WWE veteran will "never forget the day" Vince McMahon gave him control (Exclusive)
Vince McMahon oversaw WWE's creative direction for four decades before being replaced by his son-in-law, Triple H, in 2022. Vince Russo, the company's former head writer, recently reminisced about his experience as McMahon's right-hand man.
Russo was a writer for WWE's official magazine in the mid-1990s before becoming a creative team member. Toward the end of the decade, the 64-year-old worked closely with Vince McMahon on storyline developments after earning a promotion.
On Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo, the veteran writer told host Dr. Chris Featherstone that McMahon rarely suggested names for new superstars. He also revealed that the former WWE Chairman stepped aside from day-to-day creative decisions to take care of business deals.
"Once I started taking over, Vince didn't give them the names," Russo said. "I'll never forget the day when we were really, really starting to roll, and, bro, it was just me and Vince. We were really starting to roll, and I'll never forget this, bro, because think about this. This was back in '97, '98, Vince said to me, 'Vince, I can't be writing TV anymore with you,' because business was booming." [7:12 – 7:44]
Watch the video above to hear Russo address his creation of the Pretty Mean Sisters (PMS) faction.
Vince McMahon hired a replacement to help Vince Russo
Former USA Network writer and independent wrestler Ed Ferrara joined WWE to work alongside Vince Russo. Both men created weekly television scripts before reporting directly to Vince McMahon.
According to Russo, it was McMahon's idea to add another writer to WWE's small creative team:
"He had so much on his plate he had to do, he could not take creative days. That's when he said, 'We gotta get you somebody,' and that's when we brought Ed Ferrara in." [7:45 – 7:55]
In October 1999, Ferrara and Russo left WWE to join WCW as writers and on-screen characters. Ferrara portrayed a controversial Jim Ross parody wrestler called Oklahoma, while Russo became an authority figure.
Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.
