Current wrestlers lack pride and urgency, WWE veteran claims (Exclusive)

WWE Superstars are often compared to wrestlers from past generations, particularly the popular Attitude Era in the late 1990s. Vince Russo, a WWE writer during that time, believes modern-day stars are unwilling to take risks.

Russo was WWE's head writer alongside Ed Ferrara when RAW regularly drew high television ratings. In those days, WWE moved away from its usual family-friendly approach and began targeting young adult viewers.

On Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo, the veteran writer told host Dr. Chris Featherstone that basketball players and wrestlers have the same issue. In Russo's opinion, athletes only want to boost their bank balance and are not bold enough to make a name for themselves:

"Bro, you've got the critics and the former players ripping the NBA play. And here's what they're saying it comes down to. Bro, these guys got guaranteed money, so they're gonna dribble up, stop at the three-point line, take a shot. That's it. The check has been cashed. And we say the same thing about wrestling, man. There's no sense of urgency. When somebody's got this big, fat contract, bro, you just gotta play in the game. That's all you gotta do, bro." [4:54 – 5:32]

Watch the video above to hear Russo's honest take on the future of AEW's television deal in the United States.

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Vince Russo on the difference between WWE stars and Michael Jordan

In the 1990s, Michael Jordan cemented his status as an all-time basketball great after winning the NBA Championship six times with the Chicago Bulls.

Vince Russo believes Jordan would have performed at the same high level regardless of his paycheck. In wrestling, however, he thinks some in-ring talents' passion goes away once they earn big money.

"Part of it I really don't understand is, again, the sense of pride," Russo continued. "Chris, come on, man, if Michael Jordan was getting paid 10 million dollars a game, do you think that would affect his play whatsoever? Absolutely not. You could have paid that dude a hundred million dollars a year and it would not have changed the way he played the game, man." [7:32 – 7:57]

In a separate video, Russo claimed a RAW star would become more popular with fans if he left WWE.

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Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.