Vince Russo Reveals Why He Didn’t Push Samoa Joe As the Face of TNA in 2006

In an interview with 411’s Jeffrey Harris and the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast (which you can listen to below), Vince Russo explained why he didn’t push Samoa Joe as the face of TNA in 2006, saying his fluctuating weight and promo style were the main issues.

“It was a couple of things, bro,” Russo said. “And again, I want to clarify this with people because I’m gonna say this, and then I’m gonna have heat with Joe, and people are gonna hate me. I worked with Samoa Joe for a very long time. As a human being, forget the wrestling, forget the business, I’m talking about as a human being. I thought Samoa Joe was a great guy. I love Joe. He was a family man. He was a standup guy. So, from a personal level, I love the guy. But now, we’ve got to look at the professional level, and there were two sides of it for me why Joe was never the top guy at TNA. And I’ll be honest with you, bro, I still see the same traits as the WWE.

Now, you got to understand. This is my professional opinion, and that’s all it is. It is my professional opinion. It has nothing to do with how I feel about the guy as a man. No. 1, one of the of the problems we had with Joe at TNA is — keep in mind because of finance constraints, many times we would have to shoot five-six-seven, sometimes two months worth of TV. So, sometimes all the talent would come. We would shoot either a month of TV, six weeks of TV, eight weeks of TV, whatever it would be, and then they would come back, and we would shoot the next month or the next two months. It wasn’t weekly. Well bro, one of the problems that we had with Joe, and I still see it today, was his weight would always fluctuate. And sometimes, Joe would come to tapings looking great, and then we would see him in two months, and he would put on a lot of weight. And we would have to say, “Joe, bro, you gotta get in shape.” He would come back to the next TV looking slim, looking great, and then the next TV, he would come back and put the weight back on.

There was really inconsistent with his physical appearance. And bro, the weight really played into his work. We never knew what Samoa Joe we were going to get. And bro, listen, I’m 58 years old. I’m a fat slob, bro. I just got back from cardio now. I hate doing cardio. I hate dieting. I know how difficult that is, but on the other side of the coin, I’m not a professional wrestler for a living. When you’re a professional wrestler, that’s kind of part of the routine. The dieting and the working out and the being in shape. We never knew what Joe was going to show up for TV tapings.

No. 2 for me, being a writer and being a producer, and part of this was on me. I take responsibility for this. I worked with him for a long time. To me, Joe is very one dimensional. He cuts those promos, “I’m gonna kill ya,” “I’m gonna eat ya,” “I’m gonna do this,” “I’m gonna do that.” You know, straight away in the promo shots, spitting at the camera, that’s one dimensional, bro. And after you hear it over and over and over again, and “I’m gonna do this to AJ [Styles],” “I’m gonna do this to this one,” “I’m gonna do this to that one,” and then you lose, you have no credibility. You know, Bret Hart told me — I’m going back 20 years ago — Bret Hart said to me, “Vince. Before I cut a promo, I know who’s going over. So, if I know I’m doing the job, when I cut my promos, I never say I’m going to win. I never say I’m going to go over because if I do that, I will lose all credibility.” Joe has done that in every angle.

Now you gotta understand, that’s on the producers. That’s on the producers to know, Joe’s doing a job. Don’t make him keep him going out there, [saying,] “I’m gonna do this to you,” “I’m gonna do that to you,” because when he doesn’t and he continues to say it, it doesn’t mean anything. And like I said, a lot of that is on the producers and a lot of that is on the writers. But from a professional standpoint, that was my experience in working with Joe.”

In the full interview, Russo talks about WWE botching how they booked Ronda Rousey from the start, if WWE should fear AEW, why he thinks vindictiveness was at the root of WWE picking Baron Corbin as Kurt Angle’s WrestleMania 35 opponent, what exactly happened backstage with Triple H after the Kliq curtain call, why Triple H doesn’t have the right mind to change WWE, and more.

If using any news or quotes from our interview, please credit 411mania.com and please embed the podcast audio player or YouTube video of the full interview in your post.

Intro
WrestleMania weekend (0:17)
What match should go on last at WrestleMania (3:40)
How Ronda Rousey has been booked (7:20)
Baron Corbin being picked at Kurt Angle’s opponent (10:15)
If AEW is good for wrestling (14:00)
If WWE should fear AEW (15:35)
Why Samoa Joe wasn’t booked as face of TNA (18:10)
Triple H’s main event push and the curtain call (23:35)
Triple H’s mind for being a wrestling executive (26:38)
Triple H/Batista and Kofi Kingston storyline booking (29:00)

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