“I’m a freaking novice” (Exclusive)

Former WWE head writer Vince Russo recently shared a story about working with Ric Flair. The two men worked together in WCW during the company’s final years.

While WCW was struggling in the Monday Night Wars against WWE, Vince Russo was brought in to change the company’s fortunes. The veteran wrestling writer started scripting the storylines, booking himself into some major feuds on TV.

On a recent episode of The Wrestling Outlaws, Russo recalled the time he was scheduled to wrestle Ric Flair in a Cage Match. The veteran writer claimed he was a novice, competing in a live setup where anything could go wrong. Russo mentioned going to the WCW Power Plant to rehearse the spots, but Flair walked him through the encounter in 10 minutes. He felt he needed more time, but the Nature Boy was hesitant, and they barely spent any more time preparing for the match.

“Bro, come on. I’m a freaking novice. I don’t know what the freak I’m doing, and I’m supposed to have a Cage Match with Ric Flair. Like come on, who’s kidding who? So they put the cage up at the Power Plant. They put it up at the Power Plant so I can go through the match with Flair. I go to the Power Plant, Flair’s there. He walks me through the match, A-Z, I am not kidding you, in less than 10 minutes. I’m trying to register everything he’s saying. So, he’s done, and I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s go over that one more time.’ I swear to God, he’s like, ‘What do you mean? We just went over it.’ I didn’t say anything, and we didn’t go over it again. But bro, like seriously.” [6:55 onwards]

Russo’s stint in WCW wasn’t as successful, with the company shutting its doors in 2001 after selling to Vince McMahon. Ric Flair joined the WWE and went on to have several classic matches, adding to his Hall of Fame-worthy career.

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Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Prityush Haldar