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Submitted by Dumass on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at 12:53 AM EST
 Buy this now in your bookstore. If they don't have it, threaten to kill them until they get it. __________________________ Show: The Interactive Interview Nice title. Guest: Vince Russo OH SNAP~! Date: 11th December 2004 (Originally Recorded October 30th 2004) Wait? Why are we getting this like 145 months too late? Is this like a secret interview or something? Your Hosts: Daniel Edler & James Walsh Hi guys. How's the kids? Recap by: James Walsh Everyone; say it with me. BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! HISSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! BOOOOOOO!!!! In our near 2 years of doing TII, we've brought you controversy, big stars, lots of goofy after shows, and nearly 100 interviews with your favorite wrestling superstars past, present, and future. In the spirit of what TII has been and what we are destined to still become, we bring you perhaps the most controversial figure in professional wrestling over the past 15 years. We bring you the man who was once Vince McMahon's right hand man. We bring you the man that changed the game of professional wrestling as we know it. We bring you the "Powers that Be" and the power is Vince Russo. Blah Blah Blah.....we got Vince Russo to come to our show. In this hour long interview, Vince talks about just about anything and everything a fan could ever want to know. As a matter of fact, many of the questions were sent in by fans on our official forums at www.3swforums.com. Between the questions from you the fans mixed with those of James and Daniel, you truly get an interview that is a must hear. Yes, because if the fans want to know something, then it's instantly worthy of an interview. Let the interview begin. -- Vince Russo starts out by promoting his brand new site located at www.vincerussoforgiven.com. It is a Christian oriented web site. .....and they fuck it up right off the bat. For whatever reason, I don't think the words 'Christian' and 'Russo' should ever be used together in a segment again. -- Vince found God "when I came to the end of myself and the end of my road." Vince realized, at 42 years old, he couldn't do it on his own anymore. Vince says he made more money than he ever imagined, had and still has a beautiful wife, two kids, but still felt as though something was missing and that something made him depressed and feel he couldn't do it anymore. Vince feels God came and made him listen. He says it was not something he was pursuing but when God came calling, "I didn't have much say in the matter." He then proceeded to book God in a 'Dog Shit Match'. Y'know, I'm not against God or anything (quite the contrary, as my family and I are quite the religious types), but are these the questions that we all want to know the answers to. Personally, I think that Russo woke up one morning and realized that being hated for writing for a fake sport is WAY too much to live with. As for God talking to him, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't God. Why would God talk to the man who wrote a crucifiction scene for the fucking Ministry/Austin fued? P.S: If I remember correctly, Russo always said he had 3 kids, not 2. SWERVE~! -- Vince was a wrestling fan growing up. Vince immediately points out the first time he ever saw wrestling, he was immediately attracted to the entertainment aspect of it. "Nobody ever had to tell me wrestling was fake. For some reason, it was quite obvious to me." He goes on to mention the Valiant Brothers being his favorites when he was a kid. He explains how they were entertainment oriented. Johnny Valiant, by the way, was on The Interactive Interview a year ago and you can still hear that interview by viewing the archives at www.theinteractiveinterview.com. Wow. You knew it was fake, yet you wasted your life writing for a fake sport? You are one clever man, Russo. Just so I know, when did you start watching wrestling? '72, '73? Now, being from your little corner in New York, you probably never watched any Mid-South and Memphis growing up. For the record, they were 'real' wrestling. I'm glad that you watched the WWWF when you were a kid, but even as a kid, I'm pretty sure that you thought they were real, and you're shit was ruined when someone told you it was fake, just like the rest of us growing up. I'm also pretty sure that you carried the idea that wrestling as real until you reached your teens. Now, I want to know one thing; and apparently the fans of the message board that asked all these great questions (like the classic 'What you been doing with your life?') didn't bother to ask you something that would actually have you think of an answer. I want to know is where the hell does a video store clerk like you come off thinging they know anything about wrestling? I didn't say 'entertainment' because if I worked in a video store too, I'm sure I could come up with a lot of "ideas" for 'entertainment'; I said wrestling. By the way, am I the only one tired of the plugging of this interview site? It's not like I plug a website in every column I write. [/inside rib] Oh, for the record, Cheif Jay Strongbow was never entertaining. Ever. -- Vince feels Live Wire was "ahead of its time." As for his role on Livewire, he felt he was taking a risk because Vince McMahon was in the studio when that was recorded and Vince was shooting straight with the people in a time where they still had characters and everything was very kayfabe. Livewire sucked ass. Congrats Russo, you were able to pull a 0.12 rating on TV and, as the old saying goes, those who pull in bad ratings are destined to repeat it. -- Vic Venom, his name on Live Wire, was a spin off of a radio personality he played that was "Vicious" Vincent. Woo hoo. You have to admit, for a guy who ripped off of ECW and called it his own then claimed that he killed kayfabe, he sure picked really awful kayfabe-like names for himself. Also, as you can read (hopefully), he sucessfully ripped himself off by creating a spinoff of himself. Clever. You fucking moron. -- "When I was writing for the WWF magazine, I hated the product," said Russo. He goes on to mention characters he hated, not to be confused with the individuals, like TL Hopper, The Goon, Freddie Joe Floyd, Mantaur, and others. "It was almost like time was passing the WWF by. They were still in a period that society was way passed." You should have given up right there and then, Russo. Seriously. If he would have given up, it's guarenteed that the WWF would have been a bigger success. WCW would have been a bigger success. ECW would have been a major player in the realm of the 'Big 3' and probably wouldn't have gone under. All this if Vince Russo hadn't been made into a writer. How did I come up to this conclusion? Simple. If Vince Russo wouldn't have been hired by the WWF to be a writer (because remember, he was fantasy booking on the magazine and that's how he got his job), they would have had to make the wrestling aspect of the sport more enjoyable to watch. They wouldn't have the entire idea of the 'Attitude' era and the Montreal Incident wouldn't have happened (remember again that Bret was incredibly upset because of what Russo was writing in the storylines [including the Sunny incident] for a wrestling show). The WWF would then push younger and more straight-forward wrestlers (like Steve Austin, which would have been as over as he was since it's guarenteed he would have changed his name and change his gimmick to Stone Cold reguardless), but still would have been as successful as it was. They wouldn't have needed T'n'A and violence to put themselves over; they could have easily have done it with their wrestling ability. If Vince Russo would have never written for the WWF, WCW would still be going on today. The thing that Eric Bischoff was doing was he tried to continuously use the same fourmula over and over again (logical since that's what gave him success in the first place). The shitck with this is that NITRO still was pulling in decent ratings before Eric was let off and Russo was given the job, and, in turn, fuck the hell out of WCW. Eric, from what I believe (and this is only speculation), would have seen the wrestling explosion at the WWF and changed his ideas of what was happening to his company. I'm not saying that he would have rid himself of Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash, but he might have eased us up a bit so that they wouldn't be on the show so much; besides, the WCW was drowning, not when Bischoff was 'running' it, but when the 'main event' guys were using their creative control to run the company their own way. If Vince Russo hadn't been hired to write for the WWF, ECW would still be a company. You have to admit that Russo liked the ideas that were coming out of Philly at the time; so much so that he litterally stole the ideas that ECW had one by one. Watch what ECW was doing 2 years earlier before the 'Attitude' era of the WWF. It's guarenteed that it's parallel to what ECW was doing 2 years before. Why didn't ECW saying anything? Because there was no way to compete with Vince and his lawyers. I wholeheartingly think that if ECW was a major promotion then Heyman would have been on Vince's ass over it. Since ECW couldn't quite protect themselves legally, Russo could easily rip them off and the WWF fans would be none the wiser. In fact, there was a time when rumors were that ECW was actually said to have been ripping off the WWF for years. YEARS!! Yes, like it was ECW who thought that Mabel was the best choice to turn heel and be the WWF FUCKING CHAMPION!!!!! -- Vince started writing his own angles in the magazine to keep himself interested. From that stemmed the RAW magazine where Vince feels he was taking a real chance but was doing what he felt wrestling had to evolve to. Over time, Vince McMahon took notice of the different things Vince was doing and McMahon had Russo start writing with him "and the rest is history." Like I said. You were a fucking fantasy booker and you were given a job to To the WWE; you bastards better hire Phantom Lord as an Assistant Writer. -- "They are and I'm not proud of those things today," says Vince when asked by Daniel if he feels assumptions that he brought the T&A and colorful language to the product. Vince goes on to say he would not have done a lot of things he did at that time today. His views on things are 180 degrees different from the way they were then now that he is a Christian. Boo hoo!! I'm Christian now so every thing I did in the past was bad!! Wah wah wah!!! Hey Russo, was it Moses or Ezekiel who told you it was a good idea to make a gimmick known as the Johnsons in NWA-TNA, who were walking talking penises? You fucking hypocrite. -- "What's difficult for wrestling fans to understand is wrestling is a business. Vince McMahon was my boss. My job was to get him the highest ratings that I possibly could. I knew what the people were into; I knew what the kids were into. I know what they were going to watch. Even though today I wouldn't go that rout, back then I had a job to do and that job was to get the highest ratings possible and quite frankly, I was going to get those ratings by any means necessary." I didn't know us kids wanted Dog Shit Matches, crucifixtions, heels putting themselves over other heels by saying that those heels called other heels 'niggers', a big red mute shooting 'lighting' from his hands, a guy making fun of another's guy father dying then driving off with him in a herse, and Japanese people cutting off the dicks of porn stars........for starters. Those crazy crazy kids. -- "I regret that more than anything," says Vince when asked about the crucifixion angle with the Undertaker and Steve Austin. "At that point, I didn't understand the crucifixion. I didn't know who Jesus Christ was. At that point, it meant nothing to me." He then goes on to mention how he has studied the life of Jesus now and watched movies like the Passion and understands now. He once again says he regrets that angle more now than anything he ever wrote or ever did. Jesus? I know Jesus. I give him a quater on my way to work every morning. -- "My favorite was the Rock heel turn at the Survivor Series," said Vince when asked what his favorite angle was in his time with the WWF. He explains this is because it was 3 to 6 months in the making and when it happened, there was silence in the arena because nobody saw it coming. I saw it coming. I was one of those millions (and millions!) of fans who were chanting 'Die Rocky Die' in 1997. -- When asked about the Billionaire Ted skits, Vince says, "I thought those were ridiculous when they were happening. I didn't like them then, I don't like them now... I don't want to use the word desperation..." Vince Russo didn't have anything to do with the creation of those though he was in a few of the skits. He feels it was a personal attack at Ted Turner. "I just felt that was wrong." Y'know....it's really hard to believe this guy when you know that he was the one that made sure that wrestling was fake in WCW by having everyone break kayfabe. If God really is with this guy, I'd tell God to get out of the deal as soon as possible. -- "I honestly felt I had accomplished all I possibly could accomplish at the WWF," said Russo when asked why he jumped to WCW in the fall of 1999. "In my professional opinion, we had gone as high as we were going to get." Vince says he thrived on challenge and reaching the success they had reached, there no longer was a challenge. In WCW, he saw the opportunity to face the challenge and do it again. ............uh huh. I'm expecting someone to say 'IT WAS FOR THE MONEY YOU DIMWITS!!! SWERVE!~!!!!!!' -- Vince says he knew there were politics at WCW but never knew they would be at the extreme level they were at. He admits Vince protected him from the politics in the WWF. "Vince made sure nobody really messed with me. When I went to WCW, I was on my own." Vince feels there were a zillion people as soon as he got there that just "wanted my head." Unlike Pat Patterson, who just wanted some head. HI-OH!!!!!!!! I love you Pat. -- Vince mentions the last rating WCW Nitro did before he came on board, which was the show that had the 3 segment match with Chris Benoit against Bret Hart and a main event of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair against Sting and Lex Luger, was a 2.6. When he left the first time, the last Nitro he wrote was a 3.5. My God.....he was able to rise the rating an entire point. Congrats. Too bad the show only had about eight-thousand (8000) people and the arena was able to hold sixteen-thousand (16000). Oh and don't forget to mention that about two-thousand (2000) of those seats were free handouts. -- When asked about the situation with Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 2000, Vince says, "I'm not comfortable really talking about it at all. What I will say is that entire incident was nothing more than an incident about money, an incident about greed, an incident about ego. It was nothing more than an incident about everything about the wrestling business that I hate. I have nothing bad at all to say about Hulk Hogan. I understand why it happened the way it did. But, it happened for all the wrong reasons. That's basically all I can really say about it." He's still selling the fake shoot promo. Talk about living in the past. -- "I was around and they told me to go home because Hogan and his attorney wouldn't come if I was there," said Vince when asked if he was around when TNA was bringing Hogan in. "I'd work with Hulk Hogan tomorrow," added Russo as he explained he has no hard feelings towards Hulk Hogan at all and feels bad that Hogan feels the way he does towards him. Boo Hoo!! Hogan made me leave!!! God told me to forgive him though, so it's ok!!! Wah wah wah!!! You should had some fucking balls and told Hogan to go fuck himself. -- "Those are the wrestling purists and those are the people who sometimes forget wrestling is fake," says Vince when asked about when he won the WCW Heavyweight championship. Vince explains again that he always viewed wrestling as entertainment. "I didn't have a problem with it. I would do the same thing tomorrow. I thought it was a good story. I thought it was good entertainment. I don't regret doing that for one second." The problem is that you don't count. You aren't the fucking fans. And the fact that you said you would do it again shows that you are a fucking idiot that had no idea what the fans wanted. Too bad ECW was going under or you might have been able to save NITRO too. -- "The nWo angle would have been really, really good," said Vince when asked about his favorite angle in WCW. He feels they had the players in place but losing key pieces to the puzzle like Bret Hart and Goldberg to injury really derailed the plans and now we will never know how it would have turned out. Jimmy The Hobo: Would have been really good. Shit, bubba, if I'da known better, I's coulda swore that the DX stable was a die-rect ripoff'n of da NWO, what with all them Kliq stars and such. Dumass: Durn tootin'. -- Vince would not have done anything differently in WCW. He admits some stories he has a problem with now that he's a Christian but he regrets no stories including and especially David Arquette and himself being champion. The deeper he goes and the more he says makes me think that he's waiting for another swerve on the IWC. -- Vince gives in depth detail of the David Arquette championship win. After a production meeting, Tony pulled Vince aside and proposed the idea of Arquette winning the WCW title. Vince liked the idea because it shocked him. He felt this would be good because it would get them mainstream publicity and he could win it from a non-wrestler. Vince then says this is the side of the story that everybody forgets to tell. He called everybody back in the room and he bounced the idea off of them. "Oh! Everybody in the room said what a great idea it would be and everybody in the room was behind it 100 percent including those that knock it today." Vince says everybody agreed and they went with it. The next day they were on the cover of the entertainment section of the USA Today. Vince says they never would have gotten that spot if it had been a straight up wrestling match. In conjunction with that, the next week they had Courtney Cox, Kurt Russell, and Kevin Kasner cut promos for them with the WCW title free of charge. Vince feels it is unfortunate that so many people agreed to the angle yet later pointed the finger at him. If you don't know who David Arquette, fear:  David Arquette: WCW champion. Why? We still have no idea. To understand Vince Russo's logic here; do the following: 1) Take your keyboard in your hands. 2) Smack your head with the keyboard until blood is pouring out. 3) Repeat until clear-headed or you finally understand what this fucking moron is talking about. The end result should look something like this (link: warning and crap). -- "I walked into a completely different place. This was not the same place I had left about 2 and a half years ago," said Vince when asked about his short stay in the WWF in 2002. He met with writers for 6 hours and when he left the room, he knew it wasn't going to work. Vince McMahon called him the next morning and basically said the same thing -- It was not going to work. Finally!!!!!!!!!!! He tells the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLESS YOU -- "I did name TNA Total Nonstop Action because at that time, the show was originally going to be T&A," said Vince. Vince says the original design for TNA was to be the adult oriented company since they were on pay per view. When asked if he feels the name fits now, Vince doesn't think it does unless you actually want it to mean Total Nonstop Action. He then puts over the locker room. HOHOHOHAHAHAHALOLOLLOLOLOLOLHAOHOHOHOHOHOHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!! NATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE TNA WUZ GONA BE NWA TITS AND A$$!@!#!@!!!!N THAT'S IS SO CELVER!@@~@@@!$@!! -- "The kind of relationship I have with Jeff is very honest. It's brutally honest. Jeff doesn't like a lot of the things I say to him, I don't like a lot of the things he says to me. Jeff and I aren't always on the same page. We have different mindsets, different feelings, different ideas. It's been touch and go for 10 years. A lot of the SEX angle was real," says Vince. He adds, "when push comes to shove and you get beyond the wrestling and when you get into our hearts as human beings, there is a love between Jeff and I that you don't find in this business. I'm talking about a sincere love and a sincere friendship. It's because of that love and friendship that we've been able to get through a very, very, very rocky road probably for the past 2 and a half years in TNA." He sums it up by saying, "I love the guy." Imagine a bunch Jarrett/Russo lovechildren. Now up the whining and complaining meter to a Bill Watts level. That was disturbing. -- "My relationship isn't rocky with TNA at all. I gave my notice. I'm done -- The pay per view on November 7 is my last show." That's the nicest way I've ever read "They kicked me the fuck out". -- Vince has written a book. His book is different from most, though. In his book, he takes a manuscript written two years ago and basically reviews himself from what he wrote a few years back today and how he has changed. He has a publisher willing to do it but he wants to make sure a publisher who will get it in Christian bookstores as well as regular bookstores picks up the book. But, getting the book in Christian bookstores is his major desire at the moment.  Next. -- The show rolls along without Vince Russo as the Taboo Tuesday commercial airs which is immediately followed by James and Daniel's favorable opinion of the pay per view. James states it is the most fun he has had viewing a WWE pay per view in quite some time. Daniel shares James' opinion feeling it was a light hearted and energetic show. Taboo Tuesday sucked. James and Daniels are morons. Thanks for reading, I guess. Come back soon.  Dumass <----Email me!! AIM: Dumass4k Lethal Wrestling - Inside Clyde Stole My Wallet. Wrestlecrap - R.D, you owe me 5$. Randy Orton Comics - Randy has AIDS. *NEW GALLERY* The WWE SD & RAW Divas PARTYING in a CLUB! WOW!
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