Vince Russo's Unsolved Mysteries

[Supremo]

I still want to know who was driving the Hummer.

I'm almost certain that during the Bischoff/Russo run they had Bischoff run someone over with a Hummer (maybe Kidman?), with the commentators then alluding to the fact that it was Bischoff all along.

[mim731]

Wasn't that on the first episode of the 'New Blood' vs 'Millionaires Club' rebooted Nitro? I have this weird recollection of that useless bellend Scott Hudson screaming about the hummer being back. 

[Scott Malbranque]

The decision to shave Ric and Reid Flairs heads baffled me, and continues to do so to this day.
It made absolutely no sense and served no purpose, other than to stamp some sort of authority boot on Flair humiliate the cunt.

Of all the kooky stuff that Russo has done, this is what I always think of when I hear or read his name.
 

[bAzTNM#1]

There was talk that they ended the Seven gimmick because it was loosely based on a nonce and for obvious reasons didn't go down very well with people. One of those vignettes involved Dustin looking at some kid while they were sleeping from outside the window right?

 

"Seven" was loosely based on the main character from the film "Powder", that was directed by a nonce. Victor Salva.

 

Controversy came up again when Salva started directing "Jeepers Creepers" in 1999. Probably why the gimmick was suddenly stopped.

[The Dart]

 

 

Was Beaver Cleavage actually shagging his Mam? Is Chaz still abusing his missus or did she run away to a women's refuge?

I think she actually died not long after her last appearance

5 years.

 

Good shout. Not sure anyone was supposed to be behind it were they? I always assumed the G was for Goldust but I've no idea why.

Russo said it was supposed to be Tom Green didn't he?

[unfitfinlay]

i could probably write a book about Russo's crappy writing.

 

- The hatred of women that was mentioned earlier. I know wrestling is pretty misogynistic anyway but Russo's stuff was just so casual and pointless. Jericho calling Stephanie McMahon a slut worked because she was an established heel and the audience wanted to see her be embarrassed. Lauren, the girl doing the interviews in TNA, was nobody, I even had to google her name. Having her be threatened and called a whore by heels might've worked but the babyfaces doing it was just weird and uncomfortable! You also had shit like Christy Hemme's feud with Kip James. She desperately wanted to wrestle while Kip believed that women were only good for sucking cock. Guess who the heel was? Oh, and Roxxi Laveaux lost her hair in a match that was booked solely because Jim Cornette, Russo's on screen proxy at the time, wanted to humiliate a woman. Any woman. Literally the only explanation for the *babyface* Commissioner booking that match was that he was "tired of them talking on their cell phones and doing their make up".

 

- The James Gang cut a "shoot" promo (on a taped show) saying they hate TNA and they quit. About a week later they are back as the Voodoo Kin Mafia slagging off the WWF and putting TNA over.

 

- Who is Suicide and more importantly who cares? Kazarian's injury might've hampered things but what on earth was the planned pay off? It's not like he lost a loser leaves TNA match and needed the mask to cover up his identity, or was injured by some dastardly heels and was using the gimmick to play mind games with them. He lost the World X Cup, cleanly, and quit. They had a guy who was over, and challenging for the World Title at the time, and took him off TV for two years just to try and sell a crappy video game?

 

- LAX go from being militant, self styled revolutionaries to three dicks threatening to burn the American Flag but not actually doing it. Konnan and the Commentators try and sell this as the worst thing ever, yet despite them announcing it a week in advance, none of the Americans on the roster are all that bothered about it. It's left to Petey Williams, a Canadian, to save the inanimate object that can't feel pain. LAX then try and set Petey, an actual human being, on fire before we cut to a somber Mike Tenay who is all: "I can't believe LAX would try and burn the U.S flag". Yeah, Mike. Fuck Petey! Then Kurt Angle, the American hero, comes out draped in the flag, not bothering his arse about the previous segment.

 

- Probably an obvious one but there was so many matches where you lost by winning. Why the fuck would you want to win Feast or Fired when you've got as much chance of getting sacked as you do winning a World Title shot? Why would you *want* to progress in that tournament where the runner up has to wear a Turkey Suit?

 

- Writing that last one made me think of another. Hernandez has a World Title shot that he can cash in at any point in time. Instead of waiting until the Champion is vulnerable, or even just challenging him to a singles match, the thick cunt uses it to enter himself into a four way match, which he naturally loses.

[GordyM]

Did the Samoa Joe kidnapping angle take place under Russo's Reign of Error?

[Carbomb]

The Joe kidnap was probably the least stupid, although that isn't saying much. I liked the fact they used it as a story device to bring Joe's character back to the basics that made everyone like him in the first place, by which I mean the intense, kicky individual who didn't wear zubaz or a cock on his face, threaten people with knives when he clearly wasn't going to do anything with said knife, or look like a fucking moron for joining a stable that he'd just spent weeks fighting.

 

Would've been nice if they'd given us some closure on who kidnapped him, though.

[DraxSpago]

Kidnappings and stuff like that in wrestling are always stupid though, stuff like the Horsemen twatting Dusty or whoever it was on camcorder and the Wolfpac running the Steiners off the road, why aren't the police called? I know it's only wrestling and you have to have a bit of suspension of disbelief but it is still supposed to be set in the real world

 

I suppose you could argue stuff like Orton kicking Vince in the head should be out too but I'd say if it happens in the ring you can sort of get away with it, Austin lifting Triple H up in his car and dropping it is a bit of a step too far though

 

Regarding the Samoa Joe kidnapping, even if it was resolved, it's still stupid, Joe gets kidnapped and presumably treated like shit then either escapes or released, and instead of going to the police or killing the person responsible, challenges the kidnapper to a match to be held under professional wrestling rules, yeah that'll sort him out

[Carbomb]

The way it seemed to be portrayed, the kidnappers were in essence "claiming Joe back" - they'd seen him go to shit and decided to bring him forcibly back to his old ways. Hence why he didn't press charges or anything, because they'd "restored" or "re-booted" him.

 

I agree it's still fucking stupid, but it sort of ties with the odd martial arts movie storyline. They really should have just gone the whole hog and gone completely OTT, having him kidnapped by ninjas, with footage of him training up in a Shaolin temple or something.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

"Here's the idea: we'll have you kidnapped by ninjas, bro, then you'll come back and we'll forget you were kidnapped by ninjas? And then you'll team with Jeff Jarrett for some reason and he'll turn on you and you are so enraged you begin a feud with The Pope with a Japanese guy dressed as Kato as your second. It cant fail, bro."

[Carbomb]

"Here's the idea: we'll have you kidnapped by ninjas, bro, then you'll come back and we'll forget you were kidnapped by ninjas? And then you'll team with Jeff Jarrett for some reason and he'll turn on you and you are so enraged you begin a feud with The Pope with a Japanese guy dressed as Kato as your second. It cant fail, bro."

 

Well, obviously I meant they should've done what followed differently too. The whole thing as it actually happened was shit - the only good thing about it was that Joe for a brief period was re-booted and a bit interesting again, and this is coming from someone who never really saw what the big deal was with him in the first place.

[WWFChilli]

Always reckoned the ninjas were Tomko, Raven, Rhino, Stevie and Homicide. They had been subtly featured as Easy E pay off jobbers, they did a skit holding Abyss for Bischoff in the ring IIRC.

[Liam O'Rourke]

I want to thank everybody for the contributions, we got to read many of them on the show, which is now available at the following link:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/nshr5z/SCGRadio65-VinceRussosUnsolvedMysteries.mp3

Join us as we delve into the mind of Vince Russo, and look at the Unsolved Mysteries surrounding his booking tenures in the WWF, WCW and TNA. Tackling plotholes, illogical angles, contradictions and more, the panel takes your feedback on the questions that were never answered. Who was behind GTV? Who raised the briefcase at King Of The Ring 99? Who kidnapped Samoa Joe? How did Vince being the Higher Power make any sense? A fun show looking at countless other isolated forgotten moments brought to your screens by Vinnie Ru, check it out and let us know what you think!

[HarmonicGenerator]

Only about half an hour into the show but really enjoying it so far, particularly the long awaited return of LOGIC BOMB, and the increasingly exasperated cries of "but WHY?!?!" in the background as people try to explain things.