WWE's common mistake with The Bloodline, Judgment Day, and Imperium could prove costly, says veteran (Exclusive)
WWE currently boasts of three strong heel factions that are featured prominently on TV weekly. While they might be entirely different in how they're presented, former writer Vince Russo highlighted a common thread between the stables: over-reliance on the dissension angle.
WWE seemingly planted the seeds of an Imperium split on RAW this week as Gunther and Kaiser snubbed Giovanni Vinci after their loss to Drew McIntyre and Riddle.
The company is visibly following a theme with all its factions recently, as they've also teased some tension between The Judgment Day's Finn Balor and Damian Priest.
The whole Bloodline storyline has been revolving around the problems among the Samoan family members. While teams dealing with internal conflict is a staple offering in wrestling, Vince Russo said WWE was overdoing it with three of its top groups.
The former WWE writer blasted the creative team's lack of imagination and said repeating the same mistake will negatively affect the factions.
"So now Gunther and Kaiser have heat with Vinci. Isn't that similar to what's going on in the Judgment Day? Like, is that all you guys can come up with? Okay, bro, it's a team, 'we'll have dissension in the team.' Guys, for as awesome as The Bloodline is, what has the Bloodline always been? Dissension in the family. Whenever there is a group, bro, the storyline is dissension in the group. Now, we've got dissension with Imperium. Now we've got dissension with Judgment Day. Now we've got dissension in Bloodline." [14:30 - 15:30]
Vince Russo said he never wrote more than one dissension storyline at the same time in WWE
The outspoken veteran spent his best years in the wrestling business as WWE's Head Writer when kayfabe storytelling was arguably at its peak.
Vince Russo further noted that despite having multiple factions during his tenure, he tried to offer only one angle at a time that focussed on a potential breakup.
Russo found the promotion's current approach lazy and felt they needed to think out of the box.
"Bro, the way I used to write, one dissension storyline. One! Not three, not four, not five. One dissension storyline! Literally, bro, is that all you can come up with? There are three or four members in a group, and there is dissension within the group, like. Is that it?" [15:31 - 16:00]
Vince Russo infamously pushed himself to win the WCW Championship, a decision that still gets criticized by wrestling fans. Vince argued that they needed to do something unique to avoid duplicating angles, which sometimes resulted in moments that weren't well-received.
"This is why Vince Russo won a world title, Vince McMahon won a world title, and David Arquette, so we didn't repeat the same crap over and over again. That's why we kept giving you these different looks and different situations." [16:01 - 17:00]
Should WWE be careful about its dependence on dissension angles?
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