World Championship Wrestling: Empire

[Bigpapa42]

"What if" is one of the most intriguing questions we can ask. A simple question that can inspire endless debate and creativity.

The question here is simple - what if World Championship Wrestling survived?

The starting point will be March of 2001. The intent is to have WCW struggle, adapt, evolve, and most of all, survive. The WCW empire perseveres.

The Project

So what the fuck is this? Its a diary/franchise/"Be the Booker" project I've been doing for a bit on a couple other sites. I decided to repost it here. Why? Whyt not? I doubt many will read it, but it might entertain those who do.

Back in the MM heyday, I did some franchise projects around football/soccer. Basically, I enjoy writing. When I found a wrestling booking simulator game, I ended up doing a couple of projects around that. Why wrestling? I like wrestling, and its a unique combiation of allowing creativity but within a closed world. This project is not based on a booking simulator game, but just full fantasy booking.

This project is a fantasy booking project that starts in March of 2001. The very basic scenario is that WCW survives beyond the point in March 2001 where it "died" and was bought out by Vince McMahon. The aim is to be relatively realistic and to be relatively easy to read.

I have reached early 2003 in the project already, so the first while will just be catching up on those pots. I'll be positing those relatively quickly - probably one a day. They are mostly relatively quick to read. I try to keep the front-page (the posts that will be right below this one) pretty up to date, so you can have a quick-reference for the roster, champions, etc. That won't be the case during the catch-up, as things change so quickly.

One thing I want to emphasize here is that WCW does continue to struggle. Not in the same ways - though I was tempted to have them be Russo-rrific for awhile - but there are definitely struggles. Problems. Mistakes. That is surprisingly frustrating to write, and I imagine it will be at times frustrating to read as well. A key idea is that WCW has to suffer. They have to hit a real low point. A common phrase I will use is "the biggest indy promotion", because that's basically what WCW becomes after the survival point (March 2001, obviously). They have some stars, they have TV and PPV, but they also face some real issues in terms of attendances, revenue streams, and simply overall fanbase. In some ways, I would say they are comparable to TNA over the past few years, but with a much more damaged reputation.

I make an effort to try to respect time-lines, characters, and relationships. So most workers will debut when they actually debuted. Some tag teams, names, or gimmicks may get used before they actually did, but within limits. I will also tend to stick toward talents who have actually succeeded in "real" wrestling to some extent. Doing fantasy booking opens up some interesting possibilities - whether its having someone come into pro wrestling from the MMA world or having a B or C level celebrity come in for a recurring role, etc. I'm not saying such ideas won't be used at all, but they won't be a primary focus. For the most part, they are going to be talents that most wrestling fans will recognize and be using names that they will best recognized under - signing an indie guy and giving him a new name might be realistic, but it also tends to create confusion.

Most of the graphics I have done myself. I pretty such stink at that and can only do basic stuff, so you get pretty basic graphics. I have tried using the project as a learning tool in that regard but the improvements are slow, if at all.

I am open to feedback and suggestions, but since the next two years are already written, some stuff can't be incorporated for awhile.

The Format

I am not using a "full show" approach. Rather, its a "recap" style based on monthly summaries. Each recap covers one month (with a few exceptions) and is followed by a recap of the PPV afterward. The recaps tend to focus on all aspects of the promotion - the business side and the wrestling side. You don't get match-by-match, angle-by-angle recaps of the TV shows, but rather an overview of how things went in a given month and the things that stood out - good or bad. The end result is that its almost like you are reading a history of the promotion, with each month and each PPV being a short chapter. Given than an outside writer can't always know the specifics of why a decision was made, or can't know which of two conflicting stories is accurate, I attempt to receate that. As such, there are not too many absolutes.

I've had readers compare the style and tone to "The Death of WCW" by R. D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, which was an inspiration for the initial project. As mentioned, making everything easy to read, quick to read, and accessible was definitely a goal.

Acknowledgments

A number of folks have helped me with this one, whether its suggestions or sorting out ideas. Naming them seems a bit odd, since they wouldn't be recognized. But this has definitely not be entirely solo project, so thanks to those who have contributed.

[Bigpapa42]

Contents


Current Project Date: -

Monthly Recaps

• March - May 2001: Survival
• June 2001: A New Low
• July 2001: Plans and Demands
• August 2002: Territorial Touring
• September 2002: An Extreme Mistake

Event Recaps

• The Great American Bash 2001
• New Blood Rising 2002

Editorials

• x

WCW Time Line

• November 1988 - Jim Crockett Promotions purchased by Turner Broadcasting and renamed to World Championship Wrestling
• February 1989 - Ricky Steamboat defeats Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight championship in a highly-regarded match
• May 1989 - Flair wins the belt back in another highly-regarded match
• August 1991 - Ric Flair leaves WCW for the WWF over dispute with President Jim Herd
• February 1993 - Eric Bischoff promoted to Executive Vice President of WCW
• June 1994 - Hulk Hogan signs with WCW
• September 1995 - WCW Monday Nitro debuts on TNT
• May 1996 - Scott Hall debuts on WCW Nitro, followed by Kevin Nash, forming The Outsiders
• July 1996 - Hulk Hogan turns heel at Bash at the Beach, forming the New World Order with The Outsiders
• September 1997 - debut of Goldberg
• December 1997 - year-long feud between Sting and Hulk Hogan culminates in Starrcade main event & Bret Hart debuts in WCW
• July 1998 - Goldberg wins WCW World Heavyweight championship
• December 1998 - Goldberg's undefeated streak ended at Starrcade by Kevin Nash
• January 1999 - infamous "Finger Poke of Doom" moment has Hogan become champion again
• October 1999 - Vince Russo hired to take role of head writer
• January 2000 - Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero request and are given their contractual releases from the company
• March 2001 - WCW sold to Fusient Media Ventures - all WCW programming removed from TBS & TNT - offical end to Monday Night Wars era - start of project

[Bigpapa42]

Promotion Info

• Based: Atlantia, Georgia
• Founded: 1988
• Style: Modern Wrestling

_________________________________

• Company Type: Private
• Ownership: Fusient Media Productions
• President: Eric Bischoff
• Head Booker:

_________________________________

• Developmental Territory: None
• Training Camp: None
• Promotion Agreements: None

_________________________________

• Estimated Value: $12.5m US
• Primary Sponsors: Great Lakes Airlines, Rolling Rock Beer & Woods Brothers Racing
• Video Game Publisher: None

_________________________________

• Subsidiary Divisions:
  • WCW Apparel - in association with Eckō Unltd.
  • WCW Home Video
  
  

[Bigpapa42]

WCW Champions


WCW World Heavyweight

x
Reign:
Won:
Previous Champion:

WCW United States

x
Reign:
Won:
Previous Champion:

WCW World Tag Team

x
Reign:
Won:
Previous Champions:

WCW Cruiserweight

x
Reign:
Won:
Previous Champion:

[Bigpapa42]

WCW Roster


Wrestlers

Will be Updated Later

[Bigpapa42]

WCW Tag Teams & Stables



Tag teams

Will be Updated Later

[Bigpapa42]

WCW Shows


Nitro

Will be Updated Later

Events

• The Great American Bash 2001
• New Blood Rising 2002

[Bigpapa42]

World Wrestling Federation

• Headquarters: Stamford, Connecticut
• Size: Global
• Rank: #1
• Owner: Vince McMahon
• Booker: Vince McMahon
• Founded: 1952
• Style: Pure Sports Entertainment
• Major Stars: The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Kane, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Edge, & Christian

New Japan Pro Wrestling

• Headquarters: Japan
• Size: Cult
• Rank: #3
• Owner: Antonio Inoki
• Booker: Antonio Inoki
• Founded: 1972
• Style: MMA-influenced stong style with Super Juniors
• Major Stars: Masahiro Chono, Kensuke Sasaki, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin "Thunder" Lyger, Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Ngata

Pro Wrestling NOAH

• Headquarters: Japan
• Size: Cult
• Rank: #4
• Owner: Mitsuharu Misawa
• Booker: Mitsuharu Misawa
• Founded: 2000
• Style: Ark-Style King's Road
• Major Stars: Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue & Vader

All Japan Pro Wrestling

• Headquarters: Tokyo
• Size: Cult
• Rank: #5
• Owner: Motoko Baba
• Booker: Keiji Mutoh
• Founded: 1972
• Style: Strong Style
• Major Stars: Keiji Mutoh, Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

• Headquarters: Mexico City
• Size: #6
• Rank: National
• Owner: Francisco "Paco" Alonso
• Booker: Francisco "Paco" Alonso
• Founded: 1933
• Style: Lucha Libre
• Major Stars: Universo 2000, Último Guerrero, Mr. Niebla, L.A. Park & Dr. Wagner Jr.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

• Headquarters: Mexico City
• Size: #7
• Rank: Cult
• Owner: Antonio Pena
• Booker: Konnan
• Founded: 1992
• Style: Lucha Libre
• Major Stars: Héctor Garza, El Zorro, Konnan, Vampiro, LA Parka Jr, Abismo Negra, & Cibernético

[FedEx227]

Are you going to run this through EWR or TEW or just do your own fantasy booking/writing?

[Sharkweather]

Never got to follow this on GDS, will have to follow this thread more frequently.

[Bigpapa42]

Are you going to run this through EWR or TEW or just do your own fantasy booking/writing?

Just doing my own fantasy booking. Ironically, I'm typically a fan of that approach.

I did the project once before, based on a great fantasy mod for TEW 2010. It actually started in mid 2002, with the idea that WCW had been bought by Bischoff and Fusient and survived. They stole Brock Lesnar from the WWE, brought in guys like Rob Van Dam, and were doing okay. The problem with using the game as a base for the project was that I was able to book them back to prominence quite quickly. They were back on level with the WWE within a year and that was an aspect of that project that bugged me. So I wanted to find a way to have WCW struggle a bit more. I could try to book poorly in the game, but that's not so fun. Plus, when I started to toy around with making a scenario in either TEW or EWR to fit my needs, I realized how much goddamned work it is. Forget that. So I went this route.

Don't worry - its not all "and that was followed by another AWESOME match"...

Never got to follow this on GDS, will have to follow this thread more frequently.

Its kinda buried on GDS so it gets overlooked. Part of the reason I decided to post it here.

[FedEx227]

I want you hiring Vince Russo and changing the World Title 3 times per Nitro.

Thanks.

[Bigpapa42]

I want you hiring Vince Russo and changing the World Title 3 times per Nitro.

Thanks.

Actually, one of the only regrets I have from the first two years of the project is not going full-retard Russo-style for at least awhile. Coming up with absolutely ridiculously terrible booking ideas is more fun than one might expect. But sorry, no Russo... so I have to limit things to two world title switches per Nitro.

I'll start posting the actual monthly recaps sometime later today. Probably post them at one a day so that it doesn't get too much to read too quickkly.

[Bigpapa42]

March - May 2001
Survival

The final WCW Monday Night Nitro on TNT took place on March 26th, 2001. There was something of an air of finality to the show, as the talent all knew that something had changed, and many of the fans seem aware as well. No one was certain exactly what had changed, though. There were strong rumors that WCW had been sold - which would turn out to be accurate - but no one seemed to have clear knowledge of to whom the sale had been made or what it meant for the future of World Championship Wrestling.

Or if World Championship Wrestling had a future at all.

The show had been promoted on the WCW website and ads on TNT as the "final Monday Night Nitro". The only direct on-air references to the coming change were from Tony Schiavone. Early in the broadcast, he mentioned that this would be the final Monday Night Nitro, and later stated that this would be the final time WCW would be on TNT. No further detail was provided to either statement. Given Schiavone's lack of credibility with most fans, its doubtful a detailed explanation would have helped anyway.

After the March 26th Nitro, WCW disappeared, for all intents and purposes. What would emerge several months down the road was a vastly different entity.

Determined fans could locate information on what was happening. Ironically, it was easier to find the information on third party sites, as the WCW website carried the details but oddly made them difficult to locate. Simply put, World Championship Wrestling had been sold and its programming was being moved from TNT.

The new ownership group was Fusient Media Ventures. The investor group was headed by none other than Eric Bischoff, who regained his position as company President. The purchase of World Championship Wrestling from AOL Time-Warner was a complicated process which had taken months to complete. The final purchase price was just under $8 million. AOL Time-Warner was ready to accept less, but interest from Vince McMahon forced Fusient to drive their offer up at the last minute, in addition to structuring the offer in a manner that Bischoff was never happy with. While the ownership group avoided taking on any debt or pending lawsuits, there were several contracts which were not part of the sale as they were directly with the previous ownership group. As such, talent like Ric Flair, Rey Mysterio, Bill Goldberg, Sting, Kevin Nash, and others were not part of the sale.

Also not part of the sale was WCW's broadcast slots with TNT and TBS. The media giant decided in early March that all WCW programming would be removed from its channels, regardless of any pending sale. This decision almost killed the sale to Fusient. The pending sale was salvaged by Bischoff's successful bid to secure a deal a Fox, which would put WCW back on the air.

It would be fair to say that WCW got a raw deal from Fox. Nitro was given a weekly 2-hour slot on Wednesday nights, starting at 10pm, on Fox Sports Net. The promotion got precious little per episode and a minuscule cut of the advertising revenue (what little of that there was). Fox was able to take advantage of the obvious desperation of Bischoff, but the deal kept WCW on the air. Unfortunately, the first broadcast would not be until June, so Nitro would be off air for more than two full months. Although this was known at the time of the final TNT Nitro, that network would not allow the switch to FSN to be explained, advertised, or even referenced.

On June 6th, 2001, the 285th episode of WCW Nitro aired on Fox Sports Net. The episode of Nitro kicked off with WCW's new stylized red logo and a very basic intro video. It was immediately clear to anyone watching (and anyone in attendance at the taping) that this was no longer the same World Championship Wrestling that had brought the mighty WWF to its knees. The taping had been done a week prior at the John H. Lewis Gymnasium in Atlanta. The set used was basic and austere, all bare metal and dark colors, with the new red WCW logo splashed here and there. There were no pyrotechnics and the crowd could barely be seen in near-darkness, save for the ring itself. There was a definite and undeniable drop in the overall production values, with the use of just a few basic camera angles. Everything had a had a more basic and "gritty" feel that some have compared to the NWO Souled Out pay per view set used back in 1997.

In prototypical WCW fashion, there were some problems. Shiavone referred to the show as "Monday Night Nitro" several times, despite the Wednesday night timeslot. When four cruiserweights – Billy Kidman, Chavo Guerrero, Elix Skipper, and Jason Jett - came out for a tag team match, it was obvious that no one was quite sure whom was supposed to be teamed with whom. Referee Billy Silverman had to sort things out for the wrestlers before the match could commence. Several of the promos seemed to be intended to do nothing more than fill time, as the wrestlers just talked aimlessly. Such snafus were even more headache-inducing when ones considers that they should have been edited out in post-production yet were not.

There were good moments on that first FSN Nitro as well. One highlight was WCW World Heavyweight champion Booker T cutting a solid in-ring promo about his determination to defend his world title against the dastardly number one contender. This still held some humor, as this mystery challenger was never identified by either the champion or the commentators. The showed culminated in a very good main event between Lance Storm and Hugh Morrus, with the smaller Canadian showing toughness as he took the win over his bigger opponent. At nearly 20 minutes, it was easily the longest TV main event WCW had seen in a long time. It was also notable simply for the fact that Storm and Morrus were main eventing.

The main event of that first Fox Sports Net Nitro highlighted what would become a major problem for WCW - talent. As in, lack of it. That's not to say the likes of Booker T, Lance Storm, and Hugh Morrus are not talented wrestlers. Rather, there was not enough other talent on the roster. Not when trying to fill two hours of wrestling programming each week. It was an ironic reversal of fortunes for World Championship Wrestling, who featured a bloated roster through much of their late 90s heyday, with more contracted talent than they could hope to feature. As is so often the case with WCW, the circumstances that resulted in the promotion having a dearth of talent available in June of 2001 is not simple nor clear.

Eric Bischoff and his advisors reportedly looked at the sale as an opportunity to "clean house" with regard to the talent. As previously mentioned, some of the more notable names were contracted directly to AOL Time Warner and therefore remained under contract until their deal expired or were "bought out". Beyond the uncertainty that surrounded those talents, Bischoff was looking at reducing the number of "lower card" talents and non-wrestling talents. Though these were all amongst the lowest-earners on the WCW roster, they were still numerous. There was no more endless fountain of money to pay for every unneeded, wasteful extravagance that could be conceived of. Eric Bischoff and WCW now had to be fiscally responsible. “ATM Eric” no more.

Only two wrestlers chose to have their contracts with AOL Time Warner to be bought out during this period rather than being paid out for their duration. They were Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page, two key talents who had very different motivations. It cost both men money to take that option. DDP signed with WCW again almost immediately, taking a significant pay-cut to do so – an uncommon display of loyalty to the promotion. Steiner would make no such display – he believed he could score a big money contract with Vince McMahon...

Ironically enough, the transfer of ownership became official on April 1st, 2001. Although it may not have been an intentional decision, the company did show the good sense not to send out any of the contract termination notifications with that date on them. Those were still under contract and expected to remain so were contracted by the company and given a brief explanation of the situation - Nitro would be on FSN beginning in June, but there would be no shows until the TV tapings resumed.

It is not entirely clear exactly where the contract mess began during WCW's downtime, but the commonly mentioned culprits are Sean O'Haire, Lex Luger, and Buff Bagwell. Though the parties involved have never publicly confirmed nor denied the story, it is typically accepted that WCW notified some (or perhaps all) of the more highly paid talent that the promotion would be activating the "unable to perform" clause of their contracts during the downtime. These talent were on exclusive, guaranteed contracts, and that clause was intended to allow the promotion to pay a reduced salary during periods of injury, suspension, etc. While some of the workers were willing to accept this, others were not. Luger supposedly told Bischoff that he was able to perform and WCW had no right to invoke that clause, so therefore the veteran considered WCW to have defaulted on the contract. Luger considered himself a free agent and began shopping his services. Word spread and much of the rest of the roster followed

The timing of this problem could not have been worse. Bischoff and his staff were reportedly working 18 to 20 hours per day 7 days per week in an effort to get things running smoothly again for the June start up. The new WCW management team was a skeleton crew compared to what WCW had in its heyday, and figuring everything out post-sale was a logistical nightmare. For example, the purchase had included far less of the production equipment than anticipated. Supposedly, the fact that much of that production equipment used by WCW was leased or borrowed was included in the "due diligence" report but it was somehow overlooked. While it may have been possible to transfer the leases over over to the new management, no such arrangements were made until it was too late. Similarly, the office equipment that had been used by the WCW front office was also not owned by promotion and therefore not included in the sale – so while the streamlined promotion moved to a new headquarters, new office equipment had to be obtained. So while Bischoff was scrambling to deal with issues like this, a large portion of the roster that WCW wanted to retain decided they were free agents and began to act as such.

Were they actually free agents? O'Haire supposedly sought expert legal advice before he decided that he was no longer bound by the contract he had signed with WCW. Arguments have been made - even occasionally by those with more than a passing knowledge of the American legal system - in both directions. It was the kind of dispute which could require legal arbitration or even a court case to figure out. It never went that far.

When the realization of the gravity of the situation that had developed became clear, Bischoff reportedly went into panic mode. He began contacting the talent individually, using varied approaches to try to convince them to stay. Guys like Booker T, Chris Kanyon, and Lance Storm agreed quite quickly, signing new contracts that used a WWE-style downside-guarantee system rather than an actual guaranteed contract. Others were not as decisive. There was interest from the WWE in some of the talent and that was difficult opportunity to pass up, especially given the uncertainty that surrounded World Championship Wrestling. Many have since admitted that they were not certain WCW would ever return from its two-month hiatus. Bischoff persuaded, convinced, cajoled, begged, and even threatened. Some talent were told that if they didn't return to honor their contract, they would be burning a bridge with WCW and would never be welcomed back. With ECW gone and no other larger independent promotions around, there were limited options on the American wrestling scene.

For its part, the World Wrestling Federation was not as aggressive as it could have been. When they were contacted by some of the WCW talent, they became aware of the situation and reached out to other talent they had some interest in. Offers were made. Vince McMahon, however, refused to offer anything above what they considered "market value" for the talent. Though the promotion could most certainly afford it at that point, the view that McMahon took was that WCW would not survive very long under the ownership of Bischoff, so overpaying for most of the talent simply didn't make sense when that same talent could be signed for less in a year or so.

The WWE could have put WCW into an untenable position if they had chosen to steal away much of the roster. It also would have certainly lead to lawsuits. The WWE instead focused on specific talents that they were particularly interested in. This supposedly included Scott Steiner, most of the Natural Born Killers group, Mike Awesome, Stacy Kiebler and Torrie Wilson, and a few of the younger guys. Kiebler and Wilson were both offered large contracts, but with the idea that they would be full Divas. Though neither had much desire to be full-time wrestlers, Wilson still took the offer while Kiebler rejected it.

Before the Nitro tapings began in late May, WCW had lost Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo, The Wall, Lash LaRoux, Kid Romeo, Mike Sanders, Kwee Wee, Shannon Moore, and Evan Karagias, in addition to Torrie Wilson. Most of them were signed with the knowledge that they would be considered developmental talent, and some of them took less money than they were making with WCW. Did the WWE even have the right to sign these workers? Again, this is unclear. Since Bischoff decided against pursuing legal action, it was never determined. There was reportedly some contact between Bischoff and Vince McMahon during this period. Whatever the content of those conversations, it was enough to convince the WCW President to accept the losses rather than engage in a legal fight than the promotion simply could not afford.

Although it took some time, Bischoff was able to convince Scott Steiner, Mike Awesome, and Sean O'Haire to remain with WCW, giving all three men new contracts with the same downside-guarantee structure as the other new deals. Steiner never got the huge payday he had been seeking, with the stories of his heated meetings with Vince McMahon becoming part of the professional wrestling urban legend pantheon. There were a number of WCW workers who knew they would not be welcome in the WWE for various reasons and so there was never much danger they would leave. Jeff Jarrett and Shane Douglas fell into this group. Amusingly, there were two workers who were absolutely convinced they would be welcomed into the WWE and so they supposedly tore into Bischoff when he contacted them. They made it clear that he was the reason that WCW had failed and would be the reason it would die soon enough. However, it would turn out that neither of the two workers were of much interest to the WWE. The two wrestlers - Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell - ended up on the outside looking in. One has to wonder if the satisfaction of telling off your boss was worth being unemployed over?

During this period of contract confusion, many of the WCW contracted talent accepted independent dates with smaller promotions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and even a few in Japan. Given that most were on exclusive, guaranteed contracts, this could have constituted a breech of contract on the part of the talents. Again, in this situation, WCW management chose not to pursue the issue and simply moved forward.

Part of what made this whole contract situation even more problematic for Bischoff and WCW was that it was not entirely resolved when TV tapings resumed in late May. Steiner and O'Haire would not agree and return until mid-June. Many others agreed to return around the same time, likely encouraged by the first new TV tapings actually taking place. As previously stated, many of the workers have admitted that they really did not believe WCW would return after the sale to Bischoff.

An accusation that has often been levied against World Championship Wrestling is one of poor management. That is a encompassing, simplified, and yet somewhat-accurate explanation for how WCW went from a global entertainment entity worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a pariah worth just a few million in a few short years. Given that some of that management structure remained in place after the sale – notably Eric Bischoff – it should not be a shock that many of the elements of “poor management” remained in place. The entire contract chaos was indicative of a significant internal issue which had plagued WCW for some time – communication within the organization. Communication with the fans was as bad or worse, which is a particularly galling issue, given that the WCW website provided such an easy and cost-effective tool for keeping fans up-to-date. Inexplicably, the promotions website was rarely updated during the shutdown period.

Another significant issue that Bischoff had to deal with during the shutdown period was attempting to secure new sponsors for WCW. In its heyday, the promotion had been able to attract some lucrative sponsors. They had never appealed to the elite-level global sponsors (such as car manufacturers, high-end hotel hotel chains, financial institutions, etc), but they did manage to attract national-level sponsors who poured millions of dollars of revenue into the WCW empire. Every sponsor was lost when the promotion lost its TV deals and the search for new ones was not easy. Bischoff could not try to woo potential sponsors with glitz and glamor, as the finances simply would not allow him to roll out the red carpet in any significant way. The WCW President apparently refused to even take potential sponsors to the WCW headquarters, which had moved from the modern CNN Center to a small office complex in an industrial area of Atlanta. In the midst of dealing with the entire contracts mess and all the other issues, Bischoff did manage to secure a number of new sponsors, including Great Lakes Airlines, Rolling Rock Beer, Woods Brothers Racing, and several similar companies.

World Championship Wrestling emerged from the sale and two-month hiatus in a messy, uncertain state. However, the key point is simply that it did emerge. It survived.

It has often been speculated as to what would have happened to WCW if the sale to Bischoff and Fusient had fallen through. Despite the asking price for WCW having dropped massively, there was still limited interest. Mark Cuban was thought to be interested at one point but walked away due to the significant liabilities the promotion had. Vince McMahon was known to be very very interested, and did make a bid that forced Fusient to pay more. That bid has been the source point for a great deal of speculation, as no one but the man himself knows for certain what McMahon would have done. It was rumored he wanted to absorb WCW and create a "brand" within the WWE company for it, much as Raw and Smackdown were later made "separate". Other insiders indicate that McMahon really only coveted the WCW video library, which includes a lot of NWA action from the 1980s.

Eric Bischoff always has been and probably always will be a lightning rod for the wrestling industry, and its fans. He has taken a huge amount of criticism for both the decline that WCW underwent leading up to its sale and for much of what happened in the two years afterward. Its difficult to argue that he should be free from all that criticism. What he does not get enough credit for is his key role in ensuring that WCW survived.

[Bigpapa42]

June 2001
A New Low

The exact causes behind the sale of World Championship Wrestling in early 2001 are still debated amongst wrestling fans. How much of an affect the poor booking in the years leading up to the sale is a commonly argued aspect. Part of the problem with any such debate is the simple fact that "bad booking" is subjective. For anyone who points to creative "mistakes" made during the down-slide, one can point to similar or identical mistakes made during the promotions high point which didn't have negative consequences. Or least lacked immediate consequences. It makes things.. muddled...

Did those issues that are generally regarded as "mistakes" or "poor booking" cease once the sale of the promotion went through? Not so much.

Some of the common complaints against WCW during the 1997-2000 period include: too many title changes, random and meaningless match stipulations, illogical swerves, failure to follow any level of continuity, constant changes in overall direction, lack of any long-term planning, and goofy characters. While it might be preferable and more pleasant to claim these issues disappeared after WCW was bought out in March 2001, that would simply not be accurate.

It is quite difficult to assess the first few episodes of WCW Nitro on Fox Sports Net. There are two primary problems – comparison and context. The initial instinct is to compare this show to the version of Nitro that ran for five and a half years and 284 episodes on TNT, which became one of the most popular shows on television and boasted cutting edge production values. Or to compare it to the WWF's Raw, which was the head-to-head competition for those five and a half years. In light of those comparisons, the “new” Nitro looked and was awful. Which is understandable when one considers the context of the situation that World Championship Wrestling found itself mired in. While it makes some of the problems that WCW faced during this period understandable, it also doesn't really change that these shows were poor. The average viewer doesn't know or necessarily care about the myriad of problems that a promotion is facing when they sit down to watch the programming. Given these two issues, it often seems that the view on these Nitro episodes falls into one of two categories – either they are embarrassingly bad product from a once-proud and important promotion, or they were a learning process and should be simply forgotten. No one tries to argue that they were actually good quality.

The man put in charge of the creative side of WCW by Eric Bischoff was Tony Schiavone. Ironically, it was Schiavone who had been expected to take the creative reigns of WCW back when Bischoff was initially given control in 1993. Schiavone replaced John Laurinaitis, who had replaced Vince Russo and put together a few solid months in early 2001. Laurinaitis remained with WCW and was considered a key player in the creative side of the promotion.

Schiavone faced some real problems throughout the month of June. The most obvious was the previously-discussed short roster. Though the problem was alleviated somewhat throughout the month, it remained an on-going concern. At the very first Nitro taping, which actually took place in late May, the roster sheet for the taping had just 25 names on it. Of those, just 20 were in-ring talent. Only 20 wrestlers to fill 2 hours is not much for any promotion, but it was particularly difficult for WCW, with their long-established approach of many short matches and angles comprising the shows. For that taping, virtually everyone had matches as well as angles, except for dual-champion Booker T. Out of basic need, matches were longer than was typical for WCW. Few matches were less than 10 minutes. Though that would be scaled back over time, they would not revert back to the extremely short matches of the past. Given that WCW had some solid wrestlers, this was actually quite a positive development.

There was a dearth of storylines through the first month of Nitro on Fox Sports Net. Well, that is not entirely accurate – there were storylines, but they were lacking in content. They were as basic as possible, and the reason was reportedly that Schiavone did not want to commit to starting up much in terms of feuds until the roster was more set. One might assume that only having a few basic storylines would mean there were not many angles used, but then, one would assume wrong. Despite their not being much to advance in terms of storylines, there were still plenty of angles. Many of them seemed to have little purpose beyond hyping the given wrester's next match or general hype about their talent. Shane Douglas and Mike Awesome actually produced some great promos, as Douglas would rip on everyone and everything, while Awesome would just ramble about nothing, telling aimless stories about being in Japan and such. Once heavily-reliant on vignette-style segments, Nitro used few of them. As with many changes, this was out of necessity. Thought not all vignettes were expensive to film, many were. With costs being cut everywhere possible, all but the most basic of angles were eliminated.

The simple new look to the production and sets were also out of necessity. Unwilling to reuse the old sets but unable to afford to build full new ones, the compromise was stripped-down new sets with the most basic materials available. There was some intentionally-exposed metal, but more predominantly, the heavy use of dark colors. It was all black and dark grays, broken up by the new red WCW logo. The ring was almost all black, from the apron to the mat to the posts, with red ropes. The new look actually wasn't that bad – it appealed to quite a few people, as it seemed to put the emphasis on the in-ring action rather than the overall spectacle. Unfortunately, the new look was tied directly to a steep decline in the overall production quality.

The first episodes of Nitro on Fox Sports Net were closer in quality to wrestling television broadcasts produced in the mid 1980s than they were to the Monday Night Nitro broadcasts that made WCW into a powerhouse. A common joke amongst fans was that during the shutdown period, WCW must have forgotten how to do TV. This wasn't that far from the truth – a significant number of production staff who had worked for WCW prior to the sale were no longer with the company. Some were AOL Time-Warner employees and others were WCW employees who left the company for different reasons. The front office was left having to replace much of the senior production management team and they could not afford to seek out experienced personnel for those positions. As such, the backstage production crew doing Nitro was inexperienced and understaffed.... which clearly shows in the final product.

The front office of World Championship Wrestling has taken some criticism for keeping Nitro at two hours during this period. The roster size may have worked sufficiently with a weekly 60 minute show. That was not an option. According to several insiders, the concerns with trying to do 120 minutes weekly was recognized in mid-May during the midst of the roster-wide contract problem. Bischoff went to Fox and request a reduction to just 60 minutes. The request was denied. He requested a reduction to 90 minutes. The request was denied. He requested doing a split show, with 60 minutes of new wrestling and 60 minutes of past highlights. The request was denied. One might recognize a trend here. For reasons never fully clarified, Fox was simply unwilling to move on the 120-minutes of weekly WCW programming, even on a temporary basis. So WCW tried to make it work.

They also tried to maintain some continuity from what had been going prior to Nitro disappearing from TNT in March. There were rumors during the two months of downtime that World Championship Wrestling would once again be “reset” as it had been in the past. That was not the case, and most of the bigger issues with continuity can be attributed to the roster issues. The Magnificent Seven stable, for example, was simply abandoned as many of those involved had not returned to the promotion. It was “written out” to a small extent as Jeff Jarrett made mention of it in promos in the first few shows. Jarrett was at the side of his former stable-mate Scott Steiner when the big man made his return mid-month, bigger and angrier than ever, and still targeting the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Similarly, few of the other storylines that had been on-going prior to the final TNT Nitro could be continued. Booker T, having retained the United States championship and won the World Heavyweight championship on that Nitro, was recognized as dual champion. He gave up the US title by choice on the second Nitro of the month, stating he was unable to properly defend both.

Sean O'Haire made his return mid-month, on the same June 20th Nitro that saw Steiner return. Proclaiming himself “the new face of WCW”, O'Haire simply oozed arrogance as he strutted around in an expensive-looking suit. He made shoot-like comments about the “new front office doing everything they could to keep him from jumping ship”. The lovely and equally-stylish Stacy Kiebler was now at his side. She had been with the now-departed Shawn Stasiak prior to the sale and her switch to O'Haire was never explained, but the combination clearly worked well together.

Even if WCW had been able to continue their storylines in full and were not dealing with a decimated roster, it still unlikely those first FSN Nitro's would be fondly remembered by fans. The simple fact is that there was such a drastic drop in production quality thats it is nearly impossible not to focus on that factor alone. With the basic camera angles and simplistic visual graphics, the show looked to be a step down from what WCW and the WWF had been producing a full decade before. Many have made the comparison to ECW on TNN for production values, and its a fairly valid comparison. As many have said, it simply was not the same World Championship Wrestling.

The first pay per view of the “new era” was The Great American Bash, scheduled for July 1st, 2001. That gave the promotion four episodes of Nitro on Fox Sports Net to build toward that first pay per view. That was something they failed to do. It was understandable for a few of the matches – Scott Steiner did not make his return until the June 20th Nitro, so not much build could be done prior to that for the main event. The semi main event was the final of a mini-tournament for the United States championship. The finalists for the title – Lance Storm and Shane Douglas – were not decided until the June 27th Nitro. There was little reason not to try to build the other matches on the Bash card, unless they were not decided until the last minute... which is likely the case.

Ratings are typically used to measure the success of any TV show, and pro wrestling is no different. The war between the WWF and WCW was a war of ratings as much as anything. That war had essentially ended before WCW was sold, but the sale reinforced the victory by Vince McMahon. And the ratings that WCW Nitro drew on Fox Sports Net were a massive exclamation point. All four shows in June drew less than 1.0, and one of them dipped as low as 0.70. Again, it comes back to comparison and context. Those numbers look awful when compared to either what the WWE was able to draw at the same point, or even what WCW was drawing in the final months on TNT. When one looks at the context – the lack of advertisement by both WCW and FSN, the drop in production quality, and so on – the ratings “make sense”. While its never been acknowledged as to what FSN was expecting for Nitro, there is no indication that those low ratings in the first month caused the network any concern.

In June of 2001, World Championship Wrestling was a shell of what it had once been. There was no Ric Flair. No Sting. No Goldberg. No Rey Mysterio. No Kevin Nash. No Hulk Hogan. Diamond Dallas Page was there but only in the commentary booth due to injury. The quality of the product was simply gone, in many ways. While some will argue that aspects of the product were better than other periods, its hard to look at this time as anything but a low point for World Championship Wrestling. The question was whether Eric Bischoff and company could bring WCW back to glory?