Was Vince Russo good as a writer for TNA Wrestling?

[The Rick Jericho]

As a fan who only watched his WWF stuff, heard about his WCW stuff. I did not watch his TNA booking.

Was he any good? Did anything memorable come out of his run in TNA?

[Feyrhausen]

No. He did the same old BS that brought down WCW. Only in this case all it did was keep TNA in the gutter.

The best TNA ever was with Russo in charge was the last few months of 2009. Hogan was coming so Russo was writing the debut. Seriously he claims the script for the Hogan debut took him like 6 weeks. So the major feuds, AJ vs Daniels vs Joe and Wolfe vs Angle were just allowed to be about wrestling with no BS.

[James Fabiano]

It's where he got his first chants asking for his firing. That is all.

[Sephiroth]

During his initial run there I’d argue he did faintly well. He also instilled the promotion with some bad habits that they never kicked, like their over reliance on factions.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

He didn't get into the most egregious shit he did in WCW like "Goldberg won't follow the script", but he definitely continued to indulge in bad Vince Russo habits with his nonsensical swerves, his juvenile humour, aimless stories jerking around in weird directions just for the sake of going those places, and lots of misogyny. Invading heel factions were the norm and you'd have shows where every match on the card was an overwrought f*** finish. That said, being poised at the height of the Cena era, I think what he did was less off-putting, if only by contrast. Not to say WWE's product was inherently bad, although it did run into some all-time stinker years in that period, but CENAWINSLOL was undeniably a consistent thing. You sorta knew how a WWE show was going to go. TNA wasn't that. The products being radically different, I think, led to a bit more audience patience with Russo's bullshit, because instead of Russo's product being 'what WWE is doing but worse' it was an entirely different beast. He was always an albatross around their neck for a lot of fans, but he didn't drive off nearly as many of them in his first run.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooope.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Oct 2, 2022 13:19:43 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

He didn't get into the most egregious shit he did in WCW like "Goldberg won't follow the script", but he definitely continued to indulge in bad Vince Russo habits with his nonsensical swerves, his juvenile humour, aimless stories jerking around in weird directions just for the sake of going those places, and lots of misogyny. Invading heel factions were the norm and you'd have shows where every match on the card was an overwrought f*** finish. That said, being poised at the height of the Cena era, I think what he did was less off-putting, if only by contrast. Not to say WWE's product was inherently bad, although it did run into some all-time stinker years in that period, but CENAWINSLOL was undeniably a consistent thing. You sorta knew how a WWE show was going to go. TNA wasn't that. The products being radically different, I think, led to a bit more audience patience with Russo's bullshit, because instead of Russo's product being 'what WWE is doing but worse' it was an entirely different beast. He was always an albatross around their neck for a lot of fans, but he didn't drive off nearly as many of them in his first run.

Honestly TNA probably only really rose to the heights it did due to a perfect storm of factors. Lack of any other real alternative, WWE being at a very sterile and repetitive point in their history where they didn't really seem to know what they wanted to be as they chased the highs of the Attitude Era while also trying to move away from it, the X-Division really being unlike anything else in mainstream wrestling at that point, a ton of notable names bouncing from WWE around the same point in time... The same show originating in the place of AEW I don't think would have ever caught on nearly as well.

[Jacy Jayne Atomic Dog AMV]

It's weird cause I wouldn't say he was 100% terrible but his bad moments were like all timer level stuff. VKM vs. Christy Hemme was literally his pet project. 

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Oct 2, 2022 13:57:43 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Oct 2, 2022 13:19:43 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

He didn't get into the most egregious shit he did in WCW like "Goldberg won't follow the script", but he definitely continued to indulge in bad Vince Russo habits with his nonsensical swerves, his juvenile humour, aimless stories jerking around in weird directions just for the sake of going those places, and lots of misogyny. Invading heel factions were the norm and you'd have shows where every match on the card was an overwrought f*** finish. That said, being poised at the height of the Cena era, I think what he did was less off-putting, if only by contrast. Not to say WWE's product was inherently bad, although it did run into some all-time stinker years in that period, but CENAWINSLOL was undeniably a consistent thing. You sorta knew how a WWE show was going to go. TNA wasn't that. The products being radically different, I think, led to a bit more audience patience with Russo's bullshit, because instead of Russo's product being 'what WWE is doing but worse' it was an entirely different beast. He was always an albatross around their neck for a lot of fans, but he didn't drive off nearly as many of them in his first run.

Honestly TNA probably only really rose to the heights it did due to a perfect storm of factors. Lack of any other real alternative, WWE being at a very sterile and repetitive point in their history where they didn't really seem to know what they wanted to be as they chased the highs of the Attitude Era while also trying to move away from it, the X-Division really being unlike anything else in mainstream wrestling at that point, a ton of notable names bouncing from WWE around the same point in time... The same show originating in the place of AEW I don't think would have ever caught on nearly as well.

TNA won out at having 'the future' of the business way more than the OVW Clone Factory ever did. But if you watched TNA, sure you had to wade through Russo's shit, but you could see the direction that wrestling was starting to go into and watch guys who felt way more like they were going to inherit the business. There's a reason one of the few exciting guys WWECW managed to debut was actually just Monty Brown. You're on the nose that if this show showed up instead of AEW, it wouldn't have been able to sustain itself. Once WWE figured out that hiring talented wrestlers from elsewhere was a good idea actually and the floodgates broke open on signing them on a mass scale instead of just letting one or two trickle in, a show had to start finding other reasons than 'has good wrestling' to justify its existence. The flaws in TNA's everything were forgivable when they were different flaws from WWE and you could kinda just decide whose flaws you could forgive more, or watch both and get different experiences out of it.

TNA succeeded in spite of Vince Russo, is where this is all building to.

[Cyno]

He was so bad that Spike apparently warned TNA not to hire him back. Dixie did it anyway and that was part of why Spike didn't bring TNA back when it was time to renew the deal. Thus banishing the company to the third tier cable channels like Destination America and Pop.

He had some Russo-isms in the early Weekly PPV days like naming a faction Sports Entertainment Xtreme (or SEX get it?!?!), dumb gimmick matches, and I'm pretty sure the wrestling penises were his idea, too. But it wasn't entirely WCW 1999-2000 Russo bad. He got close to those lows with his second and secret third stints with the company, though.

Some of the really stupid match ideas and gimmicks were so bad, it got the Impact Zone audience to start chanting "FIRE RUSSO!" even if it wasn't entirely clear they were his ideas. He and Dutch Mantel were on the same level at the time.

[Mozenrath]

He was pretty terrible. Like, I can get why TNA gave him a shot, since Jarrett got along with Russo, and it wasn't like Russo had burned everyone yet, exactly, and it did lead to occasionally funny things like Russo sleeping in a child-sized bed in Mick Foley's house in a segment, but tons of crap, too. VKM vs Hemme, if not VKM in general, was one of the all-time worst angles I've seen from a major wrestling company, segments like AJ Styles with a chainsaw, things like that were issues.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Nope. In a short answer. Nothing he did was that remembered in a good way. Yes there was great matches and good wrestling. But there was a lot of stupid shit around it. I say he had a few good ideas but the middle of end of those ideas where so poorly done. Example MEM. Big name star good vs The next generation originals. The middle was MEM dominated way to long. Than to Joe turn heel without reason or a good reason. Than the group ended in a very lackluster way.

The only reason I felt like we got good matches in ring because Cornette or Mantell agent the matches to they allowed them to have a good match. But Dixie was also brought into Russo's BS. To the point event when Fans chanted fire Russo, she fires Dutch instead. Like What?

[tafkaga]

Hell no. After taking a nearly 5 year hiatus from wrestling after WCW's demise, I was just getting into TNA Impact in 2005, watching religiously, really finding my passion for wrestling again, and then that motherf***er comes in and ruins it for me just like he ruined WCW.

[mcmahonfan85]

has anyone said no yet? cause if no one has said no, i'll just go ahead and say no.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

[XaviersSS2015hair]

At BFG 2009 a friend and I were standing in line waiting to enter the building along with a couple hundred other fans. Matt Morgan came out to take pictures with fans as we waited. Russo popped out of a door for like 30 seconds and was immediately greeted by nearly everyone chanting "FIRE RUSSO!!!". The show hadn't even started yet. All it took was for the fans to see this worthless douchebag's face to get them to all, myself included demand his dismissal.
So naturally Dixie kept him around for a few more years. Until Russo eventually cost TNA the best TV deal they ever had, or ever will have.

[Nosnorb]

Oct 2, 2022 21:16:58 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

Than to Joe turn heel without reason or a good reason.

That moment was peak Russo. Joe, after feuding with the MEM for months, which included killing Scott Steiner with a machete, literally handed the title to Kurt Angle in the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary.

Angle did say that he had paid Joe off, but that doesn't make it any better.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

He wasn't as bad as WCW Russo, but that doesn't make him good. There were always hints of good ideas, storylines would start well enough but they'd never end in a satisfying way. It was like Lucy and the football, hopes would be raised, then dashed by nonsensical trash booking.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

There was actually a brief period just prior to Hogan/Bischoff showing up where he was actually booking a pretty competent if not great wrestling show.

[kingoftheindies]

He had some moments of solid TV but he went way too far into the soap opera stuff. I wouldn't say it was WCW levels of insane. Just bad stuff but mostly forgettable ADD style booking