History Trivia / VinceRusso

** Russo claims to this day to be the primary architect of the Attitude Era. Most who know the real story say that Russo had some good ideas, but it was Vince [=McMahon=] filtering out most, but not all, of the bad ideas (''cough'' Brawl for All ''cough'') and refining them. Also, having two all time legendary performers come into their prime (Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and Wrestling/TheRock) probably helped. The fact that Russo was never again involved in a successful promotion seems to dispel this notion.

-->'''Bill Apter''': (''WCW Magazine'') Critics have said WCW has started to resemble a lower-quality version of the WWF. How do you avoid that perception?\\

** With Wrestling/JimCornette. They both had worked in {{Wrestling/WWE}} and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] at around the same time. Cornette was old-school and Russo was the new kid in town, pushing the Wrestling/AttitudeEra along. Russo went to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and basically told him, ''Either he goes, or I go'', because they kept getting in each others' way. [=McMahon=] sided with Russo. Cornette also blames Russo for Wrestling/OwenHart's death by putting him in the Blue Blazer gimmick. The feud runs so deep that he made amends with Eric Bischoff (someone else Cornette has a long-standing grudge against) mainly because, as Cornette said, if he hates Russo as much as Jim does, he can't be all bad.
** Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on {{Wrestling/WCW}} after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction, only to be ignored. At the time, WCW was so low in the ratings that they were ready to try anything.

** Russo claims to this day to be the primary architect of the Attitude Era. Most who know the real story say that Russo had some good ideas, but it was Wrestling/VinceMcMahon filtering out (most of) the bad ideas (''cough'' Brawl for All ''cough'') and refining them. Also, having two all time legendary performers come into their prime (Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and Wrestling/TheRock) probably helped. The fact that Russo was never again involved in a successful promotion seems to dispel this notion.

** TNA: There was some speculation as to ''why'' his rehiring was kept a secret: The obvious one was that Wrestle-1's front office didn't trust Russo to use [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling New Japan's]] talent wisely (not without merit). Keiji Mutoh also nearly pulled the plug on ''Bound for Glory'' in Japan in 2014 when he found out Russo was still involved with the company. TNA execs had to guarantee that Russo would have zero input in any aspect of the show, or he was calling it off. Dave Meltzer, on the other had, reported that Creator/SpikeTV (who were renegotiating a TV deal for ''Impact!'' at the time) asked Dixie Carter not to rehire him. Spike has denied this, but the announcement that they wouldn't be renewing the deal came shortly after Russo's rehiring. John Gaburick (head of TNA creative) fired Russo days later, likely in a vain attempt to save the deal, and Russo himself later confirmed this. In addition, Spike has tried for a while now to not seem quite so misogynistic and brash. Russo is known to be exactly that: misogynistic and brash. (And they were already dealing with plenty of {{Wrestling/ECW}} alums who were the same.) So it wouldn't be surprising if they told Dixie not to put him anywhere near creative.

** The straw that broke the camel's back as far as Russo's time in WWF went. Which caused him to jump ship to WCW, which arguably killed WCW, which caused WWF to win the Wrestling/MondayNightWars, which led to the creation of TNA and contributed to the decline of pro wrestling's popularity. What was the name of that straw? "Beaver Cleavage", A particularly crude parody of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' as played by Headbanger Mosh. Among other things, he implied that he committed incest with his mother. After two weeks and terrible fan reaction, Vince [=McMahon=] personally axed the character, which Russo loudly resented.

** The straw that broke the camel's back as far as Russo's time in WWF went. Which caused him to jump ship to WCW, which arguably killed WCW, which caused WWF to win the Wrestling/MondayNightWars, which led to the creation of TNA and contributed to the decline of pro wrestling's popularity. Wjat was tbe name pf that straw? "Beaver Cleavage", A particularly crude parody of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' as played by Headbanger Mosh. Among other things, he implied that he committed incest with his mother. After two weeks and terrible fan reaction, Vince [=McMahon=] personally axed the character, which Russo loudly resented.

** The straw that broke the camel's back as far as Russo's time in WWF went. Which caused him to jump ship to WCW, which arguably killed WCW, which caused WWF to win the Wrestling/MondayNightWars, which lead to the creation of TNA and contributed to the decline of pro wrestling's popularity. Wjat was tbe name pf that straw? "Beaver Cleavage", A particularly crude parody of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' as played by Headbanger Mosh. Among other things, he implied that he committed incest with his mother. After two weeks and terrible fan reaction, Vince [=McMahon=] personally axed the character, which Russo loudly resented.

** With Jim Cornette. They both had worked in {{Wrestling/WWE}} and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] at around the same time. Cornette was old-school and Russo was the new kid in town, pushing the Wrestling/AttitudeEra along. Russo went to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and basically told him, ''Either he goes, or I go'', because they kept getting in each others' way. [=McMahon=] sided with Russo. Cornette also blames Russo for Wrestling/OwenHart's death by putting him in the Blue Blazer gimmick. The feud runs so deep that he made amends with Eric Bischoff (someone else Cornette has a long-standing grudge against) mainly because, as Cornette said, if he hates Russo as much as Jim does, he can't be all bad.

*** Wrestling/JimCornette laughs at this, saying that he was the one who suggested double-crossing Wrestling/BretHart (by booking him with Wrestling/KenShamrock, who could have legitimately beaten Bret in a fight). Cornette then says he had to explain to Russo what a double-cross was. Wrestling/TripleH has claimed that he planted the seed saying, "If Bret won't do business, maybe we should do business for him." Wrestling/JimRoss who was head of Talent Relations and on the creative team has said repeatedly that only [=McMahon=], Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, referee Earl Hebner and maybe Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe knew anything about the finish beforehand. Ross himself wasn't even made aware of the plans, so he's "damn sure" Russo wasn't.

'''Eric Bischoff''': I think that's being kind. I think it started to resemble backyard wrestling.
** With Jim Cornette. They both had worked in WWE and TNA at around the same time. Cornette was old-school and Russo was the new kid in town, pushing the Attitude Era along. Russo went to [=McMahon=] and basically told him, ''Either he goes, or I go'', because they kept getting in each others' way. [=McMahon=] sided with Russo. Cornette also blames Russo for Owen Hart's death by putting him in the Blue Blazer gimmick. The feud runs so deep that he made amends with Eric Bischoff (someone else Cornette has a long-standing grudge against) mainly because, as Cornette said, if he hates Russo as much as Jim does, he can't be all bad.
** Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on WCW after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction, only to be ignored. At the time, WCW was so low in the ratings that they were ready to try anything.
** The only reason he landed a job in TNA was because of Jeff Jarrett (against his father's protests). Jeff, to his credit, did a lot of vetting of his ideas alongside Dutch Mantell — unfortunately, some of the weirder stuff filtered through because Russo proceeded to endear himself to Dixie Carter (then-president of TNA), which led to his rehiring in 2013-14.

** The straw that broke the camel's back as far as Russo's time in WWF went--which caused him to jump ship to WCW, which ruined WCW, which caused WWF to win the Monday Night Wars, which lead to the creation of TNA and contributed to the decline of pro wrestling's popularity? "Beaver Cleavage." A particularly crude parody of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' as played by Headbanger Mosh who, among other things, implied that he committed incest with his mother. After two weeks and terrible fan reaction, Vince [=McMahon=] personally axed the character, which Russo loudly resented.
** Russo was blocked by none other than Ted Turner himself from running an angle about how fat ''Nitro''[='=]s women wrestlers were.

** TNA: There was some speculation as to ''why'' his rehiring was kept a secret: The obvious one was that Wrestle-1's front office didn't trust Russo to use [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling New Japan's]] talent wisely (not without merit). Keiji Mutoh also nearly pulled the plug on ''Bound for Glory'' in Japan in 2014 when he found out Russo was still involved with the company. TNA execs had to guarantee that Russo would have zero input in any aspect of the show, or he was calling it off. Dave Meltzer, on the other had, reported that Spike (who were renegotiating a TV deal for ''Impact!'' at the time) asked Dixie Carter not to rehire him. Spike has denied this, but the announcement that they wouldn't be renewing the deal came shortly after Russo's rehiring. John Gaburick (head of TNA creative) fired Russo days later, likely in a vain attempt to save the deal, and Russo himself later confirmed this. In addition, Spike has tried for a while now to not seem quite so misogynistic and brash. Russo is known to be exactly that: misogynistic and brash. (And they were already dealing with plenty of ECW alums who were the same.) So it wouldn't be surprising if they told Dixie not to put him anywhere near creative.

*** Wrestling/JimCornette laughs at this, saying that he was the one who suggested double-crossing Bret Hart (by booking him with Wrestling/KenShamrock, who could have legitimately beaten Bret in a fight). Cornette then says he had to explain to Russo what a double-cross was. Wrestling/TripleH has claimed that he planted the seed saying, "If Bret won't do business, maybe we should do business for him." Wrestling/JimRoss who was head of Talent Relations and on the creative team has said repeatedly that only [=McMahon=], Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, referee Earl Hebner and maybe Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe knew anything about the finish beforehand. Ross himself wasn't even made aware of the plans, so he's "damn sure" Russo wasn't.
** "They kind of fell into that nWo thing. I mean, they really did. You had two top stars from the WWE jump ship and go to their organization, then for the first time Hulk Hogan turns heel after 25 years or whatever it was. They fell into something." It's the typical response from WWE to anything in WCW that got fans interested and stopped them showing an interest in their competition. Oh, it was just happenstance, they lucked their way into that. Not surprising Russo would fall into that line of thinking.
** Russo claims Wrestling/HulkHogan was in on the ''Bash at the Beach 2000'' incident, wherein Hogan won the title from Wrestling/JeffJarrett in an obvious worked shoot, which made him look bad and ended with Hogan being "fired". Allegedly, Hogan was supposed to come back with his title, and challenge Wrestling/BookerT who won the title in that night's main event. Hogan later filed a defamation of character lawsuit and alleged that he wasn't in on the angle. Given that Hogan is as much of a revisionist historian as Russo, this is anyone's guess.
** Russo claims to this day to be the primary architect of the Wrestling/AttitudeEra. Most who know the real story say that Russo had some good ideas, but it was Wrestling/VinceMcMahon filtering out (most of) the bad ideas (''cough'' Brawl for All ''cough'') and refining them. Also, having two all time legendary performers come into their prime (Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]) probably helped. The fact that Russo was never again involved in a successful promotion seems to dispel this notion.
** That podcast where he said he'll never try to book something he'd seen somewhere else. Then he admitted he'd put Owen Hart in a harness because the guys who did it for Sting (at WCW) were in the building.

** As late as 2014, Vince Russo still complained about TNA becoming "just another wrestling show". This despite the fact much of the WEW roster—Klondyke (Sirelda), Alexis Laree, Valentina, Tracy Brooks, Angel Williams, Talia Madison, Simply Luscious, Lucy Furr, Shelly Martinez, Trenesha Biggers, Mickie Knuckles, ODB, Radiant Rain, Shantelle Taylor and more—came to work for TNA! The company which was already doing Russo's ideas was feeding him as much talent as [[Wrestling/RingOfHonor ROH!]]

** Vince Russo only lost one match in his entire career, a TNA tag team match from 2002. He also went over 16-time champion Ric Flair 3 times in either singles or tag matches. After Sting joined WWE, David Arquette and Vince Russo are the only two WCW World Heavyweight Champions who have never competed at ''[[Wrestling/WrestleMania WrestleMania]]''. Even today, fans are heartbroken when looking over WCW's title history, because it starts getting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WCW_World_Heavyweight_Champions ri-damn-diculous]] when you reach the Russo booking era.
** It's worth noting noting that Russo suffered post-concussion syndrome after getting speared by Goldberg, Wrestling/ScottSteiner, and others. Yes, wrestling's most colorful booker suffered brain damage on the job. And if it weren't for the football helmet he wore, Russo would be a vegetable today.

** AJ Styles is over? SWERVE! Have Sting bury him out of nowhere. Fans petition to promote a valet to full-time? SWERVE! Invite her into the ring, call her a strumpet, and summon your twin bodyguards [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYC6b9i6myI to knock her senseless.]] Audiences becoming sick of the pole match? SWERVE! Increase the pole matches exponentially!

** While criticizing WWE for putting the Universal Championship belt on Wrestling/KevinOwens, he claimed that David Arquette "was more over than Kevin Owens will ever be", since in his mind Owens doesn't look like a wrestler. His logic is circular and it's so easily rebuked (see: Wrestling/DustyRhodes) it's not even funny.

** Russo has also claimed credit for the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, going so far as to say he suggested and planned it. Wrestling/JimCornette laughs at this, saying that he was the one who suggested double-crossing Bret Hart (by booking him with Wrestling/KenShamrock, who could have legitimately beaten Bret in a fight). Cornette then says he had to explain to Russo what a double-cross was. Wrestling/TripleH has claimed that he planted the seed saying, "If Bret won't do business, maybe we should do business for him." Wrestling/JimRoss who was head of Talent Relations and on the creative team has said repeatedly that only [=McMahon=], Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, referee Earl Hebner and maybe Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe knew anything about the finish beforehand. Ross himself wasn't even made aware of the plans, so he's "damn sure" Russo wasn't.

** Russo has also claimed credit for the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, going so far as to say he suggested and planned it. Wrestling/JimCornette laughs at this, saying that he was the one who suggested double-crossing Bret Hart (by booking him with Ken Shamrock, who could have legitimately beaten Bret in a fight). Cornette then says he had to explain to Russo what a double-cross was. Wrestling/TripleH has claimed that he planted the seed saying, "If Bret won't do business, maybe we should do business for him." Wrestling/JimRoss who was head of Talent Relations and on the creative team has said repeatedly that only [=McMahon=], Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, referee Earl Hebner and maybe Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe knew anything about the finish beforehand. Ross himself wasn't even made aware of the plans, so he's "damn sure" Russo wasn't.

** Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on WCW after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction, only to be ignored.

* ProtectionFromEditors:
** At the time, WCW was so low in the ratings that they were ready to try anything.
** The only reason he landed a job in TNA was because of Jeff Jarrett (against his father's protests). Jeff, to his credit, did a lot of vetting of his ideas alongside Dutch Mantell — unfortunately, some of the weirder stuff filtered through because Russo proceeded to endear himself to Dixie Carter (then-president of TNA), which led to his rehiring in 2013-14.

** "They kind of fell into that nWo thing. I mean, they really did. You had two top stars from the WWE jump ship and go to their organization, then for the first time Hulk Hogan turns heel after 25 years or whatever it was. They fell into something." It's the typical response from WWE to anything in WCW that got fans interested and stopped them showing an interest in their competition. Oh, it was just happenstance, they lucked their way into that. Not surprising Russo would fall into that line of thinking.

* LyingCreator:

** That podcast where he said he'll never to book something he'd seen somewhere else. Then he admitted he'd put Owen Hart in a harness because the guys who did it for Sting (at WCW) were in the building.

** Just three months into Russo's tenure at WCW, Time-Warner accountant Bill Busch had had enough of his car crash TV and offered him a new creative "position" in a committee of non-entities. The final straw was apparently when Russo suggested putting the belt on serial felon Tank Abbott. Russo lost creative control to a booking committee consisting of Kevin Sullivan, J.J. Dillon, and Mike Graham, all of whom promised a return to "real" wrestling. But Russo's replacements failed to deliver, and a month later he and Bischoff were flown back to Orlando to "reboot" ''Nitro''.

** The only reason he landed a job in TNA was because of Jeff Jarrett (against his father's protests). Jeff, to his credit, did a lot of vetting of his ideas alongside Dutch Mantell — unfortunately, some of the weirder stuff filtered through because Russo proceeded to endear himself to Dixie Carter, which led to his rehiring in 2013-14.

** As late as 2014, Vince Russo still complained about TNA becoming "just another wrestling show". This despite the fact much of the WWE roster—Klondyke (Sirelda), Alexis Laree, Valentina, Tracy Brooks, Angel Williams, Talia Madison, Simply Luscious, Lucy Furr, Shelly Martinez, Trenesha Biggers, Mickie Knuckles, ODB, Radiant Rain, Shantelle Taylor and more—came to work for TNA! The company which was already doing Russo's ideas was feeding him as much talent as [[Wrestling/RingOfHonor ROH! ]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: His plan for TNA was to make to offer pay-per-view porn wrestling, with more nudity and sex. Problem was, Women's Extreme Wrestling did the same thing two months before TNA even existed. XPW in 1999 was even closer to Russo's pitch. (Both XPW and WEW went under.) Meanwhile, while Russo was writing for TNA, Carmen Electra launched an "adult" wrestling show, and "Full Throttle Wrestling" premiered. They both went under too. In fact, one of the few "adult" promotions to have more staying power than "just another wrestling show" TNA, nearly thirty years of it at that point, was Steel Kittens Productions, and it was significantly more tasteful than what Russo got to do in TNA. (Unless you find polygamy, trashcan sex, molestation, forced prostitution, rape, crack whores and incest less offensive than the occasional torn shirt, that is). History has already shown that shows that stay relatively tasteful and focus on wrestling outlast those that do not, and that "adult" wrestling has been around since before WCW and has ''never'' posed a challenge to WWE.

** With Jim Cornette. They both had worked in WWE and TNA at around the same time. Cornette was old-school and Russo was the new kid in town, pushing the Attitude Era along. Russo went to [=McMahon=] and basically told him, ''Either he goes, or I go'', because they kept getting in each others' way. [=McMahon=] sided with Russo. Cornette also blames Russo for Owen Hart's death by putting him in the Blue Blazer gimmick. The feud runs so deep that he made amends with Eric Bischoff (someone else Cornette has a long-standing grudge against) mainly because, as Cornette said, if he hates Russo as much as he do, he can't be all bad.

** TNA: There was some speculation as to ''why'' his rehiring was kept a secret: The obvious one was that Wrestle-1's front office didn't trust Russo to use [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling New Japan's]] talent wisely (not without merit). Keiji Mutoh also nearly pulled the plug on ''Bound for Glory'' in Japan in 2014 when he found out Russo was still involved with the company. TNA execs had to guarantee that Russo would have zero input in any aspect of the show, or he was calling it off. Dave Meltzer, on the other had, reported that Spike (who were renegotiating a TV deal for ''Impact!'' at the time) asked Dixie Carter not to rehire him. Spike has denied this, but the announcement that they wouldn't be renewing the deal came shortly after Russo's rehiring. John Gaburick (head of TNA creative) fired Russo days later, likely in a vain attempt to save the deal, and Russo himself later confirmed this. In addition, Spike tried for a while now to not seem quite so misogynistic and brash. Russo is known to be exactly that: misogynistic and brash. (And they were already dealing with plenty of ECW alums who were the same.) So it wouldn't be surprising if they told Dixie not to put him anywhere near creative.

* FollowTheLeader: Russo was brought into WCW and later TNA to imprint the WWE product onto those companies, but he failed. Although he might have gained new fans by switching to an entertainment-based product, if you annoy enough people, you merely trade audiences to zero net effect.
* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld:

* AscendedMeme:
** "'''''SWERVE!'''''" and "FIRE RUSSO", both of which he has acknowledged on ''Impact'' and in his podcast. He even wore a "FIRE RUSSO" T-shirt (a la [[Creator/GeorgeLucas Han Shot First]]).
** And for Website/{{Botchamania}} 300, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVH8iW3pEhw he accepted their offer to do the introduction]]...
--->'''Russo:''' Well I'm gonna give ya ''Botchamania'' another day, I'm here to swerve ya. I'm gonna give you old reruns of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', how's that?

** After he became a Born-Again Christian, Russo hated that angle in which Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was crucified on Wrestling/TheUndertaker's symbol in 1998.

** Played with in regards to the Immortal storyline. While Russo was the one who wrote the storyline, it was not his idea to begin with -- Hogan and Bischoff were pressuring him to rehash the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder. Russo in fact hated the storyline from the very beginning and knew it was going to bomb.

** Under [=McMahon's=] moderating influence, Russo was a useful sounding board for the company's demographic. But he knew he would never rise further than that in WWE, so he jumped ship to Orlando.
** Russo only lasted a year there before he lost creative control to a "booking committee" (read: a coup) consisting of Wrestling/KevinSullivan, JJ Dillon, and Mike Graham, who all promised a return to "real" wrestling. Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on WCW after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction only to be ignored.
--->'''Bill Apter:''' (''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20150227045543/http://wcwworldwide.com/post/85175946504/eric-bischoff-wow-magazine-2001 WCW Magazine]]'') Critics have said WCW has started to resemble [[SerialNumbersFiledOff a lower-quality version]] of the WWF. How do you avoid that perception?\\
'''Wrestling/EricBischoff:''' I think [[InsultToRocks that’s being kind]]. I think it started to resemble BackyardWrestling.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Russo already appeared on several WWF programs during the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, like in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6HwD-pjU4 this commercial]] for the WWF magazine.
* FollowTheLeader: Russo was brought into WCW/TNA to imprint the WWF product onto those companies, but he failed.
-->'''''DDT Digest'':''' You end up pissing off the fans who watch WCW because they don't want to watch the WWF and/or a product with a lessened emphasis on action and more on sports entertainment. Although you ''might'' gain new fans by switching to an entertainment-based product, if you piss off enough people you merely trade audiences to [[DidntThinkThisThrough ZERO]] net effect.
* IAmNotSpock: During his run with WCW, many fans and even a few wrestlers suspected that he was a double agent sent in by Vince [=McMahon=] to sabotage the competition from within. [[PoesLaw He wasn't.]]
* RunningTheAsylum:
** There is no better example of rampant famboyism and wish fulfillment in wrestling. Even today, fans are heartbroken when looking over WCW's title history, because it starts getting rid-damn-diculous when you reach the Vince Russo booking era.
** Russo (who had enough on his plate) was unhappy with Turner Entertainment for foisting WWF veterans out of retirement in 2000 to enliven WCW. He was delighted, however, when his boyhood crush, Golden Age valet Wrestling/MissElizabeth, returned from her sabbatical to appear with him on ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'' and ''Thunder''. Though Elizabeth insisted on a clause in her contract allowing her to decline working in the ring (she was then forty years old), Russo managed to book her into some brawls with the Nitro girls (and later, for some ungodly reason, [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Hogan]] and Wrestling/LexLuger). Russo himself had a short-lived feud with Elizabeth's stable, Team Package, and fought her twice in May of 2000: once in a cage match, and again in a tables match. Both ended with Liz [[GroinAttack kicking him in the goolies.]] They apparently didn't get on backstage.
* TrollingCreator: His trademark "swerves" have an element of this. It isn't enough to upset fans' expectations; Russo will unfailingly go in a direction that'll rile them to the maximum degree. Heat for Wrestling/AJStyles? Have Sting bury him out of nowhere. Fans petition to promote a valet to full-time performer? Invite her into the ring, call her a strumpet, and summon your twin bodyguards to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYC6b9i6myI knock her senseless.]] Audiences becoming sick of the pole match? ''Increase the pole matches exponentially!''
* WrittenByCastMember: Vince Russo, '''[[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Champion]].''' One of the top two candidates for lowest point in the Big Gold Belt's entire history. And he wrote the other one (David Arquette) too, going so far as to run it above the misgivings of every single wrestling fan on the planet—''including the very actor he made champion there''.

** Russo only lasted a year there before he lost creative control to a "booking committee" (read: a coup) consisting of Wrestling/KevinSullivan, JJ Dillon, and Mike Graham, who all promised a return to "real" wrestling. A sad day for [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the Ed Ferrara marks]].

'''Creator/EricBischoff:''' I think [[InsultToRocks that’s being kind]]. I think it started to resemble BackyardWrestling.
** Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on WCW after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction only to be ignored.

* ActorSharedBackground: Russo found God and confessed his past sins to thedict Zone, claiming that he "sold his soul for ratings." Russo really did become a born-again Christian in real life.

** After he became a born-again Christian, Russo stated that he that angle in which Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was crucified on Wrestling/TheUndertaker's symbol in 1998.
** When asked once what angle he wished he wouldn't have done, Russo answered that he regretted the angle in which he had Ed Ferrara dress up as "Oklahoma", the Jim Ross impersonator.

-->'''Bill Apter''': (''WCW Magazine'') Critics have said WCW has started to resemble a lower-quality version of the WWF. How do you avoid that perception?\\
'''Eric Bischoff''': I think that's being kind. I think it started to resemble backyard wrestling.
** With Jim Cornette. They both had worked in WWE and TNA at around the same time. Cornette was old-school and Russo was the new kid in town, pushing the Attitude Era along. Russo went to [=McMahon=] and basically told him, ''Either he goes, or I go'', because they kept getting in each others' way. [=McMahon=] sided with Russo. Cornette also blames Russo for Owen Hart's death by putting him in the Blue Blazer gimmick. The feud runs so deep that he made amends with Eric Bischoff (someone else Cornette has a long-standing grudge against) mainly because, as Cornette said, if he hates Russo as much as he do, he can't be all bad.
** Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on WCW after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction, only to be ignored.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Russo already appeared on several WWF programs during the Attitude Era under his Vic Venom monicker, like in this commercial for ''WWF Magazine''.
* FollowTheLeader: Russo was brought into WCW and later TNA to imprint the WWF product onto those companies, but he failed. Although he might have gained new fans by switching to an entertainment-based product, if you piss off enough people you merely trade audiences to zero net effect.
* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld:
** WCW: Russo lasted a year there before he lost creative control to a booking committee consisting of Kevin Sullivan, J.J. Dillon, and Mike Graham, all of whom promised a return to "real" wrestling.
** TNA: There was some speculation as to ''why'' his rehiring was kept a secret: The obvious one was that Wrestle-1's front office didn't trust Russo to use [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling New Japan's]] talent wisely (not without merit). Keiji Mutoh also nearly pulled the plug on ''Bound for Glory'' in Japan in 2014 when he found out Russo was still involved with the company. TNA execs had to guarantee that Russo would have zero input in any aspect of the show, or he was calling it off. Dave Meltzer, on the other had, reported that Spike (who were renegotiating a TV deal for ''Impact!'' at the time) asked Dixie Carter not to rehire him. Spike has denied this, but the announcement that they wouldn't be renewing the deal came shortly after Russo's rehiring. John Gaburick (head of TNA creative) fired Russo days later, likely in a vain attempt to save the deal, and Russo himself later confirmed this. In addition, Spike tried for a while now to not seem quite so misogynistic and brash. Russo is known to be exactly that: misogynistic and brash. (And they were already dealing with plenty of {{Wrestling/ECW}} alums who were the same.) So it wouldn't be surprising if they told Dixie not to put him anywhere near creative control.
* LyingCreator:
** Sometimes even via surrogates:
--->''DDT Digest'': Jarrett grabs a mic. He talks about when he came to WCW about 6 months ago, he was the chosen one. He said Russo was responsible for turning the WWF around.\\\
Single handedly, didn't you know that?\\\
No wrestlers needed, only good old Vince Russo.
** That podcast where he said he'll never to book something he'd seen somewhere else. Then he admitted he'd put Owen Hart in a harness because the guys who did it for Sting (at WCW) were in the building.
** "They kind of fell into that [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] thing. I mean, they really did. You had two top stars from the WWE jump ship and go to their organization, then for the first time Hulk Hogan turns heel after 25 years or whatever it was. They fell into something." It's the typical response from WWE to anything in WCW that got fans interested and stopped them showing an interest in their competition. Oh, it was just happenstance. Not surprising Russo would fall into that line of thinking, but the guy who wants to take credit for everything good that happened in the WWE/F from 1996-1999 and passes blame on everything else he was involved with can't give someone else credit?
** Tell him you want longer wrestling segments and less of everything else and he'll tell you everything else is what resulted in the high ratings. Yet when ''Nitro'' decided to cut back on wrestling segments to test this, ''Raw'' slaughtered it by a 2.5 margin.
** In the first week of the "Second Monday Night War", ''Raw'' got a 3.6 rating. ''Impact'' got a 1.5, leading to Russo including the following in his blog: "The bottom line is, TNA WON—period."
** As late as 2014, Vince Russo still complained about TNA becoming "just another wrestling show". This despite the fact much of the WWE roster—Klondyke (Sirelda), Alexis Laree, Valentina, Tracy Brooks, Angel Williams, Talia Madison, Simply Luscious, Lucy Furr, Shelly Martinez, Trenesha Biggers, Mickie Knuckles, ODB, Radiant Rain, Shantelle Taylor and more—came to work for TNA! The company which was already doing Russo's ideas was feeding him as much talent as [[Wrestling/RingOfHonor ROH! ]]
* RunningTheAsylum: Russo got his start by operating and hosting an AM Radio show called Vicious Vincent's World of Wrestling. The show folded within a year after the crank calls from listeners got out control. From there he got hired a writer for WWF Magazine under the pen name "Vic Venom", had his own segment on the show Livewire, and even commentated on a handful of episodes of ''Shotgun Saturday Night''.
* ProtectionFromEditors: At the time, WCW was so low in the ratings that he was ready to try anything.
* TrollingCreator:
** He once gave this answer on booking himself WCW World Heavyweight Champion. We ''think'' that he was taking the piss out of it:
--->''Because I'm a total mark and the first words I ever spoke when I came out of my mother's wound, was that one day, I was going to be the WCW Champion. And all through pre-school and kindergarden and grade school and high school, that dream never left me. My whole intention of getting in the wrestling business in the first place, was to become the WCW World Champion for three whole days. That's why I even started at the WWE. I knew I wasn't good enough to be the WWE Champion, but if I just could get some experience there, then MAYBE, just MAYBE, I could fulfill my destiny of being the WCW Champion. And it was only by the grace of GOD that my dreams were fulfilled and I was able to hold that WCW title high above my head and say, "I did it!" At that point in time, my life was complete.''
** AJ Styles is over? SWERVE! Have Sting bury him out of nowhere. Fans petition to promote a valet to full-time? SWERVE! Invite her into the ring, call her a strumpet, and summon your twin bodyguards [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYC6b9i6myI to knock her senseless.]] Audiences becoming sick of the pole match? SWERVE! Increase the pole matches exponentially!
** He more recently defended his love of pole matches by declaring that it's impossible for any one non-gimmick singles match to be better than a gimmick match.
** While criticising WWE for putting the Universal Championship belt on Wrestling/KevinOwens, he claimed that David Arquette "was more over than Kevin Owens will ever be", since in his mind Owens doesn't look like a wrestler. His logic is circular and it's so easily rebuked (see: Dusty Rhodes) it's not even funny.
* WrittenByCastMember: Even today, fans are heartbroken when looking over WCW's title history, because it starts getting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WCW_World_Heavyweight_Champions ri-damn-diculous]] when you reach the Russo booking era.

* AscendedMeme:
** "'''''SWERVE!'''''" and "FIRE RUSSO", both of which he has acknowledged on ''Impact'' and in his podcast. He even wore a "FIRE RUSSO" T-shirt (a la [[Creator/GeorgeLucas Han Shot First]]).
** And for Website/{{Botchamania}} 300, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVH8iW3pEhw he accepted their offer to do the introduction]]...
--->'''Russo:''' Well I'm gonna give ya ''Botchamania'' another day, I'm here to swerve ya. I'm gonna give you old reruns of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', how's that?

** After he became a Born-Again Christian, Russo hated that angle in which Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was crucified on Wrestling/TheUndertaker's symbol in 1998.
** When asked once what angle he wished he wouldn't have done, Russo answered that he regretted the angle in which he had Ed Ferrara dress up as "Oklahoma", the Wrestling/JimRoss impersonator.

** Under [=McMahon's=] moderating influence, Russo was a useful sounding board for the company's demographic. But he knew he would never rise further than that in WWE, so he jumped ship to Orlando.
** Russo only lasted a year there before he lost creative control to a "booking committee" (read: a coup) consisting of Wrestling/KevinSullivan, JJ Dillon, and Mike Graham, who all promised a return to "real" wrestling. A sad day for [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the Ed Ferrara marks]].
--->'''Bill Apter:''' (''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20150227045543/http://wcwworldwide.com/post/85175946504/eric-bischoff-wow-magazine-2001 WCW Magazine]]'') Critics have said WCW has started to resemble [[SerialNumbersFiledOff a lower-quality version]] of the WWF. How do you avoid that perception?\\
'''Creator/EricBischoff:''' I think [[InsultToRocks that’s being kind]]. I think it started to resemble BackyardWrestling.
** Time Warner employee Matt Williams gave up on WCW after personally polling fans to prove they didn't like Russo's "more storyline, less wrestling" direction only to be ignored.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Russo already appeared on several WWF programs during the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, like in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6HwD-pjU4 this commercial]] for the WWF magazine.
* FollowTheLeader: Russo was brought into WCW/TNA to imprint the WWF product onto those companies, but he failed.
-->'''''DDT Digest'':''' You end up pissing off the fans who watch WCW because they don't want to watch the WWF and/or a product with a lessened emphasis on action and more on sports entertainment. Although you ''might'' gain new fans by switching to an entertainment-based product, if you piss off enough people you merely trade audiences to [[DidntThinkThisThrough ZERO]] net effect.
* IAmNotSpock: During his run with WCW, many fans and even a few wrestlers suspected that he was a double agent sent in by Vince [=McMahon=] to sabotage the competition from within. [[PoesLaw He wasn't.]]
* RunningTheAsylum:
** There is no better example of rampant famboyism and wish fulfillment in wrestling. Even today, fans are heartbroken when looking over WCW's title history, because it starts getting rid-damn-diculous when you reach the Vince Russo booking era.
** Russo (who had enough on his plate) was unhappy with Turner Entertainment for foisting WWF veterans out of retirement in 2000 to enliven WCW. He was delighted, however, when his boyhood crush, Golden Age valet Wrestling/MissElizabeth, returned from her sabbatical to appear with him on ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'' and ''Thunder''. Though Elizabeth insisted on a clause in her contract allowing her to decline working in the ring (she was then forty years old), Russo managed to book her into some brawls with the Nitro girls (and later, for some ungodly reason, [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Hogan]] and Wrestling/LexLuger). Russo himself had a short-lived feud with Elizabeth's stable, Team Package, and fought her twice in May of 2000: once in a cage match, and again in a tables match. Both ended with Liz [[GroinAttack kicking him in the goolies.]] They apparently didn't get on backstage.
* TrollingCreator: His trademark "swerves" have an element of this. It isn't enough to upset fans' expectations; Russo will unfailingly go in a direction that'll rile them to the maximum degree. Heat for Wrestling/AJStyles? Have Sting bury him out of nowhere. Fans petition to promote a valet to full-time performer? Invite her into the ring, call her a strumpet, and summon your twin bodyguards to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYC6b9i6myI knock her senseless.]] Audiences becoming sick of the pole match? ''Increase the pole matches exponentially!''
* WrittenByCastMember: Vince Russo, '''[[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Champion]].''' One of the top two candidates for lowest point in the Big Gold Belt's entire history. And he wrote the other one (David Arquette) too, going so far as to run it above the misgivings of every single wrestling fan on the planet—''including the very actor he made champion there''.

** With Eric Bischoff:
--->'''Bill Apter:''' (''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20150227045543/http://wcwworldwide.com/post/85175946504/eric-bischoff-wow-magazine-2001 WCW Magazine]]'') Critics have said WCW has started to resemble a lower-quality version of the WWF. How do you avoid that perception?\\