By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Vince Russo
Host: JP John Poz
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com
On Hulk Hogan not doing business: “The first time I wrote the show [Bash at the Beach 2000], I made Hulk look like King Kong, but he didn’t win the title. He wasn’t leaving the building with the title. Now, at that point, bro, I’ve got to give my show to John Laurinaitis, and now Laurinaitis has to present it to Hulk. Laurinaitis presents it to Hulk. Laurinaitis comes back to me, ‘It’s not working for him, brother’. I write a second version, bro, where if he was King Kong in version one, now he’s King Kong and Mighty Joe Young. Like bro, I had him laying out [Jeff] Jarrett, I had him laying out [Scott] Steiner. I had him laying out everybody. But not leaving with the belt. John calls me back. ‘Vince, Hogan says that’s fine, no problem. He’ll do what’s written.’ This is probably Thursday of that week. So, now in my mind, okay, bro, we’re all set. Hogan’s good. Everything’s going according to plan. I find out months later when I’m being deposed. After the offices closed on Friday, Hogan’s lawyer faxes a letter to WCW, informing WCW that Hogan is going to play his creative control card and he’s not going to do what we pitched. So, bro, they calculated sending that letter when they knew nobody would be in the office to get it. Literally, that letter is laying on an office floor somewhere. So they purposely sent that letter at a time that they knew nobody would get it.”
On his relationship with Eric Bischoff: “From the second I sat down with that man, him and I did not like each other. Five seconds in. Him and I are complete opposite personalities. Complete. Bro, Eric Bischoff is the type of guy that gets off on power, that gets off on control, that gets off on money, that gets off at people fearing him, that gets off on being in charge. That’s who Eric is. I am not that guy. I don’t give a shit about money. I don’t give a shit about power. I don’t want the corner office. I don’t want people reporting to me. All I wanted to do was be in the trenches, write the best damn TV show I could write. That’s it. So, bro, you had a white collar guy, and you had a blue collar guy, you had a politician, and you had a freaking plumber.”
On former AOL/Time Warner executive Brad Siegel: “This is how I am, bro. Let him write the show. Like, seriously, Brad, if Eric thinks he can write a better show, if you think he can write a better show, let him write the show. Because I know he can’t, but let him write the freaking show. Broke this backseat quarterback bullshit. It ain’t happening. Brad was in LA, calls an emergency meeting. Like the next day, I got a fly from Atlanta to LA to meet with him and Bischoff. The promo I cut to Brad Siegel on the phone, I cut the same promo with Eric there. At that time, Brad did not say, ‘No, Vince. He’s the boss’. At that time, Brad said ‘No. Vince, we want you to write the show. You’re going to be the writer. Eric is going to back off.’ Guess what the next show was? Bash at the Beach.”
On the controversial promo: “I never told Hulk what the promo was, because I didn’t know what the promo was. Every single time I performed in a wrestling ring, I never had a script, ever. So I said to Hogan, ‘I’m gonna cut a scathing promo on you. You’re not knowing what that promo was going to be’. So Hogan leaves the building. I cut the scathing promo on him, like I said I wouldn’t know what I was going to say. That was raw emotion, and the raw emotion was, it was really the emotion of, I don’t need this shit. Like, seriously, F you, bro. Like, nothing is worth it to me. So the emotion was very real, but it was the scathing promo I said I was going to cut on Hogan and, keep in mind, here’s the key. When I’m cutting the promo, I’m saying, Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan, Hulk Hogan. I’m in the middle of a wrestling ring, cutting a promo on a fictitious character. I never said Terry Bollea. I’m cutting a promo as Vince Russo, my character, on Hulk Hogan.”
Other topics include Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, Brad Siegel, what really was supposed to happen, the controversy, the shoot promo, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, and more.
If he didn’t care about money why did he quit wwe?