something to Adapt with no actual creative control? He can be Great. Give him Full Control? Thats how we get everything else in the Snyder Catalogue.
@@TheRageaholic truth be told wcw was already dead when he got there he tried pushing younger stars like he did with wwf but it was too late and tna didn't fall apart cause of his booking that was all dixie carter
One of the worst bookers ever, ruined WCW, let’s not even talk about how he fk’d Goldberg’s run, too busy trying to write himself into the show. Fkn embarrassing.
lol Russo is such a massive liar. Dude actually expects us to believe that he went to WWF in 2002 and laid out a year's worth of storylines and everyone in the creative meeting had their jaws on the floor. Come on man...This coming from the guy who wrote his shows on a week to week basis with no thought of long term planning. 46:27
I do find that part hard to believe but he had plenty of longterm booking in the WWF. The slow burn of Rocky taking over the Nation from Dec 97 until the night after WM14, Stone Cold's hunt for the belt from Sept 98 to WM15, the entire build of Survivor Series 98 starting 2 months prior all come to mind off the top of my head.
That's a case of Russo jerking himself off. If the writing team's jaws were on the floor it would've been out of disbelief because Russo's whole year of storylines showed how blatantly out of touch Russo was because he hadn't watched either company's product after he got fired from WCW. He wanted to do the invasion angle despite it having already been done and was a massive flop due to how botched the execution was. He wanted to wipe everything clean to a Year Zero by vacating all the belts and holding tournaments, something WWE simply did not do because of an old 60s kayfabe joke of a wrestler suddenly having a title with the explanation being they won a tournament in a South American country to get it; which was a cover for the fact said wrestler was simply given the belt. And he had no clue who had worked with whom over the year and a half he had been out of the business. Someone, I can't remember who, said Russo asked if Jericho and The Rock had ever worked together before when they had worked together several times in 2000 and 2001, including at Wrestlemania the month before Russo was brought back where Jericho worked twice in the same night to win The Rock's World Heavyweight Title and Stone Cold's WWE Title to become the company's first Undisputed Champion.
It's hard for me to make this man seriously. Like for every good thing he's done for the business there's always gonna be that "WHY tf did you do that?" Moments because of his own petty reasons or BS.
A little tip for doing narration; when you quote someone, let it be known that you're quoting the person. A lot of the quotes you included weren't credited to the person in question and it sounded like you were expressing such sentiments yourself.
Ignoring the fact that Russo is a terminal cancer on the wrestling industry: the AOL Time Warner merger is what ultimately killed WCW. AOL wanted the best way to get sponsors, WCW prior to the merger was extremely advertiser/sponsor unfriendly so the newly in charge from AOL basically told WCW that they had to be the total opposite of what worked for them. Eric Bischoff didn't kill WCW, Russo didn't kill WCW, AOL killed WCW.
Ted Turner maintains he has always hated wrestling--sorry, sports entertainment. He has the same feelings toward WCW that Les Moonves has for Nickelodeon shows.
@@pendafen7405 boy are you ignorant. Ted Turner was the only one in Time Warner that was keeping WCW on air, the rest of the executives didn't want it. Ted wanted it. If Ted hates it then he wouldn't of did everything in his power to have it on his programming
@@HarleyQuinnSoldierit was because WCW was a black hole of controversy with absolutely no control. It was losing money in record numbers and they wanted it scrubbed from their books so bad they didn't even want to keep airing it
Pretty good documentary. I’m surprised you however you didn’t mention the fact that TNA lost their tv deal with I think spike (I forget) due to Russo’s secret role in the company in 2014
Russo is the same guy who complained to McMahon about writing for 2 shows when Smackdown additionally aired on TV and yet he also complained in his brief return in 2002 that there was a writing committee instead of 3 people like they did in 1998, not realizing they would relieve his work so he could have spent more time with his family.
I feel the truth is somewhere in the middle, but I do think Russo had a plan to screw over Hogan and Bischoff by giving the belt to Booker, but this mess is ALL Russo’s fault
What WCW proved about Russo was , that in the WWF it was the talent that got over not story lines , look Stone Cold doing his ECW character , The ROCK a little bit his dad & ELVIS UnderTaker DX , HBK ,H.H.H , CHINA i think it was more them because if not the WWF shouldve fell apart once Russo left but no he Went to WCW and had young guys but not with the talent he had in WWF , now if he had Jericho , Benoit , Eddie Saturn , Franchise he might have had weapons but really he wouldve ruined them . Russo owes his whole career to a group the WWF had that became stars at the same time.
I agree with everything you said but the Jericho bit. He was a liability in the ring because he was egotistical and wanted to do things HIS way or no way. His first match at the WWF proved this to me. If you watch it you will see he had to be discreetly told no several times during the match because he wanted to do it his way and not what had been predetermined - he also injured a wrestler as well. I firmly believe Jericho didn't get on so well in the WWF because of his talent, he got to top positions in the WWF because he did anything he could, kissed ass, licked balls, sucked balls to get there. I couldn't stand his bitching character (had already painfully lived through that with Bret Hart's character during the Attitude Era) and I was not much of a fan of his outside of wrestling - one thing about the recent accusations aimed at Jericho, they do not surprise me at all.
It takes both... you need great storylines for characters/talent to take TO get over with. You Also need great talent to get over storylines. They go hand in hand. If talent ALONE can get over even with awful gimmicks or storylines then Austin would have gotten over with "The Ringmaster" but it was an absolutely dud.
@Della624 That's laughable. Jericho was an amazing wrestler in the ring and that's pretty well known. Malenko, Guerrero and Mysterio all had 5 stars with Jericho long before he was called up to the WWF. Jericho is a HOF'er through and through. He got over HUGE... still to this day the greatest debut of all time.
I don't know whether Vince Russo is a fraud or a creative genius. What I do know is the period of wrestling I enjoyed the most was 1997-2000 where he was on the writing staff. That also seems to be when wrestling was at its height in popularity among the mainstream.
Fraud. He's got a skill for creative writing, but he's terrible at long-term thinking and was always overseen by Vince (who has his own history of outlandish stuff). Claiming to be integral to the Attitude era is pure nonsense.
Without Russo, there's no Attitude Era, period. Russo wrote all the material for Austin and The Corporation and gave the entire mid card characters and stories. McMahon was clueless how to fight back when WCW was kicking his ass
Vince Russo has never had a 100% bad idea rate. I'd say his ideas were more 90/10. And those 10 ideas were HEAVILY vetted by Vince McMahon. But when he went to WCW and then TNA he had no filter to separate the good from the bad and thus both latter companies suffered. TNA suffers to this day because of Russo. A fact i can never forgive him for.
And you know this how? Did you see the 90 bad ideas he pitched in the WWF and see McMahon "filter" those 10 good ones? The only source I've heard that narrative from is those revisionist history WWE documentaries; the same ones that say there were Austin 3:16 signs everywhere the night after KOTR 96 and that DX driving to WCW in a tank (Jeep) turned the Monday night war around.
I always agreed wit Russos wrestling philosophy, not many of his ideas but his character/storyline first then in ring second philosophy is really good in my eyes.
Bro, I'm telling ya bro, the WRES-UH-LING business, bro, was never hotter, bro, than when I got rid of all of those washed up old timers, bro, and replaced them with a bunch of under-carders, bro.
@@georgelea4297 Or my favorite, when he (or anyone else for that matter) prefaces their statement with "I'm gonna be totally honest with you...". I feel like saying "oh gee, thanks for not lying this time". 😆😆
@@thomass789 And then the following statement is likely another lie, or at least a Russofication of the actual truth because Russo never considers what goes on when he's not around.
The cage match that russo won the title, the winner being the first to leave the cage made no sense at all in that type of cage with the only exit, other than the one russo used being a small door. Also russo going thru the cage made no sense as there was no room for goldberg to even do a proper spear.
Yeah, Russo probably doesnt get that concussion if they made the cage slightly smaller to accommodate for the small gap between the cage and guard rail. Because even with a helmet on, when you look back to it, Russo got fucking rocked as his head slammed into the top of the guard rail.
@@MTRZ97 or maybe use the one that is just on the ring, the one with no roof on it, where escaping the cage makes sense. IIRC the door was even locked on the cage they used.
Vince russo had some good ideas His decision to finally gave Bret hart a run with the gold (even if it was too late at that point and injury cut the entire angle from even starting properly) or his decision to give space to young/new wrestler was commendable Sadly his bad ideas far outnumbers the good ones His tna run is something out of a nightmare
He can take credit for some great writing & programming choices, especially the Faces of Foley, Taker vs Kane, Chyna, and the WCW New Blood. Sadly, there's so much else he scripted or booked that's woeful and offsets all that.
Russo's belief that "The Titles don't matter, they're just props" proves he never understood anything about putting on a wrestling promotion. The entire central thesis of a wrestling show is "These people are wrestlers, and they work here to become the best and win the title". All the crash TV stuff has to be in service to this central point, otherwise, why are all these people here? Why are they fighting each-other and doing all these wacky hijinks? If the titles don't matter and you don't want to put on matches because you'd rather do back-stage drama, then why are you writing wrestling instead of... I don't know, any other kind of show? Look at WWE's crown jewel. The "Austin Vs McMahon" feud. Take away all the over the top hijinks and what is the core conflict between them? The title. At the end of the day Austin Vs McMahon boiled down to "Austin wants to be champion and McMahon doesn't want him to be". That's it. Everything else was window dressing for the core conflict, which was a fight over control of the title. The Title was always the central issue. The focal point of every storyline. Russo never understood this. The stories in the WWE were in service to the fight over the title, but Russo thought the Titles should be sacrificed in service to the story. Well, he got his way and did just that in WCW, and what happened when he turned the titles into props for his "Crash TV" stories? People stopped caring. They stopped watching. Stopped buying tickets. Without the narrative through-line of "These people are wrestlers and the most important thing is to win the title", without that grounding point to keep coming back to, all of the crash TV stuff lost meaning. It became white-noise. The titles don't matter. So why were they there? Why were they doing all this stupid stuff to each-other? Who cares? Russo sure swerved you though, bro! And that's what matters right?
Might be wrong so do correct me if I'm wrong but I feel the start of this video is a bit glorifying the work he did in WWE(F). Sure they turned the tide and everything but this makes it seem it was pretty much all Russo which it definitely wasn't
Jeff Jarrett was one of the Last Straws for WCW with me. Dude was a Jobber in the WWE mainly feuding with Marc Mero and with that dumb costume. Debra was his only saving Grace and he lost her ON AIR to Stone Cold. Dude had ZERO Credibility after that. Stone Cold stole his Woman AND drove him out of the Company...then he is supposed to be "The Main Guy" in WCW and TNA? Naaaaah buddy.
Russo is probably the weirdest wrestling career to gauge. Russo post-wwf is admittedly awful, but Russo’s time in the attitude era is arguably the best time period in wrestling history. Even the lowest person on the card had a storyline and everyone on the roster was over. Some people have the narrative that McMahon was reigning him in, but given how McMahon was booking before and after Russo, I tend to believe Russo’s version that Vince added details to Russo’s ideas but he didn’t outright reject any of the ideas Russo was suggesting. On the flip side, everything in wcw was as bad as the wwf run was good.
“I got them right in the palm of my hand. When you have them like that, you can fart in the ring and place will go crazy” -Hulk Hogan. Idk why I loved that so much 😂
Please enlighten us. When has he ever taken full credit for the AE? He constantly puts over the talent with how great they were, McMahon for finding things in his scripts to improve, Prichard for his producing skills, etc.
@@bsmusic8837 It's the way he let's you know when you read inbetween the lines. He mentions that he wrote the stories and monologues for Austin, Rock, DX, Mankind etc. He came up with Goldust and he was always involved with the gimmick build etc. Then he also says he gave everybody something to do even to the guys in the lower card, which might be true. But that already is the whole AE development if you think about it. It's like saying, hey I didn't say I invented the name of McDonalds but I had the idea of making burgers, fries and coke.
@adamkeller7749 But that's basically saying the writer is taking credit for the writing he did. That was an integral part of the AE and he deserves the credit for that aspect which is all I've ever heard him take credit for. He gives praise to the stars for doing what they did, the production team like Kevin Dunn, the talent relations of JR, the vignettes that Prichard did. He even regularly puts over Cornette for his on air talent. He was part of a well oiled machine and he only takes credit for his part of it.
I actually got attacked by some Russo fan boys on one of these videos. At the end of the day, Russo got away with what he did in the wwf because Vince M. Kept a leash on him and tugged on it if russos ideas went a little to far out in left field. Russo had more free range in WCW which didn’t help. I also feel like WCW was already a sinking ship when Russo came in. At the same time, I’m willing to give credit where credit is due. He did have some decent ideas during the attitude era. Hell he helped build the attitude era. But it was a combination of Vince M., Vince Russo, and many other minds and talent.
Yeah mcmahon kept him in check and was able to filter many of his over the top ideas. Although wcw was a sinking ship, it's there when we saw him floating his ideas without anyone standing in his way which was one of the catalysts that caused the terminal fall of WCW.
@@Somebody-pf3re and that’s what I tried to explain too the fanboys, but they weren’t hearing it. They just thought I was attacking him. Even though, in the same comment. I said a bit of his ideas were good and gave him credit for being part of creating the attitude era. 🤷♂️
@@firewalker1372 i didn't know Russo had a fan base lol. It's well documented that ever individual that worked with him knows that he's not good at what he did without someone keeping him in check. His WCW and TNA runs are a living proof.
No. You are giving Russo credit for other people's work. Russo claims he did this and did that, but if you talk to the other people involved, he was nothing but an annoyance. His one skill is convincing gullible people that he is actually good at booking wrestling, when it is blatantly obvious that he has no idea what he's doing. It was through limiting his influence that led to the success of those shows.
I did not hear Vince Russo speak until last year and I am amazed he got anyone to listen to him. He clearly has room temperature IQ and I wouldn't trust him to get groceries.
Vince McMahon and Vince Russo using First Names with each other is Painful. "Vince, If I have to fly back to see them on the weekends" "Well, Vince, I dont understand your Problem there Vince." Ect and so forth...calling somebody by my own first name just feels very weird to me.
Hey Im on the Good Times!! 90s was my teenage years, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! I BOL with Corny and his Russo Disses, but Hey that time was so GOOD and JUST IN TIME!! Only Complaint, RIP Owen Hart, Hey that F'D me up!! Its been stories/ Rumors on that but SMH, Im not blaming Russo but wow, I wish things would've been different. RIP OWEN
I think Russo was a genius with no filter. Vince McMahon was not there to tell him his idea was terrible so we got EVERYTHING instead of the good ideas. I like him trying to make new stars because the former guys running the show never tried to do that and its one of the main reason they failed. He wanted to move on from the NWO because that line was dead. He just had to much power and no one stopping him so we got all the crap along with the brilliance. He should have stayed out of the ring though that was way to far
A Genius who is WRONG the majority of the Time is not a Genius...throw enough shit at the wall and some of it sticks...I can keep going with euphemism, but in the end its really Russo just took a lot of other people's works and ideas and did them over again.
Russo didnt make anyone, especially austin or mick, its well known he did have some ideas that were different and worked but only because vince chose what he felt was good or not and didnt give russo full reign on his own because he sucked horribly at writing, he only had good ideas but never caused anyone to get over, austin was 100% his doing not russo, he also had nothing to do with the vince and austin feud, that was something that organically built to with austin being anti authority and attacking staff and at that time most didnt know vince actually was the owner and though monsoon was since his role on tv was being president, and vince being on commentary up until the screwjob and then vince organically became one of the most hated people in wrestling for the screwjob and his promos after. Russo did have some great ideas but like cornette said if vince didnt sift through the bullshit and ridiculous shit russo pushed then wwf wouldve been what russo did with wcw.
Every week the Austin/McMahon feud had new twists and turns. Are you saying that every new part of the storyline just happened and didn't need writing or that if it did need writing that the head of creative at the time had zero input? Both Austin and Mick credit Russo for his writing during that time which would be a weird thing to do if he didn't have any impact on getting them over. I'm not saying he was 100% responsible for their careers taking off during that time but he had his part with the writing the same way Jim Johnston had his part in the memorable theme songs for them, JR for getting a great roster for them to have feuds with, etc.
AEW needs someone like Russo, not Russo, but someone that can at least link the reasoning together through storyline over competitive output, the first year of AEW focused so hard on the win/loss record and statistics the booking made sense as it was planned out, since then, its declined massively.
@kevinlee9929 Because everything filtered through McMahon. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Add to that some of the biggest names in wrestling (Austin, Rock, Foley....), an unparalleled marketing department, a film-studio quality production... The list goes on. All one really needs to do is look at his WCW run to see that he wasn't nearly the genius he thought he was.
@@buckyhate7695 The same VKM who had his company on the brink of extinction with The New Generation 😂? The fact that you try to make VKM a filtering genius is comical. Also all those names you mentioned were there before Russo ever got involved with Creative. And again, WWF were on the brink of extinction. If you want to blame WCW on Russo. Then give him credit for WWF. Cause just like in WWF he had someone (Bischoff) over him. But people like yourself won't do that.
@buckyhate7695 Here's the thing with that. It takes everything firing on all cylinders to make something like the AE to work. Yes there was amazing talent, a high budget, incredible production, etc. But you needed the writing to match that same bar yet people disregard that element because it's Russo. Do the 49ers win 4 superbowls without Montana, Rice, Lott, Walsh as head coach, Seifert as defensive coordinator? Why were none as successful without each other? Sure the organization won 1 more SB with some elements remaining and yes the WWF ratings were still high for another year but it was never quite the same.
I did like Razor Ramon but I hated Diesel in WWE but come 97 Kevin Nash had become my 3rd favourite wrestler after Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker. Wasn’t a big fan of the Rock, I preferred Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn as I watched the UFC in it’s early no holds barred and lawless days, Shamrock was certainly the better pro wrestler as he had so much more charisma than Dan but Dan was a badass who even beat Kurt Angle in freestyle wrestling match in the early 90’s (might have been late 80’s but sure it was the 90’s)
Good work man. I liked this. I don’t think the title of the doc is fair. Reading the title, I would think you set out to make a negative doc on the man. But after watching, it’s not that at all. You didn’t focus on the “lies” and there is no demise. He seems to be doing well.just a thought
Russo really hasn't accomplished anything in the wrestling business. Nothing positive I should say. The only place he worked that had success just so happened to have the greatest draw in wrestling history at the time, Stone Cold. Everywhere else he's been it's been a shitshow, not necessarily because of him, but he also didn't help. The one area where Russo does get high marks and is a big reason why not everyone in the wrestling industry hates him, is because he pushed younger, smaller mid card guys.
Yes he didn’t cater to the wrestling fans but , when you look at the ratings and the then the PPV buys , in any era you can see who are the fans and the people that just tuned in on a Monday . Monday ratings of 4,5,6 million viewers and only 000’000’s buying the show . When people bash Russo and yes he had some bad ideas …Vince , JR,Flair , Cornette etc all had bad ideas and booking tenures . Russo was a part of the WWE succeeding and deserves respect for it , just don’t let him podcast anymore …..Bro
It wasnt Russo getting those Viewers. It was people like The Rock breaking out of Russo's Programming and making it succeed. It was Stone Cold being himself. It was The Undertaker doing his Character. Foley doing his. This was why The Attitude Era was great. There weren't Storylines. Vince Russo barely wrote anything and wrestlers were given mostly free reign to do their thing. You had the Hottest Divas bringing in the Male Gaze. WCW had damn near Zero Women by the end of their run. WCW had Torrie No Ass Wilson and Legitimate Hottie Stacey Kiebler, thats it. Saying Russo brought in Ratings is like saying Brad Johnson won the 2002 Superbowl for the Buccaneers. Sure he didnt completely shit the bed and burn down the stadium, but he also was asked to do barely anything beyond that.
Vince Russo is cool. The hate he gets is funny but really its undeserved and silly after all these years. Has he come up with dumb ideas? Yes, very dumb. But the end of the day he was writing creative for WWF and TNA when they were drawing their highest ratings ever. Nobody will ever take that away from him. For every Cornette or Bischoff theres a multitude of people who credit him for his contributions to wrestling. Steve Austin, Rock, Mick Foley, Booker T, AJ Styles, Kevin Nash, Konnan, Disco Inferno, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, Dustin Rhodes, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels. The guy has always been the punching bag of wrestling fans when the funny thing is he was a big part of getting many wrestling fans into wrestling to begin with.
@@themachomanrs I know lots of people don't like either of them. But if you're going to make statements like that, some asshole like me is going to demand proof. That's life.
I think the key deal with Russo is that... his a really good creative but should never be THE creative. Is his part of a team that can temper his more extreme idea's then he will bring alot, but if his allowed to run unchecked... you get a problem.
Vince should've saved himself & others the trouble & gott writing jobs in something other than wrestling. If everywhere Vince goes there's a problem ,9x out of 10 it's him...unless it involves Hogan's trash a**
Idk I was done with him when he was on i think Austin pod and he was going on about how he misses the days of characters like Chief Jay Strongbow. Idk nothing about Chief Jay Strongbow I’ve never heard of him but something about that statement just feels absurd and out of touch. I still hear his voice saying “chief Jay strong bow” and it makes me laugh
As much as I hate Vince Russo (not as much as Jim Cornette does) and know he’s a liar as I’ve seen him many times tell a story and depending who he’s talking to makes slight changes to the story to put over the person he’s talking to. For example on Kayfabe Commentary’s Vince Russo’s Attitude with Ken Shamrock and he tells a story about how Ken took Big Show Dow in catering, put him in a heel hook and made Big Show tap and scream in pain. Then when he had Steve Blackman on his podcast he said the same story except put Steve’s name in instead of Ken’s, then when Shamrock was on his podcast he told the original story. There’s also times where he has said that he was responsible for getting Vince McMahon to allow Stone Cold Steve Austin to speak for himself in promos after hearing Steve do commentary on a match and originally the Million Dollar Man spoke for Austin and Austin wasn’t to speak in promos. He also said he heard the Rock backstage refer to himself in the 3rd person playing around and Russo told him that he should start doing that in promos along with his catchphrases he was only using in the locker room at the time while joking around with the other wrestlers. So basically Russo has claimed that he was responsible the new popularity of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock as it was him who told them what to do and they got over. Then in Kayfabe Commentary’s YouShoot Live someone said that he takes responsibility for the Rock and Austin careers becoming so big and Russo said “I’ve never said I was responsible for Rock and Austin being the biggest stars in wrestling bro”. But despite all his bullshit and just being a all out twat he still was the head writer of my favourite WWE shows I watched from the age of 15-16yrs old (when he became head writer in 97).
I understand that a lot of people aren't a big fan of Vince Russo, but the one thing that you have to respect that he always wanted to push younger talent.
Why do you have to respect that? When did the “younger talent” he pushed draw money? When did any successful wrestling org push young talent into money drawing positions?
Russo, as much as his work was mostly a dumpster fire, did actually have a legit talent; he could hot shot. He was very good at shock TV, in so much as that's a skill. He could have been used for short term hotshotting, then pushed out the door.
Idk attitude era was my favorite and when he was in wcw was my favorite wcw .... i always liked the edgy crash tv style russo brought in both companies
Managed to make a Vince Russo documentary, didn't mention Jim Cornette once. That's some skills.
It is but also I wish you would have included him😂
Don't Worry, Jim Cornette will be happy to do 20 interviews about how he could have made it better.
That’s a whole different video right there lmao
@@justinlast2lastharder749 he could do it in 3 min....and succeeded
I used to think it was impossible to say one name without the other.
Let me get this straight... Vince says that the reason his writing suffered so badly during his time in WCW was due to him cutting promos and wrestling every week? I mean, he's writing himself into those storylines so it's kind of a problem of his own design.
Definitely
And the thing is is that it isn’t impossible to multitask but you can tell he was spreading himself too thin too fast and that it became obvious
@@kiereanm3254 yeah because he's an egomaniac who thought he was the sole reason for WWF's success. Turns out it takes a lot more than 1 person to make a successful wrestling company who would've thought
Vince was never a fan of real wrestling 🤼 and the technical aspects that are as much a part of it. The moves, acrobatics and selling can be electric when done right but his writing ✍️ was shock and cheap stunts. He used real life issues like with Scott Hall. Self inserting himself , more of an egomaniac than McMahon 😂🤣😂 and that says a lot .
Vince was never a fan of real wrestling 🤼 and the technical aspects that are as much a part of it. The moves, acrobatics and selling can be electric when done right but his writing ✍️ was shock and cheap stunts. He used real life issues like with Scott Hall. Self inserting himself , more of an egomaniac than McMahon 😂🤣😂 and that says a lot .
Great video, the only thing missing is there's no mention of Russo's arch enemy, Jim Cornette, who will hate Russo in this life and the next
"In fact, stace is out of the will if she dont help me piss on his grave when I'm immobile in my 80s"
@@MedroffYTJim’s exact words 🤣 😂. Dude said, “I don’t care if I’m in a dang wheel chair, wheel my a$$ to that grave”. 😂
It's a thin line between love and hate. I never waste more than a few seconds occasionally thinking about people I dislike or don't respect. Obsessive rumination hints at some kind of jilting, usually.
@@pendafen7405I mean... good for you. There's a lot of bad blood between those two.
so does bischoff
He also made brawl for all,ruined so much careers
Vince Russo turned Mike Awesome into That 70s Guy, I just can't get over it
The Fat Chick Thriller killed his carrer, in the US.
Didn't he also make him "the fat chick thrilla" or something like that? I'm being serious, he did, didn't he?
@@thomass789 yes
@@thomass789 yes and also made him drive the partridge family bus when he was 70s guy
@@kerpal321Ridiculous.
I was at that Thunder when the fake blood missed Nash. It bounced off the ring and hit the first couple rows of the front. I was one of the people that got splashed. I was so mad (I laugh now at it). WCW gave us T-shirts as an apology (mine got stolen years later). Good lord, that was almost 24 years ago…
Grim, but it is a good memory. Was it just dyed cornstarch, or some other substance?
Felt very jelly-like, if I remember correctly. Made a comment they should have given us peanut butter if they were going to splash us with jelly. Oh, stupid 14-15 year old me. I wore my school shoes to the event, didn’t have time to change them beforehand, and I was sticking to the floor the next day. Didn’t realize how bad my shoes had gotten until I nearly fell on my face.
Imagine being Russo and getting asked if you were a plant, because your booking was so bad it had to be intentional lol. Despite nothing he tried in WCW drawing enough, he insisted on also making himself a huge part of the show. Where you'd see his clear bias for people who kissed his ass and couldn't draw vs guys like Goldberg and sting who could make wcw successful with a good world title run. But instead let's give myself and David arquette that belt once and jeff Jarrett fifty times
Is that why the first thing he did was make Bret Hart World Champ .... ?
You can't convince me he wasn't a plant
@@davidc5817had to be there’s no way he could’ve been that terrible 😂
@@kevinlee9929Oh please, Vince M was going with him and Shawn anyway as the next generation of stars to lead the new era. Furthermore one good idea in a 100 that moron had doesn’t detract from all his other stupid ideas and lack of respect for the buisness. If Jerry Springer wasn’t a thing then he would of had almost no ideas.
@@thegreatone03 I honestly can't understand it any other way how he's so incompetent but managed to get jobs with WWE, WCW and TNA it honestly goes beyond belief unless he was a secret agent 🤣🤣 probably by the time he got to TNA shitty booking and being an asshole was all he knew how to do
Best thing Vince did in WCW was putting the belt on The Hitman. The problem was by the time Vince arrived and did that, it was way too late. WCW was doomed way before Vince ever got involved.
I say putting the belt on steiner and booker t as well
@@retronerds6884
Agreed
Right cause putting the belt on himself and David Arquette were such brilliant ideas, bro 🙄
@@retronerds6884was he there when Steiner won the belt??
Agree, the worst things though outweigh that. Like how he put the belt on Booker T (HELLO, promote that!!!), making himself champ (stupid). Re-doing Chyna and Jarrett with Madusa and Oklahoma…that STUPID blood, putting HIMSELF over Ric Flair!! Things like this outweigh his Bret moment sadly
He was a true friend to Chyna and didnt abandon here in later life like others did..
He's not an awful person, he's just not good in terms if wrestling
@@Tucj-zh1dyhe's not good he's very good, best time of wrestling
@@peterf08 If you're a nostalgia merchant and pretend everything was perfect back then then I guess.
@@Zack_410 never said that but facts prove my point, wrestling was cool then for the only time in my lifetime
People in bubble think it is now but its all a myth, most people don't know who cody Rhodes is
38:42 Kevin Dunn was sent to Pro Wrestling USA (I think that’s what it was called) by Vince McMahon as a producer working in the TV truck/studio where the AWA, Jim Crockett and Memphis all joined together to fight the WWE. And when they were to put their shows on TV the signal was blocked buy the main producer and WWE was shown instead, that’s why Kevin Dunn had a job for life or as long as Vince McMahon was in charge. This is a story Roddy Piper said on Kayfabe Commentary’s WWE 1984 Timeline show, Piper never said Kevin Dunn’s name but Piper wrote a name down on a piece of paper and showed it to the host Sean Oliver who said “you will all know him as a long serving high ranking executive in WWE.” And who is a high ranking executive in WWE with the knowledge to sabotage a TV signal and made sure WWE’s programming was sent out to people’s homes instead? It could only be Kevin ‘Bucky Beaver’ Dunn
Vince Russo is like the M Night Shamalyn of wrestling, his gimmick/way or writing was heralded and he thought his brain was above everyone else and then it just went super off the rails
Russo needs a “Knock at the cabin” very bad then
Russo and Ferarra getting their storyline ideas from watching 'Jerry Springer'! Good grief !!😵💫🤪
This is a nice comparison but harsh on both
24:44 this just reminds me of how much I love La Parka and how underrated he was and still is. Gimmick, look, moveset, charisma, everything. He needs a remontada, or at least we need to give him his flowers.
Its actually the greatest work of all time Vince McMahon, sent russo to wcw to blow it up from inside.
Na vince russo just sucked
See the main reason I doubt that is because if it WAS true there's no way Russo would be able to keep his mouth shut about it.
If that was the case, Vince McMahon would've given him a job for life!
@@Sky_BlazeExactly. Russo didn't need to be in on it for it to work.
@@Sky_Blazenar because people like Hogan had creative control, in WWF vince called all the shots, was a political jungle in WCW
Every UK Wrestling RUclipsr is a clone of the last.
All the same opinions.
All the same sanitized WWE Network narratives.
All the same vapid, statist political stances.
Pointless, witless and talentless in equal measure.
That is a well formatted paragraph. But not particularly pleasant in its content.
WrestlingBios is the only one I can stomach.
1) Cause most of his stuff is retrospective, based on when wrestling was palatable
2) Dude seems to do good research offers balance in his views
3) He doesn't speak with someone pretending to have the authority of an industry insider which most of these wrestling channels do because they've got thousands of subscribers
@@WrestlePod I don't how old you are and I don't know if you were watching wrestling when Russo was writing for WWE. Let me set the scene, during the attitude era, fans didn't talk about the wrestling business, we didn't talk about bookers, putting people over, kayfabe, shoots and works. None of that stuff. Because we were too invested talking about the stories, characters and events of that era. The fact modern wrestling fans have to talk about the wrestling business and the behind the scenes and industry talking points, is a symptom of the issue that there's not enough to talk about with regards to the shows, stories and characters because they're awful and they have been for 20 years. It's impossible to get invested in the modern wrestling as a TV show, so you're left only being to discuss the logistics of the business. That's tragic. Whatever you want to say about Vince Russo, he got people invested in the story, not the business.
@@PerpetualAlfawrestlingbios is irish
@@celtic69 He's Northern Irish. Which makes him a UK Wrestling RUclipsr.
Russo was a great guy to have on the creative team. He’ll give a bunch of off-the-wall ideas during brainstorming.
That said, he needed to be part of the team not in charge of it. He needed someone saying “no” to all the crap he came up with.
Take the brawl for all, for instance. Terrible, stupid idea. But McMahon could and should have said no.
Russo only did good work while being heavily challenged and guided. He's the type that shouldn't have too much power.
Obviously
he was an idea guy who spit out 100s of ideas, 90 % of which were rubbish. He had to work with someone over him who could pick out the 10% that were feasible.
You sure?
WCW: Russo is heavily challenged and politicked against; relegated to a Booking Committee which must approve his ideas.
TNA: Russo only books with absolute authority for a brief period in late 2009/early 2010. This period sets records for the highest ratings and buy rates in the company's history.
WWF: Russo is essentially left alone. To the extent that Vince McMahon actually convenes a production meeting during which he makes the statement "If you have a problem with Russo, you have a problem with me". The politics and backstabbing stop (much to Cornette's chagrin) and WWF go on to achieve the highest numbers in the history of the business.
Seems like it's the exact opposite.
@@TheRageaholicShut Up Razorfist, we all know you are friends with Russo ;). Russo was Good in His Role. He failed when he tried to do too much. He's the Zack Snyder of Wrestling. Give him something to Adapt with no actual creative control? He can be Great. Give him Full Control? Thats how we get everything else in the Snyder Catalogue.
@@TheRageaholic truth be told wcw was already dead when he got there he tried pushing younger stars like he did with wwf but it was too late and tna didn't fall apart cause of his booking that was all dixie carter
One of the worst bookers ever, ruined WCW, let’s not even talk about how he fk’d Goldberg’s run, too busy trying to write himself into the show. Fkn embarrassing.
One of the worst bookers ever who got the highest ratings ever lol
28:30 Hogan couldn't lace Billy Kidman's boots. The sad weird old narcissist must have been oozing green watching how Billy in WCW could go.
lol Russo is such a massive liar. Dude actually expects us to believe that he went to WWF in 2002 and laid out a year's worth of storylines and everyone in the creative meeting had their jaws on the floor. Come on man...This coming from the guy who wrote his shows on a week to week basis with no thought of long term planning. 46:27
I do find that part hard to believe but he had plenty of longterm booking in the WWF. The slow burn of Rocky taking over the Nation from Dec 97 until the night after WM14, Stone Cold's hunt for the belt from Sept 98 to WM15, the entire build of Survivor Series 98 starting 2 months prior all come to mind off the top of my head.
That's a case of Russo jerking himself off. If the writing team's jaws were on the floor it would've been out of disbelief because Russo's whole year of storylines showed how blatantly out of touch Russo was because he hadn't watched either company's product after he got fired from WCW. He wanted to do the invasion angle despite it having already been done and was a massive flop due to how botched the execution was. He wanted to wipe everything clean to a Year Zero by vacating all the belts and holding tournaments, something WWE simply did not do because of an old 60s kayfabe joke of a wrestler suddenly having a title with the explanation being they won a tournament in a South American country to get it; which was a cover for the fact said wrestler was simply given the belt. And he had no clue who had worked with whom over the year and a half he had been out of the business. Someone, I can't remember who, said Russo asked if Jericho and The Rock had ever worked together before when they had worked together several times in 2000 and 2001, including at Wrestlemania the month before Russo was brought back where Jericho worked twice in the same night to win The Rock's World Heavyweight Title and Stone Cold's WWE Title to become the company's first Undisputed Champion.
It's hard for me to make this man seriously. Like for every good thing he's done for the business there's always gonna be that "WHY tf did you do that?" Moments because of his own petty reasons or BS.
@@BeaMode1990you name me a writer that hasn't made mistakes and ill name you a liar
To be fair in terms of most in wrestling business ive found Russo to be one of the least liars from my own research
A little tip for doing narration; when you quote someone, let it be known that you're quoting the person.
A lot of the quotes you included weren't credited to the person in question and it sounded like you were expressing such sentiments yourself.
I believe the WWE creative team all had their jaws on the ground when he went through his year of ideas in 2002. Just not for the reason he claims…
Ignoring the fact that Russo is a terminal cancer on the wrestling industry: the AOL Time Warner merger is what ultimately killed WCW. AOL wanted the best way to get sponsors, WCW prior to the merger was extremely advertiser/sponsor unfriendly so the newly in charge from AOL basically told WCW that they had to be the total opposite of what worked for them. Eric Bischoff didn't kill WCW, Russo didn't kill WCW, AOL killed WCW.
Ted Turner maintains he has always hated wrestling--sorry, sports entertainment. He has the same feelings toward WCW that Les Moonves has for Nickelodeon shows.
@@pendafen7405 boy are you ignorant. Ted Turner was the only one in Time Warner that was keeping WCW on air, the rest of the executives didn't want it. Ted wanted it. If Ted hates it then he wouldn't of did everything in his power to have it on his programming
@@HarleyQuinnSoldierit was because WCW was a black hole of controversy with absolutely no control. It was losing money in record numbers and they wanted it scrubbed from their books so bad they didn't even want to keep airing it
Pretty good documentary. I’m surprised you however you didn’t mention the fact that TNA lost their tv deal with I think spike (I forget) due to Russo’s secret role in the company in 2014
Russo is the same guy who complained to McMahon about writing for 2 shows when Smackdown additionally aired on TV and yet he also complained in his brief return in 2002 that there was a writing committee instead of 3 people like they did in 1998, not realizing they would relieve his work so he could have spent more time with his family.
But at that time in '02 Smackdown was a separate show with different writers.
@@bsmusic8837Yes but according to Prichard all writers wrote both shows together, they weren't seperated in teams
1:09 watching Russo's attachment to and admiration for AJ Styles always made me a bit uncomfortable
Who was lying when Hulk Hogan was quoted about Vince Russo? You can't trust either of them
Will we ever truly know?!?
I feel the truth is somewhere in the middle, but I do think Russo had a plan to screw over Hogan and Bischoff by giving the belt to Booker, but this mess is ALL Russo’s fault
What WCW proved about Russo was , that in the WWF it was the talent that got over not story lines , look Stone Cold doing his ECW character , The ROCK a little bit his dad & ELVIS UnderTaker DX , HBK ,H.H.H , CHINA i think it was more them because if not the WWF shouldve fell apart once Russo left but no he Went to WCW and had young guys but not with the talent he had in WWF , now if he had Jericho , Benoit , Eddie Saturn , Franchise he might have had weapons but really he wouldve ruined them . Russo owes his whole career to a group the WWF had that became stars at the same time.
I agree with everything you said but the Jericho bit. He was a liability in the ring because he was egotistical and wanted to do things HIS way or no way. His first match at the WWF proved this to me. If you watch it you will see he had to be discreetly told no several times during the match because he wanted to do it his way and not what had been predetermined - he also injured a wrestler as well. I firmly believe Jericho didn't get on so well in the WWF because of his talent, he got to top positions in the WWF because he did anything he could, kissed ass, licked balls, sucked balls to get there. I couldn't stand his bitching character (had already painfully lived through that with Bret Hart's character during the Attitude Era) and I was not much of a fan of his outside of wrestling - one thing about the recent accusations aimed at Jericho, they do not surprise me at all.
It takes both... you need great storylines for characters/talent to take TO get over with. You Also need great talent to get over storylines. They go hand in hand. If talent ALONE can get over even with awful gimmicks or storylines then Austin would have gotten over with "The Ringmaster" but it was an absolutely dud.
@Della624 That's laughable. Jericho was an amazing wrestler in the ring and that's pretty well known. Malenko, Guerrero and Mysterio all had 5 stars with Jericho long before he was called up to the WWF. Jericho is a HOF'er through and through. He got over HUGE... still to this day the greatest debut of all time.
Russo does make a good point on the destroying cars thing. it's been a continuous strong man gimmick since.
I don't know whether Vince Russo is a fraud or a creative genius.
What I do know is the period of wrestling I enjoyed the most was 1997-2000 where he was on the writing staff. That also seems to be when wrestling was at its height in popularity among the mainstream.
Genius. He also peaked TNA
You're giving Russo way too much credit, and not enough to the wrestling talent making his garbage tolerable.
Fraud. He's got a skill for creative writing, but he's terrible at long-term thinking and was always overseen by Vince (who has his own history of outlandish stuff).
Claiming to be integral to the Attitude era is pure nonsense.
Without Russo, there's no Attitude Era, period. Russo wrote all the material for Austin and The Corporation and gave the entire mid card characters and stories. McMahon was clueless how to fight back when WCW was kicking his ass
@@XtremeEffect Cool story. How'd Russo do against Vince when he got a shot?
His Oj idea alone shoulda got him fired
lol it’s crazy 🤪
That was such a disgusting idea.
Vince Russo has never had a 100% bad idea rate. I'd say his ideas were more 90/10. And those 10 ideas were HEAVILY vetted by Vince McMahon. But when he went to WCW and then TNA he had no filter to separate the good from the bad and thus both latter companies suffered. TNA suffers to this day because of Russo. A fact i can never forgive him for.
never forget the reverse battle royal
And you know this how? Did you see the 90 bad ideas he pitched in the WWF and see McMahon "filter" those 10 good ones? The only source I've heard that narrative from is those revisionist history WWE documentaries; the same ones that say there were Austin 3:16 signs everywhere the night after KOTR 96 and that DX driving to WCW in a tank (Jeep) turned the Monday night war around.
37:10 I will never forgive Vince Russo for booking a Viagra on a pole Match and not using the wrestler whose name is literally 'Hugh G. Rection.'
I always agreed wit Russos wrestling philosophy, not many of his ideas but his character/storyline first then in ring second philosophy is really good in my eyes.
5:17 you know, The Undertaker spends a surprising amount of time watching TV, sports & movies. Ig being immortal he can do all that guilt-free.
Can't blame him too much for WCW..he tried to save a sinking ship
Did he!? How so?
@@WrestlePod not one thing /person was responsible for WCW downfall.
Bro, listen bro. Bro, are you listening? Hand. To. God bro, this was a great video.
A great video about Russo but im disappointed with not hearing " Bro " in every sentence 😅
Go check out his podcast he bro's it to death lmao 😂😂😂
Bro, I'm telling ya bro, the WRES-UH-LING business, bro, was never hotter, bro, than when I got rid of all of those washed up old timers, bro, and replaced them with a bunch of under-carders, bro.
@thomass789 I Swear to God Bro, I Swear to God the above statement is true
@@georgelea4297 Or my favorite, when he (or anyone else for that matter) prefaces their statement with "I'm gonna be totally honest with you...".
I feel like saying "oh gee, thanks for not lying this time". 😆😆
@@thomass789 And then the following statement is likely another lie, or at least a Russofication of the actual truth because Russo never considers what goes on when he's not around.
The cage match that russo won the title, the winner being the first to leave the cage made no sense at all in that type of cage with the only exit, other than the one russo used being a small door. Also russo going thru the cage made no sense as there was no room for goldberg to even do a proper spear.
Yeah, Russo probably doesnt get that concussion if they made the cage slightly smaller to accommodate for the small gap between the cage and guard rail. Because even with a helmet on, when you look back to it, Russo got fucking rocked as his head slammed into the top of the guard rail.
@@MTRZ97 or maybe use the one that is just on the ring, the one with no roof on it, where escaping the cage makes sense. IIRC the door was even locked on the cage they used.
Vince russo had some good ideas
His decision to finally gave Bret hart a run with the gold (even if it was too late at that point and injury cut the entire angle from even starting properly) or his decision to give space to young/new wrestler was commendable
Sadly his bad ideas far outnumbers the good ones
His tna run is something out of a nightmare
He can take credit for some great writing & programming choices, especially the Faces of Foley, Taker vs Kane, Chyna, and the WCW New Blood. Sadly, there's so much else he scripted or booked that's woeful and offsets all that.
Anyone who thinks Russo killed WCW is a mark. Finger poke of doom anyone ? Starcade 97? The Taser? That shit was dead in the water
Don’t forget souled out 97 that ppv was horrible
Russo pissed some gasoline on the fire, but yea, calling Russo the cause is pretty damned foolish.
You didn't disappoint with inclusion of his "Hire a nanny" anecdote.
It’s a classic
@@WrestlePod second only to his repeated claims to want nothing to do with the wrestling business, despite almost daily podcasts on the topic.
Like how Russo “says” he had no heat with JR, BUT what did he say in the Jeff Jarrett as champion promo??
Classic V R lies
Russo's belief that "The Titles don't matter, they're just props" proves he never understood anything about putting on a wrestling promotion. The entire central thesis of a wrestling show is "These people are wrestlers, and they work here to become the best and win the title". All the crash TV stuff has to be in service to this central point, otherwise, why are all these people here? Why are they fighting each-other and doing all these wacky hijinks? If the titles don't matter and you don't want to put on matches because you'd rather do back-stage drama, then why are you writing wrestling instead of... I don't know, any other kind of show?
Look at WWE's crown jewel. The "Austin Vs McMahon" feud. Take away all the over the top hijinks and what is the core conflict between them? The title. At the end of the day Austin Vs McMahon boiled down to "Austin wants to be champion and McMahon doesn't want him to be". That's it. Everything else was window dressing for the core conflict, which was a fight over control of the title. The Title was always the central issue. The focal point of every storyline. Russo never understood this. The stories in the WWE were in service to the fight over the title, but Russo thought the Titles should be sacrificed in service to the story.
Well, he got his way and did just that in WCW, and what happened when he turned the titles into props for his "Crash TV" stories? People stopped caring. They stopped watching. Stopped buying tickets. Without the narrative through-line of "These people are wrestlers and the most important thing is to win the title", without that grounding point to keep coming back to, all of the crash TV stuff lost meaning. It became white-noise. The titles don't matter. So why were they there? Why were they doing all this stupid stuff to each-other? Who cares? Russo sure swerved you though, bro! And that's what matters right?
The savior of WCW. I still remember how Bash at the Beach 2000 totally saved WCW 😮..
Might be wrong so do correct me if I'm wrong but I feel the start of this video is a bit glorifying the work he did in WWE(F). Sure they turned the tide and everything but this makes it seem it was pretty much all Russo which it definitely wasn't
Jeff Jarrett was one of the Last Straws for WCW with me. Dude was a Jobber in the WWE mainly feuding with Marc Mero and with that dumb costume. Debra was his only saving Grace and he lost her ON AIR to Stone Cold. Dude had ZERO Credibility after that. Stone Cold stole his Woman AND drove him out of the Company...then he is supposed to be "The Main Guy" in WCW and TNA? Naaaaah buddy.
LaParka was more over than Buff ever was
When vince said Buff Bagwell on Raw he got a massive pop; so idk about that one
@@decollector95 You meant buff? I am just saying; Buff Bagwell was over; mainly because of his pushes. But still over
Now he
Spends time educating Tony khan
Russo is probably the weirdest wrestling career to gauge. Russo post-wwf is admittedly awful, but Russo’s time in the attitude era is arguably the best time period in wrestling history. Even the lowest person on the card had a storyline and everyone on the roster was over. Some people have the narrative that McMahon was reigning him in, but given how McMahon was booking before and after Russo, I tend to believe Russo’s version that Vince added details to Russo’s ideas but he didn’t outright reject any of the ideas Russo was suggesting. On the flip side, everything in wcw was as bad as the wwf run was good.
Hogan and Mike Awesome werent related. Awesome and Horace Hogan were cousins.
Its not relevant. But just a quick nod. Great job
“I got them right in the palm of my hand. When you have them like that, you can fart in the ring and place will go crazy”
-Hulk Hogan.
Idk why I loved that so much 😂
More like "Wrestling's Most Scapegoated"
That undertaker interview for the magazine was quite good
According to things Eric Bischoff says it was the lack of a tv deal that sealed the death of WCW.
26:47 was the spill meant to symbolise 'The New Blood' that Russo would never shut up about?
I alone was responsible for the success with the Attitude era.
Also.
I left WWE, in part, to get more creative freedom.
Please enlighten us. When has he ever taken full credit for the AE? He constantly puts over the talent with how great they were, McMahon for finding things in his scripts to improve, Prichard for his producing skills, etc.
@@bsmusic8837 It's the way he let's you know when you read inbetween the lines. He mentions that he wrote the stories and monologues for Austin, Rock, DX, Mankind etc. He came up with Goldust and he was always involved with the gimmick build etc. Then he also says he gave everybody something to do even to the guys in the lower card, which might be true. But that already is the whole AE development if you think about it. It's like saying, hey I didn't say I invented the name of McDonalds but I had the idea of making burgers, fries and coke.
@adamkeller7749 But that's basically saying the writer is taking credit for the writing he did. That was an integral part of the AE and he deserves the credit for that aspect which is all I've ever heard him take credit for. He gives praise to the stars for doing what they did, the production team like Kevin Dunn, the talent relations of JR, the vignettes that Prichard did. He even regularly puts over Cornette for his on air talent. He was part of a well oiled machine and he only takes credit for his part of it.
I actually got attacked by some Russo fan boys on one of these videos. At the end of the day, Russo got away with what he did in the wwf because Vince M. Kept a leash on him and tugged on it if russos ideas went a little to far out in left field. Russo had more free range in WCW which didn’t help. I also feel like WCW was already a sinking ship when Russo came in. At the same time, I’m willing to give credit where credit is due. He did have some decent ideas during the attitude era. Hell he helped build the attitude era. But it was a combination of Vince M., Vince Russo, and many other minds and talent.
Yeah mcmahon kept him in check and was able to filter many of his over the top ideas.
Although wcw was a sinking ship, it's there when we saw him floating his ideas without anyone standing in his way which was one of the catalysts that caused the terminal fall of WCW.
@@Somebody-pf3re and that’s what I tried to explain too the fanboys, but they weren’t hearing it. They just thought I was attacking him. Even though, in the same comment. I said a bit of his ideas were good and gave him credit for being part of creating the attitude era. 🤷♂️
@@firewalker1372 i didn't know Russo had a fan base lol.
It's well documented that ever individual that worked with him knows that he's not good at what he did without someone keeping him in check.
His WCW and TNA runs are a living proof.
Attitude Era was McMahon and Russo. That's simple fact.
@@Somebody-pf3re Oh yeah, believe it or not. They are like Swifty fans 🤣, they will jump all over you if you say one little thing about him.
No. You are giving Russo credit for other people's work. Russo claims he did this and did that, but if you talk to the other people involved, he was nothing but an annoyance. His one skill is convincing gullible people that he is actually good at booking wrestling, when it is blatantly obvious that he has no idea what he's doing. It was through limiting his influence that led to the success of those shows.
I did not hear Vince Russo speak until last year and I am amazed he got anyone to listen to him. He clearly has room temperature IQ and I wouldn't trust him to get groceries.
i like how Cornette just refers to Ruso as "Shitstain". lol
Vince McMahon and Vince Russo using First Names with each other is Painful.
"Vince, If I have to fly back to see them on the weekends"
"Well, Vince, I dont understand your Problem there Vince."
Ect and so forth...calling somebody by my own first name just feels very weird to me.
While Vince Russo and Hogan’s conversation would be full of “bro” and “brother”
What are they supposed to say? Your name is your name...
If it’s any consolation, Russo can now say he is not the worst Vince in the history of wrestling.
😂
Russo wasn't "replaced", he was sent to the WCW by Vince to ruin the company so Vince could buy it
Hey Im on the Good Times!! 90s was my teenage years, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! I BOL with Corny and his Russo Disses, but Hey that time was so GOOD and JUST IN TIME!! Only Complaint, RIP Owen Hart, Hey that F'D me up!! Its been stories/ Rumors on that but SMH, Im not blaming Russo but wow, I wish things would've been different. RIP OWEN
I think Russo was a genius with no filter. Vince McMahon was not there to tell him his idea was terrible so we got EVERYTHING instead of the good ideas. I like him trying to make new stars because the former guys running the show never tried to do that and its one of the main reason they failed. He wanted to move on from the NWO because that line was dead. He just had to much power and no one stopping him so we got all the crap along with the brilliance. He should have stayed out of the ring though that was way to far
Defo he should’ve stayed outta the ring.
A Genius who is WRONG the majority of the Time is not a Genius...throw enough shit at the wall and some of it sticks...I can keep going with euphemism, but in the end its really Russo just took a lot of other people's works and ideas and did them over again.
BRO he literally did NWO 2000 what are you talking about?
@@spiderzero2099exactly what I was thinking
Does anybody have any of his radio work from 94 before he got hired by wwe .
I looked really hard for it but no
Looking at the ratings and not comparing them to wwe is a crime
Very well written 👍
Thanks a lot 😊
Russo didnt make anyone, especially austin or mick, its well known he did have some ideas that were different and worked but only because vince chose what he felt was good or not and didnt give russo full reign on his own because he sucked horribly at writing, he only had good ideas but never caused anyone to get over, austin was 100% his doing not russo, he also had nothing to do with the vince and austin feud, that was something that organically built to with austin being anti authority and attacking staff and at that time most didnt know vince actually was the owner and though monsoon was since his role on tv was being president, and vince being on commentary up until the screwjob and then vince organically became one of the most hated people in wrestling for the screwjob and his promos after. Russo did have some great ideas but like cornette said if vince didnt sift through the bullshit and ridiculous shit russo pushed then wwf wouldve been what russo did with wcw.
Every week the Austin/McMahon feud had new twists and turns. Are you saying that every new part of the storyline just happened and didn't need writing or that if it did need writing that the head of creative at the time had zero input? Both Austin and Mick credit Russo for his writing during that time which would be a weird thing to do if he didn't have any impact on getting them over. I'm not saying he was 100% responsible for their careers taking off during that time but he had his part with the writing the same way Jim Johnston had his part in the memorable theme songs for them, JR for getting a great roster for them to have feuds with, etc.
Listening to this while taking my morning Russo
44:18 Sounds like standard Russo BS to me. "I'm the greatest and I made something to great that everyone was scared of me."
AEW needs someone like Russo, not Russo, but someone that can at least link the reasoning together through storyline over competitive output, the first year of AEW focused so hard on the win/loss record and statistics the booking made sense as it was planned out, since then, its declined massively.
Remember he said all stay out of the camera but then he was always on tv.he just stood out like a cow turd.
I think that the Piñata on a pole match was the very first "on pole" match.
Russo has to be the most delusional person to ever work in wrestling. His WCW and TNA runs prove a stunning level of Dunning-Kreuger.
If he was delusional then why did the Attitude Era work ... ?
@kevinlee9929 Because everything filtered through McMahon. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
Add to that some of the biggest names in wrestling (Austin, Rock, Foley....), an unparalleled marketing department, a film-studio quality production... The list goes on. All one really needs to do is look at his WCW run to see that he wasn't nearly the genius he thought he was.
@@buckyhate7695 The same VKM who had his company on the brink of extinction with The New Generation 😂? The fact that you try to make VKM a filtering genius is comical. Also all those names you mentioned were there before Russo ever got involved with Creative. And again, WWF were on the brink of extinction. If you want to blame WCW on Russo. Then give him credit for WWF. Cause just like in WWF he had someone (Bischoff) over him. But people like yourself won't do that.
@@kevinlee9929exactly
@buckyhate7695 Here's the thing with that. It takes everything firing on all cylinders to make something like the AE to work. Yes there was amazing talent, a high budget, incredible production, etc. But you needed the writing to match that same bar yet people disregard that element because it's Russo. Do the 49ers win 4 superbowls without Montana, Rice, Lott, Walsh as head coach, Seifert as defensive coordinator? Why were none as successful without each other? Sure the organization won 1 more SB with some elements remaining and yes the WWF ratings were still high for another year but it was never quite the same.
I always thought he looked like AngryJoe 😂
I did like Razor Ramon but I hated Diesel in WWE but come 97 Kevin Nash had become my 3rd favourite wrestler after Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker. Wasn’t a big fan of the Rock, I preferred Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn as I watched the UFC in it’s early no holds barred and lawless days, Shamrock was certainly the better pro wrestler as he had so much more charisma than Dan but Dan was a badass who even beat Kurt Angle in freestyle wrestling match in the early 90’s (might have been late 80’s but sure it was the 90’s)
Now do one on Cornette getting fired everywhere and failing at SMW
Good work man. I liked this. I don’t think the title of the doc is fair. Reading the title, I would think you set out to make a negative doc on the man. But after watching, it’s not that at all. You didn’t focus on the “lies” and there is no demise. He seems to be doing well.just a thought
Russo really hasn't accomplished anything in the wrestling business. Nothing positive I should say. The only place he worked that had success just so happened to have the greatest draw in wrestling history at the time, Stone Cold.
Everywhere else he's been it's been a shitshow, not necessarily because of him, but he also didn't help.
The one area where Russo does get high marks and is a big reason why not everyone in the wrestling industry hates him, is because he pushed younger, smaller mid card guys.
Yes he didn’t cater to the wrestling fans but , when you look at the ratings and the then the PPV buys , in any era you can see who are the fans and the people that just tuned in on a Monday . Monday ratings of 4,5,6 million viewers and only 000’000’s buying the show . When people bash Russo and yes he had some bad ideas …Vince , JR,Flair , Cornette etc all had bad ideas and booking tenures . Russo was a part of the WWE succeeding and deserves respect for it , just don’t let him podcast anymore …..Bro
He actually kind of did since he kept using kayfabe terms in wcw
It wasnt Russo getting those Viewers. It was people like The Rock breaking out of Russo's Programming and making it succeed. It was Stone Cold being himself. It was The Undertaker doing his Character. Foley doing his. This was why The Attitude Era was great. There weren't Storylines. Vince Russo barely wrote anything and wrestlers were given mostly free reign to do their thing. You had the Hottest Divas bringing in the Male Gaze. WCW had damn near Zero Women by the end of their run. WCW had Torrie No Ass Wilson and Legitimate Hottie Stacey Kiebler, thats it.
Saying Russo brought in Ratings is like saying Brad Johnson won the 2002 Superbowl for the Buccaneers. Sure he didnt completely shit the bed and burn down the stadium, but he also was asked to do barely anything beyond that.
@@justinlast2lastharder749The wrestlers were pretty much being themselves with the volume turned to 11. The Rock has said this numerous times.
How many defended their worst ideas, though? Russo still says that Beaver Cleavage was genius.
Fantastic content! Thanks!
Im Italian and a father? I don't understand.
Where in Italy? I have family in Naples
I see you intentionally went blind when you saw the greatest athlete question. Didn’t want to mention prime time
Vince Russo is cool. The hate he gets is funny but really its undeserved and silly after all these years.
Has he come up with dumb ideas? Yes, very dumb. But the end of the day he was writing creative for WWF and TNA when they were drawing their highest ratings ever. Nobody will ever take that away from him. For every Cornette or Bischoff theres a multitude of people who credit him for his contributions to wrestling. Steve Austin, Rock, Mick Foley, Booker T, AJ Styles, Kevin Nash, Konnan, Disco Inferno, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, Dustin Rhodes, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels. The guy has always been the punching bag of wrestling fans when the funny thing is he was a big part of getting many wrestling fans into wrestling to begin with.
Again, how many bookers look at their shittier ideas and say "It was actually GENIUS, bro! People were just too dumb to get it!"
It’s so funny to me that Vince Russo and Jim Cornette both hate each other and nearly every wrestling fan hates both of them
No, they both have their fanbases, especially Jim. I actually like Cornette when he's not full on "Old man yells at cloud".
@@MarquisLeary34 I’m talking about the vast majority of wrestling fans though
@@themachomanrs You polled them?
@@MarquisLeary34 Don’t be a smartass dude, everyone knows a good amount of fans hate them both 😂
@@themachomanrs I know lots of people don't like either of them. But if you're going to make statements like that, some asshole like me is going to demand proof. That's life.
Basically Russo is like belichek.. u thought he was great but then u realized it was brady
Wtf is a belichek
YES! Ralphus sighting at 19:46!
I think the key deal with Russo is that... his a really good creative but should never be THE creative. Is his part of a team that can temper his more extreme idea's then he will bring alot, but if his allowed to run unchecked... you get a problem.
Vince should've saved himself & others the trouble & gott writing jobs in something other than wrestling. If everywhere Vince goes there's a problem ,9x out of 10 it's him...unless it involves Hogan's trash a**
Preach brother!
Vince Russo once called me a homophobic slur on twitter
Idk I was done with him when he was on i think Austin pod and he was going on about how he misses the days of characters like Chief Jay Strongbow. Idk nothing about Chief Jay Strongbow I’ve never heard of him but something about that statement just feels absurd and out of touch. I still hear his voice saying “chief Jay strong bow” and it makes me laugh
honestly he wasn’t the sole reason WCW failed but he definitely sped up the collapse.
I agree
As much as I hate Vince Russo (not as much as Jim Cornette does) and know he’s a liar as I’ve seen him many times tell a story and depending who he’s talking to makes slight changes to the story to put over the person he’s talking to. For example on Kayfabe Commentary’s Vince Russo’s Attitude with Ken Shamrock and he tells a story about how Ken took Big Show Dow in catering, put him in a heel hook and made Big Show tap and scream in pain. Then when he had Steve Blackman on his podcast he said the same story except put Steve’s name in instead of Ken’s, then when Shamrock was on his podcast he told the original story. There’s also times where he has said that he was responsible for getting Vince McMahon to allow Stone Cold Steve Austin to speak for himself in promos after hearing Steve do commentary on a match and originally the Million Dollar Man spoke for Austin and Austin wasn’t to speak in promos. He also said he heard the Rock backstage refer to himself in the 3rd person playing around and Russo told him that he should start doing that in promos along with his catchphrases he was only using in the locker room at the time while joking around with the other wrestlers. So basically Russo has claimed that he was responsible the new popularity of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock as it was him who told them what to do and they got over. Then in Kayfabe Commentary’s YouShoot Live someone said that he takes responsibility for the Rock and Austin careers becoming so big and Russo said “I’ve never said I was responsible for Rock and Austin being the biggest stars in wrestling bro”. But despite all his bullshit and just being a all out twat he still was the head writer of my favourite WWE shows I watched from the age of 15-16yrs old (when he became head writer in 97).
I understand that a lot of people aren't a big fan of Vince Russo, but the one thing that you have to respect that he always wanted to push younger talent.
Why do you have to respect that? When did the “younger talent” he pushed draw money? When did any successful wrestling org push young talent into money drawing positions?
Eh, he only did so because he had no intention of really using them as pro wrestlers. Just pieces in his Jerry Springer soap opera shows.
@@KHLB516Chris Benoit Chris Jericho Eddie Guerrero
@@KHLB516You can't be serious? 😂😂
Thankfully that young up and comer Vince Russo got a run with the world title.
Undertaker being a kayfabe deadhead is great 😂
😂😂😂
Russo, as much as his work was mostly a dumpster fire, did actually have a legit talent; he could hot shot. He was very good at shock TV, in so much as that's a skill. He could have been used for short term hotshotting, then pushed out the door.
How many “bros” do you think where in that letter to Linda?
Outside of stone cold and the rock I’d argue WCW had bigger star power in the 90’s/early 00’s. Wasted almost all of it
Idk attitude era was my favorite and when he was in wcw was my favorite wcw .... i always liked the edgy crash tv style russo brought in both companies