Guest Si82 Report post Posted June 27, 2002 Can anyone tell me which WWF and WCW Russo actually booked and how long he worked for the WWF and in what role(s)? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheDames7 Report post Posted June 27, 2002 Vince Russo used to a be a wrestling radio show host in Long Island and he would always offer ideas on the product. He eventually got the ideas of someone in the WWF and they offered him a spot writing for their magazine. He wrote his articles as Vic Venom and even appeared on camera once during Livewire as Vic. During the times where WCW was #1 in the ratings war, McMahon turned to Russo and put him in the creative team because he was that impressed with his writing. He started booking in 1998 during the era of Steve Austin. Russo wrote most of the "Attitude" angles and gained critical praise throughout the business. In October 1999, he left the WWF in the course of a weekend to take over the head booking job in WCW. Tons of politics pretty much killed his first stint and he was removed as head booker in 3 months. Many wrestlers threatened to quit the company because of who was put in charge, and thats how The Radicalz came to the WWF. 4 months of BAD WCW Booking led to Russo regaining power in WCW. This time, his ideas helped kill WCW and pretty much left everyone with the notion that Russo really wasn't responsible for the era of Attitude....but that McMahon was just a good editor. He put the world f'n title on David Arquette and made rediculous claims like "its to show that anyone could be champion". He wrote himself on camera, writing a storyline where Goldberg refused to cooperate with the script and trying to turn everything into a worked shoot. Russo ended up wrestling...becoming a world champion even, before getting a concussion and taking some time off. I don't remember if he was still around for the purchase of WCW or not, but his "legacy" in WCW is what led everyone to think that Russo wasn't that great..... Dames Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Some Guy Report post Posted June 27, 2002 I think he started booking in 97, the Bret/Austin ambulance angle is very Russonian. He liked to book very soap opera style angles with little wrestling and often never blew off or the feuds he set up were just dropped because he couldn't come up with a good ending. Russo had gone on record as saying that he doesn't think wrestling will sell, which is further proof that he really doesn't belong in the business. His WCW stint was basically a rehash of some of the things he did in WWF and possibly some of the stuff that McMahon wouldn't let him do. He reformed the nWo for the 4(?) time at the end of 99 or begining of 2000 then Bret, Goldberg, Jarrett, and Hall went down with injuries of alcohol problems for the latter and Russo was fired. The Radicals (Benoit, Eddy, Saturn, and Malenko) quit because Kevin Sullivan was the new booker, who Benoit had heat with because Benoit stole his wife and has now married her. A few others such as Kanyon, Konnan, Shane Douglas and Rey Jr. also threatened to quit but didn't. This all happened in Jan 2000 and caused Souled Out to be an absolutely horrible PPV,despite looking promising in its orignial form with Bret in the ME and 3 Jarrett/Benoit matches including a HIAC. Benoit was given the World Title on the show and quit the next day, just to clarify the timeline. Dames covered teh worked shoot shit that Russo kept doing but failed to mention teh SHOCKING SWERVES~! which got to be so rampant that if a someone didn't turn on someone else for no reason it was suprise. Kanyon was tossed of teh top of a cage trying to help out his long time friend DDP and then turned on him a few weeks later, thus killing the face momentum that Kayon had been building. DDP's wife also turned on him for no apparent reason other than to just SWERVE~! the audience. There are many examples of strange heel and face turns done by Russo, Goldberg and Sting were turned despite their protests and that tanked badly. Try to fing some of Scott Keith's articles about Russo, he can shed more light on it than I and ask Tony149. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tony149 Report post Posted June 27, 2002 You guys (Especially Dames) covered most of it. Russo started writing Raw in April 1997 (The Bret/Austin ambulance angle was his idea), he took over from the Jim Cornette lead team after the Raw from South Africa (Which many say is the worst Raw ever). Russo said he got the job after McMahon called him into a meeting where he (McMahon) had a copy of WWF Magazine in his hand and said "This is the way our product should be like." Russo gained a ton of enemies (JR and especially Jim Cornette) for his "Crash TV" style of booking and lack of wrestling. His thinking was the casual fan wants to be entertained, not seeing 30 minute matches. Which in a way he's probably right. He did tend to book a lot of references only the net fans would know. He left the WWF after McMahon told him to hire a nanny for his kids. Russo wanted to spend more time with his family since his work load doubled when Smackdown became a weekly show in 1999. Russo also felt he deserved a raise, he didn't get it, but after McMahon told him to hire a nanny, Russo decided to check his job options. Bill Busch took over as WCW V.P. in Sept. 1999, Russo, who was not under WWF contract decided to jump to WCW for a number of reasons. Mostly because he now had a contract. That sent McMahon into panic mode as he made everybody in the WWF sign a no-compete deal including Jim Johnston, the WWF music producer. His first WCW run wasn't really that bad. It wasn't until he came back with Eric Bischoff in April 2000 when he got out of control. The first R & B Nitro was well received, but things fell after that. Some say he killed WCW...In my opinion he took booked a company who was on life support. Once he was removed due to backstage politics, WCW got even worse and died in 2001. Russo stopped booking for WCW after he suffered a concussion for the second time in a matter of weeks after taking a spear from Goldberg thru Caged Heat (WCW's version of Hell In A Cell). Russo booked in the WWF from April '97-Oct. '99. His WCW runs were Oct. '99-Jan (14th? He was removed on a Friday, two days before Souled Out 2000) April 2000-Sept. 2000. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest crandamaniac Report post Posted June 27, 2002 Some Guy, your post is correct except for the fact the Sting Turn. That was done before Russo took power. But Sting didn't like it and it ultimately tanked Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Some Guy Report post Posted June 27, 2002 You're right, my bad. The Sting turn (Fall Brawl right?) was a month before Russo got there at Halloween Havoc 99 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Si82 Report post Posted June 28, 2002 Well I'd like to thank TheDames7, Some Guy and Tony 149 for the replies. Thanks guys. I knew about Russo when he was a Radio host and that he was promoted to assistant booker in 1998. So the last show he booked was Fall Brawl 2000, right? So who was booking for WCW between October 2000 and March 2001? On another note I just thought that I would point out that the April 21st 1997 Raw Is War was the first Raw I saw at home after we had cable installed and is still my favourite episode of Raw ever. I just got a copy of it yesterday actually. Anyway, thanks again guys! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tony149 Report post Posted June 28, 2002 Russo's last booked WCW PPV was Fall Brawl 2000. His last booked Nitro was sometime in early Oct. I think it was the one he wrestled Goldberg in Caged Heat (WCW's HIAC). Terry Taylor, Ed Ferrara & Johnny Ace did most of the booking from Oct. 2000-Jan. 2001. When Bischoff bought the company in 2001, Johnny Ace got full control and booked from Jan. 2001-March 2001. As we all know now, Bischoff didn't own WCW for long, as the deal broke down and Vince McMahon bought it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Some Guy Report post Posted June 28, 2002 I don't think Bischoff ever actually owned WCW. He just got control when it looked like he was going to get it. If i remeber correctly Bischoff was the one who annouced teh "Night of Champions" for the last Nitro and then Vince bought it out from under his nose that same week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest papacita Report post Posted June 29, 2002 Russo officially joined the team in April 97, but I heard that he would often give suggestions to the writers, and was apparently behind the HBK collapse in late 95. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tony149 Report post Posted June 29, 2002 It was announced that Bischoff and others had bought WCW. Brad Sigeal (Sp?) & Bischoff even had a press conference to announce the deal. Both thought the deal was done. About a month or two later, the new guy at Turner, Jamie Keller, cancelled WCW from TNT & TBS. That pretty much killed the deal, as Bischoff couldn't find another network to air WCW. Vince came back into the picture and bought WCW. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest the 1inch punch Report post Posted June 29, 2002 In the Jim Cornette Shoot Interview he says that Russo wanted an on-air role and Vince told him to fuck himself Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest dreamer420 Report post Posted June 29, 2002 i always suspect that once russo quit the wwf and went to wcw and had an on air role all the time. i figured the only reason he quit mcmahon was wcw said "you can have your own character" and we all know what happened from there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest evenflowDDT Report post Posted June 30, 2002 I think Russo's funniest/weirdest on-air soap opera role which never came to be would be his planned revelation of himself as the father of Stacy Keibler's baby. He actually wanted to continue that angle through a whole pregnancy and bring in a real baby. Silly Russo... I dunno, as bad as they were, I actually liked a lot of Russo's angles, and think WCW probably would have folded anyway, whether he booked or not. He gets way too much credit as one of the worst... dumb booking was around way before him, and will exist long after him. He's just one of the most famous "bad bookers". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest the 1inch punch Report post Posted June 30, 2002 Quick question, did u prefer Russo the guy, with Bisch, or Russo the arm and the NUYAWK accent Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest GenerationNever Report post Posted July 4, 2002 Heh. It would be funny if Russo actually wanted to impregnate Stacy for real, even though he has a family. IT'S A SHOOT, BAYBEE~! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
