Why has TNA struggled to create their own brand name stars?
"Because I think there’s a lack of patience. Ratings don’t happen overnight. Ratings happen when you commit to something and you stay the course. That’s why the attitude era worked. Vince stuck with it, we didn’t let the rating affect us on a weekly basis, we rode it out. Unfortunately, that was never the mindset at TNA. There was a lot of emphasis on the rating week to week, then creative is being directed to jump all over the place. It might take a year, but if you stay with it and believe in it, it’s going to work. It’s not going to work if every six weeks or two months you’re changing course and going in a different direction. I feel TNA have been guilty of that for a very long time."
Russo, Bischoff and Hogan in TNA together – Why didn’t it work?
"It’s simple, you can’t have these three strong personalities in opinions working together, you can’t. I worked very peacefully with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. In working together like that, everyone really trying hard to get along and wanting to get along, what each person is doing, is compromising your ideas and beliefs so everyone gets along. In my opinion its not a good was to business. There needs to be one boss, laying out the direction. If it’s working great, if it’s not, get rid of him and bring the next guy in. I’m a firm believer in that. In my opinion all these cooks in the kitchen, trying to get along, you end up with a product that’s very vanilla."
Was it the “too many cooks in the kitchen” that led you to leave TNA?
"Yeah, it was. It was kinda like, OK it was, me, Eric and Hulk, that’s cool. Then you’re gonna bring in Bruce Prichard. It gets to a point where it’s too much. It gets to a point where I feel like I’m wasting your time and I’m wasting my time because I can’t be the real Vince Russo. You’re not getting what you paid for. Once another chef was added to that kitchen, I just took a step back, and for the good of the company somebody had to bow out and I decided it would be me."
Anything he wanted to do in TNA that he couldn’t?
"To be me. Not compromise myself. The only time in my career that I was successful was in the WWF. Vince McMahon gave me the ball and he let me run with it. There were no committees. There was no 6 other peoples opinions. He trusted me, he gave me the ball. That was the only time in my career that I was allowed to work that way. I know what kind of environment I need to be put in to be successful. Committees in the wrestling business, do not work. Someone need to show me a committee in the last 15 years that worked. You need to have a head writer, let him bring in his crew, if they run with it and it’s a pass great, if they fail, get rid of them. Anything else is going to be vanilla and is going to be a so-so product which is what you’re seeing now in the wrestling business and not just in TNA."
Quick Fire Thoughts
Hulk Hogan – Legend. He is the guy.
Ric Flair – I think of wrestling
Sting – Out of those, I had the closest relationship with him, I think of gentleman.
Dixie Carter – Confused
Jim Cornette – Great wrestling mind
Vince McMahon – The creator
Credit to Pro Wrestling Dot Net