TNA's 10 Most Costly Mistakes
7. Hiring Vince Russo
In 2002, Vince Russo’s wrestling career seemed like it was over. WCW had continued to crumble under his watch, and WWE basically hired him for a weekend before realizing that he and Stephanie McMahon could not co-exist on the writing team.
His only option left was joining Jerry and Jeff Jarrett’s upstart wrestling promotion. It was troubled from the start, as only one-half of the duo wanted him there, as Jerry later had this to say:
“He obviously has qualities that I don’t recognize or understand ... How can a person who has a 15-year history of failure still keep a job?"
After a brief run in the company as a writer and on-air performer, Russo was let go in 2004, only to be re-hired in 2006. From there, TNA continued to tread water perpetually. Once they were picked up by Spike TV, it seemed like big things were in their future, but that future never came.
Impact's ratings always remained the same. Why? Because it was the same guy writing for all the characters in the same ineffective way!