Vince Russo Blogs On TNA, WWE, Hulk Hogan, More

– Vince Russo has a new blog up, here are the highlights…

On The Rating: Before I write another word, I can’t go any further without thanking all of you. A 1.5 is a tremendous, tremendous rating going head to head with “Raw”, and nobody can take that away from us. Keller, Meltzer, all the other dirt sheet writers that some of you may know, can critique all they want–the bottom line is–TNA WON–PERIOD. However, the reason we won is because all of you came out. You came out and you watched TNA. Whether you were a channel changer, or not, you spent some time with us on Monday night and that’s all we wanted. I can’t thank you enough–I really can’t. Without your support, Vince Russo does not do what I know I was born to do. Without your support–quite frankly–I don’t know what I’d be doing.

On Watching Both Shows: I sat in the production truck and I watched our show, side-by-side to Vince’s Monday night. It was great to see Bret–I love the guy–always have. But as our show went on, and as I watched his, I just kept asking myself–“where’s the effort”? Does Vince think that little of TNA that he felt that he could just produce “another show” on Monday night? I mean, you take away that first segment and that last segment, and you had a wrestling show that wasn’t even mediocre at best. Again–going back to the 90’s–that NEVER, would have happened if Eric, or I were in Vince’s shoes–NEVER. Resting on your laurels is the worst mistake that anyone can ever make–no matter what type of business you are in.

On the Work Put Into Monday’s Show: Which brings me to Monday night. On record here I will say that I have NEVER worked on a show any harder then that one you witnessed on Monday night. That show was being crafted for 6 weeks–every, single day of the week. We never stopped–NEVER. We tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked until we couldn’t even tweak anymore. We ran young Matt Conway, the junior creator of our staff–into the ground–he will never be the same again. Ed took time away from his elderly parents, who need him more then anything now–and I took time away from the thing I love most–my family. We didn’t come up one, single day for air–not one. Eric called me on Christmas day–not to exchange pleasantries–but to work–and he did the same New Year’s day. IT NEVER STOPPED!!!

On Hogan And Bischoff: No, Eric and I did not like each other, yes, it is all documented in my new book. We were oil and water, we were just two different guys with two different mindsets and two different styles. At WCW we were BOTH put in positions that neither one of us wanted to be in. We were forced to work together–when we couldn’t. Well–the truth is that Dixie Carter forced me to work with Eric Bischoff again. I didn’t want to–but I had no choice. Dixie is the boss–I’m an employee–and I have to give the boss what she wants. I dreaded the day. I remember a few months back when I had to go meet Eric–with Dixie–the day following the Hulk Hogan press conference. It was the first time I would see him in ten years. Man–I swear to you–as the hours grew closer–I would much rather have had to go to the dentist and have him tear every tooth from my mouth–NO novacaine. To me–this was the meeting from hell.

And Hulk Hogan was no different. Again–put the personal feelings aside–that’s not what this is about–this is about what those two guys–Eric and Hulk–came to do . . . AND THEY DID. They didn’t just talk about it–THEY DID IT. Hulk sat in on production meetings, Hulk was a leader in the back–Hulk was the last to leave. You have to respect that regardless of what happened 10 years ago.

– You can check out the full blog here.