WWE veteran Vince Russo on what he"absolutely hated" about his time in WCW (Exclusive)
Former WWE writer Vince Russo recently stated that he despised his time working as an on-screen character on WCW Nitro.
Russo was instrumental in ushering in the Attitude Era in WWE in the late '90s. However, in 1999, Vince Russo departed the global juggernaut to join its direct competitor WCW, which struggled at the time to compete with the Stamford-based promotion.
Apart from being a writer for the company, he also worked as an on-screen talent, capturing the WCW World Championship on one occasion. Buff Bagwell recently made some claims about how Russo intended to perform in front of the camera in WCW right from the beginning. On Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Outlaws, Vince Russo revealed how he disliked working as a character on TV.
Russo mentioned that the idea for him to become a character might have come from Eric Bischoff. Vince Russo also noted that since he was under a lot of pressure to improve Nitro's ratings, he took the responsibility upon his shoulders by taking on an on-screen role.
"First of all, I came back with Eric. So, bro, I can't remember how it went down, I don't think the suggestion came from me. It might have come from Eric, I don't remember. I do know this. At the time, bro, there was so much pressure on me to get ratings at WCW that I said to myself, 'okay, bro, you want ratings? I'll go out there and do it myself,'" said Vince Russo.
The former WWE writer made it clear that he "absolutely hated" working in front of the camera as it came in the way of his creative duties.
"It was a combination of working with Eric, and I don't know if he suggested it. Bro, I hated it. I hated being an on-screen character, because, bro, it cut into my job. I was the writer, I was the producer, and I'm writing and producing for myself. I absolutely hated it bro!" added Vince Russo. (7:00 - 8:15)
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WWE veteran Vince Russo was not a fan of his run as the WCW World Champion
Last year, while speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling, Vince Russo confessed to disliking his run as the WCW World Champion. He explained that cutting promos in front of people and being involved in angles was the worst part of his job as it overpowered his role as a writer in the now-defunct promotion.
"Listen, granted, I was WCW World Champion, right?" said Russo. "I've got to be honest with you, bro," Russo added. "I was out there in front of the people. I was cutting promos. I was in angles. Me, personally, Chris, that was the worst part of my job because it really took away from my writing and my producing. It really did."
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Vince Russo defeated Booker T in a Steel Cage Match to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, the former WWE writer's reign was shortlived as he relinquished the title mere days later.
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