Ex-WWE writer recalls Vince McMahon's mentality on TV ratings: "You never made excuses" (Exclusive)

Modified Apr 08, 2025 09:33 GMT

Vince McMahon headed the creative team in WWE [Image: WWE.com]

Former WWE head writer Vince Russo recently discussed how Vince McMahon would deal with bad ratings. Mr. McMahon was the former Chairman and CEO of the company.

Russo worked closely with Vince McMahon throughout the 90s. During the Attitude Era, he became the head writer for both RAW and SmackDown. During his stint writing the shows, WWE did stellar viewership numbers, eventually winning the Monday Night Wars over WCW.

On a recent episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW, Russo explained that Vince McMahon never accepted any excuses about bad ratings. He recalled nobody ever tried to explain bad ratings to the boss due to clashes with other shows or sports. The former writer recalled that Mr. McMahon would claim that if WWE had a good product, people would watch the show irrespective of what was on other channels.

"Think about this. Bro, you never made excuses with Vince. God forbid you said, 'Vince, the game was on tonight.' If you got a poor rating or a disappointing rating, the last thing you did was make an excuse to Vince. Because Vince basically said it's this simple - if it's good, they'll watch it. I don't care what's on the other channels, I could care less. If our show is good, they're going to watch it." [7:45 onwards]

Vince McMahon stepped back from his roles and responsibilities in WWE after the lawsuit by former employee Janel Grant. The veteran promoter recently settled the criminal case against him with the SEC. He has also been making public appearances, including a recent appearance at Madison Square Garden for an NBA game.

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About the author

Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Rahul Madurawe