5 WCW Characters Systematically Destroyed By Vince Russo
By: Chris Fothergill-Brown
September 22, 2009
People having their character destroyed is simply a part of life. Just witness the 2004 US Presidential Election where candidate John Kerry was accused time and again of wearing flip flops. It was so cutting that the American public overwhelmingly voted for Gene Simmons.
We know who's really responsible for the recession.
However, the entire concept of the attack is lost when you’re working against your own product. Ahhh, but in the world of wrestling this type of behaviour is commonplace. Grudges are held against wrestlers under your own brand for stunts they may have pulled while working for the competition, or worse, for failing to shake the hands of Darren Drozdov. And then there are men like Vince Russo who do it for seemingly absolutely no reason at all – other than complete and utter insanity.
5) Jim Duggan
Of all the people Vince Russo ruined, Jim Duggan appears to be one of the strangest. A harmless cancer survivor in his late 40’s, Duggan was essentially relegated to losing to young talent and making token appearances on some of WCW’s syndicated programming. It appeared that Duggan was just making the most of the time he had left, and pleasing young crowds with his patriot act.
This probably isn't the Patriot Act GW Bush had in mind.
Upon Vince Russo’s arrival to WCW in October of 1999, his first mandate seemed to be to make everyone more "interesting". This meant if you were Norman Smiley, technical wrestling was out, you now head up the hardcore division and cry like a little girl during every single shot with a weapon. If you were Meng, you were still a savage from Samoa, but now you have to grow an afro the size of a small country and eat bananas like a monkey.
During a meeting on WCW TV with the “Powers That Be”, Duggan was told if he wished to keep his job, he’d have to travel with the company as their janitor. Duggan embraced this opportunity, likely because he was still being paid at his old contract wages with none of the physical contact, and proudly donned a pair of brown coveralls that made him look like a giant turd.
“Hilarious” moments of this new transformation saw Jim Duggan playing chopsticks on the piano while screaming at the top of his lungs, washing the toilets with Vince Russo’s toothbrush, eating brownies laced with laxatives, and walking around with a fusebox just in case the power happened to go out while David Flair stalked Kimberly.
Just like Yogi Bear.
In the ring, the Revolution were tired of Duggan and his antics, and called him out regularly. When he was suckered into a match that would force him to turn against America if on the losing end, Duggan in fact lost and refused to adhere to the stipulation. The obvious “shocking” move would see Duggan turn on the States happily was clearly on the horizon, but thankfully Vince Russo was fired before this could happen.
Thankfully, this never happened.
Unfortunately, the same people who fired Vince Russo eventually brought him back, and the very first move they made with Jim Duggan was to turn him Canadian against the pro-American group “Misfits In Action”. Shaving off his trademark caveman hair and scruffy beard, Duggan renounced America and proudly sung Oh Canada to the obvious rage of at least half of the 3 or 4 people in attendance every night. When Vince Russo was fired again, Duggan was dishonourably sent back to America and wouldn’t be seen again until 2004 in the WWE when he’d arrive to hang out with his son, Eugene.
4) Hugh Morrus
From 1996 until 2000, wrestler Bill DeMott portrayed a character on TV named “The Laughing Man” Hugh Morrus. His character was your typical schizophrenic who generally played “The Big Man” in whatever stable of wrestlers he was booked with at any given time. Mildly successful, he was given regular time on Nitro and Thunder, where he hovered around in the TV title race.
Did we mention he could do a moonsault?
Vince Russo made it known upon his entry to WCW that wrestlers like DeMott would see more opportunity than the previous management had allowed. As proof of this, Hugh Morrus disappeared from TV for several months, until December when he reappeared with a crazy old man in a hospital gown walking around randomly.
The crazy old man was his “pop”, whose entire gimmick was to walk around like an escaped mental patient. After one appearance, both Morrus and “pop” were never seen or talked about again for a long time.
Fast forward to Russo’s dramatic return, Morrus was part of a group of wrestlers who were fired on television for ... well, nobody’s sure, the 14 fans in attendance were pretty blitzed, but they recall that someone was fired and there was definitely a reason. Never one to take instruction well, Morrus hung around. He would lead the other fired wrestlers with an army theme known as The Misfits In Action, or MIA. Chavo Guerrero Jr. became Lieutenant Loco, Van Hammer became Sergeant Stash (originally Private Stash, but he didn’t want to be a Private ... we are not making this up.), Lash LeRoux became Corporal Cajun, and The Wall became a heroin addict.
(Left: The Wall, just before trying heroin for the first time. Right: The Wall, 17 minutes later.)
DeMott would re-debut with his group at Slamboree, walking into a United States title shot as “Captain Hugh G. Rection”. He’d be promoted to General shortly thereafter, and kept the cock reference, err, coming. He would be re-united with his crazy old “Pop” and a big titted pornstar named “Major Gunns”, whose roles were to ensure as little emphasis would be placed on wrestling as possible.
"Pop"
He’d spend the remainder of his run in WCW feuding with a group of phony Canadians.
3) The Cruiserweight Title
Look folks, at Shooting Star Press we’re definitely a lot of things. But we’re still within our minds enough to know that the Cruiserweight Title is not in fact a person during most hours of the day. Today’s topic though is character destruction, and the Cruiserweight Title definitely qualifies.
Ultimo Dragon. Dean Malenko. Eddie Guerrero. Rey Mysterio Jr. Absolutely none of these men were involved in the Cruiserweight division at all when Vince Russo swaggered into Atlanta. Once considered the crown jewel of their company, the title was quickly reduced to a bigger joke than the WWF Hardcore Title which was being contested for inside of giant slides in amusement parks at the time.
WWF Hardcore Title defense, May 2000.
The Disco Inferno had been treading water as champion, and the title was shifted onto WCW Saturday Night mainstay Evan Karagias. Given the gimmick of a really horny young man looking for previously enjoyed cooch, he gave Madusa a title shot in exchange for a crack at her crack. Trying to recreate the magic Russo had experienced with Chyna, Madusa was now the champion of the Cruiserweight division.
Making all of 1 title defence against Brad “Buzzkill” Armstrong, Madusa went on to engage in a feud with Russo’s assistant, Ed “Oklahoma” Ferrara. Oklahoma was a parody of Jim Ross, complete with Bell’s Palsy, bad commentary, and 300 pounds. It should be noted at this point that the weight limit for the Cruiserweight division was 225 pounds, so he was ineligible to compete for the title. He’d win it, of course, with the help of a bottle of barbecue sauce.
Cruiserweight Title shots under Russo: 0
Pinata on a Pole matches: 1
WCW attempted to repair the damage by moving the title to Russo creation “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea” while Russo was on hiatus, but Iaukea lacked anything resembling a personality or decent wrestling skill, so the division continued to sink. When Russo returned in April like a crack fuelled whirlwind of insanity, the title began to trade hands weekly. Crowbar and Daffney would hold the title simultaneously even though Crowbar was above the weight limit. Daffney would then win the tiebreaker. Lance Storm would also win it that summer, also clearly well over the weight limit, though at this point nobody cared. Eventually he’d give it to Elix Skipper on the condition that he turn into a Canadian, and any further title changes are undocumented because nobody was watching.
2) Mike Awesome
In April of 2000, WCW was hitting the reset button on their programming like an angry 8 year old who hasn’t taken his Ritalin before a Super Mario Brothers marathon. On a near daily basis, management was being restructured all in the name of the ratings game.
During one of these shuffles, Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff had been brought back to be in charge of creative, and one of their first moves was to acquire ECW champion Mike Awesome. Awesome had been rescued from a bit of obscurity having spent most of his career on the indy circuit and Japan, and was on the run of a lifetime. A hot program with Masato Tanaka and an upcoming feud with Rob Van Dam and Sabu had lifted him among the top players in the industry. The shift to WCW would no doubt be a huge deal, and an easy money maker for both sides.
How can this miss?
After an initial appearance attacking WCW mainstay Kevin Nash, Awesome was jobbed out in his first pay-per-view appearance to Scott Steiner in about 3 minutes. An “Awesome” debut it was not. Within weeks he was mired in the midcard as the New Blood Special Enforcer, and seemingly heading nowhere fast. It would get worse.
By June, Russo had grown bored with the former ECW champion and decided to freshen up his character, turning him from killer to thriller. A Fat Chick Thriller that is. Yes, Awesome revealed on television to the 18 fans left in attendance and the entire staff of Shooting Star Press that he was a man who appreciated women with a little flesh on their bones, a thrill seeker who was always up for tons of fun. Fat chicks were spotted on television getting swooned by the charismatic mullet.
Professional wrestling!
Thankfully for Mike, Vince Russo has the attention span of a house cat, and Mike was repackaged in short order. But because he’s on this list, you know it can only get worse. Trading in the fat chicks for a leisure suit, Mike Awesome was now simply known as “That 70’s Guy”, a mellow dippy trippy hippy straight out of the 60’s, hosting his own segment The Lava Lamp Lounge. He was seen driving around a bus straight out of the Partridge Family, and hanging out with Gary Coleman. Coleman would be waffled by a Jeff Jarrett guitar much to the delight of the family of 4 in attendance who’d mistaken attended the wrong show.
After transforming hardcore psychopath Crowbar into his buddy, and doing a direct rip of “Those Wild And Crazy Guys” from Saturday Night Live, WCW eventually threw up their arms and turned Mike Awesome into a Canadian shortly before the company would close its doors for good.
1) Hulk Hogan
One of the most underrated points that lead to the change from a children’s program to a more mature product in the late 90’s was the rise of the Internet. Wrestling companies have loudly complained about the Internet as much as the Internet has complained about them, but ultimately, they intertwined to work hand in hand to create the Attitude era of wrestling.
ZOMG, first!
The anonymity of the Internet helped people’s voices ring loud, and Hulk Hogan became the #1 target of their wrath. Discussions of his political clout, lack of in ring ability, and general disdain towards their childhood hero popped up as quickly as the zits on their anonymous faces. Unfortunately for Hulk, one writer openly embraced the Internet Wrestling Community ... Vince Russo!
Upon entering WCW, his motivations were made clear from the beginning. Ric Flair was buried in a desert, Sting was phased out as the face of WCW, and Hulk Hogan was painted as a selfish politician. In his very first appearance working for Vince Russo, Hogan was scheduled to wrestle for the World Heavyweight Title. To make the appearance that he was working against the script, Hogan arrived in street clothes and laid down to champion Sting, before walking off. He wouldn’t be seen again until Vince Russo was terminated in January.
Hogan was put back in the title picture and was being groomed as the man to take Sid’s gold, only to see the Bischoff and Russo duo take back over in April of 2000. Hogan was tight with Bischoff, but still wary of Russo. Still, with Bischoff he trusted his career in the hands of Russo, and began dressing like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Heading up the war against the New Blood and armed with the letters FUNB, an obvious acronym for Fuck U Nick Bockwinkle, Hogan tried to develop an edge.
Gimme a hell yeah!
The Hulkster doesn’t have that edge though, and the entire concept felt forced. To boot, Hogan was put in a feud against lightweight Billy Kidman where he was repeatedly booked to make Kidman look like a chump. The entire feud had been built on comments Hogan had made months earlier about how Kidman couldn’t headline a flea market, and the booking seemed to back it up. He was then positioned into a World Title feud with Jeff Jarrett when all hell broke loose.
Reverting to his Hollywood Hogan persona for whatever reason was convenient for Russo at the time, Hogan entered the arena at Bash at the Beach to see an identical scenario to the previous year occur; Jeff Jarrett lay down as soon as the match began, allowing Hogan to get the pinfall and “win” the belt. Stories had been appearing on the Internet throughout the week that Hogan had been difficult to deal with heading into the match, and it was all confirmed when Vince Russo took the microphone 20 minutes later.
While the previous segment had been booked with Hulk’s approval, the idea was he’d return months later as the Real World’s Champion against whomever would presumably end up with the belt after a big tournament and feud. Russo however was far more interested in going into business for himself, and cut a scathing promo against Hogan. Hogan was called everything from selfish, to a politician, to being impossible to deal with, that he’d booked the match against Jarrett with his “creative control” card in his contract even when it was bad for business. He finished it all off by calling him a big bald son of a bitch, which wound up triggering a lawsuit by Hogan, who presumably was so surrounded by yes men he was unaware he was bald. However he was spared the ultimate indignation; he was never turned into a Canadian.
He would turn into a walrus though.