Why Vince Russo Believes That Making The Elite EVPs In AEW Was 'A Massive Error'

The involvement of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in the infamous backstage brawl at All Out last September raised a lot of eyebrows within the wrestling community, with many questioning the conduct and the actions of the trio of AEW Executive Vice Presidents. 

In the aftermath of the incident, many argued that, as per conventional wisdom, locker room leaders such as Kenny Omega, Nick, and Matt Jackson should have tried to calm the situation with CM Punk instead of aggravating the same, and that their failure to do so justified AEW's decision to strip them of the AEW World Trios titles and subsequently suspend them. 

In a recent interview with "K100," former WWE head writer Vince Russo reflected on The Elite's brawl with Punk, and while doing so, admitted that AEW President Tony Khan made a mistake by giving them EVP status when the promotion was first formed in 2019.

"Bro, three Executive Vice Presidents barged into a locker room and attacked an employee," Russo said. "CM Punk is a very smart man. When that happened, he had Tony Khan bent over the sink, and he said, 'I'm gonna sue you, your old man, AEW, TBS, and everyone.'" Russo believes Punk "holds all the cards" and has forced AEW to give him his own show, "AEW Collision," in order to avoid lawsuits. "I guarantee you Punk gave them a list, 'These are the guys I want on Dynamite, these are the guys I don't want anywhere near [Collision].' And I guarantee you, Tony didn't smarten those guys up because he didn't have the balls to." 

Drawing on his experience of working with Jeff Jarrett in TNA, Russo explained why it's never a wise call to have an active performer in an executive role. "To me, that was a massive error, a massive mistake that came to bite them in the ass," Russo said of Khan making The Elite EVPs. "And he has been paying for that ever since."