Customer Reviews

Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification

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Russo starts off the book talking about how he is now a minister and a born again christian. Most of the book is written by a bitter Vince in 2002, with chunks added by the re-born author. The "new" Vince starts off by saying that this book HAD it all for a wrestling fan. All the dirt, all the behind the scenes stuff, all the stuff that fans who will actually pay 25 bucks for a wrestling autobiography will want to hear! But "new" Vince then adds that it's not the christian thing to do, and that he has excised all of that stuff out. Great... What did I just buy?
The narrative is quite entertaining, but everytime "new" Vince interjects you really just want to puke. All he does is say how horrible a person he was and glory be to jesus, he is the light, glory be... glory be! I have no idea how a person can go a complete 180 and be legit. He WAS cocky, arrogant and had a real Howard Stern sense of humor, and now is a bland, neutered, bible thumping bore-fest.
The book is ok, but the tease that all of the "good stuff" was removed and the pages of "new" Vince really leave a bad taste. Also the book ends very abrubtly at the end of his WWF tenure, and has no WCW or TNA content.
Alot of people either love Russo or hate what he did. I'm a hater, I really don't like the Springer like phase of pro wrestling he's responsible for, but I was legit looking forward to hearing his side. Unfortunately, due to the author's self-censorship I was really disapointed.

Vince Russo throws his name into the ever growing wrestling biography books. Russo claims to have written this book and then went through and commented on it after he 'found Jesus Christ'. This is alright to begin with but all his "New Saved Vince" comments quickly get annoying and pretty much says the same thing over and over again. Russo puts himself on quite the pedestal claiming to have been the sole force of WWF writing and idea man through out the late 90s.

Russo begins by telling us this is going to be THE tell all book, he'll name names, reveal dirty little secrets, hold nothing back, and hurt some feelings. He does none of this. He also tells us he's not going to fill the book with "trite details" of his life then spends the first 150 pages doing just that. According to Russo, he was pretty much McMahon's sole defender in 'wrestling journalism/broadcasting (radio)' during the steroid scandal, even though he was only a co-host on a small, small time radio show that aired once a week (with the guy who lead the 'smear campaign'). He constantly insults Jim Ross, "The Man from Bland" (his words) and makes a lightly veiled comparison of how could TBS continually put Hubie Brown "the ugliest announcer ever" on the air when his appearance alone will make you not watch the basketball game.

Among his more suspicious claims are that he has "deep respect" for everyone but the only non-main eventer he mentions is D-Lo Brown. He also managed to see that all the megastars were going to be megastars prior to them doing so (conveniently his stories made them so, he hints at). And finally pretty much everything in WWF in the late 90s was his idea including: Rocky Johnson refering to himself in third person and call himself The Rock, DX, reinstating the womens title to push Sable into the limelight, putting previously unheard of Stephanie McMahon on tv for the Undertaker kidnapping story, Wanting to put Mick Foley into Wrestlemanias, Triple H being called The Game, Chyna being called the 9th Wonder of the World, Owen Hart's Memorial show, and you guessed it - Russo also lays claim that the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels screw job in Montreal was all HIS idea.

He speaks about how he wrote all the stories not only for the main eventers, but the opening and mid-card guys so he was putting in over 80 hours a week. Guess that explains things like The Gang Wars (DOA, NOD, Los Borriquas), Mark Henry, Tiger Ali Singh, the 24/7 hardcore title, Beaver Cleavage, and the likes.

Based on this book, the WWF was saved by Russo alone and the only reason Austin, Rock, Triple H, Foley, Sable, Chyna, and others were megastars was all because of him. He names no names with "dirty little secrets", reveals no dirty laundry, and is generally rather egotistical and juvenile. It's great he has found the Lord but I wonder if he claims this because so many other wrestlers have done so and published books (such as Sting and Shawn Michaels). Also while claiming others have to be careful of what they write because WWE is publishing there books, Russo doesn't have to do this because WWE is not behind his book, he then continually kisses Vince McMahon's ass through out the book. It's lacking but readable.

I was interested to hear Vince Russo's side of the stories that abound in wrestling. He was at the centre of a lot of the big events for the last 15 years and hoped to get his version of events.

What I got was a watered down version of his pre-WCW days with him giving space to his thoughts today, now that he has found God.

I have no problem with his religion except that his new belief meant that tha book was weak and feeble. Barely could read it as it came across as too preachy for my taste.

This is the first of two bios that Vince has written. It gets a little too "preachy" at times as he is a born again christian, but he makes some solid points about the death of WCW, and his involvement with WWE. I read this after his second book "Rope opera-how WCW killed Vince Russo" and was surprised at some of the revelations he made. (Im not giving them away here, buy the book like I did!)
If you can get through the efforts to save your soul (As I do believe Vince is sincere in his efforts, just really preachy!) you can find a really good read. Vince has had a rough time adjusting to the "Real world" as most guys in the business do. He discusses a lot of those difficulties.
All in all, a good read.

Vince Russo's Forgiven is a fairly good read with his versions of his time in the WWF. The book does not cover his time in WCW or TNA and that is the book I would like to read. In this book he states several times how he was a changed man and would never go back to wrestling. Well shirtly after the book was released guess who went back to writing for TNA after his christian themed wrestling promotion crashed and burned after one show.

Let me begin by stating that religion plays a huge role in this book. Vince Russo published his original manuscript from 2002 before he became a Christian, however he often interupts the manuscript to include his views on how he has changed from that point due to his religious beliefs. If you are a Christian or even interested in this, I would suggest reading the entire book. If you are simply reading for the wrestling information there is plenty available, but you'll need to skim over quite a bit from time to time.

As for the wrestling information it was quite interesting as Russo documents his long journey to get into the WWE and then work his way up to becoming head writer. He talks in depth about his relationship with Vince McMahon as well as WWE Superstars Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and Sable among others. Russo discusses many of the ideas and happenings in wrestling from the mid-90's to the "Attitude Era" boom of the late 90's. Some of his topics include the Montreal Screw Job of Survivor Series '97, the creation of D-Generation X, and the tragic death of Owen Hart.

The original manuscript is somewhat confusing to read as Russo has a tendency to jump around and get off topic, I often found myself skipping entire sections as he would go off on a tangent about Jerry Springer, the San Francisco Giants, or Leah Remini. However the wresting history is really interesting to read as Russo takes his fair share of the credit of WWE's success but in a realistic manner. If you are a an of the WWE and especially if you were a fan in the 90's (era of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Stone Cold, The Rock...) I would strongly suggest picking this book up and giving it a read.

This is an interesting bio unlike any other wrestling biography. If you're interested in WWF through the 90's this is a must read.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. Russo bares his soul and you get the feeling that he is a better man for all he has endured in his life. A lot of questions are answered here. Surprisingly recommended.

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