On a recent episode of Eric Bischoff’s “83 Weeks” podcast, he dived into a detailed analysis of Vince Russo’s approach to wrestling. Russo, recognized for his role as a booker for both WWE and WCW, was known for his unconventional outlook. Bischoff argued Russo’s approach lacked the essential perspective of a wrestling fan, leading to storylines and wrestling angles that lacked continuity and logical coherence.
Key points from the discussion on the podcast are highlighted below:
Discussing who was responsible for the WCW rebranding in 1999, Bischoff said, “It was primarily the doing of Jay Hassman. Nick Lambros, who had initially joined us as an attorney via Turner Broadcasting, eventually became part of my team at WCW. He was my deputy, an attorney who wished for a role beyond legal work. And that is understandable. Administrative entertainment law may not always hold thrilling prospects. Thus, he moved from Turner’s legal team to WCW as a VP, with aspirations to venture into different spheres of the organization. One of the divisions he was keen on heading was marketing. As a result, the decision to revamp WCW, in terms of its logos and sets, was spearheaded by him. Ensuring this, Lambros brought on board Jay Hassman, with the specific brief of reshaping WCW.”
Speaking about Vince Russo’s tendency to approach wrestling from a non-fan perspective, Bischoff pointed out that, “Russo simply doesn’t enjoy wrestling. He simply can’t connect with it the way the viewership does. He never resonated with the product the way most fans did. Vince Russo was essentially scripting for Vince Russo. In my hypothesis, and I may be incorrect since I was absent at that time, WCW had been dominating WWE for a significant period, even for Vince McMahon’s standards. This scenario presented Russo with an opportunity. He was able to discern what was clicking for WCW, especially on Nitro, majorly due to the New World Order (nWo). Owing to his status, he managed to persuade Vince McMahon to experiment with some of these concepts. McMahon, under normal circumstances, would never have considered such ideas had WWE been thriving. Given that it was not, McMahon had nothing to lose and allowed Russo to take the reins. It started working from there.
“However, it’s worth noting that these developments were greatly influenced or inspired by what Vince Russo witnessed on Nitro. Later, when Russo took charge of Nitro, he had to rely on this own ingenuity since he could only look back at what was happening in WWE for inspiration. What emerged was that he severely lacked imagination. He didn’t fare too well when left to his own creative design. That’s exactly why certain elements of the show appeared senseless. Russo simply couldn’t perceive the product from the viewpoint of a fan.”
Bischoff’s entire discussion can be viewed in the video below titled “83 Weeks: The Russo Era Begins”. [embedded content]