By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA writer Vince Russo had plenty to say in defense of his writing style, why he writes fast-paced wrestling shows, and dealing with "paranoid" talent in an interview with Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald promoting his new book. The following are some highlights from Russo's interview.

-- Russo gave his philosophy on writing during the Monday Night Wars, which would carry over to a potential head-to-head battle between WWE and TNA on Monday nights. Russo also touched on his near-obsession with minute-by-minute TV ratings.

"When I was involved in the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990s, and we went head-to-head with WCW Monday Nitro, we literally wrote the show like the viewer at home was sitting there with the remote control in his hand, and he was begging you to give him the opportunity to change the channel," Russo said.

"That's literally how we wrote the show from minute to minute, making sure you didn't give anybody ten seconds to change that channel and go watch the competition," he said. "When you're head-to-head, every second counts. You literally have to treat every second like it's gold, and you have to go in it with the mind-set, 'If they click off my channel and watch the competition, they may not come back.' So, it's a completely different ball game."

Russo summed up his personal view: "There's no room for error. There's no experimenting. There's no trying new things."

Caldwell's Analysis: The last quote directly above captures why TNA Impact continues to resemble a replica of a late 1990s wrestling show rather than something new, different, or innovative to adjust to current entertainment/TV trends.

-- Russo said he shouldn't be targeted for the majority of criticism that comes his way because he often times has a grand vision that's watered down with tweaks here and tweaks there to where it's no longer his vision.

Based on Russo's quotes below, you can almost see him criticizing Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan, as well as the wrestlers with their own input, for taking what he's written and editing out some of his ideas.

Hogan has not been shy about saying he's often-times told a wrestler to forget what's written and just "rock and roll," while Bischoff has said he's filtered out some of the writing and given it to Hogan for approval.

"A lot of that (criticism) really comes from a misunderstanding of what it is I do -- just exactly what I do and do not have control over -- and the obstacles that get in the way in doing what I do, because you're dealing with personalities, stars, celebrities," Russo said.

"A lot of times, when you write a story, which to the writer -- being me -- is the perfect story or the dream story, you take it to the talent/the personalities, and you've got to sell it to them. They're the ones who will be doing it," Russo said. "Then there's a little tweak here, a little tweak there and a little change there. All of a sudden, it's not the original story that you had in mind, but at the end of the day, you're getting criticized for everything because you're the writer. There are just so many elements that unless you do it, you can't understand it."

-- Russo also said he deals with paranoia from the wrestlers in the locker room. Russo didn't specifically mention TNA having a locker room full of paranoid wrestlers, but he said it's inevitable wrestlers will walk around wondering if someone is going to try to mess with his or her career when everyone is fighting for a spot on the card.

Russo also interestingly shot down statements made by numerous TNA wrestlers and personalities who have publicly talked about TNA having a "team-first" mentality where everyone gets along to produce the best TV product.

"What you're dealing with in the wrestling business -- and this is really where the problem occurs -- the biggest issue I'm dealing with when it comes to talent is paranoia. The wrestling business was really built as these guys are independent contractors. So basically the way the business was set up 50 years ago was every man for himself. As independent contractors, each one was working for a spot," Russo said. "You still have that today, and that's the mentality you have today. There's no team environment, no matter what anyone tells you."

Russo continued: "Everybody's trying to get their spot. So with that comes the paranoia -- the looking over my shoulder, the how is this guy going to screw me, how is the writer going to screw me. That's the biggest hurdle in working with talent."


Caldwell's Analysis: I just hit the tip of the iceberg on everything Russo had to say in the interview, so check it out (if you dare). After reading the entire interview, sometimes I wonder if Russo has ever heard the phrase "keep it simple." He talked a great deal about envying Hollywood TV writers because they get to write 22 weeks at a time before taking a break to digest each season while wrestling writers have to go, go, go 52 weeks a year. Wade Keller has used the following analogy before and I agree with it that Russo should be able to put each week's TV show on a 5x7 index card and that should be the show. Russo talks like TNA has to come up with elaborate scripts that detail everything down the minute. His stress level, the pace of the show, and the quality of wrestling would actually improve if TNA's writing team were to simplify the entire process down to a simple list.

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