I think you may have fallen into a logical fallacy about ratings. To piggyback off of some Al Snows speech, the more effective method would be things like creating that buildup between the face+heel in order to bring longevity to the viewership. Vince, from my perspective, only pulled that massive rating by dumping a massive climax into the show. He brought all his aces out for his shows, gaining a massive immediate draw, but he eventually ran out of things to hype the crowd. Without looking at subsequent ratings, and the variables effecting them, I can only guess that the ratings progressively declined after the peak. This formula was probably a saving grace for Impact, because it could constantly draw new viewers, without ever amassing the monstrous numbers that he did in RAW. That's just my alternate perspective, we will likely never know, but I feel like it aligns with the statements from other successful writers and bookers.
When Russo was at WWE/F he had Vince McMahon to filter his ideas and made them palatable. When he was in WCW and TNA he didn’t have that filter and it showed with his denigration of women and at best school boy booking ideas. TNA lost their Spike tv deal over him also. Yo me listing to him talk is a form of torture, hearing Bro being uttered every other word, him putting his self over and just general arrogance along with his abrasive speech ( I’m from NY and he’s over the top for me) are puke inducing. He’s like a bad case of herpes, annoying, painful, ugly and never seems to go away flaring up when you lest want it to! He is the HPV of wrestling.
@@macdaddy1149 that literally doesn't make sense. VKM is still there and wrestling is in the shitter now so how was Vince Russo successful with VKMs help??? Russo left in 99 and wrestling has been on a downward spiral since its a prooven fact not an opinion
The promise Vince Russo is evil only have a good opinion one day she'll do something to contradict it like seeing how it's not entertaining there's no risks in WWE anymore and then they put something on AEW and then he contradicts it's saying he doesn't want that dangerous stuff
@@jerezarl neither one did good Vince isn't doing good either I agree with you there Vince Russo is terrible kind of funny and coincidental that they have the first name of each other is there a curse where people with the name Vince just can't run a good promotion
Every time I listen to Al Snow he educates me more on the psychology of wrestling every single time. He's such a valuable man to teach the next generation and so on
I went back and watched the match again after seeing this. If you can suspend disbeleif and pretend the dogs were dangerous and everything, and not just pissing and shitting everywhere, the match wasnt bad. Not saying it was a 5 star classic but i think the match could have been pretty cool if all went right. Ive seen plenty of matches that were much worse. Al Snow and bossman really did as much as they could with what they had.
He’s just a guy who played an idiot on the for so long that people began to believe it. Now he is over compensating through his anger and resentment for his years of mediocrity.
@@Blaklyon0 Oh, I couldn't agree more, but it would run the risk of adding some personality & entertainment, to the commentary team & for whatever, the WWE is deadset against that.
Snow is awesome he is so professional! That is what’s missing in today’s Superstar! He definitely enjoys the business You wouldn’t even have to ask him if he loved his job You can tell
I was watching ecw and wcw at the time, was a huuuuge MA fan, and was crushed when he was that 70s, guy/fat chick thriller.... absolutely retarded. I'll never forget that Falls Count Anywhere School Bus match.. fuck that was brutal. Going from the high flying monster having incredible matches with Tanaka in ecw to the fat chick thriller was one of the worst misuses of talents in wrestling history imo.
@@Kshep84 Russo took a legit main eventer...a big man who can fly like a Cruiserweight and can work a microphone and can work any style of match...and made him a clown. First the Fat Chick Thriller where he preferred the company of heavyset women and often brought them to ringside..and then That 70s Guy where he dressed in Polyester and drove the Partridge Family Bus..he was better off going somewhere like Japan where talent like his is appreciated.
Meltzer has made a six figure income for years off the wrestling business and has never stepped foot in a ring. As Al Snow once said, he’s the best worker in wrestling history
Gangrel! Love watching his interviews also great man to meet, i met him here at a local Halloween Wrestling event and they had a meet and greet after the matches back in 2018.
If the Disco Inferno shaved his thin Grey beard he would almost look just as young as he did back in WCW, besides maybe some aging signs around his eyes but the man still looks in decent shape.
When i watch Al snow talk in interviews it makes me think i shouldn't have got so stoned. Its like he's giving you an personal talk about why you're never going to know as much about wrestling as him.
I remember a time when Roaddog and Billy Gunn passed the IC title between each other randomly when they took it off of Val Venis. Instead I would of loved to have seen Al Snow get lucky enough to win the IC title and then the J.O.B Squad spends the next few months helping Al hold on to that miracle win by putting themselves in harms way to creatively help him keep the belt as long as possible
After listening to Cornette go on and on about him, I forgot his name was actually Russo. When people who don't know/like wrestling run the show, the wrestling becomes secondary almost accidental.
Russo wrote it but McMahon edited it and guided it where it needed to go. Without a McMahon, Russo was useless. The issue today is he thinks the attitude era would still work and it won't. It's not 1999
I'm not a Russo hater. I'm just saying that McMahon filtering his ideas brought out the best. Vince Russo throws a ton of shit out. It doesn't all smell good. Russo isn't all bad. He certainly isn't as bad as say Biscoff or Hogan in thinking that what worked in 99 would work today, but come on. Russo has some bullshit ideas sometimes.
@Ybyb If Madman is the filter then WWE would never get into bad situation they are having right now. Russo is right though when he said Vince K is surrounded by a bunch of yes men who would never point out the wrongs if something doesn't work.
If you listen to the Dave Meltzer philosophy of wrestling, you end up with what we have today: 1 million, 1.5 million people watching the shows. Whereas when the focus was on storylines, promos, interesting characters, etc you'd have triple that amount of viewers. Facts.
And it's not only the Attitude Era. The same goes for the Hogan era as well. The facts are the ratings and the mainstream stars that were made in each period.
@@tbone6704 the facts are the ratings. Me & most other people who used to watch wrestling but stopped left because: we prioritize interesting characters / stories over a purely athletic, in-ring focused product. Good matches aren't enough. We need a reason to care about the matches, and there currently is none outside of a handful. Bray Wyatt is cool. That's about it...
The Brood had the makings of being the greatest and biggest thing for wrestling at the time, too bad the people involved didn't have the foresight for it!
Had they crafted them as the new freebirds they would have been great, but the tag team titles on them and let them use the free bird rule like New day does now.
Gangrel, Edge and Christian are some of the most competent ppl wrestling ever produced. I think the Brood idea was just poorly timed. Glenn Jacobs, Charles Wright and Christopher Irvine couldn't make that gimmick work on their best day.
Shows how out of touch Vince McMahon was and is. Russo pushed the Brood and it caught on. So of course break them up, squash Gangrel. Lol. Makes sense.
"I'm not good at bullshit." -Jake The Snake Roberts With a bunch of doll hair grafted to his head. As he repeatedly states he's not on drugs anymore, despite being clearly inebriated.
That was recorded at 11 am he had just woke up shortly before and was drinking coffee than pop from a bottle his handler brought him. Weed is legal in Canada he says that is all he does now.
@@TheHannibalTV I'm actually not even talking about this clip specifically. He actually seems fairly coherent here. I'm referring more about some of his recent appearances elsewhere, where he's saying erratic things, slurring his speech. I suspect Jake may be off the wagon again.
15:34 Vince McMahon, the mastermind behind countless silly gimmicks didn’t like Gangrel’s vampire gimmick. One of the only silly gimmicks that was actually kind of cool, not unlike the Undertaker. I’d wager that McMahon hated the gimmick simply because he didn’t come up with it.
the difference was the same as what is usually the difference between a gimmick working or not and it is one the cool factor and two and more importantly could it be possible in a real world context and not so much legally possible although that could be important but could the gimmick exist as a real person and the gangrel character was different from characters that largely flopped like papa shango because he was not present as being a supernatural being although the possibility was there he was presented as a part of the vampire subculture a real subculture where people do sometimes even drink blood and was said to live a vampire lifestyle and even undertaker had to eventually change and develop his character so much to the point he somehow overdid it and he ended up on a motorcycle listening to kid rock but the point is those gimmicks were weird and boarderlining on science fiction but kept room for plausible possibility that it could exist in the real world.
Disco Inferno loved him apparently because the way he is talking it was like a frat room culture and they let him be on creative Lol. That would pretty much show why we had things like "Major Guns" and "Hugh G Rection" as characters. This is something a teen would come up with. And that's why WCW in 2000 was so hard to watch compared to the golden years of 1996 through 1998 in particular.
Always wondered what the deal with gangrel was. They went out of their way to not say vampire or blood. "These guys live a Gothic lifestyle" "Spitting that red liquid" always thought that was weird
Gangrel (David Heath) was actually called "The Vampire Warrior" in 1994 and 1996 in USWA ( the Jarrett Tennessee and Kentucky) territory. He was a heel then but I met him the first time at a house show for USWA in Nashville. He and his wife who has passed on Luna Vachon were both very nice. I last saw him about 4 years ago. Really nice guy
Gangrel hissed at me at a show 2 years ago as he walked buy me. Such a small thing for him but for me I was mark'in out and was happy as hell! Awesome-ness!!! 😂👍
Al Snow is one of the smartest wrestling business men out there. Makes me wonder why he never got a championship run. He had the charisma and and obviously the knowledge. What happened?
the fact that we can listen to al snow go this in detail about his ideas is why i watch these vids hannibal , i am a fan of the way you dont just go for the biggest stars in the biz i mean you get them too, but a shit ton of guys that never had much of a voice in their run can now speak and its some of the most interesting interviews keep up the good work ... and ps bro bro bro ..vince russo is so underrated ..bro ......bro..................................................................bro :P
These guys are the guys you should be listening to, they got the best stories and the best dirt. These are the guys who had to fight thru bullshit to get wherever they are now.
I met Jim Duggan in my country where very few pro-wrestlers travel these days (we used to have a thriving scene back in the 70s) . He was the nicest guy and a pleasure to talk to. Glad to hear hes doing better health wise
honestly it's a matter of opinion. was crash more popular, nah probably not even close. could he actually work, by far leagues better than goldberg ever will be able to. and the storylines he was in to me personally were more entertaining than goldberg. after the streak was ended there was no longer a luster to goldberg, but the 24/7 rule with the hardcore title when crash had it was always a wild ride to see what would happen
The fact the Dave pensar willingly said 'hey I like Vince and Ed" but can see and call out the bs they pulled, makes u understand how he's done it for so long. Too many people actually like the guy....
That’s the most baffling thing to me. Just from listening to that guy talk in interviews, I couldn’t be in a room with him for more than ten minutes without wanting someone to shoot me.
HANNIBAL i do hope we can do a mini pr as i suck on my moves on Pro-wrestling and i hate being called out as i do wannabe improving than be a laughing stock...that i love your content next month i’ll try my best to support yeah dude.
Russo at WCW is a great example of the Peter Principle. He was perfectly suited to be on a creative TEAM. He never should've been put in charge of anything.
i wouldn't be surprised if Vince's plan all along was to make sure that any future promotion Russo went to, they would see WWF on his resume and put him at the helm of their creative not realizing that Russo needed a team to counter or filter the majority of his promotion sinking ideas. What an insidious way to take out any and all competition no?
Is that why is most successful most of WWF were when HE WASN'T PART OF A TEAM? And the biggest blunders were when HE WAS PART OF A TEAM? You retards don't even know how things were working.
What it comes down to is he doesn’t give a crap about loyal fans and chased them away for people that stop to watch a train wreck. They get their thrill and move on.
He never chased loyal fans away though because the ratings improved while he was writing. He knew that the "loyal" fans would watch the show no matter how much they complained about the product. He was aiming to get the non-wrestling fans. That's how you grow, by getting the people outside of the bubble to tune in. Look at RAW in 2021. 1.6 million watching on average (all the while losing viewers from hour 1 to hour 3) and the majority of those viewers complain about where the product is going every single week yet they still tune in every week. They're WWE's safety net.
Things that the 2023 you say that the 1999 you would have called you retarded for:: Man. That Al Snow is the most intelligent and mentally sound man in the company.
The highlight of this for me what the seminar of Al Snow on Wrestling Psychology. He's so underrated as a wrestler and as a elite level worker in the ring.
Russo and Ferrara attempted to make the same "Crash TV" style on Monday Nitro which was similar to Raw Is War, only at an accelerated pace, including edgier storylines, more lengthy non-wrestling segments, constant heel/face turns, an increased amount of sexuality on the show, fake retirements, more backstage vignettes, expanded storyline depth, title changes, and the utilization of midcard talent in a more effective manner. Russo and Ferrara often focused on poking fun at the WWF.
It could probably work if Turner Network didn't pressure them to improve ratings instantly. But then again, when company goes down, you don't want to waste time on long term plans without guarantee of it working.
Vince Russo and Vince McMahon basically hotshot the entire business and now it will never be the same. In their defense, the advent of the internet and 24/7 news was always going to ruin the wrestling business
Nobody cared about Ringmaster, Rocky Maivia or Hunter Hearst Hemsley, though. And you know who pitched Stone Cold, The Rock and DX? I'll give you a hint - it rhymes with "Uso".
Do former wrestlers like Al Snow forget that we can go back & look at matches. They rant about stuff that's going on now but the first match you click on involving them has them doing the same thing they hate on today. It's some of the most hypocritical hating a** behavior
Just listening to Al Snow describing the chihuahua angle proves everything Cornette and Bischoff have said about Russo's writing is justified. That pepper on a pole match is the nutshell of Vince Russo writing.
@@Rschr101 Stephanie was a bad at writing but I don't think even Stephanie could look at a chihuahua movie and say, "That's a good idea for a storyline"
Like him or hate him, WWE could do with him right now, but the product would need to change from the dreadful PG stuff, or maybe have one show PG and one for older viewers. Things are so pious and sensitive these days though, it would cause outrage and they would back down and sack him probably.. Sad times but WWE is pretty dire these days. I was suprised by Gangrels interview, he seems like a really nice guy.
@@Ultradude604 I think Stephanie's one of their biggest problems, not talented enough. The shareholders are also another problem. Sad to see it dying out but as a business they're making more money than ever so go figure.
@@skybluerob1 That's a huge problem right there. The more money they can rake in with these deals they're making, the less incentive they have to try and put out the best show they can each week.
@@TheNextStep851 Couldn't agree more. The real test will be when they're renegotiated in a few years, but by the WWE will have likely been bought by one of the entertainment companies by then. So while they aren't reliant on getting bums on seats or PPV buys, they can put out any old tatt, which they're doing. I can't even watch it anymore, it puts me off wrestling, but I'm enjoying AEW and Impact. They at least try different things and act as if they want our custom. Even the wrestlers (sorry, Superstars) looked embarrassed and bored in WWE.
The only thing in WCW that Russo did right in my opinion even though it was too little to late is book Bret Hart the way he should have been booked in the first place with him winning titles etc.
I remember watching Al Snows interviews in ECW and thinking "jesus this guy is fucking mental". Then when I saw him in WWF I thought "man, guys got some skills too". Then they stuck a cheese hat on him and I faded away a bit. Then tough enough happened and I was waiting for the announcement at some point that Al had opened his own territory, was running his own TV and was about to put McMahon out of business. As the years have gone on and as he puts more and more interview out there and shares his thoughts and his mind you can tell he's a very rare and special wrestling mind. One of the few left that understands the pure base of wrestling (not the internet jerkoff style) There are plenty of people over the years that have just been accepted as wrestling legends, geniuses, pioneers etc. I for one would start to put Al in that category. It's a shame that I feel his wrestling suffered near the end of his WWF run but I'm glad he got his time behind the mat on things like TE, and I wish we could get more of his behind the mat business out to the public to get some real appreciation for him
@Sum body really? Never knew russo worked for ECW... Russo didn't write his in ring performances did he? And on the creative side at WWF he had a whole team of talented writers and McMahon as a filter. Regardless of that I've liked Al throughout his entire career both in and out of the ring so not really sure why you even commented what you did lol
@Sum body didn't say anything about not thinking he had skill before WWF. WWF just allowed me to see more of it. And again, what does that have to do with russo? Russo was a writer, he had zero to do with Als in ring abilities. All russo did was got rid of the head and gave him a chihuahua
@Sum body what does not liking a gimmick have to do with his in ring abilities? And once again I'll repeat, what influence did Russo have on Als in ring abilities? Sounds like you need to learn the difference between writing, working an angle and in-ring wrestling performance. I'll give you a hint, russo only had a hand in one of the 3
Never knew how behind the scenes Disco was until abt 6 mos ago... I would see Konan from time to time, but didn't know they were some of the ideas behind what we see.
Why am I not surprised at all to learn that Russo was responsible for the Kennel from Hell fiasco. That some still think he is a genius makes my hair fall out.
Ybyb yeah but Meltzer marks will give the credit to Vince McMahon & the talent for all of the positives of the Attitude Era & blame Russo for anything they didn’t like.
I know some of these guys are bad asses, some aren’t . Some guys IRL are intimidating, some are nice guys. Al Snow isn’t a huge guy, but he seems like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want mad at you, or yelling at you.
Using the Nielsen ratings scale may have been everything in the 90s and early 2000s but when the Monday night wars were long over it started to become a dinosaur. Because with the creations of TiVo/DVR and which leads to the likes of the WWE Network and such--or as Al Snow said watch it on youtube--the ratings cannot have the same stock as they did 20-30 years ago. The firing of Paul Heyman is a bit premature. Yes, that Raw had a bad rating, but right now anyone in charge is facing an uphill battle to sell pro-wrestling in an empty studio--a very steep hill at that. But Vince McMahon I imagine is very irritable right now considering this pandemic caught him with his pants down financially. Do not get me wrong, though, Russo rung in a high rating--let's not forget though Dwayne and Mick made that overlong piece entertaining and made us forget how long it really was.
With Vince Russo he needs some one tell him that some of his idea's are and work on his great idea's more. when he doesn't have it everything goes down hill for the company he doesn't need a yes man he need some one to put him in the right direction.
You can't give the credit of the attitude era to just one person. Russo def deserves credit. He needed McMahons wisdom to reign him in. People forget who they had training wrestlers back then too. Tom Pritchard and Dory Funk Jr. They provided a ton in bringing talent up to that rosters pedigree. The roster itself deserves a ton of credit. That was one of the most talented rosters from top to bottom. All these things meeting in the middle and creating such a good product.
You're right that Talent Relations were doing an amazing job back then and they had great trainers putting the roster together. However in terms of writing the shows, Russo and Ferrara deserve the credit. It was their vision that turned it around for the WWF. Vince McMahon has said he never wanted the Attitude Era, which proves how disconnected he is and always has been from his audience. He's always pushed the same superman character at the head of his table and you can look all the way back to the Bob Backlund era to see that eventually the crowd will turn against it.
@@jerezarl yeah because making yourself world champion when you just copy Jerry Springer episodes for a living is well deserved. Or so you can understand..... Bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro on a pole bro bro bro.
@Ybyb i have, hence why I commented what I did. Bro bro bro. He's trying to filter history through his own mind. He's trash and always has been. He admitted that he would just copy Jerry Springer. Yup huge talent there ...
Vince Russo shoot interview 2020: ua-cam.com/video/Rvhu0IPrnNc/v-deo.html
I think you may have fallen into a logical fallacy about ratings. To piggyback off of some Al Snows speech, the more effective method would be things like creating that buildup between the face+heel in order to bring longevity to the viewership. Vince, from my perspective, only pulled that massive rating by dumping a massive climax into the show. He brought all his aces out for his shows, gaining a massive immediate draw, but he eventually ran out of things to hype the crowd. Without looking at subsequent ratings, and the variables effecting them, I can only guess that the ratings progressively declined after the peak. This formula was probably a saving grace for Impact, because it could constantly draw new viewers, without ever amassing the monstrous numbers that he did in RAW. That's just my alternate perspective, we will likely never know, but I feel like it aligns with the statements from other successful writers and bookers.
When Russo was at WWE/F he had Vince McMahon to filter his ideas and made them palatable. When he was in WCW and TNA he didn’t have that filter and it showed with his denigration of women and at best school boy booking ideas. TNA lost their Spike tv deal over him also. Yo me listing to him talk is a form of torture, hearing Bro being uttered every other word, him putting his self over and just general arrogance along with his abrasive speech ( I’m from NY and he’s over the top for me) are puke inducing. He’s like a bad case of herpes, annoying, painful, ugly and never seems to go away flaring up when you lest want it to! He is the HPV of wrestling.
@@macdaddy1149 that literally doesn't make sense. VKM is still there and wrestling is in the shitter now so how was Vince Russo successful with VKMs help??? Russo left in 99 and wrestling has been on a downward spiral since its a prooven fact not an opinion
The promise Vince Russo is evil only have a good opinion one day she'll do something to contradict it like seeing how it's not entertaining there's no risks in WWE anymore and then they put something on AEW and then he contradicts it's saying he doesn't want that dangerous stuff
@@jerezarl neither one did good Vince isn't doing good either I agree with you there Vince Russo is terrible kind of funny and coincidental that they have the first name of each other is there a curse where people with the name Vince just can't run a good promotion
Every time I listen to Al Snow he educates me more on the psychology of wrestling every single time. He's such a valuable man to teach the next generation and so on
You must not have seen his students in ovw
al snow neer drew a dime and by his own logic has never had a good match. get some actual stars to teach the next generation.
Too bad he didn't know all the stuff he preached back when he was a wrestler. 🙄
I went back and watched the match again after seeing this. If you can suspend disbeleif and pretend the dogs were dangerous and everything, and not just pissing and shitting everywhere, the match wasnt bad. Not saying it was a 5 star classic but i think the match could have been pretty cool if all went right. Ive seen plenty of matches that were much worse. Al Snow and bossman really did as much as they could with what they had.
So long as he never becomes a furniture salesman....
He cant sell chairs.
00:01 Al Snow
5:50 Jake Roberts
6:46 Dave Meltzer
8:30 David Penzer
11:28 Gangrel
16:20 Hacksaw Jim Duggan
18:17 J J Dillion
22:30 Tank Abbott
23:16 Disco Inferno
28:42 Val Venis
32:40 Kevin Sullivan
34:40 Al Snow
Thanks, I said it because nobody else did. Likes don't say much.
Thank you!
Dillon. Not Dillion
Goat: packleader87
@@J.D.1. it's an obvious typo relax homie
The brood theme music is one of the best of all time.
Vampire the masquerade theme very similar
Yes it was. I'm not into vampires or any of that however I loved Gangrel, Edge and Christian. The intro and they were a great group
I couldn't agree more
The entrance rising through the ring of fire on the stage was badass too
its so good because it has an amen break in it.
Used to think Snow was legit crazy. He seems like a cool guy
He speaks the truth.
What does everybody want
What does everybody need
That's the sign of a good job when you can't tell whats real or scripted
@@smiley37greg I wish my girlfriend thought like that
He’s just a guy who played an idiot on the for so long that people began to believe it. Now he is over compensating through his anger and resentment for his years of mediocrity.
Al was super legit.. just wasnt 6"4 270 how vince likes em
Al snow is criminally under rated
Yes he is. Quite a few are though.
Agreed. I always liked him when he was on TV. I thought the whole 'head' thing was awesome.
He trained Simon Miller.
I'd much rather have Al snow on the commentary team over Michael Cole... But, that might just be me.
@@Blaklyon0 Oh, I couldn't agree more, but it would run the risk of adding some personality & entertainment, to the commentary team & for whatever, the WWE is deadset against that.
Snow is awesome he is so professional! That is what’s missing in today’s Superstar! He definitely enjoys the business You wouldn’t even have to ask him if he loved his job You can tell
I love Al's serious tone while talking about that match!
Well you get asked a hundred times about something so absurd....you kinda stop seeing the humor in it.
"NUMEROUS!"
Does Al understand he was in an undercard comedy storyline? I can't believe he takes this shit with Pepper the dog so seriously. Massive mark.
NEEEWMERUS
@@Bubba__Sawyer Snow had to job
What good is a Russo shoot without Cornette?
Let me help you out, because I think the same thing.
Thank you, fuck you bye
Holla
All these interviews are conducted by Hannibal’s UA-cam channel and Cornette hates Hannibal
Cornette should put up or shut up. When is he gonna face Russo? Why does he hide from him?
@@Rschr101 I saw that clip...and holy crap his was on FIRE 🔥🔥
vince russo turned mike awesome into that 70s guy, i just cant get over it
I was watching ecw and wcw at the time, was a huuuuge MA fan, and was crushed when he was that 70s, guy/fat chick thriller.... absolutely retarded. I'll never forget that Falls Count Anywhere School Bus match.. fuck that was brutal. Going from the high flying monster having incredible matches with Tanaka in ecw to the fat chick thriller was one of the worst misuses of talents in wrestling history imo.
@@Kshep84 Russo took a legit main eventer...a big man who can fly like a Cruiserweight and can work a microphone and can work any style of match...and made him a clown. First the Fat Chick Thriller where he preferred the company of heavyset women and often brought them to ringside..and then That 70s Guy where he dressed in Polyester and drove the Partridge Family Bus..he was better off going somewhere like Japan where talent like his is appreciated.
@@American-Zero He also made Booker T, Mick Foley and The Rock World Champs. Not to mention was gonna give Jericho a mega push by beat The Rock.
@@kevinlee9929 He also had sense in putting the title on Bret Hart when he was in WCW.
Vince Russo: but you remember it bro
How’s Dave Meltzer a wrestling personality? He’s the biggest mark
Bigger than Vince Russo?
@Gzus Kreist lol, we're also at a point where most people aren't watching tv. Zero correlation though right?
I fast forwarded that part lol
Meltzer has made a six figure income for years off the wrestling business and has never stepped foot in a ring. As Al Snow once said, he’s the best worker in wrestling history
@@AshleySmith19912 and he is an mma "journalist". His opinion there is worse.
*Wrestling personalities and also Dave Meltzer
Not said enough
Gangrel! Love watching his interviews also great man to meet, i met him here at a local Halloween Wrestling event and they had a meet and greet after the matches back in 2018.
If the Disco Inferno shaved his thin Grey beard he would almost look just as young as he did back in WCW, besides maybe some aging signs around his eyes but the man still looks in decent shape.
He looks like he could still get in the ring
When i watch Al snow talk in interviews it makes me think i shouldn't have got so stoned. Its like he's giving you an personal talk about why you're never going to know as much about wrestling as him.
Al Snow shouldve been a WWE intercontinental champion at least.
I loved his european title run
I would’ve rather seen him be an ECW Champion, I remember going to some of those shows in the late 90s. Al Snow was INSANELY over!
@@johnselwitz5362 Completely agree. It would've definitely meant more, in my humble opinion.
Wasn't over Enough
I remember a time when Roaddog and Billy Gunn passed the IC title between each other randomly when they took it off of Val Venis.
Instead I would of loved to have seen Al Snow get lucky enough to win the IC title and then the J.O.B Squad spends the next few months helping Al hold on to that miracle win by putting themselves in harms way to creatively help him keep the belt as long as possible
Al Snow is amazing, he has a trendemous outlook on the business. He just taught us wrestling 101. In a way he just intellectually whooped Russo’s ass.
He was siding with him ya douche he’s on his network
Say it again..
Right, "never work with animals and kids, they will upstage you" - W.C Fields
Especially in the porno industry 😊
For someone who is mostly known for comedic wrestling you'd think Al Snow wouldn't be constantly pissed off about something.
After listening to Cornette go on and on about him, I forgot his name was actually Russo.
When people who don't know/like wrestling run the show, the wrestling becomes secondary almost accidental.
Russo wrote it but McMahon edited it and guided it where it needed to go. Without a McMahon, Russo was useless.
The issue today is he thinks the attitude era would still work and it won't. It's not 1999
@Ybyb At least Russo made wrestling insteresting to watch not 40 minutes pointless kicks and flips garbage we have today.
I'm not a Russo hater. I'm just saying that McMahon filtering his ideas brought out the best. Vince Russo throws a ton of shit out. It doesn't all smell good.
Russo isn't all bad. He certainly isn't as bad as say Biscoff or Hogan in thinking that what worked in 99 would work today, but come on. Russo has some bullshit ideas sometimes.
@Ybyb If Madman is the filter then WWE would never get into bad situation they are having right now. Russo is right though when he said Vince K is surrounded by a bunch of yes men who would never point out the wrongs if something doesn't work.
His name isn't Shit stain ?!
Damn. JJ Dillon got choked up discussing his interaction with Russo.
"did you know Vince Russo?"
"ugh... Yes."
If you listen to the Dave Meltzer philosophy of wrestling, you end up with what we have today: 1 million, 1.5 million people watching the shows. Whereas when the focus was on storylines, promos, interesting characters, etc you'd have triple that amount of viewers. Facts.
True
What was the fact in your post again?
And it's not only the Attitude Era. The same goes for the Hogan era as well. The facts are the ratings and the mainstream stars that were made in each period.
@@tbone6704 the facts are the ratings. Me & most other people who used to watch wrestling but stopped left because: we prioritize interesting characters / stories over a purely athletic, in-ring focused product. Good matches aren't enough. We need a reason to care about the matches, and there currently is none outside of a handful. Bray Wyatt is cool. That's about it...
Very true. Especially with UFC now. Why watch a fake wrestling match when you can watch a real one? There has to be more to it.
The Brood had the makings of being the greatest and biggest thing for wrestling at the time, too bad the people involved didn't have the foresight for it!
I agree, and even though Gangrel had issues he was still useful. Their presentation of their characters was prrfect.
Had they crafted them as the new freebirds they would have been great, but the tag team titles on them and let them use the free bird rule like New day does now.
Gangrel, Edge and Christian are some of the most competent ppl wrestling ever produced. I think the Brood idea was just poorly timed. Glenn Jacobs, Charles Wright and Christopher Irvine couldn't make that gimmick work on their best day.
Shows how out of touch Vince McMahon was and is. Russo pushed the Brood and it caught on. So of course break them up, squash Gangrel. Lol. Makes sense.
they _sucked_ lol
Why is Mr. Magoo Meltzer there
"I'm not good at bullshit."
-Jake The Snake Roberts
With a bunch of doll hair grafted to his head. As he repeatedly states he's not on drugs anymore, despite being clearly inebriated.
That was recorded at 11 am he had just woke up shortly before and was drinking coffee than pop from a bottle his handler brought him. Weed is legal in Canada he says that is all he does now.
@@TheHannibalTV I'm actually not even talking about this clip specifically. He actually seems fairly coherent here. I'm referring more about some of his recent appearances elsewhere, where he's saying erratic things, slurring his speech. I suspect Jake may be off the wagon again.
@@TheRageaholic I hope that's not the case.
@@TheRageaholic what are you talking about
Your such a hater man
Your the type to want to see people fail
Love Jake no matter what. And hope for the best for him.
You’re one of my favorite channels. You get all the dirt totally unbiased. Awesome as always.
LTrain 45 what the fuck is your problem, douche?
Someone should show Uncle Dave his interview an ask him why he doesn't say the same things about AEW.
Do you want to know how many times I’ve listened to that interview with Al Snow?
NUMEROUS times!
*Numerous* times I’ve listened to that interview.
Lol
15:34 Vince McMahon, the mastermind behind countless silly gimmicks didn’t like Gangrel’s vampire gimmick. One of the only silly gimmicks that was actually kind of cool, not unlike the Undertaker. I’d wager that McMahon hated the gimmick simply because he didn’t come up with it.
the difference was the same as what is usually the difference between a gimmick working or not and it is one the cool factor and two and more importantly could it be possible in a real world context and not so much legally possible although that could be important but could the gimmick exist as a real person and the gangrel character was different from characters that largely flopped like papa shango because he was not present as being a supernatural being although the possibility was there he was presented as a part of the vampire subculture a real subculture where people do sometimes even drink blood and was said to live a vampire lifestyle and even undertaker had to eventually change and develop his character so much to the point he somehow overdid it and he ended up on a motorcycle listening to kid rock but the point is those gimmicks were weird and boarderlining on science fiction but kept room for plausible possibility that it could exist in the real world.
The fact that he didn't own the gimmick pissed him off...
Well I mean McMahon didn't come up with the Undertaker gimmick either. That was a Bruce Pritchard creation.
Oh sure Gangrel as a vampire was silly, but Mantar, the Red Rooster, and the Gobbledygooker were all wrestling gold, huh Vince? LOL!
He hated the vampire gimmick, but the had that vampire character years later on the ECW show.
Al getting so angry talking about this is bloody funny. Hannibal in the background trying not to burst out laughing.
Jake saying some people are gifted in bullshit is so ironic it fucking hurts
Disco Inferno loved him apparently because the way he is talking it was like a frat room culture and they let him be on creative Lol. That would pretty much show why we had things like "Major Guns" and "Hugh G Rection" as characters. This is something a teen would come up with. And that's why WCW in 2000 was so hard to watch compared to the golden years of 1996 through 1998 in particular.
Lmao stfu you
Mark
Amen Brother
Cornette buries him and it’s hilarious.
@@urcookinCornette buries himself with constant hypocrisy and blaming everyone for his failure.
I was eating when Al Snow dropped the porn joke and almost spit out my food lol
In general he's one of the most interesting shooters there is
Head will never not be over, 20+ years on and I STILL LOVE HEAD!!!
We all love head,what does everybody want ? What does everybody need
@@chugganuggz What does everybody love!? HEAD!
Always wondered what the deal with gangrel was. They went out of their way to not say vampire or blood. "These guys live a Gothic lifestyle" "Spitting that red liquid" always thought that was weird
Damn Gangrel really embraced his character... pulled a Warrior ×10 lol
Gangrel (David Heath) was actually called "The Vampire Warrior" in 1994 and 1996 in USWA ( the Jarrett Tennessee and Kentucky) territory. He was a heel then but I met him the first time at a house show for USWA in Nashville. He and his wife who has passed on Luna Vachon were both very nice. I last saw him about 4 years ago. Really nice guy
@@ericmelton5003 can confirm. Heath sat next to me on a plane in coach and just talked about all kinds of stuff. He really likes to talk.
I really respect what Val Vennis said, I think it’s the best explanation of Vince Russo I’ve heard. Too many people give him no credit.
Just a reminder that Dixie carter wanted Vince Russo and lied to spike tv
Gangrel hissed at me at a show 2 years ago as he walked buy me.
Such a small thing for him but for me I was mark'in out and was happy as hell!
Awesome-ness!!!
😂👍
Al Snow is one of the smartest wrestling business men out there. Makes me wonder why he never got a championship run. He had the charisma and and obviously the knowledge. What happened?
Russo happened
Oh my god shut up.
Too many guys that had charisma, look, ability, etc. AE was a really competitive era.
Because he sucked
JOB Squad
the fact that we can listen to al snow go this in detail about his ideas is why i watch these vids hannibal , i am a fan of the way you dont just go for the biggest stars in the biz i mean you get them too, but a shit ton of guys that never had much of a voice in their run can now speak and its some of the most interesting interviews keep up the good work ... and ps bro bro bro ..vince russo is so underrated ..bro ......bro..................................................................bro :P
Bro bro Vince Russo bro invented the rating system for being underated bro
These guys are the guys you should be listening to, they got the best stories and the best dirt. These are the guys who had to fight thru bullshit to get wherever they are now.
I met Jim Duggan in my country where very few pro-wrestlers travel these days (we used to have a thriving scene back in the 70s) . He was the nicest guy and a pleasure to talk to. Glad to hear hes doing better health wise
Gangrel always struck me as a good, genuine dude.
He is very humble one of the coolest wrestlers to meet
I miss him and Luna! RIP Luna. She was criminally underrated.
Wasn't Disco the one who legitimately pitched an idea for a gimmick called "Bill Ding" who was a construction worker?
SMH 🤦🏻♂️ they were jokes
I think that was Terry Taylor.
The one thing I definitely have to disagree with.... Crash Holly was never better known than Goldberg!
Correct
honestly it's a matter of opinion. was crash more popular, nah probably not even close. could he actually work, by far leagues better than goldberg ever will be able to. and the storylines he was in to me personally were more entertaining than goldberg. after the streak was ended there was no longer a luster to goldberg, but the 24/7 rule with the hardcore title when crash had it was always a wild ride to see what would happen
That JJ Dilion shoot shocked me. Wow.
The fact the Dave pensar willingly said 'hey I like Vince and Ed" but can see and call out the bs they pulled, makes u understand how he's done it for so long. Too many people actually like the guy....
That’s the most baffling thing to me. Just from listening to that guy talk in interviews, I couldn’t be in a room with him for more than ten minutes without wanting someone to shoot me.
@@blakemeads9225And yet you'll listen to Jim Cornette, who threatened to kill people with loaded guns.
HANNIBAL i do hope we can do a mini pr as i suck on my moves on Pro-wrestling and i hate being called out as i do wannabe improving than be a laughing stock...that i love your content next month i’ll try my best to support yeah dude.
Al looks like a legit tough guy here
I didn't know Ted Cruz used to be the disco inferno.
Al snow is top G!! Hope he making lots of money he’s a great teacher
Russo at WCW is a great example of the Peter Principle. He was perfectly suited to be on a creative TEAM. He never should've been put in charge of anything.
i wouldn't be surprised if Vince's plan all along was to make sure that any future promotion Russo went to, they would see WWF on his resume and put him at the helm of their creative not realizing that Russo needed a team to counter or filter the majority of his promotion sinking ideas. What an insidious way to take out any and all competition no?
Is that why is most successful most of WWF were when HE WASN'T PART OF A TEAM?
And the biggest blunders were when HE WAS PART OF A TEAM?
You retards don't even know how things were working.
Al "Socrates" Snow laying it all right out. Spot ON!
I LOVE Listening to AL Snow talk. Very educated and he knows his shit.
They should play this video at Russo's funeral as the ultimate swerve.
LOL what a funeral that will be
What it comes down to is he doesn’t give a crap about loyal fans and chased them away for people that stop to watch a train wreck. They get their thrill and move on.
He never chased loyal fans away though because the ratings improved while he was writing. He knew that the "loyal" fans would watch the show no matter how much they complained about the product. He was aiming to get the non-wrestling fans. That's how you grow, by getting the people outside of the bubble to tune in.
Look at RAW in 2021. 1.6 million watching on average (all the while losing viewers from hour 1 to hour 3) and the majority of those viewers complain about where the product is going every single week yet they still tune in every week. They're WWE's safety net.
Gagngrel with the fangs… you can’t ever say the man didn’t take his gimmick seriously.
Al Snow always seems to find the best qualities in people that others never bring up.
Things that the 2023 you say that the 1999 you would have called you retarded for:: Man. That Al Snow is the most intelligent and mentally sound man in the company.
The highlight of this for me what the seminar of Al Snow on Wrestling Psychology.
He's so underrated as a wrestler and as a elite level worker in the ring.
Russo and Ferrara attempted to make the same "Crash TV" style on Monday Nitro which was similar to Raw Is War, only at an accelerated pace, including edgier storylines, more lengthy non-wrestling segments, constant heel/face turns, an increased amount of sexuality on the show, fake retirements, more backstage vignettes, expanded storyline depth, title changes, and the utilization of midcard talent in a more effective manner. Russo and Ferrara often focused on poking fun at the WWF.
Russo and ferrara are morons
I want that kind of wrestling back!
It could probably work if Turner Network didn't pressure them to improve ratings instantly. But then again, when company goes down, you don't want to waste time on long term plans without guarantee of it working.
Hmmm, we are trying to get teenagers and early 20s viewers...
Russo:Let's have women get naked on tv.
That took a genius alright...
@Ybyb yeah stone cold and the rock had nothing to do with it
@Ybyb Russo didn't write their stuff, they improved. That's what wrestlers hate about promos nowadays, they are scripted now...
@Ybyb PG era had nothing to do with it....
@Ybyb it was pg 14. Where the fuck were you at that it was PG? Lmao you just wanna argue!
@Ybyb telling someone to go out and talk is far different from telling them what to say!
Wait full Wrestling Stories I'm going to subscribe
Vince Russo and Vince McMahon basically hotshot the entire business and now it will never be the same. In their defense, the advent of the internet and 24/7 news was always going to ruin the wrestling business
It is hilarious that now Al Snow is a part of Vince Russo's Podcasts
Been waiting for this one. Took you long enough.
Al Snow is 100% correct!
Raw got that huge ratings pop because of who was in the ring. Not because of anything Russo did.
And why did people want to see those characters? Because of the stories and characters Vince had written for them.
Nobody cared about Ringmaster, Rocky Maivia or Hunter Hearst Hemsley, though.
And you know who pitched Stone Cold, The Rock and DX?
I'll give you a hint - it rhymes with "Uso".
Do former wrestlers like Al Snow forget that we can go back & look at matches. They rant about stuff that's going on now but the first match you click on involving them has them doing the same thing they hate on today. It's some of the most hypocritical hating a** behavior
Al Snow is married to my buddies sister and he seems like a pretty down to earth guy.
The way you have the thumbnail edited makes it look like Gangrel’s got a mini Hacksaw Jim Dugan growing out of his shoulder, lol
Just listening to Al Snow describing the chihuahua angle proves everything Cornette and Bischoff have said about Russo's writing is justified. That pepper on a pole match is the nutshell of Vince Russo writing.
Meh, show was still better when Russo wrote it compared to Stephanie.
@@Rschr101 Stephanie was a bad at writing but I don't think even Stephanie could look at a chihuahua movie and say, "That's a good idea for a storyline"
@Sum body Oh yeah that was brutal to watch...
i'm genuinely shocked how healthy Tank Abbot looks.
Warrior DNA hehe
Like him or hate him, WWE could do with him right now, but the product would need to change from the dreadful PG stuff, or maybe have one show PG and one for older viewers. Things are so pious and sensitive these days though, it would cause outrage and they would back down and sack him probably.. Sad times but WWE is pretty dire these days. I was suprised by Gangrels interview, he seems like a really nice guy.
WWE's creative is at it's all time low right now yes.
Even if Russo comes back, he will not have free reign, he said he can't work under Stephanie.
@@Ultradude604 I think Stephanie's one of their biggest problems, not talented enough. The shareholders are also another problem. Sad to see it dying out but as a business they're making more money than ever so go figure.
@@skybluerob1 That's a huge problem right there. The more money they can rake in with these deals they're making, the less incentive they have to try and put out the best show they can each week.
@@TheNextStep851 Couldn't agree more. The real test will be when they're renegotiated in a few years, but by the WWE will have likely been bought by one of the entertainment companies by then. So while they aren't reliant on getting bums on seats or PPV buys, they can put out any old tatt, which they're doing. I can't even watch it anymore, it puts me off wrestling, but I'm enjoying AEW and Impact. They at least try different things and act as if they want our custom. Even the wrestlers (sorry, Superstars) looked embarrassed and bored in WWE.
"Especially in porn, never work with animals or kids."
😂
Al Snow has aged well!
The only thing in WCW that Russo did right in my opinion even though it was too little to late is book Bret Hart the way he should have been booked in the first place with him winning titles etc.
@Ultra Instinct 94 Oh I didn't know about that. Thanks for the info.
Before his arrival WCW was all about feeding Hogan's ego.
Amen on david getting the title... instantly made it look like a joke. besides the NWO spray paint on the belt
the belt was a joke after the Finger Point of Doom, and that was before Russo's time in WCW
Hugh G, Rection -Vince Russo.
Major Guns!
wow it was nice hearing al snow
You did Gangrel so dirty with that thumbnail 😂
He thinks it's funny
Dave Penzer in talent relations 🤣
I remember watching Al Snows interviews in ECW and thinking "jesus this guy is fucking mental". Then when I saw him in WWF I thought "man, guys got some skills too". Then they stuck a cheese hat on him and I faded away a bit.
Then tough enough happened and I was waiting for the announcement at some point that Al had opened his own territory, was running his own TV and was about to put McMahon out of business. As the years have gone on and as he puts more and more interview out there and shares his thoughts and his mind you can tell he's a very rare and special wrestling mind. One of the few left that understands the pure base of wrestling (not the internet jerkoff style)
There are plenty of people over the years that have just been accepted as wrestling legends, geniuses, pioneers etc. I for one would start to put Al in that category. It's a shame that I feel his wrestling suffered near the end of his WWF run but I'm glad he got his time behind the mat on things like TE, and I wish we could get more of his behind the mat business out to the public to get some real appreciation for him
@Sum body really? Never knew russo worked for ECW...
Russo didn't write his in ring performances did he? And on the creative side at WWF he had a whole team of talented writers and McMahon as a filter. Regardless of that I've liked Al throughout his entire career both in and out of the ring so not really sure why you even commented what you did lol
@Sum body didn't say anything about not thinking he had skill before WWF. WWF just allowed me to see more of it. And again, what does that have to do with russo? Russo was a writer, he had zero to do with Als in ring abilities. All russo did was got rid of the head and gave him a chihuahua
@Sum body what does not liking a gimmick have to do with his in ring abilities? And once again I'll repeat, what influence did Russo have on Als in ring abilities?
Sounds like you need to learn the difference between writing, working an angle and in-ring wrestling performance. I'll give you a hint, russo only had a hand in one of the 3
@@eddiehead>And on the creative side at WWF he had a whole team of talented writers
No, he didn't. It was only him and Ed Ferrara.
Never knew how behind the scenes Disco was until abt 6 mos ago... I would see Konan from time to time, but didn't know they were some of the ideas behind what we see.
Why am I not surprised at all to learn that Russo was responsible for the Kennel from Hell fiasco.
That some still think he is a genius makes my hair fall out.
Ybyb yeah but Meltzer marks will give the credit to Vince McMahon & the talent for all of the positives of the Attitude Era & blame Russo for anything they didn’t like.
I know some of these guys are bad asses, some aren’t . Some guys IRL are intimidating, some are nice guys. Al Snow isn’t a huge guy, but he seems like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want mad at you, or yelling at you.
Meltzer’s comments sound hypocritical given how similar the critiques of his booking could be said about AEW. 😂
What is it that David Meltzer just snorted? I’ve never heard somebody speak so fast on such a continuous basis.
If Meltzer is a "wrestling personality then so is any wrestling fan with a computer or smartphone 🤦♂️🤣
And has about as much credibility.
I'm confused, so did Al Snow emphasize that they needed highly trained animals?
No, the animals needed a highly trained Al Snow.
Using the Nielsen ratings scale may have been everything in the 90s and early 2000s but when the Monday night wars were long over it started to become a dinosaur. Because with the creations of TiVo/DVR and which leads to the likes of the WWE Network and such--or as Al Snow said watch it on youtube--the ratings cannot have the same stock as they did 20-30 years ago. The firing of Paul Heyman is a bit premature. Yes, that Raw had a bad rating, but right now anyone in charge is facing an uphill battle to sell pro-wrestling in an empty studio--a very steep hill at that. But Vince McMahon I imagine is very irritable right now considering this pandemic caught him with his pants down financially. Do not get me wrong, though, Russo rung in a high rating--let's not forget though Dwayne and Mick made that overlong piece entertaining and made us forget how long it really was.
Dave Meltzer has LOTS of space for ear piercings.
Tank Abbott has a perfect Master Rhoshi beard.
2:20 When my boss forgot I told him I called off today.
With Vince Russo he needs some one tell him that some of his idea's are and work on his great idea's more. when he doesn't have it everything goes down hill for the company he doesn't need a yes man he need some one to put him in the right direction.
absolutely, well said. 👍
You can't give the credit of the attitude era to just one person. Russo def deserves credit. He needed McMahons wisdom to reign him in. People forget who they had training wrestlers back then too. Tom Pritchard and Dory Funk Jr. They provided a ton in bringing talent up to that rosters pedigree. The roster itself deserves a ton of credit. That was one of the most talented rosters from top to bottom. All these things meeting in the middle and creating such a good product.
You're right that Talent Relations were doing an amazing job back then and they had great trainers putting the roster together. However in terms of writing the shows, Russo and Ferrara deserve the credit. It was their vision that turned it around for the WWF. Vince McMahon has said he never wanted the Attitude Era, which proves how disconnected he is and always has been from his audience. He's always pushed the same superman character at the head of his table and you can look all the way back to the Bob Backlund era to see that eventually the crowd will turn against it.
16:22 Hacksaw Jim Duggan looking like an old shot-out AJ styles Grandpa
*“Some people are gifted at bullshit.” - Jake Roberts*
Jake especially.
No wonder Disco sucks. He just admitted to having the same mind for wrestling as Russo. They also have identical enormous egos for no reason.
U don't know Russo then if u think he has a big ego. Ive been listening to Russo for 3 years now in his podcast network hes far from egotistical
@@jerezarl yeah because making yourself world champion when you just copy Jerry Springer episodes for a living is well deserved. Or so you can understand..... Bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro on a pole bro bro bro.
@Ybyb i have, hence why I commented what I did. Bro bro bro. He's trying to filter history through his own mind. He's trash and always has been. He admitted that he would just copy Jerry Springer. Yup huge talent there ...
@Ybyb i have watched him and I stand by my comment. Bro
@@jerezarl cool story, bro.