Cross' Controversy: The Career of Vince Russo Part 1

Hello and welcome once again to another edition of Cross’ Controversy, the article where, each week, I research and write about a controversial figure or event in the world of wrestling. But I suppose if you’ve read my other articles and don’t know that by now then there is no hope for you. Anyway, moving on, this week I am writing about Vince Russo. A controversial figure I’m sure you will all agree. As always all of what follows is researched using the internet and so I apologise in advance for any mistakes.  Also with this article you may notice this is part 1. I’d like to apologise for that because the entire career of Vince Russo was too much to fit into one article. It reaches 3,000 words and so I apologise for making you wait another week for the second part.

Vince Russo. I’m sure even those of you who don’t know exactly who he is will have heard the name before. He is, in my experience, one of the most heavily discussed characters in wrestling history. To some wrestling fans he is a genius; to others he is the man who ruined the business. But just how did he come to this?

Well, Russo broke first into the wrestling business in 1992 when he wrote a letter to Linda McMahon which got him a job as a freelance writer for WWF Magazine. After serving as a freelance writer for around a year Russo became an editor of the magazine under the pseudonym Vic Venom. In 1996 Russo was promoted to the WWF Creative Team, headed by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross among others. That same year Monday Night RAW hit an all time ratings low of 1.8 as WCW Monday Nitro was in the midst of an 84 week-long winning streak in head to head ratings. Russo would become the head writer for the WWF in early 1997, along with his partner Ed Ferrera. Russo’s unique style of writing which involved controversial storylines, sexual content, frequent and unexpected heal/face turns, false finishes and worked shoots came to be the content that the WWF thrived upon in order to shift the ratings back in its own favour.

Quick pause here. Ok so I said a lot there, some of which you may or may not understand but I am going to explain a certain phrase which I find intriguing. The phrase being “worked shoots”.  The term to me anyway is complete and utter nonsense and is an oxymoron (meaning the two words contradict each other) as in wrestling a “work” is basically an event booked to happen, for example you turn on RAW and John Cena comes to the ring and talks to the crowd but is interrupted or whatever, that would be a work. A “shoot” on the other hand would be the exact opposite of a work in that it refers to any unplanned, unscripted or real life event which occurs at a wrestling event. I can’t really think of any examples of this but that’s not the point. A “worked shoot” is a term that could be used to describe a scripted segment which includes elements of reality. This could include using an off screen incident between two wrestlers to fuel an onscreen feud. However I feel that as the segment is still scripted it is evidently just a “work”.  It can also be a segment with the intent of being perceived as a shoot but is in-fact scripted. Again evidently just a work, but I digress. I’d like to apologise for those of you who feel they wasted time by reading this paragraph as you already knew exactly what I was talking about before my explanation. I’m just trying to cater to a wide audience.

Anyway, after that brief diversion of my mind I will continue. It had been Russo’s ability to craft fluid, storylines that continued week after week, soap-opera style, which had helped the WWF win the Monday Night Wars.

During his time in the WWF Russo claims to have been the mastermind behind many high profile storylines and characters. Some of these claims are more credible than others. Below is a brief list of some:

- Russo claims to be the man who had Steve Austin avert from his “The Ringmaster” gimmick to become one of the most successful superstars of all time. This however is very debatable as Austin himself has said that it was his wife who came up with the “Stone Cold” nickname.

- Russo also had “Rock Maivia” turn heel and become the superstar we all know as “The Rock”

- Russo was the man behind the creation of D-Generation X.

I have no idea how true any of those claims are but that is what the internet tells me. Again, moving on.

Russo left the WWF on October 5th 1999 under somewhat controversial terms. Russo has said that his reason for leaving was due to an altercation with Vince McMahon that started when Russo put in a complaint about his increased workload due to the introduction of the Smackdown! brand. Russo did not want to write an extra two hours of wrestling every week, preferring to spend time with his family. In response to Russo, Vince simply told him to “go hire a nanny.” And that was basically the end of Vince Russo’s time in the WWF. However Russo has also stated a desire to seek a new challenge and the fact that that challenge was to try to have the same successes at a different company without the guidance of Vince McMahon, as other strong contributing factors.  Can I just say that Vince McMahon seems such a charming individual, as awful and inconsiderate as I have always imagined he’d be. Anyway continuing...

Russo and Ferrera almost immediately began their attempts to make Monday Nitro like Raw. They used all of their regular writing techniques:-longer non-wrestling segments, more backstage vignettes, an increased amount of sexuality on the show and expanded storyline depth. As well as this Russo and Ferrera better utilised the mid-card talent. Norman Smiley, Ernest Miller and Billy Kidman are all notable mid-card wrestlers who became more three dimensional under the writing and booking of Russo and his partner. In addition to this the two men also adopted storylines that had worked in the WWF. Most notable being the tournament held to determine the new World Heavyweight Champion. Brett Hart, who had been underused in his time in WCW thus far, deservedly (in my opinion) won the tournament and claimed his first ever WCW World Title.

Russo was then fired, or rather quit, days before the WCW Pay per view event Souled Out in 2000. The events which lead to this where unfortunate to say the least. Russo had received two calls from both Jeff Jarrett and Brett Hart telling him they were injured and as a result were unable to compete and would be forced to vacate their respective titles. This forced Russo and his team to have to sit down and rethink what would happen at Souled Out. One of Russo’s ideas included putting the belt on Tank Abbot. Tank Abbot was a former UFC competitor and had little wrestling ability so the way they gave him the belt would have to be believable. The original idea was to have a “rumble match” in which Sid Vicious would be an early entrant and would last all the way to the very end, when Tank Abbot would enter the match and eliminate him in one punch.  Russo also claims that if this title change had gone ahead Abbot may only have held the belt for around 24 hours.  This however did not matter as the day the idea was devised Russo was removed as Head writer and told to start thinking of something new. Russo declined this offer and left WCW for three months. He was replaced by Kevin Sullivan.

In the period Russo had been with WCW the ratings had increased from a 2.9 to 3.5. In the period that Russo was not involved in WCW the ratings fell down to 2.4 and Russo stated he would not be able to win back these fans due to the constant creative changes. After three months Sullivan was relieved of his duties and Russo was brought back alongside Eric Bischoff who had returned to WCW as a creative director. They intended to recreate WCW as a more modern company who would appreciate and reward young talent instead of holding them down.  This strategy would not work as Russo and Bischoff frequently locked horns.

Unfortunately that is all I have room to write at the moment, but don’t worry the second (and in my opinion more interesting) part of Russo’s career will be posted next week for your enjoyment. Sorry to have to leave you in suspense like this but when your total article reaches easily over 3,000 words you kind of have to. Anyway until next time, I’ve been Chris “The Dragon” Cross.

Comments

1. Comment #1

   Can't wait for part 2. I always wondered what was the deal behind Russo's controversy and I hope part 2 makes it clearer.

   Posted by Dr Frank on Thursday, September 09, 2010

2. Comment #2

   All the assholes, who are too busy insisting that they're "real" wrestling fans to actually enjoy wrestling, hate Russo because of his emphasis on trash, plot, and soap-operaesque storylines.
   
   For people who just watch wrestling to enjoy it and aren't trying to prove anything to anybody, Russo was one of the greatest figures in the industry's history. He recognized the fact that wrestling is inherently lowbrow and chose to embrace that rather than hide from it.
   
   That's the number one reason WWE has been on a steady decline: McMahon refuses to admit that he's in the pro wrestling business. Russo is a God!

   Posted by Maggot on Thursday, September 09, 2010

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