Russo says that he lost his passion for professional wrestling in 1999, before he even left WWE to head to WCW. After this point, writing wrestling simply became a job for him and he began seeing the ugly underbelly of the wrestling business. At the height of the attitude era, he recalls sitting with his wife and telling her, “I just want my life back”.
When the WCW deal was put on the table, he decided he was going to try to suck it up for two more years so he could make as much money as possible, before leaving the business. He hated every single minute he worked for WCW, but he tried to be the best he could be both on and off the camera. Unfortunately, after those two years of saving money he lost all of it when the stock market crashed in the early 2000s.
That was a very depressing time for him and he was forced to get back into the wrestling business. He started working with TNA where he would leave and return multiuple times, because every time he tried to get out he realized he needed the money for his family.
That sums up today’s episode of Vince Russo’s The Brand. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!