Vince Russo reveals details about the final communication he had with Vince McMahon

[What was it about?]

“It was about—he was entertaining the idea of bringing me back because the numbers were going down again. So he was considering bringing me back, and he kind of wanted me to audition for the job. And I’m like, ‘Nah, Vince, I think you kind of know what I can do. I think you’ve seen what I can do. I’m not jumping through hoops. You can continue going down the road you’re going down.'”

[Wow. So this was like 2017 or so?]

“Yeah. Yeah. Before all the stuff went down. I think probably about eight years ago or so.”

[Ariel: Were you shocked that he reached out?]

“He actually—I think I reached out. I gotta tell you, Ariel, this is what happens with me and wrestling all the time: I watch it, and for me it gets so bad that I feel like I have to do something about it. Like, I cannot stand here and watch this anymore. And that’s what, on several occasions, caused me to reach out. So I actually reached out, but he did get back to me immediately.”

[Ariel: And you would have considered it?]

“He wanted me to watch the shows for a month and give him my feedback. So I came back with, ‘Okay, no problem—and what are you paying me for that month?’ And he hit me with, ‘Hey, you should be thrilled to have this kind of opportunity.’ And I’m like, ‘Vince, I’m not a kid just out of college. I’m not working for free. I’m not watching the shows for free. If you want to compensate me, no problem. But the days of me doing anything for free are long gone.’ And I’ll be honest, Ariel—he got pretty nasty with me. And the last email was really nasty. He was hitting me below the belt. And I didn’t even answer it. I was like, ‘Okay.’ And I didn’t even respond.

[Like personal insults?]

“Yeah. Personal insults. Yeah.”