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** When Wrestling/MissElizabeth returned from her sabbatical, she insisted on a clause in her contract allowing her to abstain from matches. (She was then forty years old.) Russo still managed to book her into some brawls with the Nitro Girls and, later, Hogan and Wrestling/LexLuger. Russo himself had a short-lived feud with the stable Elizabeth managed, Team Package, and he fought her twice in May 2000: once in a cage match, and again in a tables match. Both ended with Liz [[GroinKick kicking him in the nuts]].

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** When Wrestling/MissElizabeth returned from her sabbatical, she insisted on a clause in her contract allowing her to abstain from matches. (She was then forty years old.) Russo still managed to book her into some brawls with the Nitro Girls and, later, Hogan and Wrestling/LexLuger. Russo himself had a short-lived feud with the stable Elizabeth managed, Team Package, and he fought her twice in May 2000: once in a cage match, and again in a tables match. Both ended with Liz [[GroinKick [[GroinAttack kicking him in the nuts]].
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** Russo always had an obsession with acronyms. Does the WWF's Terri Invitational Tournament, WCW's Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, or TNA's Sports Entertainment Xtreme and Voodoo Kin Mafia note (Vincent Kennedy [=McMahon=]) ring a bell to anyone?

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** Russo always had an obsession with acronyms. Does the WWF's Terri Invitational Tournament, WCW's Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, or TNA's Sports Entertainment Xtreme and Voodoo Kin Mafia note (Vincent Mafia[[note]]Vincent Kennedy [=McMahon=]) [=McMahon=][[/note]] ring a bell to anyone?
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Nowadays, he hosts his own podcast, ''The Brand'', where he shares his thoughts on modern wrestling. Vince has posted the highlights on his Website/YouTube channel.

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Nowadays, he hosts his own podcast, ''The Brand'', where he shares his thoughts on modern wrestling. Vince has posted the highlights on his Website/YouTube channel. He also writes a weekly column on Website/WrestleCrap talking about some of the things he booked (and allegedly booked).
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* VerbalTic: He likes to punctuate his sentences with the word "bro", bro.
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this note no longer makes sense since the picture change


[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: A one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.[[note]]What's he looking at? The ratings.[[/note]]]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: A one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.[[note]]What's he looking at? The ratings.[[/note]]]]
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Loads And Loads Of Characters is no longer a trope


* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Credit where credit is due, Russo's main goal behind his booking decisions was that he wanted every second to be interesting. So if he had to work with jobbers, he still tried to make the jobbers do interesting things. Wrestling/ValVenis, Wrestling/DLoBrown, Wrestling/RonSimmons, Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield, Al Snow, {{Wrestling/Edge}}, Wrestling/{{Christian}}, Gangrel, The [[Wrestling/MattHardy Hardy]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Boyz]], etc. Everyone had a storyline when he was writing. (Russo's podcast is pretty interesting in this vein.) Sooner or later, people doing interesting stuff on TV week-after-week gets them over.
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Run-on sentence.


Russo would depart from the WWF to WCW in October 1999, but his booking in the promotion would become subject to controversy, to the point that he is blamed for WCW going under a few years later, but consensus after the fact seems to be that at worst he was just one of many factors on it, but that nonetheless, without the editing and input he received in the WWF, the results of his booking in WCW were variable in quality. (Plus ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]''[='s=] audience had different expectations from ''Raw''[='=]s audience.)

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Russo would depart from the WWF to WCW in October 1999, but his booking in the promotion would become subject to controversy, to the point that he is blamed for WCW going under a few years later, but later. The consensus after the fact seems to be that at worst he was just one of many factors on it, it but that nonetheless, without the editing and input he received in the WWF, the results of his booking in WCW were variable in quality. (Plus ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]''[='s=] audience had different expectations from ''Raw''[='=]s audience.)
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I Ate What clean up. The trope is when a character eats something, unaware of what they are consuming, and then reacts in disgust after they find out what it is. Misuse will be deleted or moved to another trope when applicable. Administrivia.Zero Context Examples will be removed or commented out depending on the amount of context within the entry.


* IAteWhat: Russo wrote the Big Bossman/Al Snow feud centering on Snow's dog Pepper. "Does it taste like... PEPPER? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
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Updating the page image so he's the focus, and you can actually see his face.


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A one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.[[note]]What's he looking at? The ratings.[[/note]]]]

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Vincent James Russo (born January 24, 1961) is a former head writer for Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Wrestling/{{WCW}}, and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]. He is also one of the few ''non''-[[ProfessionalWrestling wrestlers]] in the business who generates controversy: When it was announced that he had been re-hired by WWE in 2002, the writing staff threatened a walk-out. He is also the primary reason why TNA was dropped from [[Creator/SpikeTV Spike]], based purely on his reputation.

Russo's biggest success came during the Wrestling/MondayNightWars with the Wrestling/AttitudeEra branding, resulting in WWE's biggest period of success since Wrestling/HulkHogan and a resurgence in popularity for pro wrestling in the U.S. He has been credited with [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold]] vs. [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Mr. McMahon]], Wrestling/TheUndertaker vs. Wrestling/{{Kane}}, [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] vs. Wrestling/MickFoley, having a hand in the rise of Wrestling/DGenerationX, and he was the one who came up with [[Wrestling/DavidHeath the Brood]]. When Russo and Wrestling/JimCornette were booking ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'', it pulled 7.3 million viewers.

Russo is also blamed for WCW going under, but that iceberg hit long before he was called in. He tried to replicate his success on ''Raw'' with ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'': Get as many wrestlers over as possible, make it so fast-paced that it overloads the brain, and people will just have to see more. But without the editing and input he received in WWE, the results were...variable in quality. Also, ''Nitro''[='=]s audience had different expectations from ''Raw''[='=]s audience; instead of catering to them, he turned it into a poor man's ''Raw'', alienating the existing fans and new viewers (who just switched over to ''Raw''). Russo and Cornette are somehow bonded in whatever our core existence is.

Nowadays, he hosts his own podcast, ''The Brand'', where he shares his thoughts on modern wrestling. Vince has posted the highlights on his {{Website/YouTube}} channel.

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Vincent James Russo (born January 24, 1961) is a {{professional wrestling}} booker and writer who was a former head writer for Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Wrestling/{{WCW}}, and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]. He is also one of the few ''non''-[[ProfessionalWrestling wrestlers]] in the business who generates controversy: When it was announced that he had been re-hired by WWE in 2002, the writing staff threatened a walk-out. He is also the primary reason why TNA was dropped from [[Creator/SpikeTV Spike]], based purely on his reputation.

TNA]].

Russo's biggest success came during the Wrestling/MondayNightWars in WWE (then the WWF) with the Wrestling/AttitudeEra branding, resulting in WWE's the WWF's biggest period of success since Wrestling/HulkHogan and a resurgence in popularity for pro wrestling in the U.S. He has been credited with [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold]] popular feuds in the WWF such as Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin vs. [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Mr. McMahon]], Wrestling/TheUndertaker vs. Wrestling/{{Kane}}, [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] vs. Wrestling/MickFoley, Wrestling/MickFoley; having a hand in the rise of Wrestling/DGenerationX, and he was the one who came up with [[Wrestling/DavidHeath the Brood]]. When Russo and Wrestling/JimCornette were booking ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'', it pulled 7.3 million viewers.

some of its highest ratings.

Russo would depart from the WWF to WCW in October 1999, but his booking in the promotion would become subject to controversy, to the point that he is also blamed for WCW going under, under a few years later, but consensus after the fact seems to be that at worst he was just one of many factors on it, but that iceberg hit long before he was called in. He tried to replicate his success on ''Raw'' with ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'': Get as many wrestlers over as possible, make it so fast-paced that it overloads the brain, and people will just have to see more. But nonetheless, without the editing and input he received in WWE, the WWF, the results were...of his booking in WCW were variable in quality. Also, ''Nitro''[='=]s (Plus ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]''[='s=] audience had different expectations from ''Raw''[='=]s audience; instead audience.)

As a result
of catering to them, this, he turned it into a poor man's ''Raw'', alienating is also one of the existing fans and new viewers (who just switched over to ''Raw''). Russo and Cornette are somehow bonded few ''non''-wrestlers in whatever our core existence is.

the business who generates controversy: When it was announced that he had been re-hired by WWE in 2002, the writing staff threatened a walk-out. He is also the primary reason why TNA was dropped from Creator/SpikeTV after it was revealed that TNA re-hired him in secret after a previous stint there, based purely on his reputation.

Nowadays, he hosts his own podcast, ''The Brand'', where he shares his thoughts on modern wrestling. Vince has posted the highlights on his {{Website/YouTube}} Website/YouTube channel.
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* AlliterativeName: Vic Venom.

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* AlliterativeName: Vic Venom.Venom, a penname he used when writing articles for the WWF Magazine and WWF on America Online in the early-mid 90s.

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** Russo always tried to push young talent. It didn't always work, but an effort was made, at least. For example,
when Russo booked himself into angles, it was always to put younger guys over at his expense.

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** Russo always tried to push young talent. It didn't always work, but an effort was made, at least. For example,
example, when Russo booked himself into angles, it was always to put younger guys over at his expense.

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** Russo always tried to push young talent. It never worked, but an effort was made, at least. (And when Russo booked himself into angles, the younger guys went over.)

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** Russo always tried to push young talent. It never worked, didn't always work, but an effort was made, at least. (And For example,
when Russo booked himself into angles, the it was always to put younger guys went over.)over at his expense.



** That infamous shoot in which Russo bellowed, "You want [[MaskedLuchador Lucha Libres]] [sic]? GO TO JAPAN!" The term "Lucha Libres" would actually be taken up by the Rudos in Mexico.

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** That infamous shoot WorkedShoot in which Russo bellowed, "You want [[MaskedLuchador Lucha Libres]] [sic]? GO TO JAPAN!" The term "Lucha Libres" would actually be taken up by the Rudos in Mexico.



** "And bro, i hate to sound like a broken record..."

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** "And bro, i I hate to sound like a broken record..."



* CreatorsPet: In universe as well as out of it, Jeff Jarrett. Russo gave Jarrett his new "The Chosen One" gimmick because he had chosen to make Jarrett his top heel. Jarrett's reverse russian legsweep finisher was also renamed The Stroke, which has several interpretations, one of which being a reference to Jarrett having "stroke" (a large amount of backstage influence) because of his friendship with the booker.

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* CreatorsPet: In universe as well as out of it, Jeff Jarrett. Russo gave Jarrett his new "The Chosen One" gimmick because he had chosen to make Jarrett his top heel. Jarrett's reverse russian Russian legsweep finisher was also renamed The Stroke, which has several interpretations, one of which being a reference to Jarrett having "stroke" (a large amount of backstage influence) because of his friendship with the booker.
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* CreatorsPet: In universe as well as out of it, Jeff Jarrett. Russo gave Jarrett his new "The Chosen One" gimmick because he had chosen to make Jarrett his top heel. Jarrett's reverse russian legsweep finisher was also renamed The Stroke, which has several interpretations, one of which being a reference to Jarrett having "stroke" (a large amount of backstage influence) because of his friendship with the booker.
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** For some unknowable reason, Russo loves pole matches. He put different objects on poles to make the matches distinct from each other. Sometimes he'd make a match with two separate gimmick matches stacked on top of one another, usually with ridiculous stipulations attached. He more recently defended his love of pole matches by proclaiming that it's impossible for any one non-gimmick singles match to be better than a gimmick match. He later attempted to defend this by claiming that, out of hundreds' of matches he'd booked in WCW, only ''seven'' of them had featured a weapon on a pole which could be taken down and used against the retriever's opponent. Well, yes, nobody ever called Judy Bagwell a ''weapon...''

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** Russo ''loves'' pole matches. For some unknowable reason, Russo loves bizarre reason he believes it's impossible for any one non-gimmick singles match to be different from all other non-gimmick singles matches, but putting different objects on poles makes the pole matches.matches completely distinct from each other. He put different objects on poles to make the matches distinct from each other. Sometimes he'd make a match with two separate gimmick matches stacked on top of one another, usually with ridiculous stipulations attached. He more recently defended his love of pole matches by proclaiming that it's impossible for any one non-gimmick singles match to be better than a gimmick match. He later attempted to defend this by claiming that, out of hundreds' of matches he'd booked in WCW, only ''seven'' of them had featured a weapon on a pole which could be taken down and used against the retriever's opponent. Well, yes, nobody ever called Judy Bagwell a ''weapon...''
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** Vince has gone on to say that the only reason [[Radio/TheHowardSternShow Beetlejuice]] made an appearance on Nitro was because Vince himself was a huge Howard Stern fan.
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** In his book, Wrestling/BobHolly claimed that Russo wanted to rename his finisher the Hollycaust. It was definitely called on-air by J.R. once--and never again. It's also used in one of the ''[=SmackDown=]'' video games as his Falcon Arrow finisher. Then he changed his finish to the Alabama Slam full-time. Holly says he wouldn't have been surprised if Russo wanted him to use it on Kidman, Goldberg, Wrestling/PaulHeyman, and all the Jews in WWE. (Russo did not see a problem with this and believed it was a final solution to the ratings slump.)

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** In his book, Wrestling/BobHolly claimed that Russo wanted to rename his finisher the Hollycaust. It was definitely called on-air by J.R. once--and never again. It's also used in one of the ''[=SmackDown=]'' video games as his Falcon Arrow finisher. Then he changed his finish to the Alabama Slam full-time. Holly says he wouldn't have been surprised if Russo wanted him to use it on Kidman, Goldberg, Wrestling/PaulHeyman, and all the Jews in WWE. (Russo did not see a problem with this and believed it was a [[CrossesTheLineTwice final solution solution]] to the ratings slump.)
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* PetTheDog: Shortly after taking charge of WCW, Russo found out of a plot by the booking committee to oust Tony Schiavone from the broadcast team behind his back. He immediately let Tony know and assured him that as long as he had a say in it, Tony would always be "The Voice" of WCW.

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* AscendedExtra: Russo got his start by operating and hosting an AM Radio show called ''Vicious Vincent's World of Wrestling''. From there he got hired as a writer for ''WWE Magazine'' under the pen name "Vic Venom", had his own segment on the show ''Livewire'', and commentated for a handful of episodes of ''Shotgun Saturday Night''. Russo already appeared on several WWF programs during the Attitude Era under his Vic Venom moniker, like in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6HwD-pjU4 this]] commercial for ''WWF Magazine''.

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* AscendedExtra: AscendedExtra:
**
Russo got his start by operating and hosting an AM Radio show called ''Vicious Vincent's World of Wrestling''. From there he got hired as a writer for ''WWE Magazine'' under the pen name "Vic Venom", had his own segment on the show ''Livewire'', and commentated for a handful of episodes of ''Shotgun Saturday Night''. Russo already appeared on several WWF programs during the Attitude Era under his Vic Venom moniker, like in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6HwD-pjU4 this]] commercial for ''WWF Magazine''.Magazine''.
** Russo always tried to push young talent. It never worked, but an effort was made, at least. (And when Russo booked himself into angles, the younger guys went over.)

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