10 Genius Wrestling Bookers And The Best Decision They Ever Made

10. Vince Russo (WWF/E)

Best Decision: the shift towards ‘Crash TV’ and the Attitude Era

Easily one of the most polarizing figures in modern wrestling history, Vince Russo has seen both peaks and valleys in terms of his booking philosophy. It was Russo who began shifting WWE’s booking direction towards the ‘Crash TV’ style that emphasized multiple overlapping storylines, stables, and swerves at every corner.

Yes, the actual in-ring quality of the period fell somewhat dramatically, but under Russo’s booking, WWF experienced an explosion in popularity, guided by such interesting storylines as Austin-McMahon, Undertaker-Kane, and the rising stardom of Mankind, Triple H and the Rock.

However, what worked in WWF failed to save WCW. Russo’s ideas worked so well in WWF because he had to get ideas approved by Vince McMahon, who threw out some of his ideas when they were too egregious (and rightly so).

In WCW, Russo was head booker and was given free rein to make any decisions he wanted, which led to an over-emphasis of sorts on Crash TV. WCW’s mainly southern and more traditional audience didn’t approve of all these radical changes, shocking’ twists and references to ‘insider’ concepts, and preferred old school wrestling instead.

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Russo was a bad booker as he brought the WWF considerable success by changing their booking style to fit his storyline ideas. It’s just that he, like every good booker and writer, needs someone else to provide sober second thought to make sure an idea really is as good as the booker says it is.