Tony Khan and Triple H repeatedly make the same booking mistake, WWE veteran says (Exclusive)

Tony Khan and Triple H have the final say on storyline developments in AEW and WWE respectively. Vince Russo, a former writer for TNA, WCW, and WWE, believes the two men often struggle to tell compelling stories.

Khan has been in charge of AEW's creative direction since launching the company in 2019. In WWE, Triple H oversaw the NXT brand for a decade before taking over the same role on RAW and SmackDown in 2022.

Russo appeared on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo with host Mac Davis. Discussing the lack of individual backstories in tag-team wrestling today, he placed the blame on Khan and Triple H.

"The two guys in charge are not writers," Russo said. "Hunter [Triple H] is not a writer. Tony Khan is not a writer. You've got to write characters and they've gotta have character traits and you gotta keep pounding those character traits home and you see those character traits in storylines. You can't see character traits in the ring." [8:05 – 8:31]

Watch the video above to hear more from Russo on how he would book new SmackDown signings, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin.

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Vince Russo thinks WWE can take inspiration from the Attitude Era

In the late 1990s, Vince Russo wrote storylines for WWE when RAW regularly drew the highest ratings in the show's history. During that time, wrestling legend Mark Henry developed the fun-loving 'Se*ual Chocolate' persona.

Russo believes the story behind Henry's gimmick change allowed viewers to get invested in his character:

"Bro, I'm just watching the Attitude Era now and I'm at the part, remember Mark Henry really wanted to take Chyna out for a date? That's how you build characters, bro! That's how he becomes Se*ual Chocolate. You don't develop that during a wrestling match, man." [8:38 – 8:56]

Russo also referenced Chris Jericho's 1999 RAW debut to highlight how writers can create excitement for a wrestler's first appearance.

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If you use quotes from this article, please credit Writing With Russo and embed the video, giving an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

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