Throughout the history of professional wrestling, there have been two words that have struck fear into the hearts of every man, woman and child involved in the industry. What are those two words, you ask? Well, of course, they are the first and last name of one of the most controversial names in WWE history - Vince Russo.
In case you didn't know, Russo is a professional wrestling writer who worked for WWE, WCW and TNA over the course of his career up to this point. Now whilst some details regarding his work may get lost in translation from time to time, it's important to think about and remember his legacy within the business.
Some stuff was good, some stuff was bad, and some stuff was downright awful. After all, when you book yourself to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, you pretty much know that things are going downhill. Oh, and let us not forget the infamous Judy Bagwell on a Pole match. Iconic stuff.
But back on topic. In the present day, we all know that things aren't going too well for Raw following the brand split, with many people criticising the storylines as well as the overall product. So the question remains - what can WWE do to fix that?
Well, it may seem a little unorthodox, but they could probably do a lot worse (kind of) than bringing Vince Russo back in a limited capacity.
Before you start throwing things at your laptop, let's run down our reasons. First off, the Attitude Era simply could not have begun or even survived without Russo. Fact. Over the years the WWE has reluctantly credited the former writer with being the man who came up with a lot of the storyline ideas in the early stages of the transition, including the formation of several top stars.
His "out there" ideas were certainly risky, but given the growing threat of WCW in the Monday Night Wars, it soon became obvious that Vince McMahon was willing to do anything to succeed. As a result, some of those fond memories you look back on from that time period can actually be attributed to the mind of Russo.
Plus, in a current era where the new minds of the industry are starting to take over, there needs to be some experience behind the scenes. The gritty nature of the business back in the 90s is often called upon by legends of the past, but it was a necessary atmosphere if you wanted your promotion to succeed.
Russo has "been there and done that" so to speak for years now, and some of the advice he could give to the future higher-ups may prove to be invaluable.
Then you have the obvious reasoning- he'd be on a leash. Whether it's Triple H or Vince McMahon that is controlling him, Russo would be drawn back to the past in that a lot of his ideas wouldn't make it onto television. But for every 10 or 20 bad ideas, there would always be a great one.
So then when that idea spawns to life, Vince and HHH can utilise it whilst going back to Russo whenever they need something every now and then.
It doesn't need to be an entirely hands-on kind of arrangement. As and when WWE needs something a bit more out there for Raw that will work within their boundaries, Russo is the man to call. It's that little spark that the red brand used to have, that needs to be reignited and as much as some people will hate to admit it, Russo can provide that.
Also, we all know when Russo is at both his best and worst - when there's competition. It's no secret that SmackDown Live are trouncing Raw week in and week out in terms of the quality of their product, even defeating them in the ratings a while back. Because of this, the battle lines have been well and truly drawn, which would be right up Russo's alley.
Whether it was his success with WWE or failures with WCW, Russo stuck his neck out on the line in order to try and give the people what he "thought" they wanted. We all know it was a give-and-take kind of deal, but the guy was driven by the idea of victory over the other side.
It would be different, it would be alternative, and you'd better believe that the blue brand would take notice.
Then you have the perceived publicity. This is something that WWE can control entirely, because whether you're willing to say it out loud or not, Russo is a big name in the history of the industry. If they want the world to know about their new agreement then great, but if they don't, then literally nobody needs to know a single thing about what's going on.
Either they'll want to get people talking, or the dirt sheets will look on in confusion as Raw gradually starts to improve week by week. Long term, it may not work out. Short term, Vince McMahon and Triple H need to take a risk on something like this because let's face it - Raw is struggling.
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