As part of his new “Dear Vince Project”, www.dearvinceproject.com, Vince Russo has just released a new weekly feature called “Russo Books Raw”. Every week, prior to RAW airing that night, Russo will offer his opinions and suggestions on where WWE should go creatively.
Coming off the heels of last night’s Night of Champions pay-per-view, Vince had a clean slate to work with, and he decided to go all out. Vince offers his suggestions on everything from the main event down to Bo Dallas and Adam Rose!
Check out an excerpt below:
“My system in booking RAW is going to be as follows: Following every pay-per-view, I am going to lay out a general direction for not only the following night’s RAW, but where I would go leading up to the next pay-per-view. In this case — Hell in a Cell. When I was back booking a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we would book from PPV to PPV, knowing where we were going month to month, but really building each week in between with as much intrigue as possible.
Heading into the second week of TV, things will then change a bit, as I will try to stay within the storylines and angles that the WWE has laid out, offering an alternative to how I would cover the direction that Creative has already set in place. In other words, I will work within the mainframe and parameters that they have built, and use what is already there to craft the best show possible.
Last night at NOC, in my opinion, there were some things done well and some not so well. Some things to build on — some things that need fixing. Going into tonight’s show, this is the overall direction that I would be heading in, if I had a clean slate.
While I’m aware there will be some people that enjoy my vision and others that disagree, please note that these are simply MY opinions…MY suggestions. There is never a 100% right or 100% wrong way to write a TV show — it’s all subjective. I simply hope you’ll find these weekly features just as I mean for them to be: entertaining alternatives.
Would love to hear your thoughts on Twitter by using the hashtag #RussoBooksRAW. I simply ask you keep them respectful.
With all that out of the way, let’s get to work!
GOLDUST/STARDUST — NEW WWE TAG TEAM CHAMPS
Let’s change something up right off the bat, and not just book the Usos rematch the next night because of their “traditional” rematch clause. Leave it there for now — it’s not going anywhere. I would book a non-title match tonight between Goldust and Stardust vs. Luke Harper and Erik Rowan. I am already intrigued because it’s two heel teams (although Goldust and Stardust aren’t your typical heel team).
We all know that Harper & Rowan have been fading as of late, and I think we need to fix that. These two were on a roll and then their momentum just came to a screeching halt. In this match ,I’d make it an all-out brawl with Goldust/Stardust going over. At the end of the match, I’d have the blackout with Bray appearing in the middle of the ring after the bell. Here, the fans think that Bray is going to attack Goldust and Stardust, but he doesn’t. In fact he hits Harper & Rowan with Sister Abagails leaving them both laying.
The story here is that Bray has seen enough of their fall and he will ultimately bring them back to prominence through a level of tough, violent love that he has never before displayed. Bray, Harper and Rowan now bring their game to an all-time high. This would lead to a match at HIAC between Goldust/Stardust and Harper/Rowen for the WWE Tag Team Titles. Rowan/Harper would label the match “Hillbilly Hell” — a hardcore match where anything goes. Yeah, I get it — the kids. However, this is PAY-PER-VIEW, and we wouldn’t see anything more violent than the cinder block curb stomp on Ambrose that we saw on RAW only a few weeks ago.
SHEAMUS — WWE US TITLE
A couple of things to accomplish here…
For starters, WWE Creative made Sheamus look strong last night, and I would think that’s to get him ready for Rusev, as that would be the obvious angle. What I would do here to make things interesting, is to have Mark Henry avoid a return match with Rusev, because he knows now that he can’t beat him, and put his sights on Sheamus and the US Title to save face with the American fans. Of course, in the process you are turning the veteran Henry heel, who keeps repeating that he’s “doing it for the fans and America”, but you are also putting the spotlight on Sheamus, making him strong, and getting him ready for Rusev.
Sheamus and Mark Henry would then collide at “Hell in the Cell”.
I’ll have more on Rusev in a moment…”
To view Vince Russo’s entire free sample, go to www.pyroandballyhoo.com/free-preview-russo-books-raw
To read the full article, you’ll need to sign up for the VIP section of Vince Russo’s website. If you sign up between now and midnight tonight, however, you can get your first month of VIP access for just $2.95 by using the discount code CHAMPION at checkout.
Tweet your thoughts to Vince @PyroBallyhoo and be sure to use the hashtag #RussoBooksRaw!
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
