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Old 09-24-2006, 09:05 PM   #387
DeToxRox
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Michigan
taken from wikipedia:


Russo's writing style created a large turnover in title changes (the WCW World Title changed hands every 2.6 weeks on average under him). Swerves and everything being a "shoot" were emphasized; wrestlers did supposedly unscripted interviews using "insider" terms that were only recognized by the Internet fanbase and the wrestling community itself, and chaotic broadcasts became the norm. Russo booked actor David Arquette to win the WCW World title, and at one point toward the end of his WCW stay even booked himself to be champion. However, Russo explained both of these incidents during an interview with WrestleCrap Radio, saying he believed that he needed to produce television that would, in a sense, be a publicity stunt. Russo stated that when Arquette won the title, he did not pin a wrestler, he pinned Eric Bischoff, and that this was a realistic event, according to Russo. He even revealed that Arquette went to Hollywood the following weekend, where Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner were filming 3000 Miles To Graceland and did a photo shoot with Arquette holding the belt. Russo believed that he had to do something to get people's attention; ironically, Graceland was a box office bomb. The situation involving Russo himself winning the title was explained by Russo with a similar mentality. Vince Russo beat Booker T in a steel cage match. Goldberg entered the cage from under the ring and speared Vince Russo through the cage wall seconds before Booker T exited the cage. Russo would surrender the title at the next WCW Monday Nitro, and in an outlandish turn of events, would show on Nitro a brain operation he had due to a concussion he sustained in the cage match.

Russo began to de-emphasize the cruiserweight division as well as the luchadores and foreign talent; these were two of the things that distinguished WCW from the WWF. In the case of the luchadores and foreign talent, he argued that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get them over with the fans if they couldn't speak enough English to do a promo. In the cases of some wrestlers, such as Kaz Hayashi and La Parka, Russo would have them do promos in their native language and then use comical subtitles which had nothing to do with what they were actually saying. This was done for comic relief, as the wrestlers would either be squashed or have their match interrupted by an established star. The WCW Cruiserweight Championship itself was devalued as non-wrestlers such as fellow writer Ed Ferrera (as the controversial "Oklahoma"; a parody of WWE commentator Jim Ross) and Daffney were booked into title reigns under Russo's watch.
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