Vince Russo’s departure from JCW left fans with one big question: what actually happened? Now, after officially announcing his exit, Russo has gone into much greater detail, insisting there wasn’t any backstage drama, personal falling out or hidden controversy. Instead, he says months of frustration slowly built up until he realized he simply couldn’t keep doing it anymore.
Speaking on The Coach and Bro Show, Russo explained that he intentionally stayed quiet while everyone speculated because he genuinely hadn’t made up his mind. He didn’t want to give people an answer just for the sake of having one, so he waited until he knew exactly where he stood before finally announcing his decision.
“I’m always gonna be transparent and honest. A lot of people were asking me a lot of questions, and I wasn’t trying to ignore them. I didn’t have an answer to give until yesterday because I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Russo said the situation also reminded him of something he’s learned later in life. At 65, he believes staying somewhere that makes you miserable eventually impacts every part of your life, which is why he thinks people have to recognize when it’s time to make a change instead of forcing themselves to stay in a bad situation.
“But I do wanna say this, guys. As a 65-year-old man, let me pass this knowledge and wisdom along. Bro, when you’re unhappy with something, change it. You don’t wanna walk around in life being unhappy. It’s gonna affect your mental health, affect your physical health, and affect the people around you. When you’re at a spot where you’re unhappy, you gotta identify what’s making you unhappy, and you gotta change it. Here’s what I always say, bro, whether you’re a Christian or not a Christian: God did not create you for you to be miserable. God put you on Earth for a purpose. So when you’re miserable, you need to change that.”
That wasn’t just general advice, either. Russo admitted he’d been unhappy inside JCW for a long time and said it had been weighing on him for roughly six months. Even then, he kept trying to make it work because he genuinely liked Violent J and didn’t want to walk away from the locker room.
“I was at a point of being unhappy at JCW for months. It didn’t just happen overnight. Literally… I’d say probably the last six months. The tough part was I love Violent J, I love the locker room, and I didn’t wanna let the locker room down. I sucked it up and went on, but it got to the point where it affected me, and I just couldn’t go down that road anymore, man.”
Before getting into the specifics, Russo wanted to clear up one thing immediately. He said fans looking for gossip or some dramatic backstage blow-up aren’t going to find one because that simply isn’t what happened. According to Russo, he and Violent J are still on good terms, and he described the JCW owner as one of the easiest people he’s ever worked with personally.
“There’s no gossip here. There’s no dirt here. There was no falling out between me and Violent J. I don’t even know if I can get into an argument with that guy. He is what you see. He’s a big, loving, cuddly clown. It was never that.”
Russo said the conversation that ultimately ended his JCW run was actually a respectful one. He recalled Violent J acknowledging that trying to convince him to stay wasn’t fair if Russo was no longer happy doing the job.
“What it came down to was, ‘Vince, I know you’re unhappy, and me trying to keep you here is not fair to me.’ And yes, I am unhappy, and no, it’s not fair to me.”
From there, Russo said his decision really came down to two issues. The first had nothing to do with wrestling booking and everything to do with personality. He explained that Violent J has spent decades living the life of a rock star, where things happen on the fly and plans constantly change. Russo, meanwhile, says he’s built his entire career around structure, organization and having everything planned well in advance.
“I’m just gonna tell you it boils down to two things. My truth is my truth. Guys, you gotta understand, this was twofold. The first thing is… bro, Violent J has been a rap god for 36 years, and his entire life has been the mean streets of Detroit, celebrity, superstar, loved by millions. What that equates to is that’s a chaotic life. You know how rock star lives are—it’s wild, unpredictable, and there’s no structure.
A lot of decisions are made knee-jerk. Nothing’s plotted out or calculated or formatted. It’s like a day-by-day thing where you never know what’s gonna happen. Bro, I’m a writer by trade. I’m the complete opposite. My world is structure and schedule, and you utilize every hour of the day. You know what you’re doing Wednesday at 10 o’clock. Guys, I wrote three books! I would not have been able to if there wasn’t structure in my life. I’ve written 1,000 wrestling shows. So Joe lives in a chaotic world. I come from a structured world. Bro, I could not live in that world, and I tried.”
Russo stressed that he wasn’t criticizing the way JCW operates. He repeatedly acknowledged that it’s Violent J’s company, meaning he has every right to run it however he wants. Russo simply realized he wasn’t wired to function in that kind of environment anymore, especially when he felt the stress starting to affect his health.
“JCW is Violent J’s company, and he has the right to run his own company any way he wants. So yeah, bro, it’s his money. He has that right. I tried to live in that world for the last year, and it just got to the point that I couldn’t live in that world anymore. It was too stressful. It was starting to play a part in my mental and physical health, and I couldn’t do it anymore.”
The second issue was creative control. Russo said every promoter eventually wants to write their own wrestling show, regardless of what they promise beforehand. That’s why he says he specifically asked Violent J about that before ever agreeing to come in.
“Guys, no matter what they say, there’s a rule in wrestling: the promoter always wants to write the show. No matter what they tell you, you will always run into them writing the show. Billy Corgan runs the show. Tony Khan writes the show. Triple H writes the show. The promoter will always write the show, no matter what they tell you. When I started negotiating with Violent J in the beginning, this was point number one. He’s telling me he wants me to write the show, but the question is, can you let go? Because if you can’t let go, it’s gonna turn into this.”
According to Russo, he was initially told the creative would be his. But as time went on, he says more ideas, more changes and more decisions started coming from the promoter instead. Out of respect, Russo says he usually went along with them because it wasn’t his company, but eventually he no longer felt like he was writing the show that was carrying his name.
“Here’s what happened: ‘Vince, I want you to write the show. I won’t get involved in the show. I don’t want to write.’ Meanwhile, in my heart of hearts, I’m not believing that based on experience. This is promoted as Vince Russo’s show. That’s how they were trying to sell this show to streaming services. My name is all over the show. So what happens is, little by little, you have the promoter try to interject ideas. ‘I want to hire this person. I want to do this angle. I don’t want to use this person.’ Bro, out of respect I always say, ‘I’m working for you. This is your company.’ Doesn’t mean I’ll agree with it, but it’s your company. So, bro, you wind up giving in and doing what they want to do because it’s not your company.”
Russo said those changes slowly reached a tipping point. From his perspective, the more the promoter added ideas, changed finishes and moved away from the scripts he’d written, the harder it became for him to take pride in the finished product. That’s ultimately why he decided it was time to step away.
“But all of a sudden, bro, it becomes more and more and more, and you’re sitting there watching the show and it’s like, ‘This isn’t my show anymore. This is not my show anymore.’ Guys, I take great pride in my legacy, my track record, my name, and my 35 years in the business. I don’t want my name on a show that isn’t my show.
The more and more the promoter is adding things to the show, the more and more the promoter is changing finishes, not following the script… it becomes less and less your show. You just get to the point of saying, ‘Yeah, bro, this is your company, and you can do what you wanna do, but this isn’t my show.’ So if it ain’t my show, I have an issue with my name being on it.”
In the end, Russo says there wasn’t one big blow-up that ended his JCW run. It was months of small frustrations that eventually added up until staying no longer made sense. Now the partnership is over, both sides appear to be on good terms, and Russo is ready to see what comes next.
Do you think Vince Russo was right to leave once he felt the show was no longer his creatively? Sound off 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.
