Vince Russo has given his brutally honest reaction to Vince McMahon changing the WWE Money in the Bank venue.
The premium live event was scheduled to be held at the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on July 2. However, due to poor ticket sales, the show has been moved to the 17,000-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Russo, WWE’s former head writer, exchanged emails with McMahon last year about the company’s business model. Speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Dr. Chris Featherstone, he made it clear that the WWE Chairman has no plans to make any creative changes.
“It would blow you away how Vince McMahon, I’m telling you right now as we speak, he honestly doesn’t believe there’s a problem,” Russo said. “And let’s face it, you and I separate this all the time: business and creative. Two separate things. Is there a problem business-wise? Absolutely not. Is there a problem creative-wise? There is a huge problem.” [0:35-1:06]
Watch the video above to hear Russo’s thoughts on why WWE may have nixed plans for Riddle vs. Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank.
Vince Russo's take on Vince McMahon struggling to create stars
In the late 1990s, Russo wrote storylines for WWE when RAW regularly drew its highest-ever television ratings. Two decades on, he reviews the show every week as part of Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Legion of RAW series.
The one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion believes WWE’s low ticket sales are a consequence of the company’s inability to produce major stars.
“If you believe you can fill that arena, go for it,” Russo stated. “But now the harsh reality is we can’t. Why can’t you? Because we’ve said this for years and years and years. You don’t have stars, you don’t have television stars, and stars sell tickets, stars put butts in seats, stars equal viewers. You don’t have stars. My question is… is this a wake-up call to them or do they just kind of shrug this off?” [1:50-2:31]
Russo added that Roman Reigns’ rival Riddle mostly appeals to children. By comparison, WWE’s top stars in the Attitude Era were liked by different generations of fans due to the way they were presented.
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