Vince Russo

[cabbageboy 0]

So wait up. Raw goes from USA to TNN and loses damn near a full point that they never got back. If TNN had the same clearance then how can this be easily explained? Did people simply refuse to watch what was then a yokel station?

 

It should be noted that Russo was not really to blame for stuff like Benoit, Eddie, and Co. leaving. I guess on some level he was responsible for Goldberg's arm injury, but GB himself was kind of a moron for punching through glass. Bret being hurt and retiring can't be blamed on Russo really. Wanting to put the belt on Tank Abbott? That can be blamed on Russo.

 

To some extent I agree with Russo that belts are props, but that doesn't mean they should be disrespected. Russo would have titles change hands so much it was confusing and nothing got over. The title is there to get someone over, but he never gave guys like Booker a chance to get over since he'd job the title off him before he could do anything.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

When Russo was interviewed by RD Reynolds(which you can find at http://www.wrestlecrap.com/wrestlecrapradio.html) he said that his idea was to put the belt on Tank because it was something differant and unexpected. While I can appreciate the concept....a good, built up story will pop the numbers better than "oh, what kind of wacky hijinks will happen next?". At least, I think so

[Guest Mos_Def]

His initial WCW stuff was actually better than people give him credit. 2000 is when everything fell apart, but WCW was a mess from top-to-bottom.

Vince Russo's reign in WCW saw some of the worst television in wrestling history;

 

A 32-man WCW title tournament that featured almost nothing but screwjobs and interference in every match, and a tournament final that was ruined by pointless overbooking.

 

Halloween Havoc '99 saw swerves for no reason other than to surprise people, for example Brad Armstrong beating the hot-out-of-the-gate Berlyn, and a pointless and meaningless attempt at a worked shoot with Hulk Hogan laying down for Sting, and then ending the night with an apprent title change only to reverse it the next night, which led into the aforementioned disaster of a title tournament

 

Mayhem '99 was a terrible PPV with mind-numbingly stupid booking, stipulations that were broken, and gimmickry for no reason other than to have gimmicks.

 

Starrcade '99 was another disaster, with some insipid booking and a boring and pointless rehash of Montreal, that people crapped on.

 

And let's not talk about Russo's second run in 2000, because only the biggest Russo fans and Russo himself can defend that disaster.

 

Well, this certainly reads like an unbiased, objective review of Russo's initial WCW run...Eh, I thought the "powers that be" angle was pretty good. I remember his WCW run, in '99, being a mixed bag but his critics want to make him out to be a walking wrestling apocolypse so I'm going to lay low on that.

 

Going back to the topic, its comical listening to the WWE spin and minimize his contributions in the late-'90s. Especially somebody like JBL who damn near owes his career to Russo. Russo od'ing on ECW tapes and the pop culture shows of the moment was the right tonic for a company on the ropes. I had more fun watching his 97-98 television than perhaps any other run of wrestling shows ever. Shit was crazy exciting and it drove old timers like Cornette and Ross nuts.

 

Russo definitely fell off tho. His ego was his own worst enemy but you cant deny that his writing fueled the WWF renaissance.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

His initial WCW stuff was actually better than people give him credit. 2000 is when everything fell apart, but WCW was a mess from top-to-bottom.

Vince Russo's reign in WCW saw some of the worst television in wrestling history;

 

A 32-man WCW title tournament that featured almost nothing but screwjobs and interference in every match, and a tournament final that was ruined by pointless overbooking.

 

Halloween Havoc '99 saw swerves for no reason other than to surprise people, for example Brad Armstrong beating the hot-out-of-the-gate Berlyn, and a pointless and meaningless attempt at a worked shoot with Hulk Hogan laying down for Sting, and then ending the night with an apprent title change only to reverse it the next night, which led into the aforementioned disaster of a title tournament

 

Mayhem '99 was a terrible PPV with mind-numbingly stupid booking, stipulations that were broken, and gimmickry for no reason other than to have gimmicks.

 

Starrcade '99 was another disaster, with some insipid booking and a boring and pointless rehash of Montreal, that people crapped on.

 

And let's not talk about Russo's second run in 2000, because only the biggest Russo fans and Russo himself can defend that disaster.

 

Well, this certainly reads like an unbiased, objective review of Russo's initial WCW run...

Defend that nonsensical booking, then.

[Guest Mos_Def]

Im not going to get too deep into this. However, I did a cursory search of WCW PPV's and came up with this review of WCW Mayhem from this guy named John from Rajah.

 

...."It (WCW Mayhem) was the first PPV in which Vince & Ed set the matches up and then booked and to my surprise it wasn’t that bad. It was much better than any WCW PPV stretching back all the way to Slamboree in May but it still wasn’t better than Spring Stampede which was probably the PPV of the year in the big two. The entire card was not great by any means but it had a few good matches, some intriguing moments and overall it was fine with me cause the crap was short while the good parts went longer."

http://oratory.rajah.com/index.php?archive=1282

 

Not to say he's 100% right, but he's somewhat level-headed and not getting all dramatic throwing around the most damming adjectives he can think of...Again, I remember the "Powers that Be" angle being interesting and Nitro's as a whole werent bad. I didnt order their PPV's so I cant vouch but you seem to have a vendetta so we'll just agree to disagree.

 

What I dont get is how when people diss Russo they try to forget Austin/McMahon, Raw is War '97-98 and all the good shit he did. Thats what misses me. When people talk about Bill Watts they always start reminiscingover his mid-south shit. THey dont immediately jump to his lame ass WCW run. Perspective.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Not to say he's 100% right, but he's somewhat level-headed and not getting all dramatic throwing around the most damming adjectives he can think of...Again, I remember the "Powers that Be" angle being interesting and Nitro's as a whole werent bad. I didnt order their PPV's so I cant vouch but you seem to have a vendetta so we'll just agree to disagree.

 

What I dont get is how when people diss Russo they try to forget Austin/McMahon, Raw is War '97-98 and all the good shit he did. Thats what misses me. When people talk about Bill Watts they always start reminiscingover his mid-south shit. THey dont immediately jump to his lame ass WCW run. Perspective.

Russo's nonsense deserves the most damning adjectives. I don't have a vendetta, but if it makes you feel better go ahead and think that.

 

Nobody ever said Russo didn't have a hand in some of the biggest angles or storylines in WWE's boom period. But that does not excuse the horrendous things he did in WCW. Just because Russo, or Watts, or anyone else, had a hot period, that does not excuse when they fucked up big time. Even the biggest Watts fans accept that his tenure in WCW was a disaster. Doesn't seem like Russo fans, or Russo himself, can do the same.

[cabbageboy 0]

Okay, one second here. Do you guys not even remember the WCW stuff from roughly May till Oct. when Russo arrived? Now THAT shit was truly the worst wrestling I've ever seen. Nitro was 3 hours of unholy hell, truly awful and pointless angles, stuff that made no sense, angles that never had a payoff (Hummer), no good matches, and what's worse it was FUCKING BORING.

 

Let's face it, Russo didn't revive the company. But at least his crazed nonsense sparked my interest during the Powers That Be. At least those 3 hours of Nitro weren't a horribly boring place in hell.

 

Also, the Sullivan crap that following Russo in 2000 is a lot worse, and while it didn't have as many awful angles as the Nash period it was possibly even more boring.

 

Of the shitty WCW booking periods Russo's initial run is a distant 3rd to the Nash era and also the Sullivan 2000 era.

[Guest Mos_Def]

Okay, one second here. Do you guys not even remember the WCW stuff from roughly May till Oct. when Russo arrived? Now THAT shit was truly the worst wrestling I've ever seen. Nitro was 3 hours of unholy hell, truly awful and pointless angles, stuff that made no sense, angles that never had a payoff (Hummer), no good matches, and what's worse it was FUCKING BORING.

 

Let's face it, Russo didn't revive the company. But at least his crazed nonsense sparked my interest during the Powers That Be. At least those 3 hours of Nitro weren't a horribly boring place in hell.

 

Also, the Sullivan crap that following Russo in 2000 is a lot worse, and while it didn't have as many awful angles as the Nash period it was possibly even more boring.

 

Of the shitty WCW booking periods Russo's initial run is a distant 3rd to the Nash era and also the Sullivan 2000 era.

 

 

Agreed. WCW was a mess when he showed up in Oct. '99. The level of suck that WCW reached during that summer was almost mythical...Master P, Hogan, Concerts, Demon...ext. I still maintain that Russo was doing a good job in reviving that company during his initial run considering how fucked up that place was. Shit was hideous.

 

Of course Sullivan's shit was worse in 2000. I still cant forget that Yappa Pi strap bullshit...That said, I cant let Russo off the hook for the shit he booked that year.

[Guest Mos_Def]

Okay, one second here. Do you guys not even remember the WCW stuff from roughly May till Oct. when Russo arrived? Now THAT shit was truly the worst wrestling I've ever seen. Nitro was 3 hours of unholy hell, truly awful and pointless angles, stuff that made no sense, angles that never had a payoff (Hummer), no good matches, and what's worse it was FUCKING BORING.

 

Let's face it, Russo didn't revive the company. But at least his crazed nonsense sparked my interest during the Powers That Be. At least those 3 hours of Nitro weren't a horribly boring place in hell.

 

Also, the Sullivan crap that following Russo in 2000 is a lot worse, and while it didn't have as many awful angles as the Nash period it was possibly even more boring.

 

Of the shitty WCW booking periods Russo's initial run is a distant 3rd to the Nash era and also the Sullivan 2000 era.

 

 

Agreed. WCW was a mess when he showed up in Oct. '99. The level of suck that WCW reached during that summer was almost mythical...Master P, Hogan, Concerts, Demon...ext. I still maintain that Russo was doing a good job in reviving that company during his initial run considering how fucked up that place was. Shit was hideous.

 

Of course Sullivan's shit was worse in 2000. I still cant forget that Yappa Pi strap bullshit...That said, I cant let Russo off the hook for the shit he booked that year.