Vince Russo Interview

Eric: You had just mentioned about caring about wrestlers and their families and I was wondering if you could explain the Melanie Pillman incident. What were they thinking by putting her on the air the night after her husband died?
Vince Russo: They wanted ratings. That is exactly what they're thinking. You tell me about that angle yesterday [Ed note: Tim White suicide skit], it's all about ratings and money. Period. That's all it's about. Again, don't get me wrong cause I’m not just pigeonholeing the WWE. That's business, and that's life. And that's the way it is. It's all about ratings and money and doing what ever you have to do to shock people and get them to watch your show. Because the more they watch, the more money you're going to generate. I can say that because I was a part of that. The difference is that as I grew older, I grew up, and I grew wiser. And I really started to understand as I grew older, the important things in life, and what life was all about and why we were put here in the first place. But unfortunately, when I still watched the wrestling business, they just don't want to grow up. Its juvenile, it's immature, it's stupid, and they just don't care about anything but the almighty dollar.

Eric: Alot of the wrestlers that have died hit their peak before the sport became more, no pun intended, extreme. There was a point where the broken neck in the WWF locker room was as common as a cold. Do you think that the death rate situation is going to get worse now that the injuries have gotten so much more severe?
Vince Russo: I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the question.

Eric: What I mean is in the past few years, the wrestlers have taken much bigger risks with their bodies, and a lot of wrestlers have suffered injuries that were really not commonplace.
Vince Russo: I mean that's not gonna change only because of the pressure put on these guys to perform. They’re into a vicious game of can you top this where they're doing some things that are very, very dangerous in order to get over to the people they're working for. Man, if you knew some of the money these guys were making for some the things that they were doing in that ring, it is ridiculous. Because every time these guys step into a ring, they are taking the risk of it being their last match. There is such a competitive nature in this business, for that spot, that a lot of these guys are willing to do anything to get it.

Eric: That's it for the questions, is there anything else you'd like my readers to know?
Vince Russo: No, not really. Again, if you really want to get an insight to the business, I'd really like them to read the book. Because in the past, a lot of the books I’ve read by wrestlers only accomplish two things. That was to get themselves over, and bury everybody else. And a lot of them were published by the WWE, so you really didn't get the truth. And that's why with my book, I just think it's very honest. I think it will really give you an insight to the business and how things are run without really hurting anybody or pulling any punches. It's just an honest look at the business that I think people will really understand and appreciate.