That Time Vince Russo’s Ideas Were TOO GOOD For WWE

Goldberg Invasion
WWE.com

Russo entered the room, with no knowledge of existing storylines, and decided to strip every reigning Champion and set up several tournaments to crown new ones. This is a quintessentially Russo idea—so much so that it’s at least a plausible lie—but to enact it, WWE would have to acknowledge that the product was so poor it demanded a reset. WWE does this as a matter of course in 2019, but things weren’t quite so desperate in 2002.

Russo has admitted this, only, with an hilarious defence: “Bro, I did not watch the product leading up to 2002 because the product sucked! I’m not gonna sit there and watch a sh*tty wrestling show!”

He sure as sh*t can write ‘em, but he won’t watch ‘em.

So, to recap: Vince Russo, who thought booking Goldberg to refuse to “go up” for Kevin Nash’s powerbomb was a good idea, marched into a WWE creative meeting and said “I don’t even know what you’re doing, but I already know it sucks, because it’s drawing better ratings than I managed in WCW. Here’s a regurgitated idea that died in WCW, which itself died!”

Of course they were going to bury him. This mass burial, to the detriment of something that might be quite good, does sound consistent with that super-weird WWE management culture. But Russo asked for it with full knowledge of the warped political landscape. If he isn’t a liar, he is, for sure, a moron. And if his big idea was another invasion angle, WWE loathed the idea of running the first one.

CONT'D...(4 of 5)

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!