It's not really debatable, because Russo and Jerry shared the book from the moment Russo came in (LATE August, so no, the Dupp Cup and Puppet in the trashcan were NOT his ideas) until mid '03 when Jerry was replaced by Jeff, and then Russo was gone entirely from October '03 until February '04, and then left again in either November or October again.
Sure, they were up and down, but overall, the quality was solid, as the weeks with decent-at-best matches were very good angle-wise, and the weeks with stupid-as-hell angles had terrific matches. I miss the team of Russo and Jerry, really. Jerry knew enough about the old-school style and how to modernize it to keep us happy work-wise, and Russo knew what it took to make an interesting product AND he had a filter (which is what he REALLY needs the most: somebody to take out the bad and keep in the good).
And, for the record, I liked the show where it was Russo's Army all night. Mike Sanders dressed as a General? Ownage. It furthered the SEX/Tradition feud, and brought it to its peak.