Vince Russo
| Vince Russo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 24, 1961 New York City |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Vic Venom Mr. Wrestling III Vince Russo |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| Debut | 2000 |
Vince Russo (born January 24, 1961 in New York City, New York) is an American writer, known for working for American professional wrestling companies, most notably the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling and TNA Wrestling.
Pre-wrestling career
Russo came from humble beginnings in Brooklyn, New York, where he managed two video stores before becoming involved in wrestling. He closed up shop once Blockbuster started to become popular.
WWF
He wrote to WWF Magazine under the psydonm of Vic Venom and eventually from his contact, he became a writer for the World Wrestling Federation and their magazine editor, in mid-1994. He was promoted to the WWF Creative Team, then being headed by Vince McMahon, Jim Cornette, Jim Ross, Pat Patterson and a few others in 1996. In 1996, Monday Night RAW hit an all-time ratings low of 1.8. McMahon knew he needed a change, and had Russo make changes to the televised product. He was known for edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, on-camera profanity, swerves or unexpected heel turns, false finishes and worked shoots in matches. This came to be known as "Crash TV."
Russo would become head writer for the WWF along with his partner Ed Ferrera. His storylines were helpful in bringing WWF ahead of World Championship Wrestling in the Monday night ratings. Russo had helped WWF-owner Vince McMahon win the Monday Night Wars with rival WCW due to his keen ability to craft storylines that streamlined week after week and continued like a soap-opera. Some also believe that Vince Russo's writing career peaked in the WWF because Vince McMahon edited out Russo's bad ideas and emphasized Russo's good ideas.
WCW
On October 5, 1999, Russo and Ferrera left the WWF after phoning Vince McMahon and signed with WCW. Russo has since been quoted at stating that he left because of an altercation he had with McMahon where Russo questioned the workload placed upon him (SmackDown! had just been introduced, so he had to write 4 hours of wrestling or more each week) and McMahon simply told him to "go hire a nanny", referring to the fact that Russo wanted to spend more time with his children and less time writing.
Ruso and Ferrera attempted to make WCW Monday Nitro more like RAW with edgier storylines, more lengthy non-wrestling segments and an increased amount of sexuality on the show. Through this, Nitro would become a two-hour program, with the second hour competing with RAW.
In WCW, Russo and Ferrera came to be known on-camera as "The Powers That Be" and instituted drastic changes in WCW programming, employing the same elements as in their WWF storylines. However, without Vince McMahon to oversee their work, their writing often became repetitive and incoherent; this infuriated some fans. Russo and Ferrara often poked fun at the WWF, and focused on this more than writing a captivating wrestling product, which Russo had obviously been doing with McMahon as his editor in the World Wrestling Federation.
Each week on Nitro, wrestlers would break kayfabe and talk about "the writers" and using insider wrestling terms that only the hardcore internet fanbase (or wrestlers themselves) could recognize. This initial innovation would wear off, and while the ratings in WCW started to drop. WWF continued to reign supreme from 1999 into 2000 with Russo's successor, Chris Kreski.
Russo began to de-emphasize the cruiserweight division as well as the luchadores and foreign talent – the things that distinguished WCW from the WWF. In the case of the luchadores and foreign talent, he argued that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get them over with the fans if they couldn't speak enough English to do a promo. In the cases of some wrestlers, such as Kaz Hayashi and La Parka, Russo would have them do promos in their native language and then use comic subtitles which had nothing to do with what they were actually saying. This was done for comic relief, as the wrestlers would either be squashed or have their match interrupted by an established star. The WCW Cruiserweight Championship itself was devalued as non-wrestlers such as fellow writer Ed Ferrera (as the controversial "Oklahoma" – a parody of WWE commentator Jim Ross) and Daffney were booked into title reigns under Russo's watch.
Russo created a large turnover in title changes (the WCW World Title changed hands every 2.6 weeks on average under him), swerves and everything being a "shoot" with wrestlers often doing unscripted (or supposedly unscripted) interviews and chaotic broadcasts being the norm. Russo even booked actor David Arquette to win the WCW Title and at one point toward the end of his WCW stay booked himself to be champion.
However, Russo explained both of these incidents during an interview with WrestleCrap Radio. Russo believed that he needed to produce television that would, in a sense, be a publicity stunt. Russo stated that when Arquette won the title, he did not pin a wrestler, he pinned Eric Bischoff, and that this was a realistic event, according to Russo. He even revealed that Arquette went to Hollywood the following weekend, where Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner were filming 3000 Miles To Graceland and did a photo shoot with Arquette holding the belt. Russo believed that he had to do something to get people's attention. Ironically, Graceland was a box office bomb.
The situation involving Russo himself winning the title was explained by Russo with a similar mentality. Vince Russo beat Booker T in a steel cage match. Goldberg entered the cage from under the ring and speared Vince Russo through the cage wall seconds before Booker T exited the cage. Russo would surrender the title at the next WCW Monday Nitro, and in an outlandish turn of events, would show on Nitro a brain operation he had due to a concussion he sustained in the cage match.
Days before the live pay-per-view event WCW Souled Out 2000, Russo received two phone calls, one from Bret Hart (then WCW Champion) and another from Jeff Jarrett, both saying that they were injured. This required Russo to alter the plans he had in mind for Bret Hart and the then new NWO. Russo and his booking committee sat down to determine what would now happen at Souled Out.
One of the ideas included the idea of putting the now vacated WCW Title on the shoot fighter, Tank Abbott, a former UFC fighter with little wrestling ability. In an attempt to do something believable, the idea was originally to have a "rumble match" in which Sid Vicious would be an early entrant in the match and would last all the way to the end when Tank Abbott would come into the match and eliminate him with one punch. Russo claims that Abbott may not have held the belt for more than 24 hours if this title change had actually occurred.
However, the day after he and his committee came up with the idea, he was removed from the position of head writer and to start working with something else. Russo declined the offer and left the company for three months before finally being called back to the company.
He was immediately replaced by Kevin Sullivan, a longtime wrestler. Sullivan was unpopular with WCW talent and disputes between him and the wrestlers led to one of the largest exodus of WCW wrestlers in the history of the company. Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero all left WCW for the WWF during this period, tired of being held down by the backstage politics of WCW.
As a result, Sullivan was ultimately relieved of his duties and Russo was reinstated as booker, after a three month absence, alongside Eric Bischoff, who had just returned to WCW as well (as a creative director). The idea was that Russo and Bischoff would "remake" WCW into a more modern, streamlined company that would reward the younger talent instead of holding them down.
Their strategy imploded, however, as Bischoff and Russo frequently locked horns. Russo was then involved in a very controversial incident with Hulk Hogan. Hogan was booked to lose a match against reigning world champion Jeff Jarrett at Bash at the Beach 2000, and Hogan refused to lose the match invoking his contract's "creative control" clause to override Russo. In the end, Jarrett "laid down" for Hogan, Hogan did a shoot on Russo, put his feet on Jarret, and score the pinfall victory, awarding the belt to Hogan. Russo, though, would come out later in the broadcast and nullify the result of the match, publicly firing Hogan and restoring the title to Jarrett, setting up a new title match between Jarrett and Booker T. Whether or not the whole incident was a "shoot" (real) or a "work" (storyline) is still debated, but Hogan never resurfaced in WCW, and even filed a lawsuit against WCW (which was dismissed in 2002). Russo, on his new promotion's website, claims the whole thing was a "work" with both Hogan and Bischoff in on the deal, but were doublecrossed by Turner executive Brad Siegel, who didn't want to use Hogan anymore because he cost so much to book an appearance with.
TNA
Russo obtained a buyout from his Time Warner Contract after the demise of WCW. Months later, he was going to work with the upstart World Wrestling All Stars Promotion as head booker but ultimately backed out of the role. The first WWA PPV was apparently booked with his ideas before his decision to back out. Later Russo returned to WWE, but was quickly let go. He went on to join Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), the promotion created by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett.
Russo was hired as the head booker, although he didn't get to write any of the shows. Many were not sure if he could co-exist with the more traditional Jerry Jarrett.
Russo made his debut as the masked wrestler Mr Wrestling III. He helped Jarrett win the NWA World Title. Jarrett did not want his help in the storyline and the two became involved in a feud. Russo created his own faction of wrestlers he dubbed S.E.X (Sports Entertainment Xtreme), recruiting the likes of Glenn Gilberti, Sonny Siaki, BG James, Raven, Trinity, and others. S.E.X faced the more traditional TNA wrestlers led by Jeff Jarrett. Eventually Russo would leave his on screen role and Glenn Gilberti would be come the de facto leader of S.E.X.
Russo returned to TNA yet again and created a new faction of wrestlers led by NWA Champion AJ Styles. Russo called for S.E.X's disbandment and commanded his new faction for a time. Eventually he was once again written out of storylines after being defeated by Jeff Jarrett during a TNA PPV. In reality, Russo fell out of favor as head booker never again had any behind the scenes power.
Some time later, Russo would again return to TNA Wrestling strictly as an on-air character, becoming the Director of Authority in the storylines. This time, however, he was a face, claiming to have changed his ways. This was likely inspired by Russo's real-life conversion to Christianity. Russo would eventually leave this role as well. He hasn't been involved with TNA since, although, according to rumor he was apparently in line to become head booker again, shortly before TNA's move to Spike TV.
Russo Today
In recent years Russo became a Born-Again Christian. He formed an online Christian ministry, which quickly folded, and then returned to wrestling, operating the Ring of Glory independent promotion. Russo has written one book, called Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification, with plans at writing another book.
In January 2006, Vince appeared on Trinity Broadcasting Network's flagship program Praise The Lord along with Shawn Michaels and hosted by Steve Borden, aka Sting. Russo returned to TBN on Wednesday, April 26, 2006, to share his testimony with inmates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. He was joined by Kenneth Copeland, former NFL tight end, now minister Mike Barber and actor/producer Tiny Lister (formerly "Zeus" from the 1989 film No Holds Barred). He stated that what he had written for the WWF was filth.
Trivia
- Russo was featured on the cover of the book The Death of WCW along with Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall, all of whom are subjects in the book.
- His controversial and infamous booking of Jushin Liger losing and regaining the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on WCW Monday Nitro is not recognized by New Japan Pro Wrestling in the title lineage.
- Used an instrumental version of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" as entrance music in WCW.