I post this message to try and set the record straight just a little bit.
Vince Russo has been blamed for a lot of things that happened in latter-day WCW. Most of which was true. But one thing I've been told he didn't come up with was the idea to book David Arquette to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Let me explain.
According to my recently-departed friend Tetsuko Nishihara, it was actually Bill Busch who came up with the idea of having Arquette win the WCW World Title. This was, of course, designed to generate interest in the movie Ready to Rumble, which starred Arquette as a deranged wrestling fan trying to get his hero back on top of the wrestling world.
As Tetsuko told me, “What could Russo do? If he'd said no, Busch would have said, 'OK... you're fired.' Russo has a family to feed, you know.” Tetsuko grew up in the wrestling business and was a wrestling insider, so I'm inclined to believe her.
Anyway. I just wanted to take the opportunity to try and set the record straight on that. I never thought I'd be coming to the defense of Vince Russo, but from my information, this particular mistake wasn't his idea.
Thanks for listening. And Tetsuko, I miss you.
“What is this, Monday Night RAW? You gonna talk for twenty minutes?”
--Wild Bill Logsdon to Tarantula, WCWO House Show, 5/4/02
Exactly! It was done only to promote a horrible movie. And it's true that Russo had nothing to do with SUGGESTING the idea. But he had to go along with it as head booker. It wasn't that bad really...it just pissed all over tradition, which is what everyone remembers.
Russo made the best of a really bad angle. It could have been pulled off a LOT worse than it was. At least it was short-lived...
Now that, I have to disagree with you about, a little bit.
During the three or so months that they were whoring the WCW World Title around, it was David Arquette's title reign that lasted the longest. True, it was relatively short-lived, but during a time when the title repeatedly changed hands every three days or so, Arquette held the belt for nearly a month.
“Over the course of history, the kiss of a woman has poisoned a lot of great minds.”
According to what I read from Diamond Dallas Page, Vince Russo came up with the idea, and despite the fact EVERYONE all the way down to Arquette himself tried to talk him out of it - once Russo has an idea there's no stopping him.
So there's a million stories going around out there. We'll probably never know which one is the TRUE story.
I still don't see the problem with the Arquette reign.
It was perfectly logical when the angle came to its end:
* Bischoff LET Arquette pin him in the tag match to get the belt off DDP * Tank Abbott LET Arquette beat him, thus making DDP stick up for Arquette even more * Arquette screwed DDP out of the title and get the belt back on Jarrett, which was the plan all along!
It made a helluva lot more sense than some of the other title reigns we've seen.
Originally posted by CTXI still don't see the problem with the Arquette reign.
It was perfectly logical when the angle came to its end:
* Bischoff LET Arquette pin him in the tag match to get the belt off DDP * Tank Abbott LET Arquette beat him, thus making DDP stick up for Arquette even more * Arquette screwed DDP out of the title and get the belt back on Jarrett, which was the plan all along!
It made a helluva lot more sense than some of the other title reigns we've seen.
The problem is that Arquette is a second-rate actor, not a wrestler. Professional wrestling requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, to be sure - but the degree necessary to accept a scrawny actor as a Heavyweight Champion is just too great for most people. *That* is why the Arquette reign comes off looking so bad.
Steph
I'm going twenty-four hours a day...I can't seem to stop - "Turn Up The Radio", Autograph
I always thought that Bischoff was the big hollywood (not just hogan) mark. He's the one who build 2 of his biggest stars to have a feud with Leno/Rodman/Malone etc. Wasn't Bischoff involved at this at the time Arquette title, I see history really looking down at Russo but Bischoff did as much damage or in my opinion more.
I don't know. they changed who's in charge every 3 weeks during that period, I can't remember if it was Bischoff reign or Russo's reign or Bischoff & Russo.
thanx to His heelness for the modification to make it PG
The problem is that Arquette is a second-rate actor, not a wrestler. Professional wrestling requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, to be sure - but the degree necessary to accept a scrawny actor as a Heavyweight Champion is just too great for most people. *That* is why the Arquette reign comes off looking so bad.
Steph
Yes but there was no need to suspend disbelief. Arquette won it on a fluke. He defeated Abbott with help from DDP. Then when the time came, he turned on DDP and revealed it was a plan all along.
Take a look at Vince McMahon's WWF title win. Here's a guy, around 50 years old, holding his own against the top guy in the business Triple H. He's done it with everyone from Austin and right the way back to Rock. Tell me that doesn't require you to suspend your disbelief.
At least Arquette was never portrayed as a legitimate contender for the title. Same with the Russo win, he won it on a fluke. He had no chance of going toe to toe with a real wrestler, neither did McMahon but people seem to forget that.
Vince won the title due to Stone Cold's attack on Triple H, so he didn't beat Triple H on his own either. In fact, every time Vince gets into the ring with The Rock, Austin, Triple H, etc, he gets his ass kicked, but sometimes he pulls off a win by heel tactics or a fluke win.
BTW, I with the "Arquette's reign wasn't any worse than any other WCW Title reign during that period" thinkers.
At least Vince McMahon is a prominent name in wrestling. David Arquette is NOBODY. Hes not even a halfway decent actor, let alone a wrestling personality. And another thing, at least WWF was on top of the world when Vince wore the WWF title for a day. WCW was on its death bed, and the one thing thay had going for them was the prestige of the WCW title. So what do they do? Degrade it by putting it on Arquette. Whosever idea that was needs to be beaten with a rattan cane.
You know youre old when you try to convince some kid that was born in the freakin 80's that Samus Aran could whip Lara Croft's cave dwelling ass. Honestly, has there ever been a cooler weapon in the history of video games than the Screw Attack?
I thought Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman were highly entertaining and pretty good in the ring during thier run in WCW. The build up to the DDP/Malone vs Hogan/Rodman was pretty huge. You had Malone and Rodman mixing it up in the NBA Finals with Malone signaling for the Diamond Cutter in Game 6 no less. Promos and brawling on the Tonight Show and a good match with Malone body slamming Hogan all over the place. Rodman had huge heel heat and was pretty funny in the ring (there's nothing like series of 10 consecutive elbow drops). Rodman also had an entertaining match with Savage at Road Wild. These guys were into it and I thought Macho wanted to kill him.
"Well, you can't involve friendship with business. It has to be one or the other. It's either business or friendship, or hit the bricks!"
--Life Lessons from "The Tao of Bobby the Brain Heenan" Uncensored 2000 preview
It's big and it sucks. My window jumps down three posts when your picture finally loads. Like the old saying goes, "At first it was cute. Now it's just getting annoying."