Recently, Vince Russo posted a list of 101 questions about various important moments of his career. Read on for my take on some of them.
1. This probably felt like the right idea at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20. And it is pretty cool that they got Hollywood names to promote WCW for free. Obviously it didn't pay off as far as pulling WCW out of its slump, but they did need to get some attention.
2. I do think Russo deserves credit for some of what was presented in the Attitude Era, as does Vince. He's written off way too easily.
3. I agree with his answer here.
4. He didn't kill WCW all by himself. AOL Time Warner cut a lot of things when things went south for them financially, including WCW. But the likes of Russo and some of the IWC's other favorite targets do deserve some of the criticism they get for WCW being an easy target to cut.
5. I'd love to see official Fire Russo/Swerve/World Champion David Arquette merch.
6. There do seem to have been more pole matches from Russo than from other bookers. For some reason. I think he just likes gimmick matches and pole matches are one of his ways to tell stories.
Cornette section: Cornette cares about Russo a LOT more than Russo cares about him. Honestly, would we even be talking about Cornette all that much these days if it wasn't for the angry shoots?
Bash at the Beach 2000: I can only imagine what the backstage atmosphere of a company is like when something like that show is just considered another day at the office. The creative direction was such a mess with all the silly worked shoots and such that I can actually believe it was just another chaotic day for WCW.
Arquette: I think at least some of the people who criticize this understand what Russo was trying to do here as far as getting attention for WCW. But the argument is that putting the World Title on an actor ruined or at least lessened its credibility, like a team of mascots winning the Super Bowl.
Bret: There's a difference between "I have issues with how I was booked in WCW and Vince Russo was a terrible booker" and saying Russo should die because of his booking. I really wonder about Bret with some of his statements over the years. Let's just say I can see where the "bitter" criticism comes from.
Owen: Yeah, I understand people are really upset about the Owen Hart tragedy, but Russo didn't kill him. That's really extreme and unnecessary to say the least. He didn't kill WCW, either.
24. Russo just booked himself as champion to lead to the next champion. Was it the best idea? Probably not.
31. I'd be curious to read Russo's response to "Death of WCW" - a very biased account of WCW that seems at times to be more concerned with punchlines than accuracy.
32. Yeah, I don't think it's fair to blame Russo for that part.
33. Tank Abbott was never World Champion.
34. Russo said in another interview that Flair was buried to write him off for a while to refresh his character after it had been damaged so much.
37. Jarrett's another guy who gets more criticism than he should.
38. I think Russo cracked under the pressure of writing so much TV and made himself a character because he felt he could get over what he wanted to get over without having to worry about others being able to deliver.
39. WCW was losing a lot of money. Russo's decisions weren't strictly responsible for this, but his booking is definitely linked to down times in WCW.
41. I've never heard that at all. Sounds like a conspiracy come up with to get eyeballs on seedy websites. Sometimes the truth isn't interesting enough and websites come up with other stuff to get eyeballs.
42. I agree about it being more difficult for a performer who doesn't speak English well and/or wears a mask covering their eyes and mouths to get over on TV. Can Mexican, Japanese, etc. wrestlers get over in the U.S.? Absolutely. But it can be more difficult.
43. Who comes up with this? It's harder to take legitimate criticism seriously when this kind of stuff gets out there.
48. Abyss definitely was put through some really crazy stuff when Russo was there. I understand what he was going for with the casket rising, but I can see why people didn't like it. I didn't really care for it, either.
54. I also think Madden at least occasionally just says things to rile people up. He's good at it, for what that's worth.
56. Russo probably has other things in his life worth doing than responding to wrestling critics. He'd probably go crazy if he had to read everything written about him.
62. I wonder how many people still take Bret's side here. Legally I think he was in the right, but I can definitely see why Vince made the decision he made.
64. I think Stephanie/Vince was a Vince McMahon idea. God that hurts to think about.
69. While I do think there are definitely writers who bury the business just to be cool (heck, sometimes I've jumped on the "TNA sucks" bandwagon), I also think a lot of people who write about wrestling because they really love it and want things to change.
70. I think the percentage of people who read insider websites is really overstated. WWE's Alexa ranking in the U.S. is 827. F4WOnline is 9,055. WrestleZone is 3,460. WrestlingInc is 4,374. You get the idea. And the people who do read a lot of those sites are grossly misinformed about how much they actually know about the inside of WWE.
71 and 72. There are some journalists who really know what they're talking about, and then there are many people who take a little bit of info and spin it into something completely off-base. This latter category gives the first category a bad name.
76 was a pretty sad story. The business as a whole can be pretty sad.
79. I'm personally OK with the refs being tricked, etc. within some limits. I also get really frustrated when angles are suddenly dropped, not followed through on, etc.
91 was also pretty sad to read.
95. That's another sad truth. I think he will be remembered a lot for David Arquette, Bash at the Beach, pole matches, etc.
96. Some people really need to take a step back and re-evaluate their lives if they're harassing Russo in public because of something he wrote for a TV show.
97. Also incredibly sad. I hope Russo deals with his feelings in a healthy fashion. Getting death threats is way too far.
I hope Russo does find peace.
More wrestling coming up.
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