Three months after leaving WWE and going to work for WCW, he was on the outside looking in and was left in no man’s land. He assumes that Flair was a big part of that, and he and Flair were not the best of friends at that time. He soon started an on-screen program with Flair, and when Russo cut his now iconic in-ring promo, he admits that was a half-shoot because he was very frustrated.
Throughout their entire program Russo knew that the end goal was to get Flair over, because he wasn’t a professional wrestler. Even though Russo was frustrated at times he never lost focus of the end goal, which was getting Flair over. Russo points out that Flair’s son, David, and daughter, Charlotte, were involved in this feud, and he remembers Flair really enjoying working with his family. Russo can’t imagine the pressure that David was under during this time, trying to live up to his father’s legacy.
Their program finally came down to a steel cage match and the last thing Russo wanted to do was make Flair look bad. They met at the Power Plant (WCW’s training facility) and Flair walked through the match with him one time, which Russo will never forget. They had their match that evening and given Russo’s inexperience in the ring, he took a leg sweep poorly and concussed himself after hitting his head on the mat.
Russo feels that as their feud went on and as they concluded their program, Flair began respecting him more and more. As a part of their program, Flair even offered to have his head shaved by Russo and Russo was shocked that Flair would offer that as a way to heighten their feud. Flair also referred to Russo as Mr. Russo, and Russo always appreciated that.
