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117-794: From its founding in 1963 to 1997, the WWE looked to a president as an authority figure. The president had booking power and controlled all wrestlers. However, in 1997 the commissioner replaced the president, with Sgt. Slaughter serving as the first WWE commissioner. During the Attitude Era (1997–2002), not only the commissioner, but also Vince McMahon (through his position as WWE chairman under his evil character Mr. McMahon ) had booking power. McMahon usually used his power in order to haze his kayfabe nemesis, Stone Cold Steve Austin . When Shawn Michaels served as commissioner, he could overrule McMahon, but he exercised his booking power only sporadically and

234-478: A G.I. Joe figure, ( NFL football player William "The Refrigerator" Perry , pro-wrestler Roddy Piper , and astronaut Buzz Aldrin are some of the others), and even appeared in G.I. Joe: The Movie . Slaughter also appeared twice as a special guest on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! , which starred fellow wrestler Captain Lou Albano . He appeared in the episodes "All Steamed Up" (in "Butch Mario and

351-616: A Survivor Series match . Slaughter was eliminated in the match, but his team won, with Flair as the sole survivor. On December 18, 2006, Slaughter participated in a 30-man battle royal for a chance to face John Cena in the main event for the WWE Championship , but he was eliminated from the match and did not get the title shot. At the Vengeance: Night of Champions pay-per-view in June 2007, he faced Deuce 'n Domino for

468-545: A one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion , and scored televised singles victories over future WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Booker T (the latter to win his world title). Vincent James Russo of Italian descent, grew up in Farmingville , New York , and graduated from the University of Southern Indiana (then known as Indiana State University Evansville) in 1983 with a degree in journalism . He worked for

585-489: A "monumentally damaging blow to a company that was already at death's door." WWE's Rise and Fall of WCW documentary also largely blamed Russo for the decline of WCW, prompting DVD Talk critic Nick Hartel to write that "while Russo deserves a lot of blame, he was not the only one in charge." R. D. Reynolds was also critical of many of Russo's booking decisions but stated that Turner Broadcasting executive Jamie Kellner 's decision to cancel WCW programs from Turner Networks

702-418: A 2011 interview, Mantell denied this and the two proceeded to argue over Twitter for several months after this. Russo became head of creative for TNA sometime during July 2009. On addressing the "Fire Russo!" chants, Russo said he was not head of creative during that time, and when the idea of the electrified steel cage was presented to him, he said that there was no way that the concept could have been done in

819-519: A Boot Camp match. Slaughter still appeared from time to time in the ring, mostly at house shows . He appeared on Raw to put over younger wrestlers, such as Kurt Angle and Funaki . Slaughter also made an appearance at WrestleMania X-Seven , in the gimmick Battle Royal , which was won by The Iron Sheik. Slaughter got his revenge after the match by locking the Sheik in the cobra clutch . He also appeared on both Raw and SmackDown on occasion during

936-493: A February 2010 interview that it was a "very positive experience" and that their collaborations were productive. By October 6, 2011, Russo had stepped down to the role of a contributing writer, with Bruce Prichard taking over the head writer's role. On February 14, 2012, TNA president Dixie Carter explained that TNA and Russo had mutually parted ways during the week. In April 2014, the PWInsider website claimed that Russo

1053-592: A beat-down on Patterson, starting a hot feud which culminated in an " Alley Fight " in New York, New York 's Madison Square Garden between the two that is widely regarded as the best "hardcore" match of the Kayfabe era. In September 1981, Slaughter joined the National Wrestling Alliance, mainly wrestling for its flagship territory Jim Crockett Promotions . In October 1981, he took part in

1170-547: A believable manner and that he was often blamed for ideas that he never even came up with. At the September 2009 No Surrender pay-per-view, Ed Ferrara joined TNA and began working on the creative team with Vince Russo and junior contributor Matt Conway. On October 27, 2009, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff signed with TNA and were paired with Russo, whom they had conflicted with in WCW and had not worked with since they departed

1287-666: A boot camp match that took place before a sold-out Madison Square Garden that summer. With Hulk Hogan rising as the WWF World Heavyweight Champion and lead face within the company, Slaughter left for the AWA. On Vince McMahon 's McMahon DVD, Slaughter said he was fired by McMahon in Toronto after no-showing an event in protest of McMahon's refusal to give him six weeks of paid vacation. Other interviews with Slaughter and McMahon have revealed that Slaughter left

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1404-490: A born again Christian, the book was perceived by some to portray a negative attitude towards the wrestling business. Originally titled Welcome To Bizarroland , the title and content of the book were revised to correspond with his newly found faith. Russo's second book Rope Opera: How WCW Killed Vince Russo was released on March 1, 2010 and chronicles his tenure with WCW and TNA Wrestling. The title Rope Opera stems from

1521-449: A brief period, Russo returned as an on-screen character on the May 28, 2003 pay-per-view where he would hit Raven with a baseball bat helping Gilbertti become the number one contender for the world championship. The next week on June 4, 2003, when Gilbertti fought Jarrett for the world championship, Russo would hit Gilbertti with a baseball bat which in turn helped Jarrett retain his belt. On

1638-525: A bullet-proof vest and had to be surrounded with security personnel at all times. According to Slaughter, Vince asked him to burn the American flag, but Slaughter refused to do that, so Slaughter suggested he burn Hulk Hogan's shirt. As 1990 ended, Slaughter began challenging for the WWF Championship that had been held by The Ultimate Warrior since WrestleMania VI. Slaughter got his chance at

1755-553: A cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial " The '80s Called ". He later voiced Dr. Military in the 2013 animated series Teen Titans Go! in a two-part episode called "Teen Titans Vroom!" Slaughter voiced an adult-oriented version of himself in the animated WWE Network Exclusive show Camp WWE . In 2021, Slaughter joined the popular Masters of the Universe brand being added

1872-440: A championship committee, which was established in 2004 to help the director of authority to book matches and to keep contenders in proper order. The committee members also served as guest judges for Impact! when broadcast by Fox Sports Net as all matches had a time limit and if the match went to time, a judge had to make the call as to who had won. By June 2005, the committee was dropped and only Larry Zbyszko made appearances for

1989-510: A clear winner as Russo was speared by Goldberg through the side of the cage at the same time Booker T exited the cage. Two days later on Thunder , Russo was announced as the winner and new champion. However, the reign was short lived as Russo announced he was vacating the title immediately after, as he was not a wrestler. Russo suffered a severe concussion from the spear spot, and took time off because of post-concussion syndrome . Russo's run as head writer and fledgling in-ring career came to

2106-513: A creative power struggle over the direction of the programming. During the time when these rumors circulated, Russo eventually debuted as an on-screen character when the mysterious masked wrestler "Mr. Wrestling III" helped Jeff Jarrett win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and was eventually unveiled as him. In the on-screen story, Jarrett did not want Russo's help which led to the two become involved in

2223-402: A creative writer and would assist in the writing and production of the shows. Russo claims that the name "Total Nonstop Action" came from him and that the original concept was, as they were exclusive to pay-per-view, to be an edgier product than WWE; the initials of the company "TNA" being a play on "T&A," short for "Tits and Ass." Throughout the first few years, there were numerous reports of

2340-402: A feud. Russo created his own faction of wrestlers he dubbed Sports Entertainment Xtreme (S.E.X.), recruiting the likes of Glenn Gilbertti , Sonny Siaki , B.G. James , Raven , Trinity , and others. S.E.X. faced the more traditional TNA wrestlers led by Jeff Jarrett. Eventually, Russo would leave his on-screen role and Gilbertti would become the leader of S.E.X. instead. After leaving for

2457-415: A halt after the concussion and other injuries. AOL Time Warner bought out Russo's contract shortly after the WCW buyout in May 2001. Russo later returned to WWE in June 2002 as a consultant to oversee creative direction of both Raw and SmackDown! , but quickly left after two weeks, after stating that there was "no way in the world that this thing would work out". The major storyline idea he proposed

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2574-535: A series of vice presidents and bookers , ranging from those with little wrestling experience to those entrenched in the old territorial methods of promotion until Eric Bischoff took control in 1994. His tenure saw the creation of Nitro , the start of the Monday Night War and the formation of the New World Order . Declining ratings saw Bischoff ousted in 1999 and former WWF writer Vince Russo

2691-533: A three-on-two handicap match at SummerSlam , which saw the team of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior prevail over Slaughter, Adnan, and Mustafa. After finishing the Hogan feud , Slaughter became a face again, appearing in vignettes next to American landmarks, saying, "I want my country back". During an episode of Superstars , Jim Duggan was under attack from The Nasty Boys , and Slaughter made

2808-513: A title victory over Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba in Tokyo. They would be in a heated rivalry with the team of Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, which culminated on March 12, 1983, losing the titles to Steamboat and Youngblood in a steel cage match in Greensboro, North Carolina . After the rivalry ended, Slaughter left JCP. During this period, Slaughter also toured Germany and Austria for

2925-498: A tournament to determine a new NWA United States Heavyweight Champion ; he defeated Johnny Weaver , Jay Youngblood , and Rick Steamboat in the tournament to win the vacant title. He would hold onto the title for over seven months, before losing the title to Wahoo McDaniel in May 1982. In September 1982, Slaughter and partner Don Kernodle were awarded the NWA World Tag Team Championship , claiming

3042-521: A way to murder him without going to prison, I would consider it the greatest accomplishment of my life." In June 2017, Russo filed a restraining order against Cornette after repeated verbal threats of physical harm towards Russo and his family. Their real life rivalry has been featured in two episodes of Vice TV 's Dark Side of the Ring documentary series covering the Montreal Screwjob and

3159-533: A writer on the TNA creative team. Russo was paired with Dutch Mantell and Jeff Jarrett on the TNA creative team. During the March 2007 TNA pay-per-view Destination X on the "Last Rites" match with Abyss and Sting , "Fire Russo!" chants erupted from the crowd in the arena at Orlando indicating the fans' frustration with the incidents that occurred during the match. Another time the "Fire Russo!" chants were heard

3276-468: Is a WWE Hall of Famer , inducted as part of the class of 2004. As Sgt. Slaughter, Remus became known for his dark sunglasses , his campaign hat , and his Vietnam War-era military fatigues . In the 1980s, an alternate version of the Sgt. Slaughter character was incorporated into the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line as well as its animated series and comic books . The gimmick of Sgt. Slaughter

3393-752: Is currently signed to WWE in the ambassador program. From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Slaughter had success in the National Wrestling Alliance , American Wrestling Association , and the World Wrestling Federation . He won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and headlined WrestleMania VII in 1991. Slaughter also captured the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship twice. He

3510-604: Is no longer with the promotion. In 2014, Russo wrote a series of pro wrestling columns for What Culture , a UK -based website. He wrote a weekly column for Chris Jericho 's website Web Is Jericho until March 2023. Since 2015, Russo hosted numerous daily podcasts for his podcast network Vince Russo's The Brand , formerly The RELM Network . Russo also briefly hosted a podcast on website Fightful Wrestling in 2016. Russo now discusses professional wrestling, entertainment and more on his podcasting network called "Channel Attitude" which features wrestling personalities including

3627-467: Is that of a former U.S. Marine who fought in the Vietnam War . Remus himself never served in the military. He received several draft deferments and even opposed the war, often protesting and demonstrating within the antiwar movement. This has caused controversy because, at times, Remus has talked about military service while seeming to be speaking as himself, and not in kayfabe character. Remus

Professional wrestling authority figures - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-491: The Legends Night special episode of Raw . Fictionalized versions of Sgt. Slaughter were part of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, animated series and comic books, as a member of the G.I. Joe team and first appeared in the five-part TV episode entitled "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!" Along with the traditional merchandising of WWE superstars, Sgt. Slaughter is one of only a few real people to be produced as

3861-470: The "Disco Inferno" Glenn Gilbertti , Justin Credible , EC3 , Stevie Richards , Al Snow and Stevie Ray . He also does podcasts reviewing Raw and discussing wrestling news on Sportskeeda . Russo has written two autobiographies , including Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification , released on November 29, 2005. Documenting his early life, his WWF run, as well as becoming

3978-598: The American Wrestling Association (AWA) throughout 1985 and 1986, becoming the AWA America's Heavyweight Champion , defeating Larry Zbyszko shortly after his arrival. He defended the title against wrestlers like Zbyszko, Kamala , Boris Zukhov , and Nick Bockwinkel (before the belt was retired) and feuded with Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey and his stable of wrestlers, The Road Warriors , and Colonel DeBeers . He even challenged Stan Hansen for

4095-592: The Bigfoot Monster Truck in a tug-of-war challenge. It is featured on Blood, Sweat, & Gears USHRA home video. This stunt was recently attempted again with Sgt. Slaughter using fans from the crowd at a Monster Truck show to tug-o-war with Bigfoot. He was featured in the 1989 video game Sgt. Slaughter's Mat Wars by Mindscape . In the animated series Code Monkeys , Slaughter appeared as Sgt. Murder. He and Bulk Brogan ( Hulk Hogan ), "Manly Man" Ricky Ravage ( Randy "Macho Man" Savage ), and Sergei

4212-616: The Catch Wrestling Association , twice (in 1982 and 1983) unsuccessfully challenging CWA World Heavyweight Champion Otto Wanz . Slaughter returned to the WWF in March 1983, and again took on the Grand Wizard as his manager. He immediately targeted Backlund, who was still the reigning WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Slaughter turned up the feud another notch when he attacked Backlund at a television taping; Backlund

4329-530: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on Nitro in late 1999 was not recognized by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the title lineage until 2007; Liger lost the title to Juventud Guerrera , a luchador , after being hit over the head with a tequila bottle. Swerves and scenarios treated as " shoots " were heavily emphasized, as wrestlers supposedly gave unscripted interviews using "insider" terms that were only recognized by

4446-505: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In 1978, Remus returned to the American Wrestling Association under a mask as Super Destroyer Mark II with manager Lord Alfred Hayes , whom he dismissed and replaced with Bobby Heenan , leading to a feud between the two managers with Hayes as the babyface. He then signed with the WWF and was pushed as a villainous character . Between 1980 and 1981, Slaughter wrestled in

4563-407: The New World Order . Russo and his booking committee sat down to determine what would now happen at Souled Out . One of the ideas included putting the now-vacated WCW Title on the shoot fighter Tank Abbott , a former UFC fighter. In an attempt to do something believable, the idea was originally to have a "rumble match" in which Sid Vicious would be an early entrant in the match and would last all

4680-471: The Pledge of Allegiance (with the alternative, per an edict from Daniel Bryan , who was running the show that night, being that he would be forced to defend his title against the entire Raw roster). Rusev refused and had a staredown with Slaughter, who stood his ground. Jack Swagger and his manager, Zeb Colter , ran down to the ring and fended Rusev off. Swagger, Colter, and Slaughter then finished reciting

4797-656: The Royal Rumble in January 1991, days after the Gulf War air campaign had begun. He defeated the Warrior when "Macho King" Randy Savage , who had also been feuding with the Warrior at the time, struck the champion in the head with his royal scepter. Slaughter thus became the thirteenth WWF Champion and was immediately challenged by Royal Rumble winner Hulk Hogan , who was furious that Slaughter had (kayfabe) desecrated

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4914-564: The WWE Tag Team Championship , alongside Jimmy Snuka . They were unsuccessful in their attempt for the titles. He challenged Randy Orton on July 30 episode of Raw , only to become another victim of the "Legend Killer" and was wheeled out on a stretcher. On Raw XV , the 15th-anniversary Raw special on December 10, 2007, Slaughter participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal. On March 31, 2008, on an episode of Raw , Slaughter paid tribute to longtime friend Ric Flair at

5031-410: The AWA title. He was also involved in the short-lived Pro Wrestling USA Promotion. This was a brief attempt at pulling together the remaining wrestling talent to go up against the rising WWF. Slaughter in this company won a large 25-man battle royal by eliminating Kamala, winning the right to challenge Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . In 1988, Slaughter returned to wrestling in

5148-592: The AWA, resuming some of his past feuds with the likes of Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey, the Iron Sheik, and Col. DeBeers. He also became a top contender to the AWA World title during Larry Zbyszko 's reign in 1989 and was a team captain for the AWA's ill-fated Team Challenge Series during the first half of 1990. The AWA even teased fans with Slaughter appearing to win the World title from Zbyszko live on ESPN , only to have

5265-568: The American flag (off-screen) as part of his victory celebration. Hogan demanded a match against Slaughter at WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles , California , and Slaughter accepted. Slaughter lost the WWF Championship to Hogan at WrestleMania. After WrestleMania, Slaughter introduced his newest ally, Colonel Mustafa (The Iron Sheik, Slaughter's old nemesis). Slaughter and company went on to feud with Hogan for months, including having

5382-506: The Giant ( André the Giant ) were hired by a video game company to take on their rivals. His brother, Tommy Murder, was killed by "The Black Shadow", who really was Black Steve, the company's accountant. He appeared on episode #3.6 of Comedy Central 's Tosh.0 , when he clotheslined Daniel Tosh and put David Wills (a.k.a. YouTube's "Crying Wrestling Fan") in a Cobra Clutch during Wills' "Web Redemption" segment. In 2014, Sgt. Slaughter made

5499-482: The Internet smarks ; chaotic broadcasts became the norm. In January 2000, Russo received two phone calls, one from Bret Hart (then WCW World Heavyweight Champion) and another from Jeff Jarrett (then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion), both saying that they were injured, thus could not wrestle and forced to vacate their respective championships. This required Russo to alter the plans he had in mind for Hart and

5616-680: The Invasion storyline in non-wrestling roles, usually in conjunction with Vince McMahon. On November 24, 2003, he lost to Randy Orton on Raw as Orton became the Legend Killer. On January 31, 2005, episode of Raw , he lost to (kayfabe) Saudi Arabian wrestler Muhammad Hassan . He made a special appearance on June 13, 2005, episode of Raw to challenge Chris Masters in his " Master Lock Challenge ", which Slaughter lost. Then, he returned again on December 5 episode of Raw , where he and Michael Hayes confronted Edge . He also appeared on

5733-788: The Iraqi government was "brutal" while the US regime was said by Slaughter to have become "soft" and "weak". Slaughter aligned himself with an Iraqi enthusiast and kayfabe Iraqi military general, General Adnan (his old rival who left the AWA shortly after Slaughter did), and entered a feud with Volkoff (which saw Slaughter win the majority of their encounters at house shows ), leading to a match at that year's Survivor Series which saw The Alliance (Volkoff, Tito Santana , and The Bushwhackers ) defeat The Mercenaries (Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, and The Orient Express (professional wrestling) ). As part of his character change, Slaughter began wearing Arab headdresses to

5850-713: The July 4, 2006 episode of Raw for a "Diva Boot Camp" segment, as a part of the 2006 Diva Search Competition. He re-appeared on October 2 episode of Raw , defeating Nicky from the Spirit Squad with a roll-up when D-Generation X (DX) distracted him from up on the TitanTron. Slaughter appeared on the October 23 Raw in the corner of Ric Flair as he faced Kenny of the Spirit Squad. After Kenny cheated to gain

5967-460: The Luigi Kid") and "Caught in a Draft" (in "Bad Rap"). During the mid-1980s, Sgt. Slaughter released a full-length LP, Sgt. Slaughter and Camouflage Rocks America . It featured a number of original songs, including "The Cobra Clutch," as well as a cover of Neil Diamond 's "America". A brief cross promotional stint in the late 1980s had Sgt. Slaughter and his "battling battalion" pitted against

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6084-635: The Pledge of Allegiance. Slaughter returned at the Tribute to the Troops show on December 17, 2014, and helped Dean Ambrose beat Bray Wyatt by giving Dean his steel-toe boot to use on Wyatt. Slaughter made a one-night appearance to WWE for the special Raw Reunion on July 22, 2019. Slaughter was in attendance at the February 5, 2020 episode of NXT. On January 4, 2021, Slaughter made an appearance on

6201-401: The WWF because Vince McMahon was able to control them, while Ric Flair doubted Russo's WWF influence during their time together in WCW, later blaming Russo for the disorganization of WCW. Eric Bischoff has said that Russo was hired at WCW by overstating his influence in WWF, which Bischoff called "fraudulent." Wrestling promoters Tony Khan and Jody Hamilton have criticized Russo's role in

6318-673: The WWF under the guidance of the Grand Wizard . He very quickly rose to the status of number one contender on the strength of his "cobra clutch" challenges where he would seat wrestlers in a chair in the ring, and apply the hold, offering $ 5,000 to anyone who could break it. He would eventually face Bob Backlund for the World Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship across the WWF territory in 1980, earning two-of-three falls main event matches in most markets. Slaughter

6435-474: The WWF was the result of a dispute with Vince McMahon over the increased workload caused by the introduction of the new SmackDown! broadcast and McMahon's disregard of Russo's family. Russo and Ferrara attempted to make the same "Crash TV" style on Monday Nitro which was similar to Raw Is War , only at an accelerated pace, including soapier storylines, more lengthy non-wrestling segments, constant heel/face turns, an increased amount of female representation on

6552-514: The WWF" and "the man who destroyed WCW". WWE credits Russo with being responsible for many of the Attitude Era 's storylines. Likewise, Bob Kapur of Slam! Wrestling gives Russo credit for the company turning away from the cartoonish style of the early-mid 1990s and instead bringing more mature storylines and characters to the promotion. WWF's The Rock spoke fondly of working with Russo, praising his "crazy out of box ideas". Gene Okerlund claimed in 2004 that Russo's ideas were successful in

6669-486: The actual structure in WWE, Inc. and its predecessors. After the All In wrestling event in 2018, Ring of Honor wrestlers Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks partnered with Shahid Khan and Tony Khan , the owners of Fulham F.C. and Jacksonville Jaguars , to form All Elite Wrestling on January 1, 2019. The director of authority operated as the on-screen authority-figure for the company. TNA Wrestling also maintained

6786-434: The angle into a shoot, and that he was double-crossed by Turner executive Brad Siegel who did not want to use him anymore due to his costs per appearance. Eric Bischoff states in his autobiography, Controversy Creates Ca$ h , that Hogan winning and leaving with the title was a work which would result in his return several months later where the plan was to crown a new champion at Halloween Havoc , where Hogan would come out at

6903-405: The anti-American promos associated with this gimmick. The August 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Ba'athist Iraq triggered a political crisis that would lead to the 1991 Gulf War , in which Kuwait was freed by a U.S.-led military coalition . A decision was made to have Slaughter support the Iraqi cause, not for the actual political reasons, but more for the fact that Slaughter liked "brutality" and

7020-542: The booking power in WWE on both the Raw and SmackDown brands until the board of directors stripped him of his power and named John Laurinaitis the interim general manager of Raw. From 1996 onwards, the corporate roles of Vince McMahon and his wife Linda were gradually acknowledged in WWF programmes and were subsequently included in storylines. The following list gives the development of corporate offices as portrayed in storylines and should not be confused with their counterparts in

7137-478: The company after Bash at the Beach 2000 . In 2010, when asked about his relationship with Russo at TNA, Hogan said he came to TNA in peace, that the writing staff of Russo, Ed Ferrara , Matt Conway, and Jeremy Borash have really "stepped it up", and that Hogan loved Russo "from a distance". According to Russo, the three met together and worked out their differences. While working with Russo, Bischoff also stated in

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7254-436: The company following the incident) also alleged in a shoot interview published by Highspots that the disputes and the incident also affected his WCW run, in which Russo allegedly took out his problems with Hulk Hogan on Awesome, citing that he was "too close of kin" to Hogan, by portraying several poorly received gimmicks. In mid-2000, Russo entered into an angle with Ric Flair . The angle notably included Russo sending cops to

7371-458: The company more over a dispute that emerged due to the WWF not allowing Slaughter's role in the G.I. Joe toy line. Sports editor and columnist Lew Freedman wrote of Slaughter's popularity in the wake of his face turn in August 1985: "Talk about your overnight sensations. Slaughter had been wrestling for 10 years and suddenly he was hotter than Dwight Gooden ". He received a considerable push in

7488-413: The company shortly thereafter. At Bash at the Beach 2000 , Russo was involved in an incident with Hulk Hogan where Hogan was booked to lose a match against reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett. Hogan refused to lose the match (invoking his contract's "creative control" clause to override Russo), due to Russo's apparent lack of direction for Hogan's character following the planned loss. In

7605-405: The company. Despite the name, the National Wrestling Alliance had no direct relationship with the committee. During its existence, TNA controlled the booking of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and treated it as its foremost title. The committee consisted of: Ted Turner purchased Jim Crockett Promotions and launched World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1988. The company went through

7722-580: The decision reversed on a technicality (a booking practice the AWA had been employing for years). After WrestleMania VI , Slaughter sent a letter to Vince McMahon saying he loved the program and was interested in returning. McMahon told Slaughter he wanted a heel, and his new gimmick would be that Slaughter turned on the United States due to its acceptance of the Russian Nikolai Volkoff to Slaughter, he found it difficult to do

7839-525: The downfall of WCW, and TNA co-founder Jerry Jarrett expressed regret at the decision of bringing Russo in. Russo's decision to have David Arquette win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was viewed as highly controversial, though Russo defended his decision, citing that mainstream American newspapers covered the story. WrestleCrap named Arquette the worst wrestling champion of all time and called Russo's decision

7956-413: The end of the show and ultimately win a champion vs. champion match – but Russo coming out to fire him was in fact a shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan. Bischoff claims that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the angle, but were distraught to get a phone call hearing of Russo's in-ring shoot after Hogan left the arena. Mike Awesome , cousin to Hogan's nephew Horace Hogan (who also left

8073-534: The end of the show. He appeared on Raw' s 800th episode in Kung Fu Naki's dance-off and also made an appearance in the Slammy Awards. Slaughter, who had been working as a producer for WWE for the past several years, was released from his backstage producer duties with the company on January 13, 2009. His first appearance on the independent circuit was at American Wrestling Federation in 1994 until

8190-408: The end, Russo booked Jarrett to literally lie down for Hogan, which resulted in Hogan doing a worked shoot on Russo saying, "That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in; because of bullshit like this" and scoring the pinfall victory by placing his foot on Jarrett's chest. Russo would come out later in the broadcast to nullify the match's result, as he publicly fired Hogan. This action restored

8307-417: The entire company, he removed Flair from control of Raw, relinquished his own position and appointed separate general managers to control the different brands. On July 18, 2011, Triple H came to Raw and told Vince McMahon that the board of directors (kayfabe) revoked his "day-to-day operation power" and named him to manage it instead. After that, Triple H became the WWE's chief operating officer, who had

8424-504: The final show being the one-year anniversary. In 1992, Russo was hired as a freelance writer for WWF Magazine following a letter that he had written to Linda McMahon , and would later become an editor in 1994 under the pseudonym of Vic Venom. He was eventually promoted to the WWF Creative Team in 1996. In that same year, Monday Night Raw hit a ratings low of 1.8, as Monday Nitro ( Raw 's chief competition),

8541-496: The first thing he wrote as WWF head writer was the episode of Raw that aired on December 15, 1997. At the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1998, Ed Ferrara joined the WWF creative team and was paired with Russo. Some of the more controversial characters during this time, often cited by critics of Russo, include Sable , Val Venis and The Godfather . Russo devised the infamous Brawl for All tournament. Russo also contributed to

8658-423: The following week's pay-per-view (June 11, 2003), when A.J. Styles and Raven fought Jarrett for the world title in a triple threat match , Russo teased hitting Styles with Jarrett's trademark guitar, but eventually hit Jarrett leading Styles to win the world championship belt. Russo would then manage NWA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles for the remainder of his 2003 run and S.E.X. was quietly written out of

8775-592: The formation of D-Generation X , The Undertaker vs. Kane feud, the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon feud, the rise of The Rock , and Mick Foley 's three-face pushes. In the two years following Russo's promotion to head writer, Raw surpassed WCW's Nitro in head-to-head ratings. In October 1999, Russo was replaced by Chris Kreski as WWF head writer, after Russo departed the company. On October 3, 1999, Russo and Ed Ferrara signed with WCW; Russo contends that his reason for leaving

8892-446: The lines between reality and fiction, while also favoring elements such as shock twists, grand moments and larger-than-life characters over in-ring action, which made him a controversial figure amongst certain wrestling fans. Russo was part of the WWF's creative department during the widely acclaimed Attitude Era , during which the company achieved record high television ratings. During a self- booked in-ring career in WCW, Russo became

9009-480: The match anyway, and hurled Slaughter into the front row. In 1998, Slaughter turned heel, joined Vince McMahon along with Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson , and became the on-screen lackeys of McMahon; running errands for him and dishing out punishment to McMahon's rivals, namely Steve Austin . In late 1998, Slaughter relinquished the role of commissioner to Shawn Michaels and largely disappeared from television. On September 15, on Raw, Slaughter lost to Al Snow in

9126-493: The other covering the WWF Brawl for All , which aired in 2019 and 2020. Russo is among the most controversial figures in wrestling. He often states that the story and character elements of the show are what draws viewers, and thus emphasizes entertainment over the in-ring aspect of professional wrestling. Newsday writes that "Despite scripting some of the most successful WWF television programs in history, and later doing

9243-509: The past. His last match was with Jeff Starr as they defeated Dalton Castle and Jake Manning on March 29, 2014. He was the special guest host on Raw on August 10, 2009, where he made fun of Canadians and saying how the USA is the greatest country in the world. He made an appearance on the Decade of SmackDown on October 2, 2009, where he had an altercation with the Iron Sheik about which country

9360-839: The promotion closed down in October 1996. Following his 1997 signing with WWF, was for the World Wrestling Alliance (WWA) in a tag team match with George "The Animal" Steele in 1998. After that, he would only wrestle for WWF/WWE until making two appearances for the WWA in 2003. He started slowing down starting in 2006, wrestling only a few matches a year. On March 28, 2009, he defeated his former rival Kamala at IWC Night of Legends in Franklin, Pennsylvania. To finish off his career he had one match in 2013 and two matches in 2014, all tag team encounters. His last two matches were for Northeast Wrestling (NEW), who he had competed for in

9477-498: The ring to arrest Flair during the wedding between Stacy Keibler and Flair's son David . In August 2000 at New Blood Rising , Russo entered into a feud with Goldberg after confronting Goldberg when the wrestler left a match and "refused to follow the script." The next PPV, Fall Brawl , saw Russo interfere in Goldberg's match against Scott Steiner , costing Goldberg the match. On the September 18, 2000 episode of Nitro , Russo

9594-460: The ring, adopted the Camel Clutch as one of his finishers, and was (kayfabe) photographed meeting with Saddam Hussein . Slaughter also infamously adopted a move where he would grind the tip of one of his knuckles into his opponent's temple. It was reported that while Slaughter was portraying a turncoat , he had received numerous death threats and could not go anywhere in public without wearing

9711-419: The same for WCW and TNA, Russo remains one of wrestling's most reviled personalities for his sometimes unconventional take on the wrestling business." According to Russo, one reason he is reviled is due to his take on the current WWE product; he believes there is too much actual wrestling and not enough storylines. In Russo's book, Rope Opera , he writes that he has been conversely referred to as "the saviour of

9828-468: The save. Duggan and Slaughter teamed up to defeat the Nasty Boys and continued to team over the next several months. Slaughter would also feud with General Adnan and Col. Mustafa, winning every match in his feud with the heel duo. Slaughter was taken off TV in June 1992 and worked in house shows against The Mountie until August of that year. Slaughter's last regular WWF match, which was against Nailz ,

9945-590: The school newspaper The Shield as an assistant sports editor and later as editor-in-chief. Russo got his start in professional wrestling when he began training under the tutelage of Johnny Rodz at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn . He owned two video stores on Long Island . Russo also hosted his own local radio show from 1992 to 1993 called Vicious Vincent's World of Wrestling , which aired Sunday nights on WGBB in Freeport . The program ran for exactly one year,

10062-463: The show, fake retirements, more backstage vignettes, expanded storyline depth, constant title changes, and the utilization of midcard talent in a more effective manner. Russo and Ferrara often focused on poking fun at the WWF. Russo's writing style created a large turnover in title changes, reflecting his "crash TV" writing philosophy. His booking of Jushin Thunder Liger losing and regaining

10179-488: The storylines. On October 1, 2003, Russo suffered the first loss of his in-ring career in a tag team match against Dusty Rhodes and Jeff Jarrett, although his partner, Styles, yielded the pin. On the October 15, 2003 pay-per-view, Russo made his final appearance of that year in a street-fight with Jarrett. It was reported that Russo was written out of the company as a result of Hulk Hogan 's signing and because Hogan reportedly said that he would not work for TNA as long as Russo

10296-681: The target of D-Generation X (DX), who called him "Sgt. Slobber". On an episode of Raw Is War , he put Shawn Michaels and Triple H in a match for Michaels' European Championship . Michaels dropped the belt to Helmsley by lying down in the ring. Slaughter challenged Triple H to a Boot Camp match at the December pay-per-view , which he lost. His feud with Triple H continued into WrestleMania XIV where he handcuffed himself to Chyna to prevent her from interfering with Helmsley's match against Owen Hart . But Slaughter's efforts ultimately proved futile, as Chyna threw powder into his eyes, interfered with

10413-474: The title from Vicious in a singles bout with Arn Anderson as the referee. Three months after Russo's departure, Sullivan was ultimately relieved of his duties in March 2000 and Russo returned as lead writer, alongside the returning Eric Bischoff. The idea was that Russo and Bischoff would reboot WCW into a more modern, streamlined company that would allow the younger talent to work with the established stars. On April 10, 2000's, WCW Monday Nitro episode, Russo

10530-572: The title of a television series idea that he pitched to networks at the time of his WWF tenure. Russo is an American of Italian descent, as his maternal grandfather was Sicilian. He has been married to his wife Amy since 1983. The couple have three children together. In October 2003, Russo became a Born Again Christian. In 2004, he formed a short-lived online Christian ministry titled Forgiven . In late 2005, he produced two shows for his Christian Ring of Glory independent promotion . Russo

10647-469: The title to Jarrett, which set up a new title match between Jarrett and Booker T , with the latter winning the match and the title. As Russo promised, Hogan never resurfaced in WCW and even filed a lawsuit against Russo for defamation of character (which was dismissed in 2003 stating that the charges filed against Russo were "groundless" and "were just part of a wrestling storyline"). Hogan claims (in his autobiography, Hollywood Hulk Hogan ) that Russo turned

10764-799: The toyline Masters of the WWEternia. His figure came with similar armor to Man-At-Arms, mentor to He-Man. On March 3, 2024, Slaughter was the subject of the Biography: WWE Legends . Vince Russo Vincent James Russo (born January 24, 1961) is an American professional wrestling writer, booker and pundit . He is notable for his tenures with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in creative roles. He also occasionally made appearances as an on-screen authority figure , and professional wrestler, in WCW and TNA. Russo's writing style often blurred

10881-411: The victory, Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes , and Roddy Piper cleared the tag champions from the ring. Slaughter was one of three options between himself, Roddy Piper, and Dusty Rhodes that fans could vote for as a tag partner for Ric Flair at Cyber Sunday , but did not win the vote. At Survivor Series , Slaughter teamed with Flair, Ron Simmons , and Dusty Rhodes to take on four members of the Spirit Squad in

10998-493: The viewing audience would be more reluctant to change the channel for fear of missing something. In 1997, Russo became head writer for the WWF and wrote their flagship show Raw Is War as well as their monthly pay-per-views . With the angles that he created, Russo had a large hand in putting WWF ahead of WCW in the Monday night rating war during the Attitude Era . In an interview with Jeff Lane in 2015, Russo acknowledged that

11115-567: The way to the end when Abbott would come into the match and eliminate him with one punch. Russo said that Abbott might not have held the belt for more than 24 hours if this title change had actually occurred. However, the day after he and his committee came up with the idea, he was asked to work in a committee and no longer be head writer. Russo declined the offer and left the company, with his immediate replacement being Kevin Sullivan , who along with other bookers, chose wrestler Chris Benoit to win

11232-453: Was "voted" the new D.O.A. over himself at the three-hour November 2004 pay-per-view Victory Road in an interactive "election" on TNA's website. Russo left the company after the 2004 Victory Road pay-per-view. In a November 2005 interview, Russo states that he never wrote a single show on his own during this period at TNA and described his time there as a "total nightmare." On September 21, 2006, TNA president Dixie Carter re-signed Russo as

11349-539: Was an entire restart of the WCW Invasion , featuring previously unsigned talent such as Bill Goldberg , Scott Steiner , Eric Bischoff and Bret Hart . After feeling disrespected by a phone call with Stephanie McMahon , Russo then left of his own accord (turning down a $ 125,000 per year stay-at-home 'advisory' role with WWE in favor of a $ 100,000 per year full-time position with TNA). In July 2002, Russo joined Jeff and Jerry Jarrett 's NWA - TNA promotion as

11466-454: Was at the following month's pay-per-view Lockdown that was held in St. Louis on April 15, 2007. The chants were heard during the electrified steel cage match with Team 3D and The LAX where the lights would flicker on-and-off whenever a wrestler touched the cage giving the impression of electrocution. Dixie Carter has since noted that gimmick was created by writer Dutch Mantell . However, in

11583-870: Was born in Detroit , Michigan , and grew up in Minneapolis , Minnesota . He attended Eden Prairie High School in nearby Eden Prairie , where he wrestled and played football. Remus was trained by Verne Gagne in Minnesota for American Wrestling Association (AWA) territory in 1972. In 1974, he made his debut in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver. Then he made his first tour in Japan in January 1975 for International Wrestling Enterprise and July 1975 for All Japan Pro wrestling. Remus held numerous regional titles early in his career and experienced his second major success in

11700-637: Was challenged by then-United States Champion Antonio Cesaro in a match for the WWE United States Championship . He lost the match and failed to capture the title. This would be his final match for WWE. He then made an appearance on Old School RAW, serving as the special guest referee for The Great Khali vs Damien Sandow match after he got the most votes. Slaughter made an appearance on November 24, 2014, edition of Raw , where he confronted United States Champion Rusev and his valet, Lana , and attempted to force Lana and Rusev to recite

11817-517: Was close friends with Joanie Laurer, professionally known as Chyna before her death in 2016. Russo worked with Jim Cornette in the WWF during the 1990s and in TNA Wrestling during the early 2000s. They regularly conflicted over their opposing views on the wrestling business. In April 2010, a law firm contacted and accused Cornette of making a "terroristic threat" after writing a letter saying, "I want Vince Russo to die. If I could figure out

11934-505: Was getting paid about $ 3,000 a month, averaging to $ 36,000 a year, to be a consultant with TNA. On December 8, 2017, Russo signed with the Nashville, Tennessee -based Aro Lucha promotion as a script consultant. On April 5, 2018, Aro Lucha's CEO, Jason Brown, explained via a question and answer session on WeFunder (a crowd-funding website), that Russo had been hired as an independent contractor, not as an employee. As of April 2018, Russo

12051-402: Was heavily inspired by The Jerry Springer Show . "Crash TV" centered on Russo's philosophy that every character on WWF television should be involved in a storyline (feud). This contrasted conventional wrestling booking that would typically see a number of matches between wrestlers that were not necessarily involved in feuds. Russo believed that by constantly having storyline material on-screen,

12168-412: Was hired in an attempt to salvage the company. WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, but the company was featured prominently on WWF television as part of the Invasion storyline for the remainder of the year. Sgt. Slaughter Robert Rudolph Remus (born August 27, 1948), better known by his ring name Sgt. Slaughter , is an American voice actor and retired professional wrestler . He

12285-424: Was in October 1992 and ended in no contest when Nailz viciously attacked Slaughter before the match could begin. Slaughter started appearing as an on-air official from October 1992 to June 1994. He made his first wrestling appearance in over a year when he appeared on a house show version of a Royal Rumble that was held on January 17, 1994, at Madison Square Garden. After helping to eliminate Adam Bomb he, in turn,

12402-420: Was in a tag match alongside Sting and Booker T versus Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett, with the wrestler getting the pin receiving a shot at Booker T's WCW World Heavyweight Championship . Russo won after Booker T dragged an unconscious Russo onto Steiner for the three count. The following week, Russo faced Booker T in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The match did not appear to have

12519-557: Was in the midst of an 83-week winning-streak against Raw head-to-head ( see Monday Night War ). With World Championship Wrestling (WCW) eclipsing the WWF, WWF chairman Vince McMahon called upon Russo to make changes to the televised product. Russo contributed edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, profanity , swerves or unexpected heel turns , and worked shoots , as well as short matches, backstage vignettes, shocking angles and levels of depicted violence. Russo's style of writing came to be known as "Crash TV" and

12636-466: Was in the process of completing the Harvard step test before Slaughter beat him repeatedly with his riding crop, leaving bruises on his back. Although he won several matches by disqualification, he never won the title. In early 1984, Slaughter's career took off after he turned face and defended America's honor against The Iron Sheik from Iran . They had many matches throughout the year, culminating in

12753-484: Was introduced as an on-screen antagonist authority figure. Notable storyline points his character was involved with include " The New Blood vs. The Millionaire's Club "; his feud with Ric Flair where he and David Flair were involved with shaving Ric Flair's hair as well as Reid Flair 's hair; his feud with Goldberg ; and his short reign as world champion. On May 8, 2000, Russo booked Miss Elizabeth in her first official wrestling match against Daffney . Elizabeth left

12870-430: Was involved with the company. In February 2004, shortly after Hogan was not able to commit with TNA, Russo would eventually return but strictly as an on-air character, becoming the "Director of Authority" in the storylines. This time, he was a face , claiming to have changed his ways (which was likely inspired by Russo's real-life conversion to Christianity). However, he would disappear again in late 2004 when Dusty Rhodes

12987-438: Was that Russo was to keep his involvement confidential. In less than two days, Russo's statement was removed from his website. On July 30, 2014, Russo claimed that he was "officially done" with TNA. Not long after, Russo revealed that he had been working for TNA since October 24, 2013, claiming that he had been involved in creative meetings and also critiqued the weekly episodes of Impact Wrestling . Russo stated that he

13104-544: Was the greatest, USA or Iran. Slaughter would appear on November 15, 2010's Old School RAW losing to Alberto Del Rio in one minute and 53 seconds. Then on June 27, 2011's Raw edition he lost to Jack Swagger in 68 seconds. On July 3, 2012, Slaughter appeared on Smackdown teaming with Jim Duggan and Santino Marella defeating Drew McIntyre , Hunico and Camacho for the Great American Bash. He later appeared on December 31, 2012, edition of Raw , where he

13221-551: Was the only WWF-based challenger not to do the honors for Backlund at MSG (Backlund defeated him at the Meadowlands, but never in the Garden). Slaughter then engaged in a feud with Pat Patterson , which stemmed from Slaughter calling Patterson "yellow" and offering him $ 10,000 (double the usual amount) to try to break the cobra clutch. Patterson accepted on television and was escaping from the hold when Slaughter released it and put

13338-543: Was tossed out by Crush . Later that year he would wrestle on four house shows in July in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, facing and defeating Quebecer Pierre . He left the company in September. After a hiatus, he returned to WWF television on the August 4, 1997, episode of Raw Is War to assume the role of on-air commissioner by ( kayfabe ) President Gorilla Monsoon who in reality retired from being on camera due to health issues. Initially popular, he eventually became

13455-453: Was ultimately responsible for WCW's death. Regarding his time in WCW, Russo personally said, "WCW and I were never on the same page; it was just that simple". Booker T credits Vince Russo for his rise to main event status, citing "... if it weren't for Vince Russo, perhaps I would have never been the world champion... at all, ever!" Russo thanked Booker for the compliment and has since called Booker's coronation as WCW Champion at Bash at

13572-441: Was working as a consultant for TNA Wrestling. Russo denied the reports, but on July 15, PWInsider reported that Russo had accidentally sent an email to them with instructions on how TNA's commentators work. As a result, and after trying to state that he was not involved with TNA, Russo admitted on his website that he was already working as a consultant for TNA Wrestling to work with TNA's commentators and that one of TNA's conditions

13689-510: Was working with an ironclad contract where he could not be fired. When Mick Foley acquired the position, he took full reign until he was fired from the position. Upon splitting WWE into two separate brands in the WWE brand extension of 2002, on-screen co-owners Vince McMahon and Ric Flair proceeded to draft WWE wrestlers into two separate rosters. Flair took ownership of Raw while McMahon controlled SmackDown . After McMahon regained control of

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