Russo in WCW was a conspiracy, right?

[Johnny D]

Everything just seemed to happen so quickly after he showed up there. Product declines rapidly, AOL/Time Warner merge and saying they want nothing to do with wrestling leaving McMahon to buy it, etc. Either that or WCW management really were that clueless.

[chazraps]

And two years later...9/11.

[Deleted]

WCW management was clueless long before Russo ever showed up there.

[mauled]

The writing was on the wall before Russo (which is not saying he wasnt also at fault as he was) and Bishoff had run that place into the ground already.

While to be fair to Russo its got to be hard to work around when you have got guys like Hogan having it in there contracts that they have to be in the ME and can veto anything they dont like.

[cabbageboy]

Yeah I was about to say...one didn't need a conspiracy to kill off WCW given how awful they already were for most of 1999. People forget that there was a tangible reason why they hired Russo in the first place. The current creative team was totally out of ideas, Bischoff had been removed after the horrific Summer of 1999, and they were desperate.

[Bishblast]

I don't think so, things were already well on their way down the drain... I mean, look at the majority of the last half of 1998, booking wise. It really shouldn't even have to be said, but Kevin Nash did a f***ing number on that company throughout 1999 as well. Look at the last couple of weeks of Nash's booking before Russo came in... one of those Thunders he sat in on commentary and made a COMPLETE mockery out of everything he had built up and the company itself with meaningless shoot comments.

I think people really thought that Russo was McMahon and the WWF's secret weapon... didn't quite turn out that way, and it's made even more evident by his removal from the booking team shortly after taking power.

[Andrew is Good]

Oct 28, 2012 13:59:01 GMT -5 chazraps said:

And two years later...9/11.

That sneaky bastard.

[SAJ Forth]

Just 2 things that happened by chance.

[notasmark]

People don't realize how stupid it is to assume Russo being in WCW was some big conspiracy.

First, The first 3 months Russo was in charge of WCW ratings went up and the shows were better quality than before that. Russo added something to WCW at the time.

Russo left after the 3 months and the product went down. Instead of guys that Russo was pushing (Like Benoit, Hart, Jarrett) it went back to guys like Hogan, Hall, Nash and Flair getting the push.

Russo comes back he suddenly makes guys stars. Lance Storm got his push from Vince Russo, Booker T got the start of his push from Russo, NBT started looking good, Mike Awesome got a push all these things were good for WCW.

Did Russo make mistakes? Yes. But he doesn't get the credit for the good he did in WCW. It's just seen as "cool" on the internet to try and make fun of the guy.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

The damage was done long before Russo got there, he wasn't the one handing out guaranteed contracts with creative control clauses that allowed so many angles to be nixed, match results changed, pushes killed and so on, you can thank Bischoff for that. There's no conspiracy, WCW was an unbookable mess that Russo couldn't possibly have saved, heck, Paul Heyman would have struggled.

[kamero00]

WCW had issues FAR before Russo showing up. Did you not see the Hogan/Warrior feud? Or any other nWo feud?