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Vince Russo is considered to be a crucial part of The Attitude Era. While he had a seven-year overall stint in WWE between 1992-1999, his last two years with the company helped it surpass WCW in the rating war.
Russo spoke about the creative process involving superstars and how 10-time world champion The Rock made his job easier.
On the latest episode of Writing with Russo, Dr. Chris Featherstone asked Vince Russo whether superstars contributing to their storylines made a writer's job easier.
Vince Russo concurred with this sentiment, stating how important it was for him to be open to the WWE Superstar's own creative pitches:
"That's how I looked at it. Every man and woman on the roster. They were thinking about their characters 24/7. I was thinking about 50 people. So that's why when they come to me with ideas that I know they've been thinking about all week long - arms wide open." (6:22-6:41)
He gave an example of The Rock and explained how The Great One made his job easier:
"The Rock was like that. He would come to me, he'd have new catchphrases for the week. I'd send him the show a week early and he would look and say 'this is great, but what if we did this here and that there?' And I welcome that," added Russo. (6:42-6:58)
You can watch the full video below:
Vince Russo elaborated on how talent input elevated the Attitude Era
Vince Russo continued on the same topic, saying that his job was to make RAW as good as possible. He said that it didn't matter who it came from and that more input resulted in a better show:
"My job was to put on the best show possible. Whether it came from me, [Stone Cold Steve] Austin, Mick [Foley]. It didn't matter. My job was to put on the best show possible. And the more input I got the better the show would be," said Russo. (7:07-7:21)
The statement above can be seen clearly in hindsight over two decades later. The creative input of superstars seemed to make a difference as there was less control, resulting in more freedom. This freedom is what led to the creation of several iconic characters during the Attitude Era.
Jim Cornette says that a 25-year-old RAW star is a better wrestler than The Rock was at his age. Read about it here.
If you're using these quotes, please provide a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed Writing with Russo from YouTube.
Watch Russo speak about why Vince McMahon won the Royal Rumble during the Attitude Era:
