One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY Month Of The WWE Attitude Era
21. August 1999 | Vince Russo Almost Made It Big
WWF fever was so rampant in 1999 that, according to the August 9, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vince Russo was in the process of writing a television pilot - with involvement from the WWF - about the backstage goings-on at a pro wrestling company. It’s unclear whether this show failed to materialise as a result of Russo’s imminent jump to WCW, or because the (unspecified) network took one look at the script and wondered how a high school student with no social life or grasp of human emotions was able to get a pitch through.
The idea that Russo was asked to do something for legitimate telly is nuts enough in and of itself, but here’s something to ponder: did the unused ideas from Russo’s pilot form the basis for his stint as WCW booker?
Under Russo’s pen, WCW Nitro quickly became a terrible show about a terrible wrestling show. The wrestlers knew it was a sham within the narrative framework. The ‘Powers That Be’ dictated their fate; in the infamous tone-setter of an episode, on October 18, 1999, Buff Bagwell voluntarily lost a match to La Parka. Buff laid down because he had learned that he did not have “the stroke”. Entering a hard-fought performance was pointless. Wrestling is fake, and everybody knew it. This direction, which completely killed the fantasy and purpose of the medium, was Russo’s grand idea to beat the WWF.
WWE later experimented with a TV show about a failing creative team, but the problem is that Unreal is a documentary. It’s not meant to be a sitcom.