Vince Russo Interview

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Phantom and Sir Adam talk about Vince Russo sitting in their very chairs, some 10 years ago doing his radio show called "Vincent's World of Wrestling". The hosts hate the radio station that they are on, WGBB and Russo even comments that WGBB sucks.

 

The hosts introduce Russo as the man working with NWA-TNA currently, and put over Russo doing tons of things for this business.

 

RUSSO TALKS ABOUT GOLDBERG, AND HIS CAGE INCIDENT

 

Phantom asks Russo how he has made it so far in the wrestling business, and Russo commented that his best time in the wrestling business was his radio show 10 years ago, saying it was the most fun he ever had in the business. Phantom talked about the last time we saw Russo was when he was speared through a cage by Bill Goldberg in late 2000. Russo went on to discuss the story he never told anyone. Russo stated that a few months earlier, he had a cage match with Ric Flair, saying he'll be honest, that he didn't belong in the ring. He didn't want to be in the ring, didn't belong in the ring, and the only reason he went on TV was because WCW was putting such pressure on him for ratings, if you want something done, you got to do it yourself. Russo even commented that it had nothing to do with ego. Russo talked about how Flair gave him a Russian Legsweep, he didn't duck his head, and he got a concussion. "I went out there some more times, and I kept getting nailed in the head so many times, I was in bad shape."

 

Russo goes back to the Goldberg cage incident, saying they rehearsed that 15 times during the day. Russo kept telling Goldberg, don't knock me on my head, I got a concussion. He told Goldberg 100 times to not put him on the steel barricade. Goldberg told him he would place him right in the aisle with no problem. Russo then obviously nailed his head, even though he was wearing a helmet at the time, he was knocked out. Russo stated that he didn't have a clue what Bret Hart was going through when he had his concussion, until Russo got the pains. Russo said the concussion screws with your head, and it wasn't fun. The last 5 or so months of WCW television, he was sitting at home with post concussion syndrome, and it wasn't any fun.

 

Phantom asks Russo if he feared for his livelihood, because his brain is everything because he's a writer. Russo said that people racked on Bret Hart, saying he was playing with it, bla bla bla, but Russo says that when you take a blow to the head like he did, it plays with your head, physically and mentally. Russo says that incident was the nail in the coffin, repeating that he had nothing to do with WCW for their last 5 months of TV. Russo comments that people can say whatever they want, but he lived through it. Russo says that he can look in the mirror and say that he did everything possible to make WCW work.

 

RUSSO TALKS ABOUT THE CRITICS AND HIS RATINGS TRACK RECORD

 

Sir Adam talks about how Russo is unfairly criticized, saying not everything that Russo did worked out, but not everything Vince McMahon does works out either. Russo says that people can say whatever they want, but when he was writing television for the WWF at the time, there were two nights they did over a 7.0 in the ratings. Where is the rating now? 3.7. "CASE CLOSED" Russo screams!!!!!! Russo asked where all those fans went, they didn't disappear off the face of the earth, for whatever reason, they stopped watching the product! Russo comments that people in the business, who criticize him and say things about him, don't like to stop and say, WELL, Vince Russo was one of the best things for this business, when he was writing, the show was over a 7, now where is the rating at! Russo says that for whatever reason, people just like to criticize him and trash him, but he just let's the history speak for himself! HOW TRUE IS THAT STATEMENT INTERNET FANS!

 

RUSSO EXPLAINS BISCHOFF IDEA

 

Phantom moves on to WWE.com announcing that Vince Russo has returned to WWE in a writing capacity, then the writing team didn't like Russo's stuff, then Russo is in NWATNA. Phantom wonders why WWE.com, a company website, would announce Russo as back if he wasn't locked in just yet. Russo says that he had been speaking with Vince McMahon for three or four weeks, prior to meeting the writing staff. Russo asks the hosts if they saw what happened on Monday night?! Russo says that Vince McMahon and all his little people around him can put whatever spin they want to on the situation.... they've been talking to Bischoff for a year..bla bla bla that's bulls*** Russo says....because Eric Bischoff coming on RAW in the way he did was the EXACT same story he laid out to the creative team and Vince McMahon. Russo added the small bit that he said CONSULTANT, McMahon just added "General Manager".

 

Russo laid out what we saw with Shane McMahon, telling everybody what WWE will do. "Shane McMahon smells a rat, smells a rat, Vince McMahon says Shane your just jealous, and Shane will be the big babyface in the deal. Russo says that it WAS Vince McMahon's idea to put Stephanie McMahon back on television, even stating that he tried to talk McMahon out of bringing Stephanie back to TV, because the fans don't want to see her, at least for now, so early. Russo says that he laid out a two year program deal with Bischoff.

 

RUSSO TALKS ABOUT ALMOST SIGNING A CONTRACT, AND MEETING THE WRITING TEAM

 

So Vince McMahon wants to make Russo back with the company official. McMahon and Russo meet at Vince's house, and they discuss what they want to do. McMahon suggests that Russo just show up at King of the Ring. Russo is against the idea, saying he should meet with the writing staff first and the staff should know Russo is there again. McMahon says OK, no problem. Russo mentions that Stephanie was in California at the time, they'll do a conference call. Russo says he walked into a room, there's Paul Heymen, Michael Hayes, and Russo swears, there were 4 kids in there that were about 25-28 years old. HERE IS THE 1st BEST LINE OF THE INTERVIEW - "My first instinct was....if the stock holders of this company knew who the creative geniuses were here...they would... (you basically know what he was saying).

 

Russo explains that Vince McMahon lays out Russo's idea with Eric Bischoff to the writing staff, then McMahon leaves the room and Russo is stuck in the room with the writers for about 7 hours. Russo says that after he left the room after 7 or so hours, he knew in his heart that it wouldn't work. It was a totally different set-up, Russo would have had to go through layers upon layers to get his ideas accepted. He knew it wouldn't work. Vince goes on to say that there were some people in that room that were absolutely clueless, in his professional opinion. (How true is that!) Russo and McMahon agree nothing is going to work, McMahon sends Russo a "jobber contract" where Russo says he wasn't going to be an idiot and sign. Russo wanted to go to NWATNA, and be hands on.

 

Russo went on to talk about working with veterans, Jerry Lynn (Russo said the reason Lynn is not at the top right now, is because he must have pissed somebody off. Russo put over Jerry well), the young guys at NWA-TNA, the s****y Goldust and Booker T angle that was laid out to him. Russo said the angle with Booker T and Goldust, is they are not going to the left, not going to the right, and it's old crap that won't work...Russo adds that what we will see is going to be drizzlin' s***! Great line!

 

STORYLINES, NWA-TNA, GOLDUST & BIG SHOW, VINCE MCMAHON AND STEPHANIE

 

Russo even commented once that WWE could sign Jesus Christ himself, nothing will change because if the writers don't know how to lay out a storyline, and make it interesting and have a reason, and have a climax, ain't nothing going to change. Russo says that in his professional opinion, the writers are incapable of doing that (that's 100% fact). Russo said that WWE is doing 1980 cookie-cutter wrestling, and the fans watching the show know exactly what is going to happen next. Russo says that WWE has insulted people's intelligence for so long, and no-body likes that. That's what makes NWATNA so great and different, NWA can actually tell stories, WWE can't right now. Russo adds that he was watching a few weeks ago, and there was Goldust standing up against the 7 foot 500 pound Big Show, and nails him over the head with a plastic toy! You got to be kidding me! I agree.

 

A caller asks about Bischoff and Stephanie, saying nothing is believable now. Russo says that it's human nature, it's not Vince McMahon. Stephanie McMahon is his daughter, Vince cannot look at his daughter and be objective, which includes Stephanie being head of creative, and being on TV. Vince cannot look at Steph and criticize, because it's his daughter, Russo talks about. Russo repeats that he fought against Stephanie being on TV, but it didn't work. Another caller asks who backstage has Vince McMahon's ear the most....Russo says he doesn't know, but after spending sometime with Vince McMahon, Russo thinks McMahon is clueless, he doesn't know what direction to go in, and McMahon is just lost because of his writers and everything. Russo adds that the Vince McMahon he worked for 5 years ago is a different animal that what he worked with a month ago.

 

Russo stated another great line, saying when he worked for McMahon, he didn't have his head up McMahon's ass. Russo says the writers now have their heads 10 feet up Vince's ass. McMahon needs somebody to tell him when something sucks, that's one of McMahon's biggest problems right now.

 

Russo talks about his book. Russo said that he is going through with the book. He kind of wrote the book out of boredom, he was running his own business for a while, but on his down-time, he decided to start writing stuff and soon enough, he had a book. Russo adds that it's just about his WWF years, and he has a story in his book about the Bret Hart Survivor Series deal that will knock people's socks off. Russo says that when he reads stuff on the situation, he just laughs because a lot of people have no clue about what really happened, because he was around it 24/7. Russo talked a little bit about other things, ending with saying he wants to help NWA-TNA be successful and he wants to make NWA successful for his friend, Jeff Jarrett.

 

 

1wrestling.com

 

Russo rules:)

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

"Russo even commented once that WWE could sign Jesus Christ himself, nothing will change because if the writers don't know how to lay out a storyline."

 

I'd like to think that J.C. could pop a high rating for at least 3 weeks before the creative team fucked it up by turning him heel.

 

 

 

And I agree with his assessment of feuds.

 

WWE hasn't done an interesting one since Rock/Jericho.

 

And that ended a half year ago.

 

Meanwhile...Lynn/Styles is the best thing going right now.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I agree with a lot of what was said, but he's knocking the other writers on the same thing he absolutley sucks at as well. It's a bit of a sad read as the guy seems to legit think everything he does is 100% great with no faults what so ever.

 

Personally, I think the unknown booker (at least to me) of 2000 was easily the best of the last decade. That was an awesome year and all of a sudden, that magic was just gone. Oh well, get me Al Snow eating his own dog, Sting's stuntman falling off the turner tron and HHH's dog being a main focus of Wrestlemania's headlining match. Awesome.

[Guest J*ingus]

Dissection time.

 

Russo commented that his best time in the wrestling business was his radio show 10 years ago, saying it was the most fun he ever had in the business.

 

So if everything since then has been downhill, why doesn't he go back to doing a radio show?

 

Russo stated that a few months earlier, he had a cage match with Ric Flair, saying he'll be honest, that he didn't belong in the ring. He didn't want to be in the ring, didn't belong in the ring,

 

So if he knew it was such a bad idea, why did he do it?

 

and the only reason he went on TV was because WCW was putting such pressure on him for ratings, if you want something done, you got to do it yourself.

 

Yeah, if you want a main event cage match with Ric Flair to get done, you got to put a skinny non-trained writer in as his opponent.

 

Russo even commented that it had nothing to do with ego.

 

Um, why was a SKINNY NON-TRAINED WRITER, and one with questionable charisma at that, casting himself as the company's top heel? In comparison, Vince McMahon has great facial expressions, a booming voice, big ol' biceps, has taken some nasty bumps, and actually owns the company that his storyline character has power in.

 

Russo talked about how Flair gave him a Russian Legsweep, he didn't duck his head, and he got a concussion.

 

Learning to tuck your head is the absolute first thing that any wrestling school teaches their students to do while taking bumps. Good to see that Russo was such an avid student of the business.

 

Russo kept telling Goldberg, don't knock me on my head, I got a concussion. He told Goldberg 100 times to not put him on the steel barricade. Goldberg told him he would place him right in the aisle with no problem. Russo then obviously nailed his head, even though he was wearing a helmet at the time, he was knocked out.

 

This would be the same Bill Goldberg that gave Bret Hart a massive career-ending concussion, and I think it was around this time that Goldberg had fractured Scott Steiner's orbital bones with a punch. Yeah Russo, go ahead and count on him to take care of you.

 

Russo says that incident was the nail in the coffin, repeating that he had nothing to do with WCW for their last 5 months of TV.

 

I could tell, since the last 5 months was actually better than what preceeded it.

 

Russo says that he can look in the mirror and say that he did everything possible to make WCW work.

 

-WCW World Champion, David Arquette

-WCW World Champion, Vince Russo

-WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Madusa

-WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Ed Ferrera

-WCW Hardcore Champion, Eric Bischoff

-lead heel in the company, Vince Russo

-lead heel in the company, Bill Goldberg

-real father of Stacey Keibler's baby, Vince Russo

-victim of Russo's head-shaving, Ric Flair

-tag-team partner of the Insane Clown Posse, the Great Muta

-fat chick thriller, Mike Awesome

-that 70's guy, Mike Awesome

-designated Hogan job boy, Billy Kidman

-scheming slut who turned on her partner, Madusa

-scheming slut who turned on her partner, Kimberly Page

-scheming slut who turned on her partner, Stacey Keibler

-Judy Bagwell on a pole match

-1st Blood DNA match

-Graveyard match

 

Are we all REAL sure that Russo wasn't actively trying to put WCW into the grave?

 

Russo says that people can say whatever they want, but when he was writing television for the WWF at the time, there were two nights they did over a 7.0 in the ratings. Where is the rating now? 3.7. "CASE CLOSED" Russo screams!!!!!!

 

If I'm not terribly mistaken, didn't the WWF's ratings keep going up after Russo left in mid-1999 and in fact peak in mid-2000? And the buyrates for PPV kept going up even longer. Meanwhile, when Russo wasn't writing WCW they were drawing over a 5.0 on some nights. Where is the rating now? Oh, yeah...

 

Vince Russo was one of the best things for this business

 

Just ask him, he'll tell you.

 

and Russo swears, there were 4 kids in there that were about 25-28 years old.

 

Um, how old was Russo when he first started writing the show back around '96? Steven Spielberg was 27 when he made Jaws. Age has nothing to do with talent.

 

"My first instinct was....if the stock holders of this company knew who the creative geniuses were here...they would... (you basically know what he was saying).

 

The creative genius behind the company could be a fat cocaine dealer named Tony for all the stockbrokers cared, it depends on whether or not they're making money.

 

Russo says that WWE has insulted people's intelligence for so long, and no-body likes that.

 

Outside of maybe All Japan or similar feds, when has wrestling EVER had anything to do with intelligence?

 

That's what makes NWATNA so great and different, NWA can actually tell stories, WWE can't right now. Russo adds that he was watching a few weeks ago, and there was Goldust standing up against the 7 foot 500 pound Big Show, and nails him over the head with a plastic toy!

 

Because God knows that a midget masturbating in a trash can tells a better wrestling story than one guy hitting another one over the head.

 

Russo stated another great line, saying when he worked for McMahon, he didn't have his head up McMahon's ass.

 

I remember Jim Cornette's story about how Russo would hang around outside Vince's office door for hours at a time, just to pitch ideas at him and bury the other creative staff when Vince came out.

 

he has a story in his book about the Bret Hart Survivor Series deal that will knock people's socks off. Russo says that when he reads stuff on the situation, he just laughs because a lot of people have no clue about what really happened, because he was around it 24/7.

 

Both Dave Meltzer's exhaustive story covering Montreal and Russo's own words quoted in Have A Nice Day made it abundantly clear that Russo had nothing at all to do with the Survivor Series screwjob, and was oblivious to it before it happened. What can he tell us that the live backstage footage in Wrestling With Shadows couldn't?

 

 

In short, the only thing I agreed with him on was his take on Stephanie, but that's the exact same thing that every smart mark has been saying about her for the past year and a half. Anything else, Mr. Russo?

[Guest the 1inch punch]

---scheming slut who turned on her partner, Madusa

-scheming slut who turned on her partner, Kimberly Page

-scheming slut who turned on her partner, Stacey Keibler

You forgot Torrie Wilson and Daffney, and Elizabeth