What Is Vince Russo's Net Worth?
Vince Russo is an American professional wrestling writer and author who has a net worth of $1.5 million. Vince Russo is best known for working in creative roles with the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action. He sometimes would appear on-screen as an authority figure or wrestler. Russo has been a controversial figure, and his writing style emphasized storylines over in-the-ring action. In one notably controversial move, he booked himself as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion at one point. Vince worked for the WWF from 1992 to 1999, WCW in 2000, WWE in 2002, and TNA off and on from 2002 to 2014. In 2005, he published the book "Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification," and in 2010, he released "Rope Opera: How WCW Killed Vince Russo." He has also been involved in podcasting and on YouTube.
Early Life
Vince Russo was born on January 24, 1961, in Long Island, New York. He grew up in Farmingville, New York, and his family is of Italian descent. After high school, he attended the University of Southern Indiana. Vince graduated from the school with his degree in journalism in 1983. While there, he worked for the school newspaper, "The Shield," as an assistant sports editor and later as the editor-in-chief.
Career
Russo began training in wrestling under the tutelage of Johnny Rodz at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn. To make money, he also owned two video stores on Long Island in New York. He began hosting his own local radio show in 1992 called "Vicious Vincent's World of Wrestling." The show aired on Sunday nights on WGBB in Freeport, New York, and was on air for exactly one year.
In 1992, Russo was also hired as a freelance writer for "WWF Magazine" after having written a letter to Linda McMahon, who later became the editor of the magazine. He was eventually promoted to the WWF Creative team in 1996. Following a dip in the ratings, the WWF chairman, Vince McMahon, asked Russo to make changes to the televised content of WWF. Russo began contributing more edgy and controversial storylines with more sexual elements, unexpected heel turns, and profanity. His style of writing became known as "Crash TV" and was heavily inspired by "The Jerry Springer Show."
According to Russo's philosophy, every character on WWF needed to be involved in some sort of storyline and be feuding with another character. By 1997, he had become the head writer for the WWF. Vince played a large role in putting WWF ahead of WCW in the Monday night rating wars. Russo devised the infamous Brawl for All tournament and contributed to the formation of many long-standing character feuds.
Vince remained the WWF head writer until October 1999, when he left and was replaced by Chris Kreski. Russo signed with WCW after having a dispute with Vince McMahon over his workload. After moving to WCW, many of his new storylines involved poking fun at the WWF. He also focused on creating a WCW that was more modern and streamlined and allowed younger talent to work with more established stars.
Russo also sometimes incorporated himself into wrestling storylines. In the mid-2000s, he entered into an angle with wrestler Ric Flair. The angle involved Russo sending cops to the ring to arrest Flair during a wedding between Ric's son, David, and Stacy Keibler. He also was involved in a tag match in 2000 that resulted in Russo suffering a concussion.
In June 2002, Vince returned to the WWF, which had been renamed the WWE, as a consultant to oversee the creation of some of the major wrestling broadcasts. However, he left after only two weeks as tensions were high. He then joined NWA-TNA in July of 2002 as a creative writer. While there, he returned as an in-ring character for a number of storylines and did not focus as heavily on writing. In September 2006, however, he returned as a primary writer at TNA. He became the head of creative for TNA sometime in 2009. He remained at TNA until 2014.
In 2014, Russo wrote a series of columns for "What Culture," a UK-based website with a pro-wrestling section. He also began hosting his own podcast in 2015. In December 2017, Vince signed with Aro Lucha promotion as a script consultant. However, he only worked as an independent contractor with the group for less than a year. He later began writing a weekly column for the website WebIsJericho.com.
Additionally, Vince has written a number of books. In 2000, he published the autobiography "Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification." He released his second book in 2010 called "Rope Opera: How WCW Killed Vince Russo."
Russo developed a reputation for being one of the most controversial figures in the world of wrestling. His writing style often emphasizes the storyline and characters over the other elements of professional wrestling. He has stated that sometimes he believes there is too much actual wrestling in the on-screen productions, and instead, the focus should be more on drama.
Personal Life
In 1983, Vince married his wife, Amy. The couple has had three children together. In 2003, Russo became a Born-Again Christian and founded a short-lived online Christian ministry called Forgiven. In 2005, he produced two shows for his Christian "Ring of Glory" independent promotion.
