Wrestling is full of divisive individuals. Eric Bischoff, Cowboy Bill Watts. Jim Cornett, among many more. Well today's Article as you can tell by the title is about Vice Russo. Vince has been a fixture in professional wrestling since 1992.
Starting off with an easy one, Vince Russo is often cited as one of the driving forces for the attitude era of the WWE. Vince would write the episode as if it was about a wrestling show and not that wrestling was the show. He was also very much about rating and not about storytelling. Vince Russo wrote for the attention span of that time. This can be seen when Chris Kreski left the WWE creative team. He is an example of Krski's story arches "Chris Jericho insults Stephanie Mcmahon in February of 2000 because she made him and Chyna co-intercontinetal champion leading to Jericho winning the WWF title from Triple H in April and then their feud in June/July of 2000."
The way he speaks is the first reason to dislike him. It isn't even the regional New York accent to dislike. It is the use of the word "bro". It seems impossible for the guy to say one sentence without using the word. That is an easy reason to hate him.
Finding reasons to hate Vince Russo is easier than finding one to like him for. This is going to be a point of disagreement. The way he used the women is a reason to hate him He used them as tits and ass. Yes it got ratings and pervs would tune in for the "Bra and Panties Match" acreditted to Russo but it was degrading. Women's wrestling has a marvelous and storied history that is often forgotten because they were often only seen as fill ins for the men. Women kept wrestling alive during WW2. While his creative for them kept them on tv it was not in a pleasant way and should now be looked down upon as it should have then.
Since Tits and Ass was mentioned why not give Vince Russo some praise. He was there with Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in the early days of TNA. Vince used the female talent in the same way and even went a step farther with the dancers imitating the Nitro Girls, but that is not the point of this section. Russo is credited with some of the early success of TNA as it was his goal to make them "edgier" than the WWE. The promotion going by TNA is even accredited to Russo.
Vince Russo seemed to like everything on a pole. Well, that is a reason to hate his creative. It is ridiculous to believe that a wrestler could not get on the turnbuckle and easily retrieve whatever is up there. In the WCW, Russo was the worst booking these ten pole matches: Eddie Guerrero vs. Perry Saturn (Key on a Pole, 11/1/99 Nitro); Juventud Guerrera vs. El Dandy vs. Psicosis vs. Silver King (Piñata on a Pole, 11/15/99 Nitro); Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit (Flag Match, 11/22/99 Nitro); Diamond Dallas Page vs. David Flair (Crowbar on a Pole, 12/1999 Starrcade); Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Chris “Champagne” Kanyon (Champagne Bottle on a Pole, 1/12/00 Thunder); Shane Douglas vs. Billy Kidman (Viagra on a Pole, 7/31/00 Nitro); Scott Steiner vs. Sting (Pipe on a Pole, 8/7/00 Nitro); Buff Bagwell vs. Chris Kanyon (Judy Bagwell on a “Pole,” 8/13/00 New Blood Rising); Reno vs. Big Vito (Stickball Bat on a Pole, 9/11/00 Nitro); and Booker T. vs. Jeff Jarrett (San Francisco 49ers Match/Four Boxes on Poles, 10/2/00 Nitro). The 49ers Match would even seen Dave Penzier become champion, technically, by the rules of first to grab the belt.
Well ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary others that is about as much as I can type about Vince Russo for the day. I am definitely in the camp of not liking the man. So before I start typing "Bro" in every sentence, thank you for reading this and please leave a comment.
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