Real-life issues between wrestlers would always catch the eye of Vince Russo when he was working in the wrestling industry behind the scenes.
After his success backstage in the WWF during the Attitude Era, Russo was hired by WCW in 1999 but would have far less success with the promotion.
Years later, Russo would work with TNA Wrestling and his arrival saw an immediate increase in gimmick matches on programming.
In his years in the industry, Russo saw many examples of wrestlers with genuine beef with each other, and during the latest episode of the “Wrestle Binge” podcast, the ex-writer recalled his approach to these issues. He said,
“I worked in the business when there was a lot of heat with a lot of people. I can tell you that’s the best television because the emotions are real. Jarret-Angle, emotions are real. Scott Steiner-Ric Flair. Bret-Shawn. Whenever I knew there was a personal issue as a writer, I was all over it because, as professionals, I’m also expecting, guys, do you wanna make money or not?
“Yes, there’s heat, yes, you don’t like each other. As professionals, we can capitalize on this situation, and there was never an issue. They always did it. I never had a guy say to me, ‘I will absolutely not, without a shadow of a doubt, work with so and so.’ I never had.”
