Vince Russo will forever be a controversial figure in the world of professional wrestling. The former WCW head booker is famously known for his head scratching decisions and moments throughout his time in TNA and WCW. The one decision that infurated the fans the most was when he booked David Arquette to win the WCW World Heavyweight title.
The title win sparked major backlash and despite Arquette’s insistance on not wanting to win the title, Russo believed it would be a good way for WCW to boost its publicity, and he convinced Arquette to go along with it. Russo revealed on his podcast that announcer Tony Schiavone was the one who came up with the idea to have Arquette become champion.
"I write the shows. The shows are in the can. The shows are written, the shows are done. That tag team where it was you and Diamond Dallas Page against Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett, that was already written. The show is written. We have our production meeting. I don't remember the finish of that match but you were not going over. When I was writing that show, you winning that title was not even a thought in my mind. Not even a thought. So, we have the whole production meeting and we lay out the entire show. I don't remember what the finish of the match originally was," Russo said.
"The meeting is over and everybody leaves; Tony Schiavone comes up to me, and you can verify this with Tony, but he goes, 'Vince, I want to pitch you something.' I'm a huge Tony Schiavone mark, who is a great guy. Tony is the guy. He looked at me and said, 'What if David Arquette won the WCW World Title?' Now, you know me and my reputation. I was the swerve master, so anytime I could swerve you and give you surprises I did it. When he said that to me I stopped dead in my tracks because here is the swerve king, that thought never even crossed my mind. I looked at Tony and I said, 'Tony, that thought never crossed my mind. If Vince Russo wasn't even considering that can you imagine the people watching the show?'"
Russo made sure that Arquette would pin Eric Bischoff, because he knew no wrestler would ever allow Arquette to pin them:
"Now, I am like, we have to do this. I'm like, bro, if I did not consider this nobody is going to see this. The beauty of it was Eric Bischoff was in the match so pinning an Eric Bischoff was not you pinning a Jeff Jarrett," Russo said.
"We would not have been able to do it if you were pinning a wrestler, so I'm like, if he can pin Eric Bischoff we can probably get away with that."
Russo also goes on to talk about the environment backstage over the idea of Arquette winning the title. Feel free to check out the full podcast
here.