Vince Russo thinks two major things are missing in WWE today (Exclusive)

Vince Russo believes the WWE product will improve if more attention is paid to well-defined characters and minute-by-minute viewing figures.

Russo worked as WWE’s head writer in the late 1990s when RAW drew the highest ratings in the show’s 29-year history. He worked closely with dozens of legendary superstars during that time, including the likes of Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin.

Speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Dr. Chris Featherstone, Russo said Vince McMahon’s shows will automatically become better if characters have more interesting backstories and personalities:

“When you have well-defined characters… bro, these shows write themselves. We have a Monday Night RAW… Austin’s gonna be Austin, Vince is gonna be Vince, Shawn’s gonna be Shawn. Everybody’s gonna be true to their character. So what happens, Chris, is you just let the storylines organically roll out.” [03:01-03:36]

Watch the video above to hear more of Vince Russo’s thoughts on how Vince McMahon can gradually improve the quality of his shows.

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Vince Russo thinks minute-by-minute WWE viewing figures are important

During his time in WWE and WCW, Vince Russo used to research the audience’s interest in characters by looking at minute-by-minute ratings. If viewing figures increased when a certain person appeared on television, he would try to include them in future storylines.

The one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion believes the same approach from two decades ago would still work today:

“You could see who was in the ring or what segment was happening when the numbers spiked, and when they dipped, you saw that too. So all you did, Chris, was when the numbers went up, you gave them more of that. When the numbers dipped, you eliminated that and gave them less.” [04:21-04:41]

Using the 1998 Royal Rumble as an example, Russo said Steve Austin was booked as the winner simply due to his popularity at the time. Viewing figures showed that fans wanted to see more of Austin, so WWE’s decision-makers had little choice but to book him as a top star.

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Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use quotes from this article.