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OPEN LETTER TO VINCE RUSSO

First of all,

I would like to apologize for sending this to all of you, but I really feel that my voice needs to be heard. I would like for this letter to be printed, hopefully in one of your columns on wrestleline.com, so that Vince Russo can read it. I feel that he needs to hear an opinion of his ideas from one of his average fans, albeit one that reads the Internet sites on a daily basis. If you feel that the letter is decent, please reply to me and let me know what you think. If you wish to pass this on to other colleagues, please do, for I feel this letter needs to be voiced and published. I give anyone who wishes it the right to copy this letter, as long as the letter stays intact with my name on it, Josh Hogan. Thank you again for your time, and I look forward to hearing any and all replies you may have for me.



Dear Vince Russo,

I'm writing this open letter to you because, after the Monday Night Nitro on 12/27/99, I will no longer watch any WCW product while you are the head of the creative team of WCW. When you were brought into WCW, I must admit I was excited to see what your original creative genius could do. I was excited that WCW would be pulled out of its slump, that fresh ideas would be inserted into the mix, and that the proper wrestlers would be given a push into the main event. However, in eight weeks, all I have seen is Nitro go from a show that was horrible for 3 hours to a show that is bearable for 20-odd minutes a night and horrible for the other 2 hours and 40 minutes.

I am aware that someone can't go into a wrestling promotion and change it overnight. However, I would feel that one month would be ample time to get switched over to a new regime. So, after that first month, I waited for the fresh new angles to start. I waited for Nitro, and WCW in general, to quit sucking. I waited for characters to come along that I care about, just like all of the great characters you (supposedly) helped to create in the WWF. I'm still waiting.

Let's start with your new characters. To me, characters are what gets wrestlers over with the fans. Very rarely do you see a wrestler get over nowadays strictly from his wrestling ability. However, one could argue that 2 months is a rather short time to develop good characters. This is just as well, as you haven't really developed or re-molded that many characters/wrestlers. Jeff Jarrett is the same as he was in the WWF more or less, minus the "Don't Piss Me Off" underwear. Norman Smiley's cowardice is not entertaining, and is more annoying than anything else. Creative Control is a bit of a joke IMHO, and was really REALLY pointless to me. To be quite honest, I saw Creative Control as an indirect way of pushing yourself. Oklahoma was funny for the first 10 seconds and the first BBQ SAUCE! BBQ SAUCE! BBQ SAUCE! calling of a match. The Misfits aren't really wrestlers at all. Tony Marinara and company have been absolutely horrible. It is nice to see Chris Benoit get pushed to the main event status, but his character still strikes me at times as a rebel without a cause. Everyone else is basically the same. Nothing here that really speaks well of your "original creative genius" that I read so much about.

So now let us move on to the structure of the show itself. I'm not a huge fan of "Crash TV" as it's known, but I don't mind it when it works. When Nitro first started under the new leadership, the changes were a refreshing pace. Now Nitro is laid out and presented identical to Raw. Shots of everyone walking, pointless clips from backstage, etc. The whole point of clips IMHO is to either promote a match that will be starting within the next two segments or to build on a character. The vast majority of the clips for Nitro lately have done neither. I don't find them entertaining or helpful in developing a character. The matches, the one thing that was the salvation of WCW prior to the "Powers That Be" era, have been shortened because of the Crash TV segments. This has killed my best interest in the show (the matches) without increasing the quality of the show in the other areas.

This leads me to the last big part of WCW (and a major wrestling promotion in general): the angles themselves. Now I know that angles are not something that are built overnight. Angles take weeks, months, and sometimes years to complete. However, seeing the start of some fresh new angles (the kind I so often hear you praised over on the Internet) would get me watching (and caring about) WCW again really quick. I must confess that most of the mid-card angles I haven't paid much attention to. I haven't been an avid follower of WCW in quite some time thanks to one Mr. Eric Bischoff. I also feel that the main angle in the promotion should be an example of how the rest of the promotion is. Your first main angle starting off is "The Powers That Be". Something that blatantly (whether you want to admit to it or not) puts yourself over. You can argue that you are putting over the concept of a new regime in WCW, but to me that is the exact same thing -- it IS putting yourself over. This leads to the Tournament at WCW Mayhem in November. The "Chosen One" Jeff Jarrett is supposed to be the favorite, with everyone rooting for Goldberg, Bret Hart, or Benoit to take the title. It ends with Bret Hart finally winning the belt. Not bad -- it wasn't really a riveting storyline, and if I heard PTB one more time on the air I was going to puke, but it didn't completely stink up the joint.

This brings us through the next month going into Starrcade. It goes through most of the month (if I remember correctly, I don't feel like loading the past month's worth of CRZ/Netcop recaps over my modem to check) with Bret Hart and Goldberg buddying up to take on the Outsiders. Going into Starrcade, it's Hart vs. Goldberg for the title, with no real angle stating why those two should wrestle each other. For the match itself, it's a repeat of the Montreal screwjob, except Bret wins this time. That would be more of that "original creative genius" you possess, correct Mr. Russo?

After reading that (Thank God I didn't pay $30 for Starrcade, even if the ladder match was supposed to be good) the next morning, I was quite curious as to how you would play this out on Nitro. For a change, I had that Monday night off, so I watched it. Well, I watched as much of it as I could bring myself to at parts. However I did watch enough of it to grab the gist of the major angle. I did see the entire Piper/Goldberg/Hart "shoot" interview in the first hour. None of it was really convincing or entertaining or really did anything of importance to me. So I skipped over and watched Raw. I flipped back to see Benoit get screwed out of his title. I got disgusted with that and flipped back over to RAW. I actually chose to watch the ending to Nitro over the ending to RAW, mainly because I wanted to see if you would serve up something new and fresh to justify digging up the Montreal screwjob and repeating it. My choice was rewarded by getting to watch the reformation of the New World Order. Again. For the third time now. Yup, that was indeed the "original creative genius" I was looking for.

I was working the following Thursday night, so I had to read the Netcop's Thunder recap. The main angle for the program: Goldberg gets upset at the NWO and threatens to destroy them. The NWO does run ins for multiple matches on the night, including the main event. Goldberg takes out members of the NWO. Strike me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this played out on Nitro during the 2nd reformation of the NWO? Almost exactly, what with Goldberg destroying NWO members and the NWO running in and DQing almost every match? Ah, I see -- this would be more of the same "original creative genius" that is Mr. Vince Russo.

This leads me to tonight. After last week's Nitro, I initially sat down to write all of the Internet wrestling reviewers to ask them if they thought that was as lame and worn-out as I did. But I didn't. I waited to see what you would do Mr. Russo. So I started off watching tonight. I was a few minutes late sitting down because I had to fix my dinner. The first thing that I see tonight on Nitro is . . . the NWO spray-painting a car. Sigh. More of that "original creative genius" I keep hearing about evidently. So I turn the channel until later on. I see a clip on Scott Steiner, followed by Big Poppa Pump being wheeled down to the ring by Rick. Hmm -- why do I get this strange feeling he's faking this injury only to re-re-join the NWO later on tonight? Nah -- that's been done multiple times in the past. Vince Russo has copied past angles too often lately. You're going to go somewhere new with this, aren't you? Once he gets into the ring, and talks for a bit, I hear the NWO music. That would be my cue to change the channel, and I turn back a few minutes later to see the NWO in the ring doing their promo at the turn of the hour. I change it over to RAW.

I do flip back at the end of the night (once again) to see the "original creative genius" that you are going to turn out tonight Mr. Russo. Lo and behold, there is Scott Steiner, the same man who has done countless fake injury angles over the past couple of years, making his way down to ringside. He should be hobbling, but appears to be saying screw selling the career-ending injury. He gets into the ring with a silver NWO baseball bat. He waits for what seems to be an eternity for Sid to turn his back to him so he can paste Sid with said NWO bat. There is the familiar heel turn. There is the familiar NWO shirt underneath the outer wear. There is the familiar "newest member" of the NWO. Would this be yet more of your "original creative genius" Mr. Russo?

I am aware that earlier I stated angles can take weeks, months, and even years to complete. However, you have not shown me one single original entertaining creative thing that should keep my coming back after tonight. I have seen all this before. It sucked last time. It sucks this time. From now on, until you show me reasons to watch your programming again, I will never buy another WCW PPV. I will never buy another piece of WCW merchandise. If a WCW house show comes anywhere near my town of Columbus, MS, I will not attend it. I will not give one second of my time for your promotion Mr. Russo. The only thing I will read is the online recaps of Nitro and Thunder done by CRZ and the Netcop respectively. I will read these every week to see if you have started giving me a reason to come back. However, at this point, I don't feel there will be a reason.

I am aware that my one shout-out probably won't be read by you, much less acknowledged. However, I feel that I am far from the only one that feels this way. As you keep showing the world you have no fresh new ideas, less and less people will quit watching your programming. Even tonight I noticed that your arena on Nitro was only lit at the ring. Funny -- on RAW they had the entire packed arena lit up to show all the fans. Were those empty seats I saw not even 50 feet from ringside? Could it be the fans are already responding to your "original creative genius" Mr. Russo?

Thank you for your time,
Josh Hogan

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