Does this make you like HHH more or less?

[Guest Downhome]

I don't know how trustworthy this site is, but here we go anyhow. I got it from WrestlingPlanet, sooooo...

 

"Many claim Vince Russo was not hired in fear of him publishing a book, which was tenatively titled: "Welcome To Bizzaroland: Screw Pine Valley, this 'Rope Opera' is for Men!" Apparently the book was a lot more positive to those he worked with in WWE, including Vince McMahon, then negative as many believed it would be.

 

When Russo was re-hired, which many interpreted as a "panic move" by Vince McMahon, he was given the role of creative director. This basically meaning he would be above Brian Gewirtz and Paul Heyman, the current lead RAW & SmackDown guys, but would still have his work approved by Vince and Stephanie McMahon.

 

When he was asked to present his storyline ideas to the higher-ups in WWE, many took them bad and decided to demote his status in the company because of it. Apparently Stephanie McMahon, with influence from Triple H, convinced "daddy" to change his mind about letting Vince Russo play ring-leader in the circus called WWE.

 

One of Russo's bigger ideas involved another "invasion" this time led by Eric Bischoff, Goldberg, Bret Hart, and Mick Foley. The general consensus was that the invasion would be in a shoot fashion, as if the new "force" were taking over one of the two shows. When Russo came up with that plan a while ago, HBK was going to be part of it, but obviously that wouldn't work now with him already returning to the company.

 

Whether or not rumors of Russo quitting WWE already are legitimate or not, which many insist is nothing more than a rumor, his role in the company is not what it was originally planned to be. As of right now he is a mere "consultant." McMahon is giving the current writing team a unknown amount of time to turn things around. If they fail, apparently Russo will then be given the green light to try and turn things around."

 

...I don't know if they got the news from somewhere else, if it's speculation, or what, but take it for what it's worth. Anyhow, does that news make you like HHH more, or less? Who do you agree with more, HHH or Russo, two of the "smarks" least favorite guys ever?

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

I think when it comes to greater and lesser evils, Russo is the biggest and worst evil in the industry.

 

At the same time, I don't blame HHH for this. Nor do I blame him for all the guys who are speculated as "being held down." If Vince was smart enough to remove Stephanie from the writers' chair, all this crap (both Stephanie's crappy stories and all this Smark speculation of HHH pulling strings backstage) would disappear.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

It was taken from the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter. It makes me pissed at HHH and Stephanie, because it is obvious they are only looking out for themselves.

[Guest dreamer420]

i'm not an unjustified hater of the guy so my feelings are the same.

[Guest Downhome]

It was taken from the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter.

Thank you, a friend just gave me this link so I wasn't sure where it came from!

[Guest TheSmarkzone]

HHH is a scumbag, but Russo is a bigger scumbag. So I guess I'll side with HHH.

[Guest Nezbyte]

HHH is a scumbag, but Russo is a bigger scumbag. So I guess I'll side with HHH.

He's a scum bag for shit he does at work? Fuck that, i bet he's a blast to hang with and be pals to.

[Guest Dangerous A]

According to this weeks Observer, Russo had a meeting with the WWE writing team and Vince. While NO ONE really know specifics of what happened, there are 3 versions of what came out of the meeting.

 

Version 1) Russo's ideas were so bad that he buried himself at the meeting.

 

Version 2) Stephanie buried him.

 

Version 3) was that it became obvious at the meeting that Russo hadn't been watching tv and wasn't familiar with the characters or storylines, and his ideas were considered out of touch for the characters, but not necessarily thea he himself was out of touch with wrestling, only current storylines.

 

It was said by that Russo himself admitted not having paid attention to the product at the meeting, which would lend credence to versions 1 and 3.

 

 

Make of this what you will. I personally would go with version 1 or 3 because they make the most sense. Version 2, while it could be true, is more racy and sensational given Steph's stance with the company, so people like wrestlingplanet.com and the Torch are more likely to run with Version 2.

 

Just thought I'd add a little more insight to this is all.

[Guest TheHulkster]

I have to take The Game's side on this one, Russo would've killed the WWE with a stupid angle filled with people who are either too expensive or can't work, leaving all the up and coming developmental wrestlers and the wrestler who can actually work languishing in the midcard. I agree with him on the Brock Lesnar knockout thing too. Call me crazy, but I thought it was a stupid and unrealistic idea.

[Guest goodolemr]

I can't take Stephanie McMahon and Triple H's side in this. They have proven themselves to be part of the problem every step of the way.

 

As long as Steph retains booking power and Triple H retains political power, things in the WWE will remain the same.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Who's to say Steph and HHH have a side. Russo was perfectly capable of burying himself. Plus , Vince was at the meeting. He probrably asked Steph and the writers what they thought, which is where they would bury him, but the point is Vince was there and last I checked he was a grown man who was a billionaire so I am sure he wasn't thrilled with what he heard either.

 

Bottom Line: Vince was there, so it's on him if he lets his daughter and the writing team have influence his decisions.

[Guest Austin3164life]

Wasn't it with Vince Russo that we saw the "Attitude" boom? Sure, 1999 wasn't a fantastic year in terms of produc, but it was by far their most profitable year. So far, in a year which Triple H's been supposedly pulling strings, the ratings are lackluster. I'd side with Russo.......

[Guest Downhome]

The reason that I feel as if there is something more to this story, is simply because they demoted him over ONE IDEA. Call me crazy, but if I went to the trouble to hire someone, especially a former employee who DID in fact help the company a few years before, I certainly wouldn't just demote him after he told me one idea that I didn't like. That in itself just seems weird to me, and just f'n smells of stink of some sort.

[Guest Dangerous A]

If you want actual money numbers as far as Russo's Attitude era, here it is.

 

In 1998-1999 the final year Russo was with WWF, the company grossed 251.5 million. It's best business year ever, even thought ratings had declined on Raw, was 2000-2001, which grossed $456 million, and the company's actual peak of the modern era, WM X-7, which grossed $42.59 in one night, occured nearly 2 years after Russo had left the company. Those numbers are from the Observer. Just had to clear up the whole "99 was the WWF's most lucrative year" myth is all.

[Guest M Nyland]

Well....I take neither side..... Vince must have realized that Stephanie was doing SOMETHING wrong...or else he wouldn't have brought in Russo...and Russo just went and really f'ed up...making Vince go back to listening to what his beloved daughter was saying...

 

That.....and Vince didn't want to see Russo's book...

 

HHH - "Vince...did Russo say Angle was supposed to win the title......that's the funniest thing I've heard since that time you told me about Jericho winning the World Title..."

[Guest the pinjockey]

In this case if the stories are true then I side with Russo on this one. To chop the guy off at the knees before letting him impliment an idea when the present writers aren't exactly keeping me on the edge of my seat is just stupid. It is not like his Tank Abbott idea if he came up to Vince and said "My first angle is to put the title on BuhBuh Dudley tomorrow" then I could see Vince just telling him to go home.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Actually the book had little or nothing to do with it since Russo hadn't even started the damn thing. He didn't even have a book deal. It's harder than you think to get a wrestling book deal. There was a guy who worked under Vince in the late 80's who threatened to write a tell all book and Vince gave him his best wishes. The guy was never able to get his book off the ground cause the publishers didn't care. Just like they probrably don't now. Sorry to say but the mainstream media's perception of wrestling right now is that it is not cool anymore. Yesterday's news. WWE needs to get them to not think that. Good luck.

[Guest gwf0704]

I never do like it when active wrestlers book matches. Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, Disco Inferno, HHH, Jeff Jarrett. It just makes decisions look fishy. I have no problem when a wrestler retires and books matches. Thus with that simple rule, Russo...

[Guest jester]

Ultimately, nobody really knows went went down except the people in that room. But it just wouldn't be a message board if we didn't speculate. Here's my feelings:

 

If Russo was coming up with one bad idea, it was not right to demote him over it. Unless he was being a whiny bitch about it.

 

If Russo came up with several bad ideas and showed a general cluelessness about the state of the wrestling industry, demoting him or firing him out right make sense.

 

If Stephanie was behind his demotion, she is in charge of writing so she should get that say. I would only hope that she gave Russo a chance.

 

If Triple H had anything to do with him getting demoted/canned, that's bad no matter if Russo was proposing. I don't care if Russo had an amnesia angle where Rock eventually comes to believe he's Brother Love, Warrior and Savage get brough back for twice the salary of everyone else. I don't care if his ideas were worse than that. Triple H is a wrestler, and he should not have that kind of say. Even if it resulted in the right decision, it was made for the wrong reasons.

 

That is, if the story is true. And like I said, only the people in that room know. They ain't talking, and if they did they probably would give conflicting versions anyway.

 

jester

[Guest Kid Kablam]

If you want actual money numbers as far as Russo's Attitude era, here it is.

 

In 1998-1999 the final year Russo was with WWF, the company grossed 251.5 million. It's best business year ever, even thought ratings had declined on Raw, was 2000-2001, which grossed $456 million, and the company's actual peak of the modern era, WM X-7, which grossed $42.59 in one night, occured nearly 2 years after Russo had left the company. Those numbers are from the Observer. Just had to clear up the whole "99 was the WWF's most lucrative year" myth is all.

That's a good point, but Russo started things rolling and got people to notice. I'm not saying that Russo is a great writer, but he proved that attitude worked. Looking at Russo's idea, I think that the problem was that Russo brought up yet another "Revolutionary" angle, and let's face it revolutionary angles have proved a rather stale product lately. I think that Vince balked at yet another Night to Remember(like the night WCW and ECW hooked up. Personally I sort of liked the idea, but I think that Russo brought up the proposal at the wrong time. As for backstage politics, asmuch as I dislike HHH, I believe that his strings pulling is mainly confined to his standing in the ring. I mean, if HHH really asked Vince for as much as everyone suspects, I think Vince would have told him to fuck off by now. Hunter is smart, he's not going to wear out his welcome.

[Guest Kid Kablam]

And Kudos to DangerousA for using actual hard data to present an argument.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Again, I'll reiterate.

 

 

There is more evidence that Russo buried himself than Steph or HHH being behind it. If you are just answering the original post, then fine. But to just dismiss Russo fucking himself over just because it seems more "newsworthy" to pin it on HHH seems really ignoramus-like.

 

Oh well. I guess I'm just ramming my head against a wall when I try to bring some knowledge to the table instead of just going with the flow of RAMPANT NET SPECULATION!

[Guest Dangerous A]

BTW, thank you Kid Kablam.

 

 

I think the extent of credit I'll give Russo for the success of 2000-01 is that the WWF(E) is still using his template of "crash tv". Other than that, it was the writers who came up with all the fill in the blanks parts.

[Guest Kid Kablam]

That's kind of what I meant by "He proved attitude worked. I sometimes use attitude and crash tv as synonymous terms. Russo came up with the model, and the model proved successful

[Guest phoenixrising]

I never do like it when active wrestlers book matches. Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, Disco Inferno, HHH, Jeff Jarrett.

Since when does HHH book matches?

[Guest M Nyland]

Since when does HHH book matches?

Since he and Steph starting screwing............alledgedly

[Guest Kid Kablam]

Again, I think that while Triple H is potent backstage, he's not A) as powerful as everyone says, or B)as overzealous as everyone says. He's a smart guy, he knows when someone presents a legitimate threat, and when he should back off. I think this comment on his booking kinda of shows how exagerated his role is.

[Guest Kid Kablam]

I never do like it when active wrestlers book matches. Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, Disco Inferno, HHH, Jeff Jarrett. It just makes decisions look fishy. I have no problem when a wrestler retires and books matches. Thus with that simple rule, Russo...

whoops, forgot the quote in my last post

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

"If you want actual money numbers as far as Russo's Attitude era, here it is.

 

In 1998-1999 the final year Russo was with WWF, the company grossed 251.5 million. It's best business year ever, even thought ratings had declined on Raw, was 2000-2001, which grossed $456 million, and the company's actual peak of the modern era, WM X-7, which grossed $42.59 in one night, occured nearly 2 years after Russo had left the company. Those numbers are from the Observer. Just had to clear up the whole "99 was the WWF's most lucrative year" myth is all. "

 

Nice research DA. For all "smarks" act all attuned to the business, I've found most of them don't know anything about it, thinking that weekly TV ratings are a barometer that can be used to juge the value of the company and how much money they are pulling in.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

This is what I call a catch 22.

 

Russo may have pushed something other than Taker and HHH. Thats a definite plus.

 

Russo also sucks and I'm glad hes not in power.

 

It comes down to..........

 

HHH shouldn't have ANY SAY IN THIS.

 

Fuck him.