Vince Russo has so much heat with so many powerful figures in wrestling, that he has been seemingly blackballed from the industry he actually helped define in the late nineties. He somehow convinced Vince McMahon that what the Boss was currently doing wasn’t working and started pitching outlandish ideas with his writing partner, Ed Ferrara. The result was the Attitude Era and what Russo refers to as “Crash TV.” Plenty of his detractors will cite the term as just "throw everything you can at a wall and see what sticks."
He has ever since sold a bill of goods to both WCW and TNA, saying that he was the guy who saved the WWE. They both let Russo work unencumbered for a little while before pairing him with someone else to assist. Both companies both didn’t realize that he had Vince McMahon at the helm tweaking many of his ideas. Was he a misunderstood genius or a hack that had no idea what he was doing? Here are the 10 Worst Decisions Made By Vince Russo.
10 Last Rites Match
Vince Russo loved to take concepts and complicate them, for better or worse. Even in WWE - the Hell In A Cell was technically designed to keep its combatants in, Russo helped orchestrate Shawn’s way out in the very first match. That was for the better. His idea for a Last Rites Match was definitely for the worse. TNA only had one and it featured Sting, Abyss, a bunch of coffins and candelabras. The way to win - call for a coffin to be lowered from the ceiling and then get your opponent in. The Orlando crowd was bored to tears and chanted “Fire Russo” during the match.
9 Booking Himself Against Booker
David Arquette winning the WCW title was at least promotion for the WCW movie, Ready To Rumble. Vince McMahon has pulled this nonsense too, twice. But it definitely seemed like Russo was servicing himself and his own dreams when he booked himself to beat Booker T for the WCW title in a ridiculous schmozz match.
To complete the guy’s dream, Russo came to Nassau Coliseum in his home town, wearing the home town Islanders jersey to get a cheap pop.
8 Heel Goldberg
Some superstars are just not heels. Bill Goldberg is not a heel in life and he was uncomfortable trying to be one on TV. That didn’t stop Russo from attempting to change the guy. Like just about everything Russo did - there was no buildup or sense to the move. A week or so later when Goldberg has to beat the tar out of Cancer survivor, Jim Duggan and then go visit a Make-A-Wish kid, he was done trying to be the bad guy. But it was too late, Russo already ruined the only true big-name talent that WCW got over huge.
7 Oklahoma
To be fair, Vince McMahon make whole heaps of fun of JR. Whenever the WWE was in his home state, he usually beaten on by whichever top heel there was to get heat. While it always felt mean-spirited, it always sort of a “I can say whatever I want about my brother, but you can’t” mentality when it comes to JR. On the other channel, Russo and Ferrara decided it would be funny to openly mock the man’s Bells Palsy with the Oklahoma character - which say what you will about McMahon, JR was never mocked for his affliction.
6 On A Pole Matches
Russo’s worst idea comes in the form of a seemingly unending amount of (insert object here) On A Pole Matches. Viagra, Judy Bagwell, Scott Hall’s autograph - you name it, Russo wanted it strung up to a pole and to let guys duke it out just to get the object. One is just as bad as the next, especially some of his Feast Or Fired Matches in TNA.
5 Recreated Montreal
While by all accounts (accept his own), Russo has little to do with Montreal, he has gone back to that well several times in his career. The first of these was actually a well thought out storyline that took place over a few weeks and culminated at Survivor Series 1998.
The next time he ripped off the real world events was at Starrcade 1999 and featured Bret Hart in the Shawn Michaels role, Bill Goldberg as Bret, and Roddy Piper as the referee.
4 His Relationship With Dustin Rhodes
The Goldust character was created by Dustin and Vince McMahon. But it was Russo that actually deserves the credit for a lot of the early success of the Goldust. But after that, Russo has seemingly had a strange obsession with giving Rhodes creepy characters and expecting them to go over like gangbusters. The worst might have been Se7en, which had Dustin look like a reject from Dark City, scaring children. It got even worse when it came time to the character to debut on Nitro - Dustin declared it dumb and started as Black Reign instead.
3 Brawl For All
When your entire idea for a “shoot style” toughman contest was to shut Bradshaw up, you might have a loose screw yourself and clearly don’t understand how the business works. But still, several of the WWE’s toughest stepped up the plate to take part in “Brawl For All.” It was a tournament style contest pitting competitors against each other in hybrid boxing matches (think UFC). The tournament was notorious for injuring guys, ruining Dr. Death’s career and getting Bart Gunn thumped by real prizefighter, Butterbean.
2 Bash At Beach
At the very event Hulk Hogan both debuted for WCW and made wrestling history when the nWo was born two years later, Vince Russo sought to destroy Hulk Hogan and everything he meant to the wrestling industry. As Hogan was getting set to take on Jeff Jarrett for the WCW title, Russo instead had Jarrett just lay down for Hogan to get the pin.
He then cut a shoot promo, publicly firing Hogan. Everything was according to the plan until the firing. Hogan and Bischoff were even celebrating the angle until they heard Russo went into business for himself.
1 Leaving WWE Out Of Nowhere
By Russo’s account, he wanted the WWE to pay him more, since he was now writing for both Raw and Smackdown. Plus he wanted a writing credit, and the ability to get his wife some help with the kids since he’d be working more. When he was denied this, not only did he quit – by several accounts, up and left like a thief in the night. He negotiated his deal and fled for WCW with Ferrara in tow, without mentioning it Vince McMahon or giving him any sort of notice. Have you ever left a job without the proper notice? Most jobs don’t ever speak with you again. Considering Vince briefly gave Russo a second chance, only for him to up and leave again, it’s no wonder the guy’s blackballed.