Vince Russo believes Drew McIntyre and Karrion Kross were held back in WWE due to politics and insecurity at the creative level, and he was blunt about it during his interview with -7 Sports.
While discussing WWE’s current approach to talent, the former WWF/WCW/TNA writer argued that repeated decisions around certain wrestlers cannot be explained by timing or patience. “When you start seeing stuff like that, bro, that’s when you know that’s a 1000% politics,” he said, pointing specifically to Kross’ handling.
Russo questioned how WWE could fail to capitalize on what he described as an obvious presentation. “When you’ve got a package of Karrion Kross and Scarlett, and bro, let me say this about Scarlett – this is a movie star looking woman,” Russo said. “When you’ve got this couple that got dollar signs all over them, and their contract is not renewed, bro, you know it’s one of two things.”
He narrowed those reasons down. “Number one, it’s either politics or number two, the people who are in charge of their careers are incompetent, so they need to go,” he said. He made it clear he leans toward the former explanation, suggesting internal dynamics play a bigger role than fans are told.
His criticism extended even more forcefully to McIntyre, whom he described as a clear top-level star who was never fully treated as such. “Bro, the fact that Drew McIntyre isn’t at the top – are you kidding me?” Russo said. “Tattoo dollar signs all over this freaking guy. Look at the way they book this guy, bro. People need to be fired.”
Russo predicted that WWE’s failure to maximize McIntyre will become more obvious with time. “He’s going to become a huge movie star, and then you’re going to look back on his WWE career and you’re going to say, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’” he said, adding that McIntyre’s next phase outside WWE could expose how badly he was underutilized.
According to Russo, the root issue goes beyond individual booking mistakes and ties directly to who is in charge of creative. He argued that former wrestlers in creative power positions struggle to push talent who may outgrow them. “Triple H still has the mentality of a wrestler,” Russo said. “When Triple H sees somebody come along that has the potential to be better than he was, he’s going to chop them off at the knees, bro.”
Russo said he has seen this pattern repeat throughout wrestling history. “That’s why you can never have a former wrestler be in charge of creative that is going to have a bearing on other wrestlers,” he said. “There’s baggage there. Some guys are favorites. Some guys they’ve got heat with. That’s going to affect the way they book them.”
He connected that mindset directly back to McIntyre and Kross. “That’s what happened with Kross. That’s what happened with Drew McIntyre,” Russo said. “I went through this so many times in my career.”
In Russo’s view, the solution for talent caught in that situation is simple, even if it’s harsh. “When you’ve got that kind of talent and your career is in the hands of a Triple H, get the freak out of dodge,” he said. “Because what’s going to happen to you is what happened to Kross and what happened to Drew McIntyre.”
Russo closed his point by stressing that nothing will change unless WWE completely alters who controls creative direction. “That’s all they know,” he said. “Every time they don’t know what to do, they go back to wrestling. And when you go back to wrestling, you keep going backwards.”
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