Russo: Not at all, and I appreciate the question. At the time, I had a couple of video stores in Long Island and that's when Blockbuster came into the picture. The writing was on the wall for me and I knew my video stores were going to be out of business and I had a baby at the time. Being that I always enjoyed wrestling—and I want to make it clear I wasn't a super mark wrestling fan—I enjoyed the entertainment aspect. I set my sights on wrestling and I wanted to learn everything I possibly could about the business. That's the reason I went to Rodz to take bumps in the ring and why I worked some of those independent shows and around locker rooms. Back then, I wanted to understand how this thing works. I never wanted to be a manager, wrestler, or be on TV in that way. I just wanted a thorough understanding of the business and that's what gave it to me early on.
Wrestling INC: You then joined the WWE in 1992?
Russo: I started freelancing probably around 1993. I think that was when I started.
Wrestling INC: Is it true that you got hired because of a letter to Linda McMahon?
Russo: Absolutely. I wanted to get into the wrestling business and I was doing a wrestling radio show on Long Island that I was funding myself. I was running out of money and thought to myself I'll be dead in the water if I don't do something, so I wrote a letter to Linda McMahon. I was smart enough to not write to Vince McMahon because that's who everybody wrote to. I was like, "let me write a letter to Linda McMahon because she probably gets few." So I wrote this letter to Linda with this idea that she's from a business structure and she oversaw the [WWE] magazine at that point. I had no idea. Next thing I know, Linda is calling me back and that's how I got the opportunity to become a freelance writer for the WWF magazine at the time.
Wrestling INC: Do you remember what you wrote in the letter?
Russo: I was honest about my situation. I'm Vince Russo, this is what I'm doing, I've been a big supporter of your company for years, and I'm running out of money and looking for an opportunity. I basically shot straight and I got a call.
Wrestling INC: While you were with the magazine, there was a three year period in 1993-1996, where you had some great wrestlers in Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Undertaker, but creative was atrocious at that time. You saw wrestling in a big decline. You were working for the company, but not creatively. What were your thoughts on the WWE at that time?
Russo: I was on the outside looking in and as a wrestling fan I was embarrassed by the product. I couldn't watch it and in the meantime, this whole NWO thing was going on at WCW and they were headed in the right direction. [The WWE] at the time was stuck in the 1980s and there was no movement. At that time for a wrestling fan, it was really embarrassing the type of product that we were putting on. That's not a shot at anybody. That's how I felt at the time.
Wrestling INC: What ultimately led to the transition from the magazine side to the creative end?
Russo: We started the RAW magazine and it became a shoot magazine. It wasn't fluff and for the first time I was going out there and talking to the wrestlers about what was going on. In the regular WWF magazine, I was shooting my own angles because what was happening on TV was horrible. I wrote an interview with Bret Hart for the RAW magazine where we talked about Eric Bishoff and WCW. This was probably 1995 and I'll never forget this as long as I live. I got called into Vince's office and back then I didn't just get called into Vince's office. I remember he had the magazine and with one arm, he cleared everything that was on his desk. He screamed at me, 'what the hell are you trying to do? Are you trying to put me out of business?' I vividly remember the moment and should have been scared to death and fired on the spot. Something made me say, 'no Vince, I'm trying to help you.' It just came out and I wasn't fired. We did have that conversation and I didn't back off.
Read more at http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0603/576668/vince-russo-talks-getting-his-start-with-wwe/#qc4pH44SDcbTUAVi.99
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