"He didn't filter s**t" - Former WWE writer on Vince McMahon's creative process
Vince McMahon has been labeled as something of a creative genius by his peers for everything he's done for the WWE over the last several decades. But there are some people out there who think differently. Former WWE writer Vince Russo can be counted as a member of this group.
Vince Russo appeared on the Such Good Shoot Podcast to discuss his career in professional wrestling and his time in WWE. Given his status as a former writer of Monday Night RAW, Russo was asked about Vince McMahon filtering him during his time in WWE. In response, Russo simply said that it never happened.
"Bro, Vince McMahon didn't filter s**t," Vince Russo stated. "Bro, that is such a misnomer because if Vince McMahon filtered stuff, let's just go to logic. If Vince McMahon is this great filter, then what the hell's going on today?"
"We would get Vince's blessing; then we would go back and write every nook and cranny of that show, then we would take that finished show and hand it to Vince McMahon," said Russo. "And here's where Vince McMahon would make his little tweaks. But bro, his little tweaks were genius. I will tell you that Vince McMahon could take an eight and turn it into a 10, but you cannot give Vince McMahon a blank piece of paper and think he's gonna write a good television show cause we see what's happening today."
Vince Russo says Vince McMahon is great with tweaks but not writing from scratch
Vince Russo credited Vince McMahon for being a good tweaker who could always take good material and turn it up a notch. But he made it clear you could never put a blank sheet of paper in front of McMahon and expect him to write something from scratch. Instead, he recalled how the WWE's collaborative process worked.
"If you give Vince good material, he could always up it up a notch," Vince Russo continued. "That was the genius of Vince McMahon. Bro, the success of that period when you bring up Austin was working with those guys. It was a partnership! So me and Ed Ferrara would sit there, 'Okay, this is what we got for Rock. This is what we got for Austin, Mick, DX, Taker.' Then we would get with them, and it's a discussion now. "
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