Brandon Galvin: It seems you’ve always written storylines for stables from DX and the Corporation in WWE to the New Blood and Millionaire’s Club in WCW to S.E.X. in TNA. As a huge fan of factions in wrestling myself, what is it about factions that draw you in when you’re writing?
Vince Russo: To me? Just getting guys on TV. Here is a great example: When was the last time we saw Sandow on TV? He is a great talent, they spent so many months building up with the Miz angle, the guy got himself so over with the crowd, and now where is he? One of my goals was to always make sure everyone was on TV and represented. If you had to form a faction to get everyone involved, that’s what I did. That was really my motivation behind that was to find roles for everyone. You could do a faction right now with all the people in the WWE right now whose careers they are literally killing. With lack of creative, story line, character, TV time, there are so many people right now that fall under that category. You could put them together as a shoot to get them over, get them on TV, but no one is really looking at that. They are just looking at the A story.
Mike Chiari: The inmates running the asylum is what a lot people point to when it comes to the downfall of WCW, and fans got to see that firsthand in the form of the Bash at the Beach 2000 situation with you and Hulk Hogan. How would you characterize your behind-the-scenes relationship with Hogan both in WCW and TNA, and what are your impressions of him now that your days working together are over?
Vince Russo: Number one, we didn’t really have a relationship in WCW. People seem to forget about that. They want to pin everything that happened at WCW on me. The reality of it is I worked there for nine months. I really didn’t generate that relationship with Hulk Hogan during my time there. I was really grateful that when he came to TNA, we were able to settle any differences that we may have had. I am very grateful and thankful for that. As his spot in WWE right now, I am thrilled for the guy. I don’t know where the wrestling business would be without Hulk Hogan. For him to be in the spot he is right now as an ambassador for WWE, he deserves that spot. I am absolutely thrilled for him.
Brandon Galvin: Triple H has been the center of dirtsheet reports for more than 13 years, with the focus being on him burying other wrestlers or securing his spot in the company because of his relationships with Stephanie and Vince McMahon. Before you left WWE in 1999 though, Triple H had already won the WWF Championship and becoming a staple in the main event scene. Do you recall what your stance on Triple H was, or what the company’s stance on him was, before you left? Did you ever see or hear anything about what the dirtsheets have reported in recent years or what fans accuse him of doing?
Vince Russo: No I never have, but I will say this: When Triple H was breaking into the WWE, and the Madison Square Garden incident happened, where he became the scapegoat, there was nobody in his corner more than me. When that character was first being developed, there was no one developing that character more than me. I used to write every single one of his promos. I only had one instance working with him that he really disappointed me. He straight out didn’t want to do a job to D’Lo Brown and I really had an issue with that. I never read or followed in any of that stuff about him, but I was very disappointed when I almost went back to WWE back in 2002 and found out more or less Triple H was not in my corner after all I did for me. Fast forward twelve years later and you see the position he is in and Stephanie is in and now it makes all the sense in the world. If you eventually want the power, than you want to keep a guy away like a Vince Russo away who from a creative stand point is going to produce better content and better TV than you can. A Vince Russo is a better writer and went to school for writing to be a writer and knows the art of writing. When that happened in 2002 and I learned he was working behind the scenes to keep me out of the WWE, I would be lying to you if I told you my opinion of him did not change.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
