The Japenese Don't Mess With Vince Russo

[StatUS]

A lot of people sure seem to think Vince Russo is back in TNA, but nobody seems sure of it. Some of his trademarks have shown back up on Impact, like women being verbally abused. Perhaps more notably, Samoa Joe randomly tweeted that he had buried the hatchet with him.
Where the story gets interesting beyond the usual TNA self-destructiveness is that if Russo's back, their deal with Wrestle-1 (talent exchange and a "One Night Only" PPV taping in Japan) is in jeopardy. Basically, what happened is that Wrestle-1 called TNA to ask if Russo was back, didn't get a straight answer, and frantically called Dave Meltzer to ask what he knew. In Japan, Russo is seen as a racist who refuses to push Japanese wrestlers.

It's possible that the perception is from personal experience, as Keiji Mutoh is the Wrestle-1 front man and worked under Russo for his last run in WCW, as did fellow Wrestle-1 star Kaz Hayashi. Mutoh also speaks fluent English, so if Russo were to be especially vile but didn't know that...well, you get the idea.

It could also be that he's developed a reputation over the years, stemming back to a comment that he made in an interview with Ben Miller in 1999, just before he left WWE for WCW. Miller was asking about the focus on clean finishes in All Japan Pro Wrestling and how maybe that philosophy could at least be adopted for title matches in American promotions when Russo interrupted him:

"I'm going to tell you something right now that you will absolutely not agree with, but I've been a wrestling fan my whole life and I will live and die by this—it is hard enough, believe me I write this shyt, it is hard enough to get somebody over. You will never ever, ever, ever, ever see the Japanese wrestler or the Mexican wrestler over in American mainstream wrestling. And the simple reason for that is, even myself, I'm an American, and I don't want to sound like a big bigot or a racist or anything like that, but I'm an American...if I'm watching wrestling here in America, I don't give a shyt about a Japanese guy. I don't give a shyt about a Mexican guy. I'm from America, and that's what I want to see. Now there are the smart fans that love that type of shyt, like you."

Later: "When I was a kid watching wrestling, how am I supposed to care about a guy whose name I can't pronounce? And I'm not being a smart ass. Like I said, it's hard enough to get an American over, you're going to get a Japanese and a Mexican over that an American can relate to?" When discussing ECW, he said "I watch everything that I can. I've never watched Mexican or Japan, because I don't give a shyt. I live here, that's all I care about." In TNA, when he did a "shoot interview" with Mike Tenay, he famously said "If you want Lucha Libre, go to Japan!"

 

[Yoda]

VIVA LA RAZA

 

[Norrin Radd]

The L's just keep piling up, don't they?

 

[DoubleJ13]

"Some of his trademarks have shown back up on Impact, like women being verbally abused."

"If you want Lucha Libre, go to Japan!"

 

[Jmare007]

Mutoh

 

[Prince Akeem]

 

[Beautiful Bobby Eatin]

"Some of his trademarks have shown back up on Impact, like women being verbally abused."

"If you want Lucha Libre, go to Japan!"

I wish Zeb had that on one of his signs



(In a way nowadays hes not wrong...)

Mutoh

Spittin mist on the name of Vince Russo

 

[MushroomX]

TNA cannot get rid of Russo's stank fast enough.

 

[Black White Sox Hat]

TNA cannot get rid of Russo's stank fast enough.

Or vice versa.

 

[Psychosis]

 

[SuikodenII]

Yeah, he's racist. They use that excuse for black wrestlers too, but it's just that, an excuse

 

[dh86]

Latinos and Japanese can get over like wildfire in BASEBALL but not in wrestling? Lol Russo. WWE has similar mentality to Russo but instead of outright xenophobia, it's a quota system.

 

[StarClout]

@StatUS

It's JAPANESE

Fix the thread title

:smughunter:

 

[Peter Parker]

"Japenese"

 

[puppetmaster]

I don't blame them for being like about Russo AT ALL.

I'd never read that interview but wow just some straight up racist ignorance, I wanna think he's changed in the 15 years since but that's doubtful.

"I don't want to sound like a big bigot or a racist or anything like that" anytime someone prefaces with this, you know they're about to jump off the deep end, I was damn near waiting for an "I don't give a shyt about a black guy" too since that seemed next

How are you supposed to care about someone who's name you can't pronounce? easy. .. I sure as hell learned to care about Keiji Mutoh real quick when he was styling on Sting as a kid. Muta was like watching a real life super hero/Ninja with some of the things dude was doing out there so fluidly. .. and that resonated with this random black kid from Chicago that was really into martial arts

Spoiler

i'm still gonna find a reason as a logically thinking adult to hit this

on somebody somewhere some day gotdammit

-P-