Vince Russo On Nobody Getting Over In WWE, Why Dean Ambrose And Wyatts Suffer, Old Undertaker Angle
It seems like almost on a weekly basis we talk about the pains of 50-50 booking on the Wrestling Inc Podcast. On this week's episode of Nuclear Heat, Vince Russo zeroed in on the issue, and those that are suffering at the hands of the booking.
One example was that of Dean Ambrose, Intercontinental Champion. Despite being in a bitter rivalry with Kevin Owens for well over a month, Ambrose rarely follows through on what he says. Russo says that great babyfaces like Steve Austin and Bret Hart follow through on what they say.
"A fan favorite in Ambrose gets attacked by Owens, says he's going to get Owens. At the end of the show, Owens is out there wrestling Roman Reigns for 8-10 minutes, Ambrose is nowhere to be found," Russo said. "If I'm a fan of Dean Ambrose, he just lied to me. He told me he's going to get Kevin Owens, Owens is out there. Nobody's getting over."
See Also: Vince Russo On How He Would Book Kevin Owens As A Top Guy
Russo also has an issue with the booking of the Wyatt Family. While booked and promoted as a live-action horror show, the team is often made to look goofy and afraid of competition. Russo sees this as crippling to the characters.
"The announcers are constantly painting them as a dangerous family who lives in the backwoods. Yet one guy, Ryback, hits the ring and the entire Wyatt Family runs. Next time Michael Cole tells me how scary they are, I don't believe that. How scary are four guys that run away from one? Those characters are not being protected. If I'm (the Wyatt Family), I'm not running away from one guy. It's not realistic."
Another example was The Uso twins not coming out to help their cousin Roman Reigns when he had to take on the entire locker room. Vince Russo saw this as an opportunity to get the Usos over by saving Reigns, and having Vince McMahon mad at them.
Russo remembered an angle he wrote with The Undertaker and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler. The writing team planted seeds to give Undertaker a reason to be upset.
"Taker's feud is with Paul Bearer and Kane. Lawler's having a ball with this, he comes back later and says he apologizes, didn't know the cameras were on, yadda yadda yadda. We came to the next show...Taker lays Lawler out, beats the crap out of him. Why? Lawler made degrading comments about Taker's mother. Putting yourself in the shoes of Taker, he has to do something," said Russo.
This angle was compared to Undertaker and Paul Heyman's interactions, when Heyman said everything he wanted without any repercussions.
"That's not protecting Taker. If Heyman's going to keep taking shots at Taker and nothing happens, he's going to keep doing it. How many times did Taker shut down Paul Bearer? But here's Heyman burying him at will. That's the inconsistency," Russo said.
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