10 Times Ego Cost Wrestlers Everything

6. Vince Russo Runs Wild

Shane McMahon Riddle WWE Royal Rumble 2022
WWE Network

2000-era WCW TV was some laugh.

Seriously, fire up WWE Network/Peacock and watch some. It's car crash telly, sure, but so entertaining in retrospect. 22 years ago though, viewers were tuning out in their droves; Vince Russo's brand of WCW didn't cut it for the casuals, and once-proud flagships like Nitro started to tank.

This was not a coincidence. Many reasons have been given for WCW's fall, but Russo has to take some of the blame. His incoherent product, decision to book himself as World Champion and laundry list of excuses for sagging ratings remains unbelievably arrogant to this day.

Rather than realising that what he was doing wasn't working, Russo hid behind the idea that Turner execs put a leash on him creatively by disallowing the same raunchy content Raw was producing. That was just one part of the story, and nowhere near the full tale.

Nah, ego definitely got in the road here. Russo booked himself like the world's worst combination of Mr. McMahon and The Rock.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.