Vince Russo recently said he feels The Rock never properly recognized his role in helping create one of WWE’s biggest stars. Jim Cornette has now weighed in, and he thinks Russo is way off base.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Cornette first took issue with Russo comparing himself to Downtown Bruno, who famously received a truck from The Rock years after helping him early in his career.
Cornette said the situations aren’t remotely comparable because Bruno personally looked after Johnson when he was a young wrestler struggling to get by in Tennessee. He then pointed out that he also worked with Johnson during his early WWF run, spotting his potential immediately and helping introduce him to television audiences, yet never expected anything in return.
“The Rock got Bruno a car or a truck or a f****** paddy wagon or whatever he got him because Bruno actually, like, let Rocky live with him in Tennessee, his first territory… Bruno took care of Rocky when he was starving in f****** Tennessee… That’s why he gave him a truck.
I saw Rock’s first tryout at the studio and called Vince and said, ‘Hey, here’s your future WWF Champion.’… I was right there on commentary when he made his debut in the Garden… I was the manager for a number of his first TV opponents… and I didn’t get a car or a truck or even a f***** little red wagon.”
Cornette said that’s because everyone involved was simply doing their jobs. He argued Russo wasn’t some mentor who took Johnson under his wing during a difficult period of his life—he was a WWE writer whose responsibility was to help talent get over. That’s why Cornette doesn’t believe Russo is entitled to money, gifts or anything else from The Rock today.
“You know what? I didn’t think I was entitled to one because we were all doing our f****** job that we were getting paid for. Russo was a writer. I noticed I didn’t say booker. His job was to f****** try to get the guy over, just like mine was, just like everybody else’s was. So, he didn’t go above and beyond the call of duty to help this poor young man at a crossroads in his life.”
Cornette also pushed back on Russo’s claim that there may never have been a Rock without him. He questioned the timeline almost immediately, pointing out that Russo didn’t even join WWE creative until several months after Rocky Maivia had already debuted. In Cornette’s mind, Russo was mixing up two different stages of Johnson’s career.
“Wait, wait. Who? What? Who? Wait, whoa, wait a minute. I think he’s getting confused between Rocky Maivia and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.”
“Vince Russo started on creative four or five months after Rocky Maivia debuted. So, how was he not a part of the goddamn booing him out of the f****** building until he finally talked Vince McMahon into letting him turn heel?”
When the conversation turned to whether Johnson actually owes Russo anything, Cornette didn’t leave much room for interpretation. He said maybe The Rock owes Russo a friendly hello or even a Christmas card, but that’s about as far as he’d take it. As far as Cornette is concerned, helping a wrestler while you’re employed to do exactly that doesn’t create a lifelong debt.
“No… He might owe him a Christmas card or he might, you know, ‘Hey Vince, good to see you. Haven’t talked to you in a while,’ or that type of thing, but he doesn’t owe him a bone of any kind.”
Cornette did acknowledge that Russo probably gave Johnson ideas and worked with him on promos, but he said the qualities that made The Rock one of wrestling’s biggest stars couldn’t be written by anyone else. Johnson already had the look, charisma, athleticism and natural speaking ability, and Cornette believes that’s what ultimately made him a megastar.
“The Rock deserves the credit for The Rock because he was a genetic freak to begin with. Look at him. Nobody looks like that. He had the look. He had the size. He had the genetics for it in terms of the wrestling business being in his blood… You couldn’t tell anybody to cut promos like The Rock. It had to be him. He was doing it. He brought it out of himself.”
Cornette wasn’t arguing that Russo contributed nothing to Johnson’s rise. His point was simply that contributing ideas isn’t the same thing as creating The Rock, and he believes the overwhelming majority of the credit belongs to Johnson himself.
Do you agree with Jim Cornette, or do you think Vince Russo deserves more credit for The Rock’s rise? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
