Vince Russo sat down for around 3 hours for a interview with RF Video. A number of interesting topics were discussed including his wrestling philosophy, his job, Dixie Carter and others. You can see a preview video and some of the highlights below:
Highlights (Paraphrased):
-Russo's job in creative was to get one thing: ratings. He wrote the show for that one goal. The amount of TV time, who was featured on television or not and the use of gimmick matches were all done to grow the ratings.
-Russo said he is a wrestling fan and appreciates good wrestling. What the casual wrestling audience and what he likes are two different things. He doesn't write for what he likes but rather what will grow the ratings.
-He feels the WWE Writers with a Hollywood background will do more for wrestling than the TNA Writers with a wrestling background.
-He feels the current landscape of professional wrestling is outdated and needs a new approach. He feels that most of the people involved with running both shows are in the wrestling bubble. People need to think outside the box to grow the wrestling business again.
-He said that some of the lowest rated segments of a show is the actual match time. Some of the highest rated segments are the end of the match or the conclusion. Fans want to know the finish and the aftermath of a match more than what happens during the match.
-The Electrified Steel Cage Match at Lockdown 2007 wasn't his idea and knew it wouldn't work. He thought it could have been pulled off if TNA had WWE's production values. He attributes this to WWE successfully pulling off Inferno Matches in the past.
-The company when Jeff Jarrett was running things and the company when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were running things were two completely different entities. While the old regime was more fun, the new regime is more about business.
-Vince didn't think the Monday Night War in TNA would work but Bischoff, Hogan and many others were excited about it. Russo felt if TNA waited a few more years, they could pull it off.
-The casual audience and the wrestling audience like two different things. The wrestling audience will watch any show as long as "wrestling" is in the title. You have to do different things to keep the casual audience.
-The reason they did so many gimmick matches was to stop the channel surfers on their show. If a surfer isn't a fan of wrestling and flashes by their show, they won't stop on a wrestling match. However, if the surfer sees two wrestlers in a cage or on a ladder, they will more likely stop and check out the product.
-One of TNA's main problems is that people don't "stay in their lanes." Instead of doing what you do well, everyone has to have a say in everything. Russo felt that people without an expertise in creative were becoming involved in the process.
-Russo said he only got about 4 weeks to write the show by himself before the Hogan Announcement was dropped on him. The remainder of his tenure was part of committees.
-He feels Bruce Pritchard uses the traditional wrestling mentality.
-He feels Dixie Carter is a nice person and that unfortunately doesn't work in the wrestling business. She tries to find the best in people, which is hard in a cut-throat business.
More can be seen in the 3-hour interview at RF Video.
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