Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett who is a former four times WCW World Heavyweight champion recently looked back at Vince Russo winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and said it was a wrong decision.
During the famous Monday Night Wars, WCW made some huge mistakes that give WWE some big opportunities to beat WCW forever. Besides WWE was doing really well with the rise of the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock. In spite of starting with a big lead, WCW was falling behind.
Jeff Jarrett Discusses Vince Russo Winning WCW World Title
During this vital time WCW made some huge mistakes, the first one was letting Hollywood actor David Arquette held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. It is still considered as one of the biggest mistakes that killed the promotion forever. The prestigious Championship that was held by the likes of Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan was also held by an actor.
Another big mistake that WCW made was having creative writer Vince Russo as the WCW World Heavyweight champion. Most of the fans consider this as the final nail in the coffin of WCW. In 2001 WCW died completely and somehow these terrible bookings were usually responsible behind the death of this Mighty promotion.
Jeff Jarrett who is a former four times WCW World Heavyweight champion recently spoke on his My World with Jeff Jarrett Podcast where he looked back at Vince Russo winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and said it was a wrong decision. He said;
“I was still a huge believer of, what are we doing next week? Who’s his opponent? What kind of match is he going to have, and I’m not talking about 5 star quality. I’m talking about episodic storytelling. How is Vince going to go tell a story in a match? It just wasn’t there, ever there.
“He wasn’t trained to be a wrestler. I know the Arquette story, the fluke win, and all of that, and that was a publicity stunt. There’s a bunch of different moving parts. I didn’t think Vince could get to week-to-week episodic storytelling. I didn’t think it was a good idea at all.”
“On Sunday afternoons, do you think a defensive back tees off on a wide receiver and says, ‘I’m going to hurt this guy?’ No. I think they tee off and say, ‘I’m going to make this son of a gun feel it tomorrow and maybe the next day, and maybe the next day, and maybe the next day. I’m going to sting him.’ Russo signed up for this and Bill said, ‘Ok pal. If you’re signing up for it, you’re going to feel it.’
“Now is he going to try and concuss him? No. Is he going to try to permanently maim him? No. But he’s going to make him feel it. There’s no doubt in my mind. I’ve been in the ring with Bill. Bill is aggressive. He’ll take it to you and everything that goes with it. Is he the most polished guy? No. But I don’t think Bill said, ‘I’m going to hopefully end this guy’s career.’ No, I don’t think that.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription