Vince Russo offers rare praise to Paul Heyman for one crucial decision: "I'll never take that away from him" (Exclusive)

Paul Heyman has been in pro wrestling for multiple eras, and Vince Russo, who hasn't always had positive things to say about The Bloodline member, recently commended the manager for handling Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman in ECW.

Austin and Pillman had two of the most iconic characters of the 1990s, and the gimmicks would not have become a reality without the groundwork in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Paul Heyman decided to give Austin and Pillman the freedom to expand themselves creatively, resulting in the creation of two legendary wrestling personas. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman were close friends in real life, and their careers seemingly progressed together, as they were even popularly known as the Hollywood Blonds tag team.

Vince Russo credited Paul Heyman's contribution to Austin and Pillman's rise on the latest episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Outlaws, as you can view below:

"That's Paul Heyman [does his hand gesture]. Yeah, no doubt he gave them [Steve Austin and Brian Pillman] the freedom. He gave them the freedom of speech. Again, taking nothing away from Paul E. He gave them the freedom to go out there and be themselves. I'll never take that away from him." [From 4:50 onwards]

Vince Russo recalls an amazing story involving Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman

As he was the WWE head writer at one point, Vince Russo's job involved interacting with all the top stars during the Attitude Era. Russo, though, worked more closely with Steve Austin, who once insisted that the creative team member watch one of Brian Pillman's ECW promos.

Vince Russo revealed that Austin made his go through the segment, which was the first promo Pillman ever cut in Paul Heyman's company.

It might not be easy, but Vince urged fans to dig deep into the archives and see the brilliance of Pillman when he spoke in ECW for the first time.

"I swear to god, you guys want to know how great Pillman is. You guys know how great Austin is, right? Bro, Austin literally made me watch Pillman's first promo in ECW. Austin made me watch this promo. Guys, you go back and watch that promo, and then you're going to tell me you're going to ask yourself the question, 'What happened?'" [From 05:37 - 06:00]

Brian Pillman also studied serial killers while on the road, and Vince Russo disclosed details of his travels with the late great superstar right here.

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