Vince Russo Discusses His Release From TNA
Former head writer for TNA Wrestling, Vince Russo, was interviewed by Pro Wrestling Torch and was in the midst of discussing a number of wrestling topics. One of the topics mentioned was Vince's release from TNA. Vince discussed the inevitable split and a bit of what went on behind the scenes. Are are the highlights:
On what inevitably lead to the two sides going their separate ways: "It was really two-fold. Five years had gone buy since Jeff (Jarrett) was no longer the head of creative. I had written every week and I had written all the pay-per-views. Multiply that over five years and it's hundreds of shows. So, I was at the point where I was really starting to feel burned out.
"Secondly, it's kind of like what I touched upon with WWE. When you start adding layer on top of layer on top of layer on top of layer in the creative dynamic, I don't think that gives you your best product. What happens, at the end of the day, your writing to make everybody else happy. That's not me. That's not what I do.
"At the end of the day, Vince Russo — whether it was good or bad — my intention was to write the best show I possibly could write. If I was responsible for the show, then I wanted to write the best show I could write. When you start laying in all these other people and all these other opinions — now, you've got to start hearing from a room full of people and you're sitting there with a pen and paper and you've got to write a show that makes everybody happy.
"That totally, totally takes away from your creative and the creative process. As a writer, that's probably the worst thing that can happen to you because now you're handcuffed and you're writing a show that you really don't believe is the best show you can write."
On whether or not he ever stopped taking credit for the television product: "Privately, I knew that there were many shows that I put to bed that I wasn't happy with personally. Then again; did those shows make everybody happy? Did those shows make the final grade? Yes, they did. So, those were the shows that aired.
"Personally, it was really pulling me apart. Professionally and publicly, I would never say, 'That wasn't my idea. That was his idea.' I tried to be the team player 100% of the time. Working as a team, working as a unit trying to get everybody on the same page. I never publicly buried anybody's idea. You know, 'I'll take credit for this and not that.' I never did that but personally, it was a completely different story."
Check out the entire video below.
Source: Pro Wrestling Torch Livecast