Russo isn't to blame

[vivix]

I don't think Russo is to blame for the bad booking in TNA from the past few years, I think it lies on Jarrett.
Think about it everyone automatically blames Russo but he came in just as Jarrett started taking more of a role off TV and booking more of the shows, now Jarrett is gone and TNA is enjoyable again. The only time TNA was unbearable was with Jarrett as the main writer/booker.

Thoughts/opinions?

[ozequal]

My initial thought is "nobody knows."

Some people blame Russo for everything because they hate him and the part he played in WCW's downfall. They say "oh segment X was such a Russo segment", and others reply with "Dutch booked that!" as if they actually know the ins and outs of the creative meetings, and whether or not it was Dutch Mantell's idea, Vince Russo's idea, or Kip James' idea.

I have been watching TNA for the last few (3) years, and the recent stuff has been the best i've seen. Is it because Russo is now booking? Is it because Jarrett is no longer hogging the spotlight? Is it due to Dixie insisting on pushing the younger talent? Is it the wrestlers upping their game?

It's probably a mixture of all of them. I didn't stop watching when the booking was "bad", so i guess i didn't find it that bad at all. If you believe what you read on the interbutts, then AJ finds Russo's booking to be extremely bad.

Dif'rent Strokes.

[ICBM]

^Nice. One of the best posts ever written on the subject

[firestorhm]

Nothing more to say about it after that

[Ralnathane]

Batista... the only answer humorous enough to replace Snitsky.

But seriously though, Russo honestly is a decent booker... I think that all the crap that went down in WCW and all the problems with their leadership is really the reason that we crap on him so badly.

[hollywood]

When he was first brought in... (first brought in THIS time, anyway) ...Dixie repeatedly said Russo wasn't involved in booking, and he was only on board as a consultant. His influence, she said, was minimal.

If that was and still is the case, then I suppose Russo can't be blamed for the bad stuff. Of course, it also means he doesn't deserve credit for the good stuff, either.

[lildude8218]

Howard Jones is to blame

[hollywood]

I think we all know who's to blame here...





That's right. Frank Stallone.

[MrBRulzOK]

While I do agree that it is wrong to blame Russo for every little problem with booking from the time he arrived till now, to say that he hasn't made a flew flubs or mistakes at one time or another during his TNA tenure is simply silly. Sure, it's hard to tell I suppose exactly who is responsible for booking which segment with 100% certainty, but there have only been a handful of guys involved with booking the show and chances are each one of them has made a booking snafu or two during their stay. Not only that, but this is the guy after all who WILLINGLY put the WCW Championship belt on David Arquette (A factoid that he readily admits to) among other ludicrous decisions. To say that he's completely blameless is in my opinion the equivalent of sticking your head in the sand.

[hollywood]

Nov 16, 2009 15:22:21 GMT -5 MrBRulzOK said:

... this is the guy after all who WILLINGLY put the WCW Championship belt on David Arquette (A factoid that he readily admits to) among other ludicrous decisions. ....

And readily defends, I might add.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

When Russo is allowed to "be Russo," he's usually awesome. It's when he has to share the book with others who don't necessarily share his philosophy (Dutch), or when management isn't behind him 100 percent (WCW) that things start to go south.

I think Russo is frequently blamed because the IWC needs a bogeyman, as well as more traditional wrestlers and fans not agreeing with his philosophies (i.e. Lance Storm).

[hollywood]

Yea, because if Russo made anything clear, it's that it was never his fault. Never. It was all cuzza' dah politics.

[Chuckie Finster]

Some stuff is very Russo-esqe, such as the quick cuts between segments and the faces getting beat down post match and screwy finishes as well as constant mentions of "this business", "boys in the back", "getting a push", "being held back by the powers to be" and such. It's a lot of the little things. The only things that really bugs me are the worked-shoot references.

However, I only think some of it is Russo's fault. Mantell and Jarrett were the real villains for a long time. Pacman was all Jarrett's idea, as was the Frontline groveling the Jarrett to lead them, among other make-or-break decisions.

At least TNA doesn't get every reject from WWE nowadays. It was something Jarrettt, Dixie and Mantell were quite bad at.

[thatguybayne]

I quite like Russo after listening to the WrestleCrap radio interview with him. Probably sometimes a little bit too creative for his own good though.

[Bubble Lead]

Russo is just another IWC monster under the bed. He gets way more hatred than he deserves, and most of the good things he does are ignored or downplayed.

All the proof you need is that a decent number of people on these boards STILL say they refuse to watch TNA because Russo is the head booker, even though TNA has been very well booked and largely devoid of stupid stuff for quite awhile now.

A lot of hardcore wrestling fans just want to stick their fingers in their ears and shout RUSSO RUSSO RUSSO anytime they see something on the screen they dont agree with.

The truth is there is no way to know who books what and whose idea is what until much after the fact and even then uninformed people will ignore the truth, such as Nash getting blamed for the Fingerpoke of Doom even though he wasn't booking then.

[ozequal]

Nov 16, 2009 16:28:14 GMT -5 Chuckie Finster said:

Some stuff is very Russo-esqe, such as the quick cuts between segments and the faces getting beat down post match and screwy finishes as well as constant mentions of "this business", "boys in the back", "getting a push", "being held back by the powers to be" and such. It's a lot of the little things. The only things that really bugs me are the worked-shoot references.

However, I only think some of it is Russo's fault. Mantell and Jarrett were the real villains for a long time. Pacman was all Jarrett's idea, as was the Frontline groveling the Jarrett to lead them, among other make-or-break decisions.

At least TNA doesn't get every reject from WWE nowadays. It was something Jarrettt, Dixie and Mantell were quite bad at.

Quick cuts between segments? Surely that's a job for the producers and Wrestling has had "screwy finishes" and faces getting beat down since nineteen-o-blanc.

anyway, this is what i was talking about... "Pacman Jones was all Jarrett's idea" - how do you know it was all Jarrett's idea? Unless you work for TNA (and even then only if you're part of the creative team) you really don't know. Nobody does.

[hollywood]

Quite frankly, it was Russo's WrestleCrap interview that made me decide he was an idiot.

["Hollywood" Cactus Matt]

Nov 17, 2009 12:08:31 GMT -5 hollywood said:

Quite frankly, it was Russo's WrestleCrap interview that made me decide he was an idiot.

This.....

Nov 16, 2009 15:35:38 GMT -5 hollywood said:

Nov 16, 2009 15:22:21 GMT -5 MrBRulzOK said:

... this is the guy after all who WILLINGLY put the WCW Championship belt on David Arquette (A factoid that he readily admits to) among other ludicrous decisions. ....

And readily defends, I might add.

..... and this.

[Evilution E5150]

well since jarrett and dutch have been gone i cant really fault the show, so i feel russo isnt really (as big of) a problem as he was in wcw and kinda gets blamed for anything that didnt make sense, how can we tell what he did and watch jarret and dutch came up with

[Big L]

Blame it on rikishi he did it 4 the rock!!