Vince Russo on the lack of Psychology in wrestling
When I officially started the business it was 1991 and literally around that time, I remember we did our first chat with AOL. I remember it back in like 1993, and around that time it got exposed to the world that wrestling is a work, it’s a television show, none of this is real but like I said, bro, I don’t know what happened in the last 5 years, but you have a crew of young talent that have somehow convinced themselves that it is all about the match and we have to go out there and have to do crazy stuff and put ourselves at risk to get the crowd to chant, ‘this is awesome.’ It is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard in my life. Here is what any wrestlers’ agenda should be and Sam you can appreciate this: these wrestlers have a shelf life, from a business standpoint they are only going to be able to make money for so long, so what they want to do is they want to try and extend that wrestling life and shelf life as long as they can, because the time is going to come where they are not going to be able to perform anymore in the ring, but yet you have guys in their 20’s and early 30’s that are performing these ridiculous moves that require no psychology and in an instant somebody can break a neck, and I am telling you right now, somebody is going to get paralyzed in the ring doing one of these crazy, unnecessary things where somebody is going to be saying, wait a minute, hold on, we better look at the way these guys are wrestling nowadays.
I totally agree with Russo on this being one of the biggest problems hurting wrestling. Now a days you have everyone doing crazy spot after spot on free tv that has took away the psychology and realism. I keep stressing that ring work and crazy spots do not and has never been a draw in wrestling. Larger than life character has always drawn in viewers. The Hogans, The Pipers, Savage, Flair, Rhodes, Horsemen, Rock, Stone Cold and others are some of the biggest Superstars ever in the business who had the character and personality something these spot after spot let's wrestle like a cruiser weight by doing spots for the sake of it wrestlers are lacking.
When I officially started the business it was 1991 and literally around that time, I remember we did our first chat with AOL. I remember it back in like 1993, and around that time it got exposed to the world that wrestling is a work, it’s a television show, none of this is real but like I said, bro, I don’t know what happened in the last 5 years, but you have a crew of young talent that have somehow convinced themselves that it is all about the match and we have to go out there and have to do crazy stuff and put ourselves at risk to get the crowd to chant, ‘this is awesome.’ It is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard in my life. Here is what any wrestlers’ agenda should be and Sam you can appreciate this: these wrestlers have a shelf life, from a business standpoint they are only going to be able to make money for so long, so what they want to do is they want to try and extend that wrestling life and shelf life as long as they can, because the time is going to come where they are not going to be able to perform anymore in the ring, but yet you have guys in their 20’s and early 30’s that are performing these ridiculous moves that require no psychology and in an instant somebody can break a neck, and I am telling you right now, somebody is going to get paralyzed in the ring doing one of these crazy, unnecessary things where somebody is going to be saying, wait a minute, hold on, we better look at the way these guys are wrestling nowadays.
I totally agree with Russo on this being one of the biggest problems hurting wrestling. Now a days you have everyone doing crazy spot after spot on free tv that has took away the psychology and realism. I keep stressing that ring work and crazy spots do not and has never been a draw in wrestling. Larger than life character has always drawn in viewers. The Hogans, The Pipers, Savage, Flair, Rhodes, Horsemen, Rock, Stone Cold and others are some of the biggest Superstars ever in the business who had the character and personality something these spot after spot let's wrestle like a cruiser weight by doing spots for the sake of it wrestlers are lacking.