Vince Russo Recalls Vince McMahon Becoming Infuriated Over Criticism Of WWE Product
Vince Russo has long been one of the most polarizing personalities in wrestling. As it turns out, it started much earlier than expected, as even Vince McMahon grew upset with Russo during his early days with the WWF.
Russo had been the editor of Raw magazine and was shooting his own angles for the publication. On the latest episode of Nuclear Heat, Russo says that he went to Linda McMahon and wanted to advance his position in the company. With the WWE's ratings going down, Russo wanted to help change things.
"I was feeling very negative about the company, but very desperately wanted to help," said Russo. "I'm either going to go to the next level in this company, or I'm going to be fired."
Vince McMahon joined the meeting and was quickly infuriated by Russo and his offers to help with the creative aspect of WWE programming.
"I said 'listen, if this is all I'm capable of, I need you to tell me because I know I'm capable of more.' Vince McMahon got hot at me, red in the face. I don't think anybody ever did this to him before. I remember him getting red in the face at me and I'm thinking 'Bro, I don't want more money, I want to help you.' Three days later is when I got called in the office, Vince threw the magazine on the table and said 'this is what the product needs to be,'" said Russo.
The years that followed ended up being some of the most creative years in company history, ushering in the Attitude era. Russo would go on to work for WCW and TNA following his WWE run.
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