Vince Russo is one of the more interesting alums from Sachem.
Russo grew up in Farmingville, N.Y. and graduated from Sachem in 1977. He has a journalism degree from the University of Southern Indiana and put his writing skills to good use as a lead creative scribe for WWF, WCW and TNA wrestling, shaping and developing some of wrestlings most famous and infamous story lines.
The average Google search on Russo brings up mixed reviews, mainly fan reactions about their distaste for some of his ideas that affected their wrestling fandom. In February, Russo stepped away from the ring for a bit and recently was interviewed on WrestleZone.com, talking about his career and break from the entertainment world.
“When I first left I really needed to take some time off,” he said. “People really don’t understand the grind of writing a weekly show, week after week after week and especially for as long as I was doing it for. I needed a good six months just to clear my head and take it easy.”
One of the major criticisms linked to Russo is when he booked David Arquette to win a WCW title. He even once wrote himself in to win a world title, which he relinquished the following week.
“Vince Russo was good as long as you kept a rein on him and kept a limited dose of what kind of ideas you let him implement,” wrestling legend Steve Austin told The Sun newspaper in Oct. 2009. “Him with restrictions on him, he’s okay. Him by himself, no, forget about it. When [Ed Ferrara] did the Jim Ross thing and Jim Ross is a really good friend of mine, I wouldn’t give two cents for the guy. I don’t think he knows a damn thing about the wrestling business, either.”
To his defense, Russo credits a golden age in wrestling ratings during his time at the head of creative direction in the industry.
“I was writing for WWE when they did the highest ratings in the wrestling business period,” he said. “You can go back and every rating is documented. All that justifies to me is I got paid to do a job and I think by those results I delivered in that job. That’s the bottom line for me.”
For now, Russo will stay away from the daily grind of TV writing and is “putting the pieces together” to start his own business.
“I could never see myself in a position again where I’m writing a weekly television show and I’m on an airplane every single week,” he said. “I’m going to be 52 in January and I really feel like that part of my life is over. It’s too much. The older you get the heavier the burdon begins to be.”
CLICK HERE to hear the full Russo interview
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro