Vince Russo defends controversial WWE Attitude Era decision (Exclusive)

Vince Russo worked as WWE's co-head writer alongside Ed Ferrara in the late 1990s. In an exclusive video, the 64-year-old reacted to Terri Runnels' recent comments about the name of her former WWE faction.

Between November 1998 and August 1999, Runnels joined forces with Jacqueline and Ryan Shamrock as the Pretty Mean Sisters. Russo created the name and referred to the group as PMS, a play on premenstrual syndrome.

Runnels said in an interview with Ring the Belle that she "hated" the PMS name and wanted the stable to be called something else. Asked about the controversial idea on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo, Russo told host Dr. Chris Featherstone that the name suited WWE's Attitude Era:

"Listen, man, that's cool, but to this day, I have no problem with that. Pretty Mean Sisters, we know what it meant. It was the Attitude Era, and they did have an attitude. I mean, I'm watching a lot of the stuff now with PMS, and Terri and Jackie had a lot of attitude. I don't remember anything else [other names] she suggested. I'm just curious if she does." [1:55 – 2:29]

Watch the video above to hear Russo explain the origin of several Attitude Era names, including Edge, Meat, and Test.

---

Pretty Mean Sisters' WWE run

The short-lived storyline saw Jacqueline and Terri Runnels form an alliance after separating from Marc Mero and Goldust, respectively. They later added male wrestler Shawn Stasiak, aka Meat, to the group and turned him into their slave.

Ken Shamrock's on-screen sister Ryan also became a Pretty Mean Sisters member after a brief romance with Val Venis. However, her stint with the faction only lasted three months before she left WWE in July 1999.

Pretty Mean Sisters' most notable angle revolved around Runnels. The one-time Hardcore Champion claimed Venis was the father of her unborn child, but it later emerged that she faked her pregnancy.

---

Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.

Edited by Danny Hart