Mike Chiari: One of the biggest narratives with regard to you and your success in WWF, whether it’s true or not, is that it only happened because Vince McMahon acted as a filter. And then when that filter wasn’t present in WCW things didn’t go as well. Do you think that’s a fair criticism? And if not, what do you believe are the primary reasons for the lack of success in WCW in comparison to WWF?
Vince Russo: There wasn’t a lack of success. I am a numbers guy and people’s opinions and what I think and what you think doesn’t not matter. The only thing that matters is the numbers. To address the question, Ed Ferrara and I went to WCW and the first three months of the company we were running the show. We had our plan in place and we were doing what we wanted to do. Anyone can look it up, the numbers were there, and the ratings were up. It wasn’t until three months in when I went home because of politics that the ratings went right back down to the point where they were before we even got hired. As far as Vince as a filter, the whole premise of that is just ridiculous. The fact of the matter is he is still there now. So you got the same guy there now, that was there for the Attitude era, Vince Russo had no impact, Vince McMahon had to filter him, well Vince McMahon is still there running the show. How did they go from an 8.2 rating to a 3.5 million people? From a factual basis, someone has to explain that to me since the same guy is running the show.
Brandon Galvin: When you left WWE for WCW, it seemed that a lot of the top storylines you were working on were coming to a close. The Corporation and Ministry of Darkness were essentially no more and Stone Cold was battling injury. I’m sure when you left you still followed what they were doing, what were your thoughts on some of their top storylines at the end of 1999? More specifically, Stone Cold getting ran over by a car and Triple H interrupting Stephanie McMahon and Test’s wedding since those two segments have become two of the most memorable.
Vince Russo: I’ll be honest with you; the day I left WWE I never watched another show. I did not follow what they were doing. I didn’t even know about Austin getting hit by a car. I did know about the Triple H and Stephanie wedding angle and I did like that, I helped put it over. The Austin and the car I never saw that or was aware of it. When I went to WCW, I was focused on WCW and never watched a Raw show while working for WCW.
Mike Chiari: Someone you’ve been very vocal about lately is Chyna. She’s seemingly been trying to get back in WWE’s good graces and you sent out what turned out to be a pretty controversial tweet wondering why WWE doesn’t champion Chyna like they did Connor the Crusher. Firstly, explain what you meant by that tweet and also, touch on why you feel it’s so important for Chyna to get back involved with WWE or just wrestling in general.
Vince Russo: I don’t think it’s important at all for Chyna to get involved with wrestling or the WWE in general. I never said that and I don’t think that’s important at all. Any comment I ever made about Chyna is my concern for her wellbeing as a person. If she ever works for the WWE again, goes into the Hall of Fame, or wrestlers again, that’s absolutely of no concern to me, that’s Chyna’s business. I am more concerned about her health and her mental state of mind, and a tragedy happening. That’s what the comment was about Connor. Chyna needs help. If you have the opportunity to help Chyna, then reach out and help her. I know the Connor story and it is a beautiful story and I commend them for what they are doing. I just don’t agree with picking and choosing who you are going to help and who you aren’t going to help. If they have the money and resources to help Chyna, who needs the help on a completely different level, then why not help her? That’s basically what I was saying.
Brandon Galvin: It seems you’ve always written storylines for stables from DX and the Corporation in WWE to the New Blood and Millionaire’s Club in WCW to S.E.X. in TNA. As a huge fan of factions in wrestling myself, what is it about factions that draw you in when you’re writing?
Vince Russo: To me? Just getting guys on TV. Here is a great example: When was the last time we saw Sandow on TV? He is a great talent, they spent so many months building up with the Miz angle, the guy got himself so over with the crowd, and now where is he? One of my goals was to always make sure everyone was on TV and represented. If you had to form a faction to get everyone involved, that’s what I did. That was really my motivation behind that was to find roles for everyone. You could do a faction right now with all the people in the WWE right now whose careers they are literally killing. With lack of creative, story line, character, TV time, there are so many people right now that fall under that category. You could put them together as a shoot to get them over, get them on TV, but no one is really looking at that. They are just looking at the A story.
Mike Chiari: The inmates running the asylum is what a lot people point to when it comes to the downfall of WCW, and fans got to see that firsthand in the form of the Bash at the Beach 2000 situation with you and Hulk Hogan. How would you characterize your behind-the-scenes relationship with Hogan both in WCW and TNA, and what are your impressions of him now that your days working together are over?
Vince Russo: Number one, we didn’t really have a relationship in WCW. People seem to forget about that. They want to pin everything that happened at WCW on me. The reality of it is I worked there for nine months. I really didn’t generate that relationship with Hulk Hogan during my time there. I was really grateful that when he came to TNA, we were able to settle any differences that we may have had. I am very grateful and thankful for that. As his spot in WWE right now, I am thrilled for the guy. I don’t know where the wrestling business would be without Hulk Hogan. For him to be in the spot he is right now as an ambassador for WWE, he deserves that spot. I am absolutely thrilled for him.
Brandon Galvin: Triple H has been the center of dirtsheet reports for more than 13 years, with the focus being on him burying other wrestlers or securing his spot in the company because of his relationships with Stephanie and Vince McMahon. Before you left WWE in 1999 though, Triple H had already won the WWF Championship and becoming a staple in the main event scene. Do you recall what your stance on Triple H was, or what the company’s stance on him was, before you left? Did you ever see or hear anything about what the dirtsheets have reported in recent years or what fans accuse him of doing?
Vince Russo: No I never have, but I will say this: When Triple H was breaking into the WWE, and the Madison Square Garden incident happened, where he became the scapegoat, there was nobody in his corner more than me. When that character was first being developed, there was no one developing that character more than me. I used to write every single one of his promos. I only had one instance working with him that he really disappointed me. He straight out didn’t want to do a job to D’Lo Brown and I really had an issue with that. I never read or followed in any of that stuff about him, but I was very disappointed when I almost went back to WWE back in 2002 and found out more or less Triple H was not in my corner after all I did for him. Fast forward twelve years later and you see the position he is in and Stephanie is in and now it makes all the sense in the world. If you eventually want the power, then you want to keep a guy away like a Vince Russo away who from a creative stand point is going to produce better content and better TV than you can. A Vince Russo is a better writer and went to school for writing to be a writer and knows the art of writing. When that happened in 2002 and I learned he was working behind the scenes to keep me out of the WWE, I would be lying to you if I told you my opinion of him did not change.