Jim Cornette on Vince Russo's 1997 Ideas For WWE

From Episode 257 of Jim Cornette's Drive Thru
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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[@davidjsaul]

If Russo had booked the nWo he would have had Hogan and Sting reveal they were in cahoots all along at Starrcade '97. 😂

[@douglasmurphy3266]

If Russo had booked the nWo, Flair & Hall would be facing Sting & Virgil to regain leadership of the nwo by Starrcade 96. Hogan would beat Meng in a fake shootfight in a cage for the womens cruiserweight tag belts that Linda stole from Missy Hyatt & the Yeti.

[@nikobellic8627]

go away

[@davidjsaul]

@@nikobellic8627 yeah I'll get right on that, princess

[@ivanfranceschi9139]

BRILLIANT 👏 👏 👏

[@Jetup24]

Better than the ending bischoff did at starcade 97

[@FFKDTP1]

That picture of Yokozuna dressed like the Hitman is hilarious 😂

[@tobiasfarragut292]

That’s a gang your little brother would’ve made in WWF Wrestlemania 2000

[@Big.Stepper.]

Looked like Samoa Joe to me at first 😅

[@edwardgomez5616]

Yoko "The Hitman" Zuna. The outfit with the shades actually works for him.

[@edwardgomez5616]

@@Big.Stepper. yes he does look like Samoa Joe. I looked again after reading your comment and yep he does. 😁😅🤣

[@cutekanjii]

@@edwardgomez5616 i was watching Charlie & the chocolate factory and kept wondering who the little oompah loompa reminded me of but couldn't place it until now it's Yokozuna! 🤣

[@JDjade1]

"Sunny can fit in, if you let them abuse her" has got to be the greatest line I've ever heard. I can't stop crying.

[@jdajoker]

Considering the line of work she was in before she went to jail, it sounds like a storyline. 🙄

[@michaelgoodyear9369]

Fuckin hillarious.

[@tafua_a]

Because, you know, a notorious fuck-up smartass gorgeous lady only fits in D-Generation X if Shawn slaps her across the face from week to week! Russo should have never been allowed to write anything woman related ever.

[@Speedyreedy1218]

Yikes.

[@jamesteegardner2273]

Nah, that shit was hysterical! That one quote pretty much proves that Russo is an asshole, and that's exactly what Corny's been saying about him for the past 25 years!

[@Delightfully_Witchy]

"This is not dated, but it's from 1997." For some reason I find that line hilarious.

[@JoeCnNd]

Thought the same at first but think he was referring to what season it was for.

[@ultimog3739]

Why

[@tobiasfarragut292]

It was more between late 97 and early 98’..Dude Love didn’t emerge until after August 97’

[@bustercaps]

He meant the paper didn’t have a date written on it but it’s from 1997…

[@moreblack]

There you go, Vince Russo invented The Elite.

[@JaculaDudek]

Bucks like Russo, he gave them "Hardy Boyz jobber pants" and they ran with it. No coincidence there

[@ElPresidente88]

It all makes sense now

[@tobiasfarragut292]

@@JaculaDudek hahaaaa I member those days the hardy boys looking like 1960’s flower children gettin Banzai’d @ 18 or thrown on top of your brother who violently hit the rampway with his head from the flying weight by Kane 🤣 paid those fuckin dues

[@Edison720]

The biggest tragedy of our time was no Cornette versus Russo in a shoot fight at wrestlemania.

[@tobiasfarragut292]

Shoulda been a brawl for all 😅

[@straightcashhomey1261]

Maybe they’ll be next after Musk and Zuckerberg

[@rlouie05]

Attitude Era variant of the Tuxedo Match.

[@311JW]

Preach!!

[@c.s3369]

If king and cole did it, its not too late 😂😂

[@miked9639]

Foley (in the nicest possible way) requesting to skip WrestleMania had me howling

[@nisfinest1]

Think he mentioned that in his first book

[@miked9639]

@@nisfinest1 yep, he did. Good call

[@NJones-ru4hu]

Yeah, he mentioned it in his first book.

[@miked9639]

I heard he mentioned it in his first book

[@rayburnett9361]

@@miked9639 I believe it was mentioned in that first book.

[@jimmybuckets5863]

I love Jim’s vast catalog of old Southern idioms. I learn a new one every time I listen. “Spare prick at the wedding.” Lol

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

He admitted he got that from Adrian Street

[@theradgegadgie6352]

@@ReflectionOfPerfection I was about to say, that's a British expression.

[@anotherperson2629]

Also a blind squirrel ends up finding a nut. I'm not saying it's a great line but I'm not native English speaker and every single video i watch of him has a new expression or insult I've never heard before

[@jimmybuckets5863]

@@anotherperson2629 that one’s still a pretty common expression in the US. “Even a blind squirrel catches a nut every once in awhile.”

[@Sean-ts8lp]

I'd say more irish

[@lodi70005]

This segment is a prime example of why I love this show. Where else are you going to hear genuine Vince Russo material from the Attitude Era? I always had a picture in my mind of how the WWE(F) creative process worked. I always pictured a bunch of idiots sitting around a room talking crap until something stuck. Turns out, it wasn’t even that advanced of a process.

[@Terminatorx304u]

😂😅😂

[@CaptainRegular]

That Japanophile Patriot angle was one of my create a wrestlers on the N64 game Wrestlemania 2000. I was 13. Russo literally had the creative capacity of a middle schooler.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

When I was in 6th grade instead of shop class we had Tech-Ed....where we learned how to use technology. I created a wrestler called Tech Ed based off my teacher. Disco Inferno two years later reportedly pitched to WCW Bill Ding the evil architect....I was 12, what's his excuse?

[@Dyler]

Perfect way to start the morning: Cornette talking about the Archduke of Talent-bury.

[@andthentherewasail394]

Archbishop- there isnt an Archduke of Canterbury- sorry to be a dick

[@erikstorm8935]

Love me some rasslin dad jokes! Claudio...is that you?

[@RonMotta1972]

I love how some of these ideas start out like, “Hey, that’s not too horrible,” then immediately becomes “JFC.” Like, “Put Shawn, Hunter, Billy Gunn and Jesse James together .” Sounds good., obviously worked out. Then, “Add Erik Watts and Sunny, who they abuse.” I think it was Bryan Alvarez who said it best with the headline “Vince Russo Swerves into Tree.”

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Basically Erik Watts was in the X-Pac role and Sunny was supposed to be Chyna.....good lord

[@KryMoore]

Can you believe that Jim is still so jealous of Vince getting credit he needs to try and throw him under the bus 25 years later?

[@LP-One]

@@KryMoore Jealous of what? A guy that had 2 successful years in the business more than 2 decades ago? Lol

[@RonMotta1972]

@@KryMoore But in this instance, Jim's not wrong. Most of these are TERRIBLE ideas. If you need any further proof that Vince Russo isn't the genius he says he is, look no further than calling Erik Watts - ERIK F'ING WATTS - an "elite talent."

[@matthewnewman6039]

@@LP-One Russo wuite literally saved wrestling AND lead it into it's most memorable era. He's a genius.

[@Wolfenstein731music]

I laughed so damn hard when Brian goes "an Italian hitman tag team could work" and Cornette follows it with ".........with Tom Brandi and Rick Bogner?"

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Bogner was from British Columbia, nothing says Italian like Vancouver lol

[@MCastleberry1980]

Lol, same. Just the deadpan delivery of that from Cornette got me.

[@FerretJohn]

I would have agreed with trying to do something with Bogner, Glenn managed to get past the New Diesel, it would have been nice to see if he could have done something.

[@PJErvin]

I think the “history” with Yoko and the Hart foundation would just be that he teamed with Owen and Bulldog in Cornette’s stable.

[@MarkDemeo]

Plus he main evented WrestleMania IX and X with Bret.

[@kingoutback]

How da hell did Corny forget his own stable lol

[@LyingSecret]

"Maybe Sunny can fit.... if they abuse her" Amazing haha.

[@mattypaul87]

This is a perfect example of Russo throwing a ton of ideas at Vince McMahon and Vince taking one of those ideas, filtering out the nonsense, and going through with it. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn did end up joining DX.

[@juansanchez209]

Cornette will never admit it, but Russo did have some genuinely great ideas (ex: the video of Russo producing Dude Love’s debut). The major problem is that for every great idea Russo had, he would have 10 HORRIBLE ideas. Russo without a filter is useless

[@jamesstarr8754]

It's kinda true but if Russo wasn't one of the main reasons for the creative, why didn't we see The Attitude Era before Russo? the booking style of the attitude era also somewhat ended after Russo and Ed left so don't come up with such imaginary opinions. It wasn't all Vince Mcmahon, Russo and Ed had the better ideas that Vince overviewed. With anybody else in creative instead of Russo, we probably wouldn't have got the same thing.

[@SuperbNProsper]

That’s how creativity works tho. You’ll have 100s of ideas, Majority might be bad & there will be some good ones. Vince was open minded enough to take some of Russo’s ideas & polish it to make something out of it . Some didn’t work but it was necessary to do some especially at that time. WCW more realistic approach & beating them in the ratings , they were tapped in while WWE was still doing the cartoon shit. Plus the world was different everything was very Edgy in that era & Desperate times call for desperate measures. 97 was a huge turning point

[@danielburger1775]

@@juansanchez209 Yeah, there was no "filter". If there was, we never would have got Beaver Cleavage, Sammy, Brawl For All or Dog Kennel match...

[@MrRevolutionNine]

The filter meme. Yawn. Where has the great filter been the last 21 years?

[@poindexterflex3528]

Listening to this explains all of the gimmicks and booking of early NWA TNA including the bizarre time given to Erik Watts. It's quite amazing

[@jaylay3935]

Right?

[@NY32986]

I remember the NWA TNA Erik Watts Vs Abyss & Goldylocks program

[@xziggy_stardustx6786]

He's an ideas man. He'll spam you with 10,000 ideas (1% of which will be possible and 0.1% of which will be good). It takes someone with a mind for booking to filter him and make those uncut thoughts turn to genius.

[@mikeywhispers1588]

Shark boy and new jack the greatest tag team to ever do it

[@shady_the_one]

@@xziggy_stardustx6786 like Vince McMahon once upon a time?

[@curtisparker1922]

Yokozuna was in tag teams with Owen Hart and British Bulldog, so him joining Hart foundation isn't that far of a stretch. The funny part is Cornette was the manager of those tag teams and it seems like he forgot all that.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

There's a difference. Yoko teamed with Owen & Davey in Camp Cornette. The Hart Foundation was established as Dungeon grads and family members. Yoko wasn't married to a Hart or came from the Dungeon

[@KryMoore]

Like Brian Pillman?

[@breh5166]

@@KryMoore Bryan was a dungeon grad / worked in stampede

[@curtisparker1922]

@@breh5166 and Yoko was a tag team champion teaming with a couple different members of the Hart family. You can't really argue the connection.

[@breh5166]

@@curtisparker1922 lol what. I’m saying yoko shouldn’t have been a member of the hart foundation for those reasons. I don’t mind him being an ally to them, but not a member.

[@KyleJWest-vn9kn]

Some of his ideas here actually aren't that bad, I don't think. Given the time frame, he was pushing for them to get away from the cartoonish gimmicks of the early 90's. He was basically saying to Flash Funk, Sal Sincere, and even Tiger Ali Singh and let them become a more natural version of themselves.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Yes on Funk, no on Sal, maybe on Tiger. Funk later went back to being 2 Cold Scorpio as part of the Job Squad and Tiger became the Hindu Ted DiBiase complete with servant and paying fans to do things. He wanted Tom Brandi to go from the stereotypical Sal Sincere to equally stereotypical mobster gimmick

[@fjccommish]

Yes. This was a first draft creative list.

[@HeavensRedemption]

Yup...and then all that energy went to corny gimmick matches, like everything on a pole match.

[@S1873]

Russo, is that you?

[@danthemancushecan]

So this explains why Russo claims to have invented the idea of DX. I wanna point something out though. Back before King of the Ring, and a few weeks after "Revenge of Taker" In Your House, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had that infamous in-ring confrontation where Bret Hart is in the wheel chair and cutting a magnificent heel promo. In that promo Bret refers to Shawn as a "Degenerate". That was the first time I recall it ever being used towards Shawn. Bret would use the same phrase again months later going into Survivor Series '97. So maybe it was Russo's idea to have them all as a group (though technically Shawn and Hunter were already close pals backstage), but I specifically remember the term "Degenerate" being used by Bret Hart first.

[@newageassholes]

That's true.I remember Bret saying it again in an interview in ring in about October.Michaels then ran with it and claimed his faction as d-generation x.Man I wanted to slap Shawn back then .

[@willhorting5317]

On the recent A&E Biography on DX, Prichard confirmed that it was Bret calling them degenerates... and Vince McMahon (NOT slimeball Russo) hearing it...that caused the group to be called Degeneration X.😎

[@danthemancushecan]

@@newageassholes HBK was a great heel in the 2nd half of 1997 to early 1998!! Love that era of Michaels!

[@danthemancushecan]

@@willhorting5317 I haven't watched it yet but thanks for that!!

[@cnotebnote7329]

@@willhorting5317 2 hrs of details on the history of DX and Vince Russo not mentioned once for even a second as ever having anything to do with DX's creation.

[@Drew791]

I hope we get many more lists from Sh*t Stain. These are comedy gold!

[@KryMoore]

Made up lists? Sure, why not.

[@mikesharon2177]

The sunny part was the best part had me dying lol

[@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737]

Lol. They bleep out "Sht Stain",but leave in JC's F-bombs! I find it funnier when they leave the profanity uncensored. It's the venomous delivery that makes it lol funny IMO.

[@Oglush1]

You cant bleep everything, people need to hear cornettes voice sometimes too

[@spacequack5470]

​@@KryMooreSaid nobody with functioning brain cells

[@Rockhound6165]

Not for nothing but Scorpio, Ahmed, and Mark Henry vs Farooq, D-Lo, and Kama would have been a great mid card feud. And I find it hilarious that Jim can't think of a Hart Foundation/Yokozuna connection when he literally managed Owen and Yoko who were the freaking tag champs.

[@mnxt2329]

Maaaan that Honky Tonk Man comeback special would have been golden!

[@scattonm]

These are great! Glad Cornette hung on to this stuff.

[@KryMoore]

Or made it up last weekend.

[@jonharrison9222]

@@KryMoore So shit he has to say it’s ‘made up’…

[@theRealMcCoist9]

Brian Last has an underrated 'Joker Laugh' the Russo "elite" stuff is comedy gold!!!

[@AnEternalEnigma]

Erik Watts still being under contract with the WWF in 1997 is fucking crazy

[@bigdrew565]

I didn't even know he was with the WWF then.

[@patrickpavone6294]

Tekno Team 2000

[@smarkslowplay3512]

TT2000 wasn't around in 97 anymore

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Same with Yoko. By August of 97 he hadn't been seen in almost a year

[@tux789]

Okay in all fairness, yoko with the hart foundation (if he got healthy) and 'the elite' consisting of dx, new age outlaws and Brian Christopher were solid ideas imo.

[@stigrabbid589]

Yep, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

And Bradshaw DID become an ass kicker, but he had a stopover as an Acolyte first

[@johnnersinger9771]

So basically, Russo invented Dx without actually saying the name.

[@anonymousbo0318]

Basically

[@kryptonianknight2344]

Invented two factions technically

[@kryptonianknight2344]

Invented two factions technically

[@timothyh8623]

No Shawn and HHH were already doing there thing

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Yup and XPac wasn't under contract so they used Erik Watts or Brian Lawler as the 5th guy....and Lawler would have worked. His heel character was a whiny little weasel and a smart ass, perfect for DX

[@gullyblanchard5750]

Yoko as Bret? Oh boy can't wait to hear these, though I will say seeing Yoku in brets attire would have been funny lol

[@darnellwilliams8783]

Gully Blanchard like him or Not Vince Russo is responsible for the edgy Attitude Era that brought us The Rock and Stone Cold if not for Attitude Era WCW would've put Vince and WWE out of businesses

[@kidwaryodproduction]

Yoku = Sounds like Yokozuna dresses as Dragonball characters (Son Yoku) By the way, I also love your name, Sounds like Tully Blanchard as Gulliver's gimmick 😁 (Or retired and became children book writer 😄)

[@LongIslandNow]

Yoko with Pink tights instead of his usual red or black. And hearts on it. Lmfao

[@gullyblanchard5750]

@@darnellwilliams8783 I don't dislike Russo though, but if you listened to this video you can clearly hear that he had way more bad ideas than good ones and sometimes he tries to take credit for stuff he never came up with. I think the main reason attitude era was good was cause guys weren't following scripts and were basically allowed to say and do what they wanted since they were competing with WCW. Russo's success had more to do with right place, right people, right time. Only thing I can really give him credit for is he at least got everyone in the mid card involved in storylines.

[@turboturkey]

@@gullyblanchard5750 agreed, i look back in hindsight on some of his ideas and they were bad but I liked the idea of the new blood but it quickly fizzled out, kidman was my guy, I liked the jarrett push for a little bit but didn;t really work at least he gave a lot of low card guys something to do wasn;t always great. honestly a tag team of brandi/fake razor could have worked better then doing nothing with them.

[@Shin-Blade]

20:45 That Sunny line was freaking HILARIOUS! 🤣

[@wizzerwiser2056]

I always thought putting Sunny in DX after Shawn left would've been a good idea. Not in a abusive type of way but the sex appeal to Chyna's force.

[@kirkbarnett1231]

I thought sunny was the sexiest thing alive when I was young

[@ThaClancyFam2]

Don’t forget that Yoko & Owen were tag team partners. Plus the Hart Foundation’s anti-American angle was huge in 97. So that’s not too outlandish.

[@jakobmorgan6501]

“Sunny could fit in, if she lets them ABUSE her!” gets me EVERY time I listen to this 😂😂😂

[@ChaosDave2]

10:42 “…with Tom Brandi and Rick Bogner.” Killed me.

[@al5306]

The angles where the heels turn babyface and then turn heel again are usually really really stupid. It's like "Ha! My friends kicked my ass and put me in the hospital and then I came back and fought them for a while and then I joined them again! Don't you feel stupid!?" It's like, "No. You beat each other up just to trick us. You're the idiots."

[@YTC1234]

The Rock did this exact thing. Baby face, joined nation, became face again, then became a heel once he won the title

[@al5306]

@@YTC1234 That’s not the same thing at all lol it’s not about going from babyface to heel to baby face. It’s about doing all of that with the same group of people. A good example of this was in late term WCW when Buff teamed with Scott, Scott beat Buff up, Buff teamed with Rick, and Buff teamed with Rick only to turn on him and join Scott again.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@al5306 Exactly. Rock turned heel to join the Nation because the fans turned on him. He kicked Faarooq out because he wanted to take over ybe group and then turned face because he wanted to be WWF champion and didnt need the Nation holding him back. Aligning with Vince wasn't the same as Bagwell turning on Rick just for a "swerve bro"

[@smarkslowplay3512]

​@@YTC1234he was still the cocky guy after Summerslam 98, just distanced himself from The Nation and started fighting heels Taker & Kane (but also faces/heels Foley and Shamrock). He wasn't aligning with any of these guys when he joined Vince and his stooges at Survivor Series 98

[@clayhamric4428]

"Eric Watts is now #ALLELITE" -Vince Russo, 1997 (citation needed)

[@johnathanlett4094]

Yokozuna with the Hart Foundation made sense. Owen and Yoko were tag Champs before. That's how he came to that conclusion. That's about all that made sense

[@jeffcarroll1990shock]

Yokozuna and the bulldog would be the muscle Brett and Owen would be the brains of the operation.

[@loonanite]

Wow, Russo is a wrestling genius. He invented The Elite while those marks were still marks.

[@Thecallmemisterajp]

I like his idea on Scorp. Hear him in shoot interviews and even some of his old ECW stuff and his personality is entertaining as hell in addition to the high flying stuff, plus nobody liked the Flash Funk gimmick. I wouldn’t have minded him feuding with the Nation.

[@jerry85g7]

He should of been in the nation

[@mage1439]

@@jerry85g7 Judging from how he talks in interviews he should have been in a mental hospital. He sounds awfully comfortable with anything up to and including straight murder for the slightest disagreement.

[@ThaClancyFam2]

He would’ve been dope in the Nation.

[@LumpyAdams]

@@jerry85g7 His moveset wouldn't allow him to be a heel.

[@GavinWoods]

Scorpio sucked in WWF. They should've just let him keep his original name rather than call him Flash Funk.

[@dakliq420]

The Yoko to the Hart Foundation idea is silly,but I kinda get it. He feuded with Bret for a couple years and was also tag team champions with Owen,as well as Bulldog was aligned with them both. So I can see how the history would play out for it to work.

[@infinityfive0]

The harts and the anoi family also have very close Ties. Yoko being in would have arguably been more factual and credible then even pillman in it

[@ArcherSuh4721]

This is just speculation, but I think Russo's idea for using "real Italians" was referencing the Full-Blooded Italians when they were a comedic stable in ECW (the joke being how the majority of the members weren't Italian).

[@tobiasfarragut292]

I liked the Mafia Hitmen with Brandy and Bogner idea lol its not out of old Vince’s scope of bullshit

[@NJones-ru4hu]

From Nashville. Italy!

[@BombaLuLu84]

The Don Tommy Rich! 😂😂😂

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

​@@NJones-ru4huUlf Hermann from Hamburg, Italy lol

[@Marc_Araujo]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If there was ever going to be another member of DX it should have been Val Venis.

[@broadcastmyballs]

That would have been cool. As for me I wanted Kane to go full DX and wear green

[@joen8529]

That would have sucked bad! hahah.

[@illlogick7151]

It should have been Green Kane

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Nah, DX was more anti-establishment. Val was just a porn-star. If the Headbangers grew their hair out and ditched the skirts, they would have made more sense than Val Venis

[@jihadthegeneral]

It was pitched for both he & Test. I give Russo credit for always trying to get newer guys a rub & over. He was in the midst of pushing both of them to the semi-main event before he left.

[@nestorvelasquez9633]

So Vince Russo claimed that he created the Brawl for All because he wanted to see Bradshaw get his butt kicked but also wanted to push him?

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

This list is from 97. Brawl for all was 98

[@DurielMoore]

This was a peek into what he would do at WCW in 2000.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

The Sable/Mero thing turned out to be the "Nitro Swerve"

[@EvilGenius815]

As always, the only story Vince Russo knows how to tell is "They were working together all along!" Also, love the stable of Evil Japanese Wrestlers, featuring exactly zero Japanese wrestlers.

[@sparkshadowtigergaming5602]

remember EVIL?

[@ZForceFFC]

@@sparkshadowtigergaming5602 INDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@sparkshadowtigergaming5602 That was Shane's idea. He was the voice of Taka that whole time lol

[@insupportofjunhado]

Like Team Canada with only one Canadian? Or Mexican America with only one Mexican? A Mexican who couldn't speak Spanish, with a Canadian having to handle that?

[@blueprint7]

cornette fans accusing someone is racist is hilarious

[@HitmanvonDoom]

Half way through this video and I cannot contain my laughter! LOL

[@oogieboogie5678]

Russo never ceases to amaze me 😂 he's such a screw up that he's become a gem for us fans to laugh at all these years later

[@jbfarley]

@Kc Armstrong 🤡

[@DavidDexterMusic]

Russo's ideas were not that bad. I mean, Let's say Billy Gunn was released along with Honky Tonk Man, we all would have remembered him as a Smoking Gunn cowboy and Rockabilly and the idea of him being a member of DX today would be absolutely hilarious and silly.... but he was an excellent member of DX, so there's no way of knowing how these ideas would have worked out or not really. They are just quick ideas - talent would have had a say in what they did, Vince McMahon would have changed some things around, Cornette and Jim Ross and others would have made suggestions and everything would have fallen into place.

[@Mikalkup7]

Ya Jim is exaggerating here they actually aren't terrible except the avuse

[@ericroman2403]

Test could have worked in DX. Like how Kevin Nash was HBK's heavy Test could have been Triple H's heavy and done some cool things before eventually the big turn.

[@thehandoftheking3314]

I dunno. That just feels like too recently a rerun, especially because HHH and HBK were inexorably linked at the time.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

No, DX was anti-establishment. Test was never like that

[@Mondragora99]

@@ReflectionOfPerfection No? He was one of the Union members. Test, Mankind, Big Show and Shamrock.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@Mondragora99 I completely forgot about that. My bad. the Union of People YoU gOtta ReSpect....Mick Foley "that spells up yours!"

[@Zantar45]

Just imagine how much more Sunny would have been able to get away with in life if they ever ran with "The Elite" abuse angle. All the mocking, pushing, and slapping on camera each week from wrestlers would have probably even convinced some of her victims that it's not her fault she turned out the way she did.

[@jameswitty1809]

Truthfully he didn’t have the name right but he was right about DX. He called the core.

[@theelite9954]

Russo's totally elite bro. It's great to see inside the mind of VR. Was it written in crayon?

[@CinemaMack]

Vince knew his life was on the line when he's visited by the Samoans.

[@dixienormus6941]

Mark Metro was criminally underrated and underused. He could have been a massive star with his talent is WWF had the slightest clue how to push him

[@Krendall2]

Prior to his knee injury, yes. Sadly, he was never the same worker again after that.

[@NJones-ru4hu]

Never would of happened since he was stuck with his wife. She completely overshadowed him and ruined any chance of him being a star. Plus, he was trained as Johnny B Badd, not a wrestler, but as JBB. He didn't know anything else.

[@airfixx_8952]

@@NJones-ru4hu - Never understood the "he was trained as Johnny B Badd" argument. I think it's just an excuse cos they botched him. The gimmick didn't extend to his in ring work...... He did lots of different cool (for the era) athletic moves and could have easily been a solid fiery baby-face upper-midcarder... Even the 'Wildman' shtick wasn't terrible (although the tiger intro to his music certainly was! LOL). Working heels like XPac, Jarret, Owen & Davey could have led him to some really good matches by the time the AE started to truly kick in. As Jim noted; the big problem was putting him with Sable made him look like a geek.... And then the 2 Vince's humiliatingly ran with that to get her over because they had such a boner for her.

[@CraigCairney83]

Yoko in Bret’s attire is the best thing ever!! I don’t give a shit, I would love to have seen some of these ideas play out!!

[@cipherpac]

Especially since it would have meant that Yoko got to a healthier place weight-wise. Ngl a storyline with Bret and Yoko aligning out of mutual respect would have been pretty awesome.

[@stephenmonachello6256]

I agree Craig lol

[@paulajenna]

The art is always in point 😂

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@cipherpac When Rodney had his dark match in the fall of 92 he looked around 400-450 pounds. If he had gotten down to that size, he definitely could have been an ally to the Harts out of respect.

[@theomega311]

I think my absolute favorite part of this entire thing is the fact that SOME of these ideas Vince took with him to WCW. Does anybody else remember Jim Duggan turning heel and joining Team Canada? Or does anybody else remember the Misfits in Action (aka The Truth Commission in WCW), or Macho Man/Scott Steiner and their whole jealously over a woman storyline?

[@ddddreed]

I know I was 9 at the time but I loved Misfits In Action

[@tobiasfarragut292]

Favorite late era WCW wrestler….. Big Vito lol 🇮🇹

[@bigfootanon6896]

When dugen joined Canada i was pissed and it tore my american heart out

[@bigfootanon6896]

When dugen joined Canada i was pissed and it tore my american heart out

[@tobiasfarragut292]

@@bigfootanon6896 who’s Dugen…and since you posted it twice ill ask again..who’s Dugen??

[@billy9497able]

I’ve watched this video several times. I forget about it then remember it and have to watch. Never fails to improve my day

[@R3troZone]

They actually tried his idea with Mero and Sable. It only lasted a few weeks because no one really cared but if you remember, when Mero rebranded as "Marvelous" Mark Mero and came out every week like a boxer, he even changed his finisher to the "TKO" which was the exact same thing as Brock Lesnar's F5 before Lesnar existed. But Mero would come out and then angrily send Sable back to the locker room if the fans were cheering for her. Salvator Sincere (Tom Brandi) eventually was the babyface they used to come to her rescue a few times which set up a fued between Mero and Sincere that didn't go anywhere.

[@strifenineteen]

There was also a time when she came out with what looked like a black eye. A KZbin channel called wrestling bios has a series called Reliving the War and he is at that point now

[@R3troZone]

@@strifenineteen Yeah and it eventually led into her becoming a female wrestler and women's champion after power bombing Mero a couple times. She was terrbile in the ring, you could tell she had very limited training and wasn't comfortable in there. She didn't want to do it but they kinda made her.

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

Mero’s TKO was a fireman’s carry into a cutter not the same as Lesnar’s F5 but similar.

[@williamroper5422]

@@MrRyan-wu4jx I was going to say the same thing. It is the same finisher that Theory is currently using.

[@JBar]

@@williamroper5422 no Theory spins guys out face first onto his knee. He did use the TKO as a while. Honestly the TKO is right up there with the Inverted DDT as generic finishers

[@WarGhoulKharas]

Mick did. "I hate it, Corny, I really hate it."

[@sunshineholmes3487]

Imagine how amazing a promo battle between Brakkus and Ahmed could've been if they eventually feuded.

[@bootneyfarnsworth2844]

If u watched it with subtitles there would be a bunch of question marks!!

[@mikesharon2177]

I spit my soda out @ 21:08 Then that laugh had me laughing harder

[@smarvin1116]

Man I remember the picture of the Hart Fountain in the ring and a large shadow of Yoko behind them in WWF Magazine and up till now I thought I imagined it.

[@xziggy_stardustx6786]

Russo was never afraid to take a chance on an idea (even if he couldn't spell or enunciate it properly); nevertheless, his "shit against the fan" approach occasionally garnered a *great* idea. He might not have been consistently as good as Jim, but Vince kept him for that strange, far-flung idea which he could adapt into a money-maker. On his own he's clueless.

[@tafua_a]

If you keep throwing shit at the wall, something will stick. At the time, they really needed a guy that could throw extreme amounts of shit at the wall, and when something inevitably stuck, the people who actually knew what they were doing would develop the idea into an intriguing storyline.

[@xziggy_stardustx6786]

@@tafua_a Mr Formerly Unknown you are now a Known Quantity because I reckon you’re bang on the money. With unlimited creative avenues and a packed and diverse roster you must experiment perforce.

[@JSmith-dj2pi]

Russo did have some good ideas. Pairing Gunn, and James with Michaels and HHH was a pretty great one. It also sounds like he laid the groundwork for the Nation of Domination here, too. 99% of his ideas, as well as helping destroy WCW....can be categorized as not so great.

[@johnjames5405]

WCW was dead already.

[@gullyblanchard5750]

Do wrestling fans not understand at this point that they brought in Russo at WCW because their show was already bad? Literally watch anything from WCW before and after the NWO angle and you will see the product was never good outside of the NWO angles. Russo at least wrote the cruiserweights into the shows more and added the newer talent on TV more in WCW instead of watching the same crappy hogan vs ric flair match for the 20th time.

[@R3troZone]

Billy Gunn and Road Dog joining DX was literally a gimme at the time. If you watched Raw every week back in the late 90s and saw the progression of the Outlaws from The Real Double J and Rock-a-Billy to when they started to team up, you could see their anger and frustration turning into juvenile pranks and attacks practically mirrored what Shawn and Hunter were doing. Anyone with half a brain knew that the four would have fit together. I can't tell you how many times my friends and I would watch and nearly every week I would say "When are they gonna have the Outlaws join DX?" So it's not like Russo was some genius by thinking they would work in a group, it was really obvious.

[@gullyblanchard5750]

@@R3troZone I think the point is that someone has to actually pitch the idea for them to even team up and build up for them to join DX to begin with, it’s not like they just randomly booked themselves into joining DX lol. Prior to RD and billy Gunn tagging they were going to be fired from the company. According to HHH, he supposedly had his eye on them because he knew hbk was taking time off, but regardless a writer still has to format and structure the storyline for that to happen correct? And Russo was one of the guys behind it whether you like it or not.

[@freedomisslavery6840]

He did not help destroy WCW, stop being such a mark. The Time/Warner merger is what killed off WCW.

[@johnstuartkeller5244]

"The one thing you'd get from this guy is alot of ideas." Yes, when it came to ideas, he was full of it.

[@maxmalten7749]

next to shit yes

[@christophergargaro959]

And right next to him you have Vince "SOUNDS GREAT! GIMMIE 10,000 MORE IDEAS PAL!"

[@andrewmachado6988]

I was driving while listening to this on my way to work this morning and was crying laughing. I thought I was going to crash my car or have to pull over to the side of the road.

[@edwells4769]

Which part was the funny part?

[@creoleDJ]

“What about a fight in a bakery?” 🤣🤣

[@SharksRule86]

😂 The part where Mick Foley requested not to be on Wrestlemania because he was working with Marc Mero.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Wrestlemania 13 it was him and Vader against Bulldog & Owen. Wrestlemania 14 it was him and Funk vs the Outlaws. Unless Cornette was talking about Wrestlemania 12, I'm not sure how Mick & Mark would have worked together

[@BishyTON]

​@@ReflectionOfPerfection Foley started the week after WM12 iirc. I am pretty sure from Foley's book it was an idea for WM13 before they went with the tag team with Vader.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@BishyTON Good point, Marc in 96 was as good as anyone but by 97 Sable definitely overshadowed him

[@BlackMoore82]

Rick Bognar (fake Scott Hall) who passed away three years ago, was from Surrey BC, Canada. During his time in FMW he was known as Big Titan and captured their Tag-team Championship once with The Gladiator aka Mike Awesome and their Heavyweight Championship.

[@TimTE01]

He was also in the nWo Japan.

[@plonkersbro]

Shawn and Hunter did want New Age Outlaws especially since Shawn was the one who talked Vince into teaming them up

[@juliantobias2267]

Russo Is the definition of "Throwing shit at the wall n see if it sticks" but instead it's throwing a shit load of bullshit at da wall(Creative/Vince) to see what sticks lmfao smh.

[@jasonmyers8600]

Imagine calling in Rikishi in to fire him and he shows up with Afa, Jamal and Rosey lol

[@JUYAN16]

I actually thought Mero was Little Richard when I was a kid. Lol

[@2010ChargerRT]

Haha, took me years to figure out they were different people

[@mattheweubanks6163]

Out of all those idea, I felt Yoko in the Hart Foundation was a pretty decent idea

[@stephenmonachello6256]

Knowing Vince, I am surprised he didn't go for all of these lol. My friend still says Vince sent Russo to WCW ruin them

[@kryptonianknight2344]

Caused even Vince knew where to draw the line at some storylines. Like the one where Heidenreich was a frozen Nazi with a Jewish Heyman as his manager

[@kenrickkahn]

We all still think that Vince Mcmahon sent Vince Russo to WCW to kill it from the inside..

[@christophergargaro959]

"Now it all makes sense because I've been seeing the current modern-day Elite and thinking 'that's an idea Shitstain would've had' and son of a bitch, it was!" I can't stop laughing...🤣

[@cherrypopscile3385]

I think the Droz idea could work, it takes an aspect of reality, bends it to a way where it fits wrestling, and could make a good story. But I DO NOT want Vince Russo booking that idea.

[@JaculaDudek]

well ... Claudio Castagnoli at the very beginning in WWE was "ex-rugby player that was kicked out from the sport for excessive violence", thus why he wore his thigh-bands .... but let's just say, he wasn't/still isn't the type of guy to pull off a gimmick

[@erikstorm8935]

For his sake I wish they went with it. You know what they say about the 'butterfly effect'. One small change can alter the entire course of your life. So, if he did that, he probably wouldn't have had that fateful match. Of course, can say the same thing about any Owen Hart idea too and what happened to him :(.

[@edwardellis3038]

They did this with the Goon around this same time period.

[@JoeServo]

They kinda went back to the Furnas and LaFon idea with Lord Tensai!

[@smarkslowplay3512]

Also Kabuki with Dr Death in early 99

[@heathj7794]

Not firing rikishi and hiring 3 of his relatives is hilarious

[@JoeLarazza]

I think we all kinda wish Yokozuna lost the weight and had a second phase of his career regardless of what it was. #ripbigman

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Agreed

[@DjangoHackJackEXE]

To think some of Vince Russo bookings would be kin of the rambling of Nostradamus is nothing short but a spectacle.

[@chubbycatfish4573]

I guess Jim forgot Yoko was tag team champion with Owen Hart twice. lol

[@danielwwe223]

As a fan of both Russo and Corny I can honestly say this list isn't as bad as I thought

[@kenrickkahn]

That's what I was saying.. Russo was alright but I see Jim Cornette's logic of things is better... Russo may had some good ideas but it needed a filter on them.. I think Jim Cornette would have been the one who made sense of everything..

[@Matt-cr4vv]

I think I’m hindsight that was the only way for Russo to succeed. Shoot out 1,000 ideas with people in place to take the good bits and pieces and disregard the rest. When he no longer had those filters in place is when things really got wild.

[@fjccommish]

@@Matt-cr4vv Exactly. It's when he was given the authority to make all 1000 ideas happen that things went south. This is how creative works. Come up with some raw ideas. Discuss them. Tweak them. Perfect them.

[@kimblandino]

Saddest part is if they could get along they'd produce some good shit as a 2 man booking team.

[@philbinpar1]

Irony is that Russo’s ideas through the Cornette filter would probably equal good shit for the most part

[@babayagaslobbedaknobba]

It's hilarious that Cornette refers to Russo as "sh*t stain" and everyone just knows who he means.

[@sheepdavis]

Yokozuna is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

[@sionrouge1697]

2 Cold was so underused. His best days were in ecw. Former TV champion and was in the finals of the NWA world title vs Shane Douglas.

[@veegob5287]

I want to hear all these Vince Russo emails. These are hysterical!!! 😂🤣😂

[@RileyTaker]

I believe that Russo originally wanted the Undertaker to be the babyface that came to Sable’s aid.

[@SSJ2Phenom]

"That's all they were paying Barry Windham to do at the time; the job!" I don't know why but I laughed extremely hard at that one. Classic.

[@cipherpac]

NGL, that art has me kind of wishing we'd gotten a version of The Hart Foundation with Yoko in the fold. Not because it makes any sense story-wise, but because Yoko looks pretty amazing in the pink n black

[@awzthemusicalreviews]

Question: What is "the appropriate time" to stop abuse? "Well, I was fine with him screaming at her and slapping the shit out of her at first, but it just got old after the 6th week. Somebody had to put a stop to it!" He really is a shitstain

[@Ft.Gagiano]

DX with sunny as a member,would always have sunny days. Backstage..oh..wait.😂

[@jonathonrussell474]

Cornette and Russo should have a pay per view shoot fight. It could be called Brawl For All 2: Russo’s Reckoning

[@mendonburns-gilbert1642]

Jim & Brian love the drive thru. As I'd was listening to this one I got to thinking what was it like in the territory days with creative? Was a guy like Watts responsible for all talent top to bottom or did he focus on a few and delegated the others? How did you do it at Smokey Mountain or WWE? Who was doing creative in the AWA? Just Verne or a group? Did the talent get involved in a big way or minimally? Sorry for all the questions but this came to mind while listening to the Russo list. Thanks again for the Drive Thru.

[@GenGamesUniverse]

If it was Wrestlemania 13 which was 1997, then yes, Foley was actually on the card as he was with Vader facing Owen Hart and British Bulldog for the WWF tag team titles. IF Cornette is talking about Wrestlemania 15, Foley was also on the card against Paul Wight.

[@omarhosam8880]

A lot of people in the business always seem to forget and tell inaccurate stories. I just listened to Russo interview with Rodd Dogg and Russo actually said that pairing the new age outlaws with DX was McMahon idea and he did not think it would work at the time which is obviously not accurate when you listen to this

[@turboturkey]

i guess it;s possible this was a months before in the planning stages. after all the foley vader tag team was kind of random as both teams were heels

[@violagreene4643]

Jim never said that Foley wasn't on the WrestleMania card. He said that Foley would have preferred not being on the card to doing the specific match with Mero.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

@@violagreene4643 I'm trying to figure out which Mania it would have been. Mankind didn't turn face until summer of 97 so him "saving" Sable wouldn't have been 13. At 14 it was clear to everyone it was going to be Outlaws vs Jack/Chainsaw so that wouldn't have worked either.

[@edwardellis3038]

It was 1997 I remember Mankind coming to the ring and stalking Sable, so they were building towards that match.

[@cctitansfan]

Yoko,Furnas,Lafon,and The Patriot as a group.What a Motley Crew that is

[@tobiasfarragut292]

Thats the team someone’s little brother made up and puts together

[@Gsxr-zg9bf]

Can anyone list Jim Cornette ideas during this era? What storylines did Jim bring?

[@EmmaBonn96]

Hell in a cell

[@GorditoCrunch343]

A lot of the early Kane stuff was him.

[@ReflectionOfPerfection]

Kane & Hell in A Cell.

[@that_homeless_scrubbalo1478]

He brought us the rock n roll express remake an oh yeah shane douglas 🤣🤣🤣

[@that_homeless_scrubbalo1478]

Corny is mad cause vince went with russo instead of corny

[@RaktajinoNX-74205]

I died at the Sunny part 😂

[@giovanninegron3799]

Well, Yoko was a tag team with Owen and the bulldog

[@dquanissavage6287]

Awesome Shoot Today Jim!!😎🐐🐐