Vince Russo On Why Seth Rollins Isn't A Draw, Rollins - Shawn Michaels, Why Roman Reigns Was Booed
As noted, former professional wrestling writer, producer, and performer, Vince Russo recently debuted his Nuclear Heat podcast with Wrestling Inc. last week. During the debut episode, Russo talked about why Roman Reigns got booed at Royal Rumble 2015 and why Seth Rollins is not over with the fans.
According to Russo, Reigns got booed out of the building at Royal Rumble 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania because WWE unnecessarily put Daniel Bryan in the over-the-top-rope battle royal and Reigns was left in the match with other performers who had no chance of winning and going on to headline WrestleMania 31.
"It had a lot to do with putting Daniel Bryan in that match, which they didn't have to put him in, having him eliminated, leaving Reigns in there with three other guys that had no chance of winning the match, so they put Reigns in a horrible position. The people booed him out of the building." Russo continued, "From that day on, from where I sit, my professional opinion is that the WWE has been catering to the internet, the internet wrestling community, the small audience with the loudest voice! Everything they said they weren't going to do, now they are doing. They are catering to that crowd, which they already have. The casual fans are no longer there."
Russo claimed that during Attitude Era Vince McMahon instructed the WWE writing staff to ignore the IWC and focus on attracting casual viewers.
"I can remember back in the day working for the WWE, we were told to ignore the internet. 'Don't read what the internet is saying; that is the minority with the loudest voice; those are traditional wrestling fans that are going to watch the product no matter what'", Russo added, "The key to success is to go out and get those casual television viewers and make wrestling cool again. That's what the Attitude Era was all about."
Also, on the premiere episode of Nuclear Heat, Russo stated that Rollins is not over because his character has been written in such a way that makes it impossible for the audience to connect with him.
"Seth Rollins is a great wrestler, Seth Rollins is not over," Russo said. "The reason Seth Rollins is not over is because creative has butchered his character. He [has] got more personalities than Sybil. One week, he's running away. The next week, he's standing up to Dean Ambrose. The next week, he's running away. The next week, he's standing up to Triple H. There have been so many changes with this Seth Rollins, there is no way anybody in the audience can be emotionally attached to him."
Russo went on to compare Rollins to WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels.
"[If] you want to see the difference in what I am talking about, go back to the Attitude Era and watch [when] Shawn Michaels was the [WWE] Champion. Watch the consistency of his character. He always stayed true to himself! Seth Rollins is a Duncan Yo-Yo, it's up, it's down, up and down, up and down, up and down."
Click here to check out the rest of the debut episode. You can check out the second episode of Russo's podcast in the video above, or on our audio channel below. You can also download the episode directly by clicking here. In the episode, Russo talks about when he stopped watching WWE and why he started watching again, if he is bitter over his WWE and TNA departures, WWE not creating new superstars, if he is a fan of NXT, why casual AND traditional fans are tuning out of the current product and more. Please take a moment to subscribe to the Wrestling Inc. audio channel on iTunes as well as our RSS feed, which you can use to subscribe through any podcast app.