Vince Russo has spent years criticizing WWE creative. Now he says Unreal gave him proof. After watching WWE’s behind-the-scenes documentary, Russo says the biggest thing he took away wasn’t a storyline, a Superstar or even what happened on television. It was the writers’ room itself. And judging by his reaction, he wasn’t impressed.
Speaking on Two Man Power Trip, Russo said every time the documentary cut backstage to WWE’s creative meetings, he found himself cringing because the room looked completely lifeless. Before tearing into the writers, Russo actually made a point of defending the talent.
“Bro, I’ve very rarely ever seen a talent phone it in. When a talent is in that ring, bro, they’re balls to the wall. I always put that over.”
According to Russo, the wrestlers aren’t the problem: The writers are: “It looks like WWE creative is phoning it in. I mean that, bro.” Then came the line that summed up exactly how he feels about WWE’s current creative process.
“You see Unreal? You see that room? That’s… yeah, bro. That’s the room of death.”
Russo said the atmosphere shown in the documentary looked completely devoid of energy, with nobody throwing out wild ideas or showing the kind of passion he believes should exist in a television writers’ room.
“Nobody’s excited. Nobody’s pitching crazy ideas, you know. It’s the most depressing room of death I think I’ve ever seen.”
He admitted those scenes became difficult to watch. Russo even mocked the way WWE’s meetings appeared to begin, pointing to the moments where staff wheeled in a whiteboard before mapping out the show.
“Every time when I’m watching Unreal and they go to that freaking conference room, I freaking cringe. Then they show them wheeling in the whiteboard and then they write ‘SummerSlam’ on it. You know what I mean?”
For Russo, those scenes perfectly illustrated everything he believes is wrong with WWE’s creative philosophy: “Oh, bro. It’s so… it’s so not the way that television should be written.”
When the interviewer mentioned WWE using the whiteboard to chart interactions between wrestlers, Russo doubled down one final time. He doesn’t think the problem is one bad storyline. He thinks the entire system is broken.
“Yeah, man. Oh, bro. Their system is so freaking broken, and it’s not going to get fixed, man… unless they change it.”
Russo has previously argued that WWE should completely overhaul its creative department. After watching Unreal, he says he’s more convinced than ever that the documentary accidentally exposed exactly why he believes the current system isn’t working.
Do you agree with Vince Russo’s assessment of WWE’s creative process, or do you think Unreal simply showed how modern wrestling television is produced? Let us know in the comments below.
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