What I like about Hannibal is he lets people talk. As an interviewer, that is so important. It's not about having a "conversation". It's an interview. Listen like Hannibal and you never know what someone might say.
People talk shit about hannibal but he is a courteous interviewer and doesn't make the interview about him. Asks relevant questions. I always come back to these shoots.
That was just as much down to McMahon as Russo, because Vince controlled what this absolute twat was allowed to actually put out. Look at the absolute drivel this moron booked when he wasn't on a lead, utter shit
I believe Russo over Cornette. There’s a reason why he was chose twice over Corny for creative in WWF and TNA. Corny is stuck in the 70’s and 80’s but I do love hearing him go off on a rant lol
This is quite possibly one of the BEST interviews I've seen done with Vince Russo. There have been hundreds of Russo shoots over the years, and he remains one of wrestling's most controversial and polarizing figures ever. However, unlike other interviews, this one really touched on the human element of the man, and opened up more about his early days and stuff. I really think it puts him in a different light when you hear him talking like this.
I love how everyone blames Russo for "ruining" every company he worked for. Here's the facts: He was made a writer in WWF after WCW kicked.their asses and were desperate to try anything. He helped bring them back to the top. Not all of his ideas were sound and revolutionary, but let's not forget WWF 1994-1995 talking about Mantaur, Max Moon, Bastion Booger, etc, then in 1997 we had Droz the puker and in 1998 Vince McMahon became the Higher Power. Don't forget the entire Invasion angle. It wasn't just Russo's ideas that were outlandish and fell flat on their face. Then he gets hired by WCW after the infamous 83 week streak ended and was expected to save that company. Yeah he put Mrs. Bagwell on a forklift and booked David Arquette as WCW champion. Guess we can forget the entire Dungeon of Doom vs Hulk Hogan joke (Yeti anybody?), the botched Sting vs Hogan starrcade '97 finish, finger poke of doom and all of the Hogan and Nash booking politics. Again, Russo tried but he didn't ruin WCW. Then we move onto TNA who was so damn desperate for ratings they'd hire anybody that ever appeared on WWF or WCW TV and immediately make them TNA champion. That was way before Russo and long after Russo. You know who else worked for WWF and TNA the same time Russo did and also provided input? Your favorite mark, James E Cornette. Yet he and jackasses like Bruce Pritchard are able to elude any and all blame for the company woes. The fact is that yes, the man worked for companies in their most desperate times and they looked at him to single handedly save them and he couldn't. The damage has already been done and then when the company tanks, people like Vince McMahon, Pritchard and Cornette can take credit for the successes while others like Bischoff, Hogan and Dixie Carter can just put the blame on Russo for their downfall. Nah, pretty sure your promotions were already on the outs before this guy came along.
He's a rather big liar...for example, Russo claims he was the one to convince The Rock to speak about himself in the third person. Everyone else who should know---including Bruce Prichard, Jim Cornette and even The Rock, himself---says it was Jim Ross. That's just the tip of the iceberg, of why Russo is so despised...
@Arian Heidari Jim Ross was not just a TV Commentator and hired on-air talent. Jim Ross had also been the head of Talent Relations for the WWF/E until he'd been canned. Bruce Prichard, Jim Cornette AND Jim Ross -- all members of corporate at WWE at the time of The Rock's rise in popularity --- have gone on record to state that Jim Ross came up with the idea of The Rock referring to himself in the third Person, as Jim Ross suggested Dwayne Johnson emulate Devon Sanders' penchant for doing that in HIS interviews at Dallas. Jim Ross would've had a great deal of input as a behind-the-scenes member of the "booking committee" that extended well beyond Ferrara and Russo...
While Russo made some creative decisions that I STRONGLY disagree over the years, he's actually a great guy once you get to know him. He's not the big bad wolf WWE propaganda wants you to believe as evidenced by WWF having their highest ratings ever and WCW ratings going up his first three months before being let go when he was the head writer for both companies. TNA also having their highest ratings ever all when Russo was involved with creative there. Story telling & character > workrate
This is how I see it. Even Russo will say that the wrestling business killed her. Very much so . She had to stay away from it. She was off in Japan with a new life, teaching, away from the wrestling spotlight, and about to get married to a Japanese fellow. Russo, in an effort to get more traffic to his Pyro and Ballyhoo site, gets her on a podcast and tries to rile her up about comments HHH made about her not getting into the WWE HOF. He got the fires burning to motivate her to come back to the USA and "fight for her place". Well, she came back and was dead not soon after (back into the drugs and being around wrestling). If Russo cared about her, he would have just let her be in Japan and not luring her back to a very toxic environment for her. And he did it to get traffic for his site. I found it disgusting and he certainly was a catalyst to get her into a situation that would lead to her death. The sad thing about Russo, is no matter what he does, he always has an explanation and blames some other person or force. Never owns anything and never man's up and faces his problems with responsibility. There are not any Christian values in this guy (whatever those are), as he is treacherous and he lies to himself every day by creating false narratives about how everything is someone else's fault. His fans buy into it like sheep and sustain him. it is a sad circle.
I can’t imagine the workload of writing the all the television, ppv’s, on top of the magazine. No wonder Vince snapped when Smackdown was put on the table
Vince Russo. Changed Wrestling. He is The reason why im a Fan today. loved his work in the WWF and even though some people didnt enjoy his WCW run. i thought it was great tv. Very entertaining. Shock tv. crash tv. Fucking genius he is! Hopefully in the near future he could somehow be invovled in wrestling again.
SOMETHING DONT ADD UP IF U WENT 2 VINCE MCMAHON CRY'N ABOUT BEING OVER WORKED Y DIDNT U TAKE A BREAK & RECOVER INSTEAD U SIGN 4 "MORE MONEY" & U WENT 2 WCW HAVING 2 WORK HARD BCUZ WCW WAS GETT'N BEAT SO DID U WANT MORE MONEY OR A HUG BCUZ NOTHING CHANGED BUT THE MONEY & U HAD MORE WORK!! IT DNT ADD UP RUSSO!!!!...
Russo was in the right place at the right time. He was a great "trash TV" writer and thats where Vince wanted to take WWF because he knew shows like Springer were drawing alot of viewers. Russo said he used to watch springer whilst writing raw with Ed Fererra. All that and the fact that they had two of the biggest stars in history coming up at the same time and a whole roster of guys and girls who were super over contributed to the greatness of the attitude era.
You're just rehashing Corny JIm's Monday Morning Quarterback opinion, the guy that uses jokes and metaphors from the 50s to distract his goofy followers from the fact that he has never built anything exciting himself and criticizes others for things that he himself is the embodiment of. Vince understood drama and storytelling, and how is taking inspiration from Springer a bad idea? Analyzing how interpersonal arguments and differences end up in physical violence... Any wrestling writer who's not watching that show is shit.
@@SL-hq2ck Tell me where in my comment i said that the springer influence was a bad thing? I enjoyed what russo did in the attitude era. There were alot of good things about the attitude era but the constant run ins and really short matches every week let it down a little. Im not denying russos input but for people who hail him as the main reason for that period in wrestling are naive. The stars aligned in many ways for the attitude era to happen.
Never a huge Russo fan; but he made a lot of really good points here. Particularly around the dreadful state of the modern business. Even Cornette would probably agree with some of Russo's points here!
Cornett has spent the last 20 years shoving an agenda down people's throats about this man, wether anyone likes to admit it or not he wrote and was behind so many segments and storylines that us wrestling fans and even casual fans still talk about today
Take what Cornette says with a grain of salt. I do like hearing him talk and his shoots, but it's either two things he goes to; if the idea doesn't work he says "he never had a good idea if it bit him", and if the idea did work, "oh well the fans don't know true wrestling and it wasn't longterm booking." Just with his political ideology that he inserts in every episode of his podcast, if you don't agree with him then you're a terrible pos that doesn't deserve to exist. He doesn't just go after those in charge, but the people too. It's either his way or the highway riddled with threats. Meanwhile the wrestling marks chose to hate Russo because of his writing style lmao. Tells you all you need to know
This man has been unfairly treated. It is clear to me from this interview that he understands the wrestling business.If he was allowed to have the autonomy that he needed in WCW, he might have been able to save the company.
Yeah right he and bishoff ruined pro wrestling. WCW was the competition to WWE alot of mid card people never got a chance at becoming superstars when you are working in a dairy you don't kill the cow to get the milk. They are both responsible for making wrestling a monopoly. I would not hire those 2 clowns to run a 2 hole shitter
@@hinro There was still a lot of twisted stuff going on behind the scenes with all the business decisions and backstage politics, though. I think Russo needed more *freedom* as opposed to "autonomy." He needed WCW to give him the space to write the show that needed to be written - which he never really had at WCW because of the upcoming merger, the dwindling budget, backstage politics, guaranteed contracts, "that doesn't work for me, brother," and all that stuff - and he needed somebody like McMahon through whom to filter the ideas. It's totally unfair for these marks to place all the blame at Russo's feet, but I don't think more autonomy would have done him any good in that situation. His worst ideas didn't always go anywhere, and WCW compounded that problem, whereas Vince (and probably Shane) fixed it. That's why his run with WWF was so great. He deserves a lion's share of the credit, Russo does, but the environment WWF fostered at the time is what allowed him to bloom.
Russo needed someone to check his ideas,choose the right ideas and execute it properly.Russo didn't have McMahon to check his BS at TNA and WCW that's why it was horrible
@@gamechanger700 The ratings went up in both cases, and I beg to differ. Some of what he did wasn't grear but he did make Scott Steiner and Booker T WCW main eventers, started pushing the likes of the Natural Born Thrillers and Vampiro, and came up with great comedy gimmicks in TNA like Shark Boy's Stone Cold impersonator gimmick. The point is, he's easily the most creative mind in the history of wrestling. When you think outside the box like he does, there'll be a few misses here and there but overall he's done more good than bad, especially since a lot of the Attitude Era was his work. Cornette is nothing but a mark for boring long matches who doesn't know how to book to a mainstream audience. WWE has lost that mainstream audience and a lot if it is because they lost Russo, the one guy who actually gets what the average person expects in pro wrestling.
@@gamechanger700 It was the same for everyone else in that position. McMahon always had final say no matter who was booker. Russo and Ed were much more successful in that role than Cornette and Prichard.
@@mitchcolburn1216 agreed,the guy was ahead of his time and people crap on him because of the David Arquette thing but people always forget Arquette was the one who pinned Eric Bishoff.Eric Bishoff was the one who arranged the match at the beginning.What was the tag division before?bunch of losers.What was the tag division after Russo?Russo was super high on the Hardy boys,Dudleys and Edge and Christian.Vince didn't even knew who they were.They were jobbers until Russo gave them character that helped them get over with the fans.The guy proved people care more about larger than life characters than actual wrestling. Do people remember a 5 star match between Steamboat and Ric Flair or Vince McMahon and Steve Austin feud.That feud drew money,it was Russo's idea.Cornette is a boring match mark who is behind his time and the ratings went down when he was in creative.Russo convinced Vince McMahon to hire Jericho.Russo told Vince to book Jericho's debut with the Rock when he was a mid carder at WCW. THIS IS YOUR LIFE SEGMENT was the highest rated segment ever and it was written by Russo.Russo brought edgy characters.Rock and Austin had generic characters until Russo came up with amazing angles.Steve Austin and the Rock out him over big time.Austin was asked which writer you were interested the most to work with and it was VINCE FUCKING RUSSO.Casuals don't give a fuck about 5 star matches the booker give them a reason to care.AEW and NXT are just bland and generic looking wrestlers with no Charisma wrestling.WWE has become an Indy spotfest. Imagine if Marvel catered to their hardcore smarks instead of catering to their massive casual audiences then Marvel would be nowhere near as popular as they are right now
The guy who rigged Owen Hart up was more responsible for Owen’s death than Russo or maybe the person who changed the rigging company because it was cheaper and were willing to do the stunt without a lock-in carabiner as the original company refused to do it. I’ve been watching old Nitros on the WWE Network atm and in mid 97 and all of Sting’s repelled spots are done with a lock-in carabiner as I’ve been taking notice
someone should do a timeline of vince russo contradicting himself in all of his shoot interviews. They can start with the first one, when he said he'd never do another wrestling shoot interview
I dont really care what people say (mostly Cornette) but I like Russo, everyone acts like he is the only one who tells lies or just simply refuse to give him credit for what he did for the business, he's underrated and misunderstood. I'll take Vinnie Ru and Vinnie Mac as his filter any day over any of the utter rubbish these days or back in the days of wrasslin'.....bro.
I recon before this interview Vince Russo made a conscious decision to try and not say “bro” very often because it’s one of the things he’s best known for. The first hour he does extremely well keeping it in the 30’s but by the end of the video it’s in the 160’s. He tried but as time went on into that second hour the bro’s came thick and fast. Great idea Hannibal to have a “bro” count meter, you’re the only person I’ve seen put a count meter on the amount of times Russo says “bro” in a shoot interview. Your a clever lad as you know it’s something the fans would enjoy
Numbers done lie regardless of who had to approve his ideas in the WWE he was one of the big reasons for their major success. If McMahon Prichard and Patterson was coming up with all these storylines ideas and etc then they wouldnt have needed him in the first place on the booking team
The way people talk about Vince Russo is like he's the antichrist. He's just a wrestling writer with just some bad ideas. everyone have bad ideas. He's just a regular human. But at the same time I do love listening to Cornette's shoots on him.
Oh yeah. At least he stuff (good and bad) was entertaining. WWE's 20-30 creative crew creates some of the most corny, childish crap I've ever seen on a wrestling show.
I know he doesn't want to come back and he's doing his podcast nowday but WWE needs him and the fans need him. I don't care for the people who don't like him people like me know the shows are so bad these days and we need a big change. Vince Russo can do that.
The beginning of the Mr McMahon character was in 94 (or 95) in the USWA in Memphis where Jerry Lawler played the face and Vince McMahon played the heel trying to take Jerry’s title by bringing down wrestlers from the WWF like Tatanka & Giant Gonzales
"The editor of the magazine was let go and I applied for that job" Fails to mention he went to Vince and Linda behind that guys back to talk shit about him, according to his own book. Of course that doesn't fit his "I hate backstage politics and never did that" narrative he's always pushing. Going to your boss to complain about your direct superior in an effort to get their job is politicking. And not the only time he did it. Like when he wrote Dixie and bitched about Cornette as on tv authority figure and how it would be so much better to have someone like Tina Fey in that role. Anybody that wasn't born yesterday knows he was trying to get Cornette fired with that by suggesting that Dixie could take his place on-screen. But he hates politicking. or when he wrote the Tv station that carried TNA and told them how shitty it was and that they should put him in control, and it got TNA kicked of that network. You can never take anything that this guy says as the absolute truth.
True genius. He single-handedly pulled wrestling out of its grave by inventing the Attitude Era. He made guys who never drew a dime, draw dimes x1000. Russo is dimes.
love russo, one thing what i find idiotic in terms of his haters is that they say he takes credit for everything and tbh every interview i see him doing all he does is give credit to everyone and put everyone over.
To be fair, although he had some brutally stupid ideas, I believe Russo to be more honest than any of the others. Far more so than Pritchard or con-man Corny. The only guy I think equally honest is Bischoff.
How mad do you guys think it makes Bret Hart to hear everyone always say that Shawn Michaels is the best wrestler ever? I bet that eats at him cause he seems to carry quite the grudge.
It is not true that Austin did not speak as the Ringmaster... in fact, he made his debut by cutting a promo at the Brother Love Show when he was handed the Million Dollar Belt. He also continued to cut promos while playing the character. For an example of that, search for Ringmaster vs. Scott Taylor.
I watched wrestling for 10 years from Wrestlemania 4 (1988) to Starrcade 98 (1998). After seeing how the business deteriorated from 1997 to 1998, I was so pissed off that I stopped watching entirely.
"Nobody loved (Owen) more than I did. Nobody was more torn apart or distraught (than I was)." Um.....His wife? His mother? His father? His family? His actual friends?
I think Russo is overly-critiqued for bringing something different to the table in wrestling. Yes he’s not an old school booker, he’s not going to book the in-ring action, but what he can do is create storylines that got you invested and kept fans invested in the product. I think bringing in Russo to book what is essentially “car-crash tv” with an experienced head to book the match would be great. I respect Cornette too and enjoy his input, but he is extremely bitter of Russo’s success and Russo being his successor.
@@ASCUMBAGWh0re that mcmahon gave bret a dozen finish options and he turned them all down. Also Russo claims he jokingly told mcmahon to "screw bret" and he actually did it, I'm not sure on the truth of that part because cornette also claims he gave mcmahon the idea (not deliberately)
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 89 | คู่เอก "ยอดไอคิว vs คิริลล์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z3vYkHJ_5Ig/mqdefault.jpg)
The Hannibal TV Full Shoot Interview Playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLvoIHF4T3-L706lEMhXDDveFu63O223xo.html
1997: Raw is War
2017: Raw is Bore
2019: Raw is Blah
Lol the truth!!!
2170: Raw is Bro
2020 Raw is BURR
All wrestling is shit now. The glory days are long gone
This is the Best Vince Russo interview ive ever seen
What I like about Hannibal is he lets people talk. As an interviewer, that is so important. It's not about having a "conversation". It's an interview. Listen like Hannibal and you never know what someone might say.
People talk shit about hannibal but he is a courteous interviewer and doesn't make the interview about him. Asks relevant questions. I always come back to these shoots.
Love the Bro-o-meter.
kenterminatedbygoogle true
kenterminatedbygoogle cornette will have the "once again meter" and "cough before a long rant" meter
Carlos Morales he'd have a fuck-o-meter
Carlos Morales Don't forget that annoying ass Hyena laugh......
They missed a few bros
Everybody can say what they want about Russo in WCW and TNA, but RAW in 1997 and 1998 was absolutely fantastic.
And 99!
That was just as much down to McMahon as Russo, because Vince controlled what this absolute twat was allowed to actually put out. Look at the absolute drivel this moron booked when he wasn't on a lead, utter shit
Russo was at his best when Jim Cornette used to mop up for him in TNA
@@chriswade9871 Yeah all bad/crazy ideas were down to Russo.. Like Katie Vick.. Oh wait.
@@firstroundboxing1138 Katie Vick was hilarious.
I believe Russo over Cornette. There’s a reason why he was chose twice over Corny for creative in WWF and TNA. Corny is stuck in the 70’s and 80’s but I do love hearing him go off on a rant lol
What a swerve, he ended on man instead of bro.
IWatchAnime92 😂😂😂😂 still laughing at this 2 years later
Typical Russo fashion
I remember seeing a brief preview of Russo talking about Sami Zayn.
“Sami Zayn doesn’t look like a wrestler. He looks like my next door neighbor.”
LOL
This is quite possibly one of the BEST interviews I've seen done with Vince Russo. There have been hundreds of Russo shoots over the years, and he remains one of wrestling's most controversial and polarizing figures ever. However, unlike other interviews, this one really touched on the human element of the man, and opened up more about his early days and stuff. I really think it puts him in a different light when you hear him talking like this.
With KC of course.
We used to hang in this guys video store when we were kids...he had 2 wwe appearances at his store....brutus the barber beefcake and demolition
I seem to remember TNA getting 1.6 million , 1.7, 1.8 million viewers when Russo was writing for them.
TheFutureKing so was dusty Rhodes ... abyss... Jeff jarrett
and they were getting 0.7 0.8 0.9 so ur point......now they getting like 0.1 0.2
I seem to remember the crowd literally chanting "fire Russo".
And a lot less viewers than that when he left.
@@RandolfLycan so the crowd paid money and went to the show
Russo best heel ever then..
Mr Russo: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
I do, bro.
I love how everyone blames Russo for "ruining" every company he worked for. Here's the facts:
He was made a writer in WWF after WCW kicked.their asses and were desperate to try anything. He helped bring them back to the top. Not all of his ideas were sound and revolutionary, but let's not forget WWF 1994-1995 talking about Mantaur, Max Moon, Bastion Booger, etc, then in 1997 we had Droz the puker and in 1998 Vince McMahon became the Higher Power. Don't forget the entire Invasion angle. It wasn't just Russo's ideas that were outlandish and fell flat on their face.
Then he gets hired by WCW after the infamous 83 week streak ended and was expected to save that company. Yeah he put Mrs. Bagwell on a forklift and booked David Arquette as WCW champion. Guess we can forget the entire Dungeon of Doom vs Hulk Hogan joke (Yeti anybody?), the botched Sting vs Hogan starrcade '97 finish, finger poke of doom and all of the Hogan and Nash booking politics. Again, Russo tried but he didn't ruin WCW.
Then we move onto TNA who was so damn desperate for ratings they'd hire anybody that ever appeared on WWF or WCW TV and immediately make them TNA champion. That was way before Russo and long after Russo.
You know who else worked for WWF and TNA the same time Russo did and also provided input? Your favorite mark, James E Cornette. Yet he and jackasses like Bruce Pritchard are able to elude any and all blame for the company woes.
The fact is that yes, the man worked for companies in their most desperate times and they looked at him to single handedly save them and he couldn't. The damage has already been done and then when the company tanks, people like Vince McMahon, Pritchard and Cornette can take credit for the successes while others like Bischoff, Hogan and Dixie Carter can just put the blame on Russo for their downfall. Nah, pretty sure your promotions were already on the outs before this guy came along.
Wish more would watch this Russo interview and others and see how much a genuinely good person he is. Underrated and misunderstood!
He's a lying piece of crap
beaver cleavage
He's a rather big liar...for example, Russo claims he was the one to convince The Rock to speak about himself in the third person. Everyone else who should know---including Bruce Prichard, Jim Cornette and even The Rock, himself---says it was Jim Ross.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, of why Russo is so despised...
@Arian Heidari Jim Ross was not just a TV Commentator and hired on-air talent. Jim Ross had also been the head of Talent Relations for the WWF/E until he'd been canned.
Bruce Prichard, Jim Cornette AND Jim Ross -- all members of corporate at WWE at the time of The Rock's rise in popularity --- have gone on record to state that Jim Ross came up with the idea of The Rock referring to himself in the third Person, as Jim Ross suggested Dwayne Johnson emulate Devon Sanders' penchant for doing that in HIS interviews at Dallas.
Jim Ross would've had a great deal of input as a behind-the-scenes member of the "booking committee" that extended well beyond Ferrara and Russo...
Fuck
While Russo made some creative decisions that I STRONGLY disagree over the years, he's actually a great guy once you get to know him. He's not the big bad wolf WWE propaganda wants you to believe as evidenced by WWF having their highest ratings ever and WCW ratings going up his first three months before being let go when he was the head writer for both companies.
TNA also having their highest ratings ever all when Russo was involved with creative there.
Story telling & character > workrate
Why is a guy who lies, never admits wrong doing, is deceitful, partly responsible for Chyna's death (I could go on), a "great guy"
This is how I see it. Even Russo will say that the wrestling business killed her. Very much so . She had to stay away from it. She was off in Japan with a new life, teaching, away from the wrestling spotlight, and about to get married to a Japanese fellow. Russo, in an effort to get more traffic to his Pyro and Ballyhoo site, gets her on a podcast and tries to rile her up about comments HHH made about her not getting into the WWE HOF. He got the fires burning to motivate her to come back to the USA and "fight for her place". Well, she came back and was dead not soon after (back into the drugs and being around wrestling). If Russo cared about her, he would have just let her be in Japan and not luring her back to a very toxic environment for her. And he did it to get traffic for his site. I found it disgusting and he certainly was a catalyst to get her into a situation that would lead to her death. The sad thing about Russo, is no matter what he does, he always has an explanation and blames some other person or force. Never owns anything and never man's up and faces his problems with responsibility. There are not any Christian values in this guy (whatever those are), as he is treacherous and he lies to himself every day by creating false narratives about how everything is someone else's fault. His fans buy into it like sheep and sustain him. it is a sad circle.
what are you talking about? Chyna made that choice by herself russo just talked about it it was chynas own choice at the end
Let's not forget Triple H was the one who first stirred shit up with that damn "Google" comment.
Joe Young he does look like a big bad wolf now with the beard
I love how dedicated you are to these really comes across your love for the sport and I look forward to these as you always do them justice
Mr. Vince Russo... What a brilliant man! I enjoy listening to him always. Great interview.
I like the lighting, it's like a police interview from some '40's noir
15:57 marks the first BRO of the interview. This has to be some sort of a record for Russo. AMAZING interview Hannibal!!! Great channel!
lmao
I can’t imagine the workload of writing the all the television, ppv’s, on top of the magazine. No wonder Vince snapped when Smackdown was put on the table
Loved the Bro-O-Meter. 😂😂😂
Vince Russo. Changed Wrestling. He is The reason why im a Fan today. loved his work in the WWF and even though some people didnt enjoy his WCW run. i thought it was great tv. Very entertaining. Shock tv. crash tv. Fucking genius he is! Hopefully in the near future he could somehow be invovled in wrestling again.
WWE need Vince russo, Respect too this guy
Yeah they need him like Subway needs Jared Fogle.
russo the best writer
Should be in the hall of fame
It took Vince a lil while to start shooting his first bro and after that, it's off to the races "Bro" lol
I haven't watched this yet... BUT every time he says BRO ... I'm going to take a shot.
Savage Tilley So did you survive the shoot? Or did you get alcohol poisoning?
Better make it shots of o’douls
@T-RopE a little bit my liver hurts still.
RIP
SOMETHING DONT ADD UP IF U WENT 2 VINCE MCMAHON CRY'N ABOUT BEING OVER WORKED Y DIDNT U TAKE A BREAK & RECOVER INSTEAD U SIGN 4 "MORE MONEY" & U WENT 2 WCW HAVING 2 WORK HARD BCUZ WCW WAS GETT'N BEAT SO DID U WANT MORE MONEY OR A HUG BCUZ NOTHING CHANGED BUT THE MONEY & U HAD MORE WORK!! IT DNT ADD UP RUSSO!!!!...
Wow, this interview is awesome. I wasn't even watching wrestling back in the mid to late nineties and I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Russo was in the right place at the right time. He was a great "trash TV" writer and thats where Vince wanted to take WWF because he knew shows like Springer were drawing alot of viewers. Russo said he used to watch springer whilst writing raw with Ed Fererra. All that and the fact that they had two of the biggest stars in history coming up at the same time and a whole roster of guys and girls who were super over contributed to the greatness of the attitude era.
You're just rehashing Corny JIm's Monday Morning Quarterback opinion, the guy that uses jokes and metaphors from the 50s to distract his goofy followers from the fact that he has never built anything exciting himself and criticizes others for things that he himself is the embodiment of. Vince understood drama and storytelling, and how is taking inspiration from Springer a bad idea? Analyzing how interpersonal arguments and differences end up in physical violence... Any wrestling writer who's not watching that show is shit.
@@SL-hq2ck Tell me where in my comment i said that the springer influence was a bad thing? I enjoyed what russo did in the attitude era. There were alot of good things about the attitude era but the constant run ins and really short matches every week let it down a little. Im not denying russos input but for people who hail him as the main reason for that period in wrestling are naive. The stars aligned in many ways for the attitude era to happen.
Bro O Meter nice touch bro haha
The "Bro-o-meter" is tremendous! hahahaha always love your content Hannibal. You're a great interviewer.
Never a huge Russo fan; but he made a lot of really good points here. Particularly around the dreadful state of the modern business. Even Cornette would probably agree with some of Russo's points here!
Legend has it that when russo stops saying bro corny will die 😂😂😂 btw that bro meter is hilarious thank you hannibal 4 another great interview
It's a freaking television show, bro.
Cornett has spent the last 20 years shoving an agenda down people's throats about this man, wether anyone likes to admit it or not he wrote and was behind so many segments and storylines that us wrestling fans and even casual fans still talk about today
Take what Cornette says with a grain of salt. I do like hearing him talk and his shoots, but it's either two things he goes to; if the idea doesn't work he says "he never had a good idea if it bit him", and if the idea did work, "oh well the fans don't know true wrestling and it wasn't longterm booking." Just with his political ideology that he inserts in every episode of his podcast, if you don't agree with him then you're a terrible pos that doesn't deserve to exist. He doesn't just go after those in charge, but the people too. It's either his way or the highway riddled with threats. Meanwhile the wrestling marks chose to hate Russo because of his writing style lmao. Tells you all you need to know
@@RaytheGrayt The comment is 5years old. They wont get a notification.
If you guys really believe that russo watched wrestling in brunos era you got to stop using the internet right now
@@joaopereira4218why is that hard to believe, just because he saw some bruno matches doesn’t mean he was a mark for wrestling.
People hate him because he is effective.
vince makes so much sense about current state of WWE
Vince looks like he’s halfway through a transformation into the Wolfman
why? because he has a beard? 🤔
Haha 😃😃🤣
I can listen to Russo all freakin day !!!👍💪
This man has been unfairly treated. It is clear to me from this interview that he understands the wrestling business.If he was allowed to have the autonomy that he needed in WCW, he might have been able to save the company.
He did and then he got fired from said job. about 3 months give or take.
Yeah right he and bishoff ruined pro wrestling. WCW was the competition to WWE alot of mid card people never got a chance at becoming superstars when you are working in a dairy you don't kill the cow to get the milk. They are both responsible for making wrestling a monopoly. I would not hire those 2 clowns to run a 2 hole shitter
@@hinro There was still a lot of twisted stuff going on behind the scenes with all the business decisions and backstage politics, though. I think Russo needed more *freedom* as opposed to "autonomy." He needed WCW to give him the space to write the show that needed to be written - which he never really had at WCW because of the upcoming merger, the dwindling budget, backstage politics, guaranteed contracts, "that doesn't work for me, brother," and all that stuff - and he needed somebody like McMahon through whom to filter the ideas. It's totally unfair for these marks to place all the blame at Russo's feet, but I don't think more autonomy would have done him any good in that situation. His worst ideas didn't always go anywhere, and WCW compounded that problem, whereas Vince (and probably Shane) fixed it. That's why his run with WWF was so great. He deserves a lion's share of the credit, Russo does, but the environment WWF fostered at the time is what allowed him to bloom.
@@ignatiusjackson235buy a dictionary.
The difference between Vince Russo and Jim Cornette is that Russo's style of booking actually made money.
Russo needed someone to check his ideas,choose the right ideas and execute it properly.Russo didn't have McMahon to check his BS at TNA and WCW that's why it was horrible
@@gamechanger700 The ratings went up in both cases, and I beg to differ. Some of what he did wasn't grear but he did make Scott Steiner and Booker T WCW main eventers, started pushing the likes of the Natural Born Thrillers and Vampiro, and came up with great comedy gimmicks in TNA like Shark Boy's Stone Cold impersonator gimmick. The point is, he's easily the most creative mind in the history of wrestling. When you think outside the box like he does, there'll be a few misses here and there but overall he's done more good than bad, especially since a lot of the Attitude Era was his work. Cornette is nothing but a mark for boring long matches who doesn't know how to book to a mainstream audience. WWE has lost that mainstream audience and a lot if it is because they lost Russo, the one guy who actually gets what the average person expects in pro wrestling.
@@gamechanger700 It was the same for everyone else in that position. McMahon always had final say no matter who was booker. Russo and Ed were much more successful in that role than Cornette and Prichard.
@@mitchcolburn1216 agreed,the guy was ahead of his time and people crap on him because of the David Arquette thing but people always forget Arquette was the one who pinned Eric Bishoff.Eric Bishoff was the one who arranged the match at the beginning.What was the tag division before?bunch of losers.What was the tag division after Russo?Russo was super high on the Hardy boys,Dudleys and Edge and Christian.Vince didn't even knew who they were.They were jobbers until Russo gave them character that helped them get over with the fans.The guy proved people care more about larger than life characters than actual wrestling. Do people remember a 5 star match between Steamboat and Ric Flair or Vince McMahon and Steve Austin feud.That feud drew money,it was Russo's idea.Cornette is a boring match mark who is behind his time and the ratings went down when he was in creative.Russo convinced Vince McMahon to hire Jericho.Russo told Vince to book Jericho's debut with the Rock when he was a mid carder at WCW. THIS IS YOUR LIFE SEGMENT was the highest rated segment ever and it was written by Russo.Russo brought edgy characters.Rock and Austin had generic characters until Russo came up with amazing angles.Steve Austin and the Rock out him over big time.Austin was asked which writer you were interested the most to work with and it was VINCE FUCKING RUSSO.Casuals don't give a fuck about 5 star matches the booker give them a reason to care.AEW and NXT are just bland and generic looking wrestlers with no Charisma wrestling.WWE has become an Indy spotfest. Imagine if Marvel catered to their hardcore smarks instead of catering to their massive casual audiences then Marvel would be nowhere near as popular as they are right now
When did Russo make money?
Watching his hand movements and the way he speaks. It's a New York style, reminds of a fantastic president who will reign again.
Bro its captain caveman bro
1:51:00 in you missed a "Bro". Love your channel Hannibal. Keep up the good work.
Russo is great
mandible you the number 1 interviewer in the wrestling
The guy who rigged Owen Hart up was more responsible for Owen’s death than Russo or maybe the person who changed the rigging company because it was cheaper and were willing to do the stunt without a lock-in carabiner as the original company refused to do it. I’ve been watching old Nitros on the WWE Network atm and in mid 97 and all of Sting’s repelled spots are done with a lock-in carabiner as I’ve been taking notice
One of the best shoot interviews great questions HTV should do an part 2 russo interview
someone should do a timeline of vince russo contradicting himself in all of his shoot interviews. They can start with the first one, when he said he'd never do another wrestling shoot interview
If you ask Russo who's idea it was to write the declaration of independence, he would say "I gotta be honest bro, it was mine."
I dont really care what people say (mostly Cornette) but I like Russo, everyone acts like he is the only one who tells lies or just simply refuse to give him credit for what he did for the business, he's underrated and misunderstood. I'll take Vinnie Ru and Vinnie Mac as his filter any day over any of the utter rubbish these days or back in the days of wrasslin'.....bro.
He sounds very honest hear.
I recon before this interview Vince Russo made a conscious decision to try and not say “bro” very often because it’s one of the things he’s best known for. The first hour he does extremely well keeping it in the 30’s but by the end of the video it’s in the 160’s. He tried but as time went on into that second hour the bro’s came thick and fast. Great idea Hannibal to have a “bro” count meter, you’re the only person I’ve seen put a count meter on the amount of times Russo says “bro” in a shoot interview. Your a clever lad as you know it’s something the fans would enjoy
Numbers done lie regardless of who had to approve his ideas in the WWE he was one of the big reasons for their major success. If McMahon Prichard and Patterson was coming up with all these storylines ideas and etc then they wouldnt have needed him in the first place on the booking team
Brian Pillman was Austin's partner in the Hollywood Tag team in WCW
The way people talk about Vince Russo is like he's the antichrist. He's just a wrestling writer with just some bad ideas. everyone have bad ideas. He's just a regular human.
But at the same time I do love listening to Cornette's shoots on him.
DarksaberForce But in all honesty, would you take him over the 20 some creative writers they have now?
Oh yeah. At least he stuff (good and bad) was entertaining. WWE's 20-30 creative crew creates some of the most corny, childish crap I've ever seen on a wrestling show.
DarksaberForce Agreed. His writing and booking can be very unpredictable.
DarksaberForce Smackdown has a few writers from NXT while raw has people like Russo booking their shows
I really don't care for WWE or TNA anymore. I just stick to Japanese and 80's-mid 90's wrestling
I know he doesn't want to come back and he's doing his podcast nowday but WWE needs him and the fans need him. I don't care for the people who don't like him people like me know the shows are so bad these days and we need a big change. Vince Russo can do that.
need an I'll be honest with you meter aswell
lol
And an "I'll never forget..." meter
And a It wasn’t my idea meter
😂
PrimusVsUnicron 😂😂😂
I like how this video includes how many times Vince Russo says Bro
The beginning of the Mr McMahon character was in 94 (or 95) in the USWA in Memphis where Jerry Lawler played the face and Vince McMahon played the heel trying to take Jerry’s title by bringing down wrestlers from the WWF like Tatanka & Giant Gonzales
"The editor of the magazine was let go and I applied for that job"
Fails to mention he went to Vince and Linda behind that guys back to talk shit about him, according to his own book. Of course that doesn't fit his "I hate backstage politics and never did that" narrative he's always pushing. Going to your boss to complain about your direct superior in an effort to get their job is politicking. And not the only time he did it.
Like when he wrote Dixie and bitched about Cornette as on tv authority figure and how it would be so much better to have someone like Tina Fey in that role. Anybody that wasn't born yesterday knows he was trying to get Cornette fired with that by suggesting that Dixie could take his place on-screen. But he hates politicking.
or when he wrote the Tv station that carried TNA and told them how shitty it was and that they should put him in control, and it got TNA kicked of that network.
You can never take anything that this guy says as the absolute truth.
of you're looking for nice guys in the wrestling business, keep looking lol!
Double bro @ 2:03:02
We’re gonna hire Russo and Cornette to run a new wrestling company for 6 months and see what happens 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣....
I enjoyed TNA when Russo was there, but the production was cheap
True genius. He single-handedly pulled wrestling out of its grave by inventing the Attitude Era. He made guys who never drew a dime, draw dimes x1000. Russo is dimes.
love russo, one thing what i find idiotic in terms of his haters is that they say he takes credit for everything and tbh every interview i see him doing all he does is give credit to everyone and put everyone over.
drinking game every time russo says bro take a shot
To be fair, although he had some brutally stupid ideas, I believe Russo to be more honest than any of the others. Far more so than Pritchard or con-man Corny. The only guy I think equally honest is Bischoff.
Agree
Your shoot interviews are awesome. Who do you have lined up on the upcoming schedule?
Larry Zbyszko, Knobs & David Penzer
How do you afford all these shoots you are doing.. nobody signed up for your Patreon
he sells coke
I missed Knobs. Did they do it?
@@davejohnson3378jealous much?
Bro - O - Meter! Hahahaha, precious! :D Bro.
How mad do you guys think it makes Bret Hart to hear everyone always say that Shawn Michaels is the best wrestler ever? I bet that eats at him cause he seems to carry quite the grudge.
Love the Bro-O-Meter lol. There were 6 bros it didn't pick up so the total is 201.
You shouldn't call people out of touch if you're in the process of growing a fucking unibrow.
Stephen Wago lmao 😂😂😂😂
gotta love the bro o meter....bro
Another great one, Hannibal
Take a drink every time he says "I loved the entertainment aspect of wrestling".
ITS 96 WHOS COMING OUT OF A BOX BRO?!
Russo seems down to earth and real...i dont know why he took so much heat
Sick interview Hannibal
Great Interview
Give the people what they want. Real talk.
Absolutely love these shoot interviews! Great job Hannibal! Love to see u interview Ole Anderson and Jim Cornette!!!!
It is not true that Austin did not speak as the Ringmaster... in fact, he made his debut by cutting a promo at the Brother Love Show when he was handed the Million Dollar Belt. He also continued to cut promos while playing the character. For an example of that, search for Ringmaster vs. Scott Taylor.
Bro-O-Meter is running wild!
I watched wrestling for 10 years from Wrestlemania 4 (1988) to Starrcade 98 (1998). After seeing how the business deteriorated from 1997 to 1998, I was so pissed off that I stopped watching entirely.
Absolutely loving these shoots Devon.
Should've named this "How to say bro 900 different ways"
"Nobody loved (Owen) more than I did. Nobody was more torn apart or distraught (than I was)."
Um.....His wife? His mother? His father? His family? His actual friends?
You know what he meant, and if you didn't, you're an idiot.
This guy is brilliant !!...love the bro o meter !!...Hannibal you da man "bro"
He was a super cool guy
Love Vince.
WOW low blow on Kevin Owens there Han. Way to lead the prosecution. The WWE ratings have been slipping for years. YEARS!
Low blow how? He's a fucking fat guy in basketball shorts and he's supposed to be a prime fighter?
Shut up.
I think Russo is overly-critiqued for bringing something different to the table in wrestling. Yes he’s not an old school booker, he’s not going to book the in-ring action, but what he can do is create storylines that got you invested and kept fans invested in the product. I think bringing in Russo to book what is essentially “car-crash tv” with an experienced head to book the match would be great. I respect Cornette too and enjoy his input, but he is extremely bitter of Russo’s success and Russo being his successor.
Great interview 👍
Vince Russo is a legend
Vince has told the same story about Montreal multiple times so I believe it.
@@ASCUMBAGWh0re that mcmahon gave bret a dozen finish options and he turned them all down. Also Russo claims he jokingly told mcmahon to "screw bret" and he actually did it, I'm not sure on the truth of that part because cornette also claims he gave mcmahon the idea (not deliberately)
Great shoot man. i ended agreeing with a lot of it, I'm surprised. Bro-meter might have kept me from turning it off towards the end haha.
Great stuff