VINCE RUSSO DISCUSSES CRITICISM OF TNA'S GIMMICK MATCHES, WHEN HE TOOK OVER TNA CREATIVE, HIS NEW BOOK, TNA VS. WWE AND MORE
By Marty Hotts on 2010-02-20 00:19:39
Russo talks about his new book "Rope Opera", TNA vs WWE on Mondays, criticisms
of gimmick matches, and says he has been head of creative since July of 2009.
Vince Russo Interview - 2/18/2010
Wrestling Elite
Detroit Sports Talk - 1130AM WDFN
Recap by Marty Hotts
Russo talked about Rope Opera and said the perfect time to end "Rope Opera",
his new book that is out, at the point where Hogan and Bischoff came to TNA
because there's no doubt that the Russo/Bischoff/Hogan era is a new one. Russo
says he sees a 3rd book coming out and that he likes writing as things happen
due to there always being things happening in wrestling.
Russo talks about David Arquette winning the belt again and the host mentions
that Arquette/Bash At The Beach incidents are brought up to him frequently.
When asked about taking audience from Raw when TNA goes Mondays, Russo says
it's not going to happen "anytime soon" or overnight. Russo said it took 2-3
years for WWE to beat WCW. He said anyone that expects "instant gratification"
- it's not going to happen. Russo said it takes weeks and weeks and weeks of
good programming that is better than the competition to get word of mouth,
getting people to talk about TNA. In time, Russo says they will "start to bite
in the audience", but it's nothing they expect to happen overnight.
Host says that TNA is a much more interesting show and asks if Russo watches
WWE. Russo says WWE is going through the motions and are on "cruise control".
Russo says they have been doing a 3.5 rating for at least the last five years.
He says that's a very good rating, but it has been cruise control.
Russo says he doesn't watch their show from start to finish because he can't.
He says from what he has seen, he has seen it before. There is nothing good to
him. He says he'd rather be criticized for trying new things that don't work
than not try anything at all. He says he will continue to throw stuff at the
wall and see what sticks and what doesn't rather than stay complacent and put
on the same old show week in and week out. He says that is not going to happen
as long as he's writing.
Host says one criticism TNA receives is the gimmick matches (Ultimate X, Feast
or Fired, King of the Mountain) TNA relies on and whether Russo believes it's
a fair criticism. Russo says he doesn't think it's a fair criticism. He says
more-or-less, he has been head of creative of TNA in July 2009. He says July
to now, they've done away with a lot of that. He says people can criticize
Russo about anything all they want about anything that happened before July -
he says he wasn't in charge of creative during that time. He says a lot of
those calls weren't his doing. From July to this point, he says they've done
away with a lot of that.
Russo says he doesn't look at gimmick matches as gimmick matches. He looks at
it as a "spectacle". He says if he's not a wrestling fan and flips a channel,
he says is he going to stop on a channel with two guys wrestling or a better
chance stopping on a channel if there's two guys in a wrestling ring wrestling
with a ladder involved. He looks at it as a spectacle and what's a better way
to draw that casual fan that may not be a wrestling fan. Russo and the host
then talk about baseball and sports.
Russo talks about keeping a low profile when it comes to any websites or
social interaction websites as critics have been known to take what he says
and twist it completely upside down. He says it has not been worth it but if
people would like to know what he's thinking and what is on his mind, they
should check out "Rope Opera".
This interview can be seen on Vince Russo's Facebook Fanpage
http://facebook.com/vinnyru and
http://www.wdfn.com/pages/wrestling.html.
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