One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every WWE Royal Rumble

1997 - Vince Russo Was Responsible For A Swerve BEFORE He Became Head Writer

Former WWE head writer Vince Russo was obsessed with swerves. He is defined by swerves. He made his career by hatching swerves. He loved nothing more than fooling the audience, but his one-dimensional approach reached such levels of parody that the swerve developed an inescapable irony. After Survivor Series 1998, his daft but equally incredible opus, the swerve became the expectation. In an indictment of the industry, after assisting WCW’s death, he was employed for years and years afterwards.

Jim Cornette can get hysterical about Vince Russo, but when Jim said Russo hated wrestling and wrestling fans, you can readily believe it. Russo once introduced a star wrestler to TNA audiences by saying “You pieces of sh*t, give it up for AJ Styles!”

Russo always seemed to want to portray himself as smarter than the smart marks, who were there to be manipulated, and he started early. Before he seized power in WWE creative, as ‘Vic Venom’, he progressed from magazine writer to co-host of LiveWire: a phone-in programme that sought to “lift the lid” on all WWF happenings.

Russo loved that he knew something that you didn’t, and, when asked for his “prediction” on the winner of the 1997 Royal Rumble match, he “predicted” Bret Hart with near-certainty. That’s because he knew the plan was for Bret Hart to win, and wished to appear very clever and prescient. People took it seriously, too, since Venom leaned on his persona as an insider.

In the January 6 Observer, Meltzer reported that Russo took heat for it, which is why he seemed to backtrack. In the January 27 Observer, Dave Meltzer reported that the finish to the match was actually changed because too many people believed Bret was winning because Russo had given it away. Meltzer did write that the WWF was “perhaps overly” concerned about this.