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It's a great time to be a TNA fan, as the company has ditched the IMPACT Wrestling branding to go back to its old name. Vince Russo, who was a part of the promotion for several years, recently spoke about his working relationship with Don West and Mike Tenay.
Considered the voices of TNA and part of the original broadcast team, Mike Tenay and Don West joined the promotion during its early years. West, unfortunately, passed away in 2022 at the age of 59 due to lymphoma and was recently posthumously inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame alongside Tenay.
The energetic announcer was an important figure in TNA's history, and Vince Russo recalled how he helped Don West get into the organization in 2002. While speaking on the latest Legion of RAW episode, Russo revealed that he initially wanted to get West signed by WCW, but it couldn't happen.
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West caught Russo's eye as the former was a television pitchman and was visibly a fantastic talker. The former WWE head writer was convinced that the Hall of Famer was tailormade for professional wrestling and got him a meeting with Total Non-Stop Action's founder, the legendary Jeff Jarrett.
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"I don't want to say I want to take credit for this, but this is to put Don West over. Bro, I used to remember getting ready to go to WCW. We had a show, and you leave at five or six o'clock in the morning, and bro, as I'm getting to leave my house, Don West is hawking baseball cards. And I'm like, this guy would be phenomenal in wrestling."
Russo further recalled how West started his announcing career in pro wrestling:
"I actually tried to get him hired in WCW, bro, and you know, Brad Siegel and everybody drug their feet, and you know, TNA was starting up, I told Jeff. Bro, it was meant to be because he [Don West] lived in Tennessee. So I set up Don and Jeff; Jeff met, loved him, and hired him. And that's how he started his announcing career." [14:01 - 15:00]
Vince Russo sent an email to Mike Tenay after the latter's TNA Hall of Fame induction
Mike Tenay and Don West are among the greatest commentary teams ever in pro wrestling, and it was about time they were given their flowers with a Hall of Fame induction. Vince Russo also spent some time in TNA and had only fond memories of working alongside Tenay and West.
The former WCW Champion even disclosed that he wrote an email to Tenay, congratulating the retired play-by-play announcer for a deserved spot in the TNA Hall of Fame.
Russo added:
"Yeah, man, I love working with those dudes. I just emailed [Mike] Tenay today to congratulate him, and I told him that I'm really sorry that Don couldn't be there with him, but I know Don West is in a better place. I love working with those two guys; every memory was very fond." [13:30 - 14:00]
Vince Russo doesn't seem too happy about Shinsuke Nakamura's new character, and you can read more about his criticism here.
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