I am an regular listener to Sirius xm 93 fight nation. From 9-12 and 12-3 eastern time Monday through Friday you can listen to Dave LaGreca, and either Bully Ray, Mark Henry, Tommy Dreamer or Jonathan Coachman talk about just about anything wrestling. Today on the show their guest was Vince Russo. Arguably the most hated person in the wrestling industry. I won’t go into detail about the interview, but let’s just say that I will be checking out his new podcast Truth and consequences. Love or hate Russo, the man was a primary reason the attitude era was as successful as it was. I have been watching wrestling since the mid 80’s and in my opinion there has never been a more entertaining time to watch wrestling than the attitude era. Late 1997 to early 2002 was a great time to be a wrestling fan. As a teenager during those years, I became the cool kid for liking wrestling, opposed to the usual “you know that stuffs fake, right?” Suddenly when I would talk about wrestling, I had peoples attention. It got to the point where I acted so much like The Rock, my teachers and coaches in high school would refer to me as The Rock. (No joke). What a great time for wrestlers of that time too. A lot of characters from that era are now in the WWE hall of fame. Who’s to say that Russo is not part of the reason those guys were so successful? I know Vince McMahon always has final say, but according to Russo on Busted Open today, nearly everything from 1997 to 1999 was his idea. If that is indeed the case, then I say thank you Mr. Russo! DX, The Rock, Stone Cold, The McMahons, Mankind, The Undertaker. Those are just some of the top guys from that era. Russo was able to create storylines for lower card talent as well. Guys like Too cool, Kai En Tai, Al Snow, Hardcore Holly. Guys like Val Venis and The Godfather we’re getting better pops than what Seth Rollins or AJ Styles are today. Russo was able to create story lines for nearly everyone on the roster at that time, and fans genuinely cared about those characters. I know that the talent had to perform, but without Russo giving them the story, what are they performing? They are just wrestlers with a character that have no direction. Listen, I’m not an insider, I try to stay away from dirt sheets, and I may be completely wrong on my perception of Russo. I am just an avid wrestling fan. But I defy anyone from ages 30-40 to tell me the late 90’s were not the best era of wrestling. And there is no denying the fact that Russo was a big part of that. I don’t know the circumstances to his release from WWE and frankly it’s not my business. I don’t know the details to the WCW debacle. I would rather focus on the good things the man was able to do for wrestling. So thank you for making my teenage years so much fun. Thank you for creating some of the stories that we still talk about today! Thank you Vince Russo for your contribution!

Check back tomorrow as I explain how I became a pro wrestling fan. Thanks for reading and as always I would love to hear your comments.