(PS. Apologies for the lack of a thread last week, I've been moving house and still don't have any internet access! )
Excuses, escuses...
Based on what others have said, Russo came up with a lot of ideas, but Vince
(McMahon) made many revisions, refinements – basically fine tuning the ideas – before giving final approval.
McMahon had wanted to adopt an edgier, more adult-geared style
(ala ECW) a few years prior, but chose to keep the product toned down in the wake of the negative press he received during the Zahorian steroid trial of ’91.
It’s hard to say how much McMahon relied on Russo for the new creative direction of his company. If VKM hadn’t have needed him, Russo would never have been on Titan’s payroll.
Then again, Russo’s booking in WCW was shit.
But I don’t think it was always like that – VKM wouldn’t have kept him around
(although he did let Russo go, knowing full well that WCW wanted him badly).Maybe Russo ran out of ideas towards the end of his glorious WWF run.
Maybe he lost his marbles.
It could have had to do with power. In WCW Russo had more power than he’d ever experienced. Some people can’t handle it, and they start acting strangely.
But I think he was on the decline before his WCW grant. VKM wouldn’t have given him up that easily to a competition company if Russo was truly as good as WCW thought he was.