Former WWE, WCW & TNA writer Vince Russo has posted a new blog at the Chairshot Reality website talking about Vince McMahon forgetting how to create new stars, specifically as it relates to Kevin Owens’ WWE TV debut on Monday’s RAW.
Russo says that when Sami Zayn made his WWE debut answering John Cena’s US Championship Open Challenge, there was no impact – he was presented as “just another wrestler.” The Ascension’s debut was “so laughable you ‘almost’ have to think it was intentional” and Neville was in the same boat after his debut.
Russo explains why Owens didn’t come off as a star and Vince McMahon has lost his touch.
“Then of course, this week there was Kevin Owens. A guy who looked like he just came from Gleason’s Gym, where he was training to be a “rassler”. Owens didn’t look like a star, he didn’t smell like a star, as a matter of fact he looked like a guy that could have possibly jumped the guardrail. Which reminds me—I STILL REMEMBER Hillbilly Jim when he was “presented” as “somebody” the first time we saw him on WWE TV. And, Owens dropping Cena? That did nothing but make the 115th time World Champ look bad.
Save your hate mail. This isn’t a Kevin Owens thing, just like it wasn’t a Sami Zayn thing, just like it wasn’t a Adrian Neville thing, just like it wasn’t an Ascension thing. Those guys are strictly employees who get paid to do what the boss says to go out and do—that boss is Vince McMahon. Somewhere along the line, shortly after the Attitude Era (what a coincidence), Vince McMahon forgot how to make stars. He forgot how to create them, how to manufacture them, and how to getthem over. When you think about it, who has gotten over to SUPER stardom in the last fifteen years? I’m talking household names? In my opinion that list is quite small, as a matter of fact I’d put two people on it—-Kurt Angle and John Cena. OK, I’ll even allow you to put the beloved Daniel Bryan on there if you wish—but his success had NOTHING to do with creative, other than being given the platform to perform.”
He went on to say that over the past 15 years, we’ve seen lots of great performers in WWE, but none of them have gone on to reach the heights of Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart. “What got CM Punk over to the level he was?,” Russo asked. “Him sitting on the stage with a microphone and cutting a promo that only he could cut—there was no help there from Vince on that one.”
