stlsaint Presents: WCW: The Subsidiary

[stlsaint]

STL Saint Presents: WCW: The Subsidiary
© ECW Press 2019​

For years the wrestling world has spread rumors about what happened not only during, but after the sale of WCW to WWF. WCW: The Subsidiary follows a top WCW executive as he navigates the troubled waters of a ruthless WWF owner, a struggling roster of talent, his company's poor public perception and a wrestling world that pushes against change.

Intertwined with the story of how each month came together, follow along as writer, Saint, takes you in-depth into meeting with WWF Owner Vince McMahon, Media Mogul Ted Turner, former WCW Executive VP and TNA exec. Eric Bischoff and even legendary NHL exec Lou Lamoreillo.

The Subsidiary also details the development of how wrestling’s production and presentation has changed over the past 22 years with an insight and knowledge that only a handful of people can provide. The Subsidiary is essential reading for any wrestling fan or even just a fan of television or theater. The story provides a first hand account of a producer, writer and talent manager who struggled, first to learn the job and then to maintain WCW’s position in wrestling, in a top position for over 5 years.


“A wonderfully detailed look at the rise from the ashes, WCW: The Subsidiary looks into the planning and execution of turning WCW from a small piece in the Turner Broadcasting Puzzle into a large part of the WWF and the wrestling landscape at large. Saint’s first hand account of meetings, backstage view of shows and knowledge of the inner workings not only disproves many rumors but gives more insight and news than any wrestling book has ever divulged before.”

Wade Keller, PWTorch.com Bookreview, 06/19/2021​

“Reading this thing, I’m sure a great deal of it is fabrication. I mean, it’s good, don’t get me wrong. Saint definitely puts himself on a pedestal here. Some of the stuff, here, I was there for some of these meetings he describes and a number of these things are just horse sh*t. But whatever. Saint is just trying to make a buck and he’s definitely got the gift of gab.”

Eric Bischoff, 83 Weeks Podcast with Conrad Thompson, 3/22/2021​

“Saint’s the man. One of my favorite people to work with. Always a straight shooter and never gave the unnecessary BS. I skimmed the book, looks good, but ya know? I don’t really “read” read. I’ll get it on tape. S#*t. Think they’ll want me to do the audiobook?”

Scott Steiner, WCWWF Podcast, 09/01/2020​

“Working parallel jobs with Jake in Talent Relations, I was there for a lot of this. I don’t work for WWF anymore, and you know I don’t like to be unnecessarily disparaging. Jake paints what I would call an accurate picture of what was going on then. Especially the 2001 stuff. All of the turmoil with talents and treading those waters. I helped him. He gave me credit too, so I respect that he didn’t just say ‘I did this, I did that.’ That was a team effort and he was a major cog. No one better to give this account and I know fans have been dying to know about it. Hell of a read. I touched on some of this stuff briefly in my second book, but again, it’s not really my story to tell, per say.”

Jim Ross, Grillin’ JR with Condrad Thompson, 03/25/2021​

“He’s full of sh*t. It’s all sh*t. This dude claims all these things and provides 0 proof. It’s like, why? I mean, if you’re going to build all this sh*t up, why leave when you did? Because it’s all bulls#*t. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vince gave him the option, leave or I’ll fire your ass publicly. I mean I remember when he put himself on TV at the beginning. Like, f**k you dude. That could have been anyone and you had to be the “Authority Figure” or whatever. Just put a bad taste in my mouth. I wouldn’t even bother reading his drivel. I made it through the first few chapters and he comes off like this “incredible at everything he does” monster. He was a sheepish little bitch in our talent meetings and he never took a one-on-one meeting with me, so screw him.”

Buff Bagwell, interview with PWTorch.com, 08/16/2021​

“You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone to dispute any of this. He hits the nail on the head. The struggle we had, the weekly “what is going to happen next?”, the monthly “is this the last pape?” Saint was in the locker room every show trying to tell us these things then, and some of the boys were always saying “he’s working us.” Like he was making the stuff seem impossible on his end so we wouldn’t come bitch about our finish or if we were getting the belt or whatever. I mean I hope some of the boys read this and realize he was a straight up good dude who was put in over his head, especially at first, and he fixed a lot of problems before they got to us. He tried to make it so we could go town-to-town, show up at the building and wrestle and leave to do it again. In fact, there's a few things in here, that if they are true and I don’t know, I could always go back and ask around, but if they’re true.. I have even more respect that he fell on some swords for stupid stuff we did. I don’t know. I wasn’t on the Talent Relations side then and I definitely had no hand in creative. I just showed up, looked at the sheet, talked to the agent and wrestled. This book makes it look like he just put everything out there for us to just do that, and if he’s being 100% truthful, good on him.”

Jeff Jarrett, interview with POST Wrestling’s John Pollock 02/28/2021
​

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Alright guys, I'm new here. I've got seven chapters already written (I had posted this elsewhere first), along with a couple complementary pieces) and will be actively writing and reviewing going forward from now.

I've had a couple of longer bookers elsewhere (including a WCW 98 thread that I did a full year on, ROH 2016, WWE 2014, NXT vs ROH) but I think this is my most ambitious idea yet.

I will try to make Thursdays the day that I post the chapters, but we will see how that all works out, as I'm not sure how I want to do it once I get into complementary pieces (which will include PPV "reviews"). I have a pretty crazy work schedule so sometimes it will be difficult.

anyways, hope you all enjoy this! Thanks!

 

[TheScarredOne]

I remember this diary. It was starting to get good. Glad to see it returning and looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

 

[stlsaint]

Chapter One: This Might Be The Real Deal​

March 26, 2001. You’ve heard it before. A million stories have started with that date. It has long been generally considered the “End of the Monday Night War,” and this is true to the outside world- to you non-wrestling folks. The truth is that WCW being bought by WWF created a new “war.” This war was almost as ruthless and cut-throat as the Monday Night saga pitting WWF and it’s Chairman, Vince McMahon against WCW and their senior Vice President, Eric Bischoff. The difference now was that everyone was employed by the same corporations, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, WWFE (the publicly traded arm of Capitol Sports and Entertainment).

Much ink has been spilled about what happened immediately after Vince McMahon paid a measly 6 Million Dollars for the WCW name, media library and a handful of contracted wrestlers. I don’t think anyone is as qualified to give the rundown of events and a perspective of them as me. Who am I? Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Jake Santangelo, but everyone calls me “Saint.” I’m pretty sure that’s more of an ironic nickname, but this book isn’t about me. I was the Executive Vice President of WCW from March 26, 2001 until May 29, 2006. This role put me in charge of many things- talent acquisitions, licensing, scheduling, the booking committee. I also had a hand in several other things- advertising, ticket sales, promotional tactics, I even spent a few sleepless Monday nights trying to get catering set up for our shows- settling on Subway sandwiches and once even grilling 300 chicken breasts myself to feed a hungry talent pool.

Basically, I tried to do it all and for a while, I did it as well as anyone could have hoped or imagined. But anyways this story has a beginning, and it starts in late November 2000, when I received a surprising phone call from my former boss, Eric Bischoff, who had an interesting proposal: he was going to buy WCW, with a few millionaires and he would be the vice president, and I would head up talent relations with an opportunity to invest. I was taken aback.

“You think we can do this?” I asked a very excited Eric. Eric has always been an up-and-down personality, apt to act quickly on emotion often, but occasionally he would ponder and analyze a decision for so long, the opportunity would pass him by.

“Well, I know we can DO it. The question really is, can we do it the way it needs to be done on Turner? I think we can, but my guys are starting the process now. Ted is going to be forced to sell WCW. I just got off the phone with Harvey (Schiller), it’s happening.” Dr. Harvey Schiller was a retired Brigadier General in the United States Air Force, who had been one of Ted Turner’s right hand men and the Director of Turner Sports when I originally worked for WCW in 1997. Harvey was a straight-shooter, at least with me. “Harvey was definitely going to run the idea of AOL TimeWarner selling to us by Ted.”

“Who is us?” I added, grabbing a pen and paper. I was definitely interested but I couldn’t let Eric know that yet. If I gave him the impression I was even remotely interested, I would be stuck whether I thought we could do it or not.

“We’ve started a corporation to handle this. Fusient Media. Cool name, right?” Eric quickly spit out.

“Yeah, I like it. Who’s the money? This going to cost like 50 Million Dollars Eric. I don’t have anything to put in right now.” I quickly lied. The thought had crossed my mind that Eric had called for investment. I had been saving my whole life and lived pretty frugally. I had plenty of money to invest, but I didn’t want to contribute one cent until Eric had this plan laid out and I could properly analyze it.

I quickly tapped my thumb to the backside of my pen’s clicker, rapidly causing the tip to pop in and out of the base. “Uh, have you ever heard of ESPN Classic? I’m trying to think of what else these guys are invested in that you would know” Eric finally spit out after several moments of silence.

“Sure.” I responded. I hadn’t, but ESPN was ESPN, and everyone at least had an idea of the global reach of the first sports network.

“Well these guys, Brian and Stephen, they sold ESPN these massive classic sports libraries they had been collecting over the years, including old AWA stuff. They got PAID, man. They love wrestling, They’re great. You’ve got to meet them!” This was the Eric I had become accustomed to finally showing through. When he got excited, when he finally stopped playing coy, he would explode in quick, frantic sentences, trying to cram as much information into short bursts as possible. Eric always left pauses for questions when I was his direct subordinate, as the VP of Talent Relations in 1997, but I learned quickly that questions were for the end and the end was more effectively known as “never.”

“Ok. Let’s meet.” I didn’t know how much this statement would change my life. Knowing the inner workings of WCW from 1997, I knew this would require me to leave my job as the General Manager of the Albany River Rats and the Assistant GM of the New Jersey Devils. I hadn’t been enjoying this job as much as I had hoped. Being an assistant to Lou Lamoreillo was definitely an amazing experience, but being under such a massive name meant that I had been overlooked for the potential to be the GM of another NHL team. In fact, after hanging up with Eric, I made a call I had been planning for some time, but hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. I called Lou and told him I was stepping down from my Assistant GM position and requested to finish out the season as a scout. I really struggled with this conversation and tears welled in my eyes.

My longtime dream of being an NHL GM was at least being put on hold, but my lifelong passion of wrestling had reared its ugly head again. I started up my computer and went to the WCW website to look at the roster. “Aw jeeze,” I muttered several times as I scrolled through the list. Half of the names were stars of the 1980’s, well past their prime and the other half we’re names I had never heard before. I had just left the company in August of 1997 and I couldn’t picture a great deal of these names.

Perusing the rest of the website was a struggle. There was nothing exciting about this at all. The website was a mess and I even found myself picking up the phone to call Eric and try to un-fuck my life’s latest terrible decision. “Just go to Wyoming and meet with Eric.” I repeated throughout the day.


The rest of the day I caught myself daydreaming about my WCW days in 1997. I thought about that first day in the office in Atlanta, where Eric pulled me, a lowly staff writer, aside and talked to me for 4 hours about my plan. Eric and I had hit it off immediately. “Hockey? THAT’S your dream? There is so much money right here my man!” Eric spurted out in his quick burst of energy. Seeing Eric in the office on a Wednesday was apparently rare, and he looked haggard. He was dressed in blue jeans and leather boots, and donned a slightly too large black t-shirt. He had bags under his eyes and his hair, while perfectly groomed, was showing more grey than I had ever noticed on TV.

I vividly recall looking down at my way-too-black suit and overly baggy shirt, with the checkered tie I had taken from my father’s closet and then looking back at Eric. He caught my stare. “Yeah, we don’t have to wear those clown suits. Unless we’re going upstairs. Someday, you may go up there- but not for a while.”

My scrambled brain flashed forward to 3 weeks later when I was in the meeting where Eric, Scott Sassa, the true number 2 of Turner Broadcasting, and Harvey Schiller went back and forth for 4 hours about WCW adding another show. I had already bucked authority as I sat there in my usual blue jeans, heavily worn along the thigh and knee, and t-shirt with my “band of the day” adorning the front. Burned into my brain is that I was wearing a Sex Pistols shirt when the richest man I would ever meet entered the room, surrounded by three other people, all in impeccable suits. Ted Turner was 6 feet from me as I wrote on a legal pad taking notes of Eric’s ideas for the name of the new show.

“Where we at, Scott? Harvey. Eric. Eh….” Ted Turner had nodded quickly at Harvey and Eric, and his eyes settled on me.

“Sir, Im-” I started. “That’s my number two, Ted. His name is Jake. He’s been here a month or so, but he’s sharp.” Eric cut me off. Two things had just happened. I had met the Chairman of my new company and Eric had given me a field promotion.

“Oh. How are ya?” Ted quickly spit out. He then turned back to Scott Sassa. “So? How’s this Thursday thing going?”

“Well, it seems like we’re making some progress but Eric has some major concer-” Scott started.

“It’s all good. We’re going to figure it all out- it’ll be fine.” Eric cut Scott off. I saw something in Eric I hadn’t seen before. He was exuding a nervous energy. In his way, he pushed through the nervousness by trying to quickly put information on the table that would change the subject. “We were thinking of this show being all n.W.o. We were brainstorming some names. Saint?”

I nervously looked down at the paper. I had been writing a few things Eric and the others had said, but nothing was really that great. I had doodled in the corner of the paper mostly. I stared at that piece of paper and pretended to be organizing the ideas in my brain. “Eh…” I started my eyes darting across the page. My eyes settled in the upper-right hand corner where I had crudely scribbled a lightning bolt. I had been thinking about Metallica while Eric had been going on and on about the WCW’s metal motif on Nitro. A million words rushed across my brain but I spurted out, almost accidentally, “Thunder… uh…” I went to continue.


“That’s it. That’s the name,” Turner cut me off. My heart was racing. Had this really happened?

Eric stared at me, mouth slightly open, but eyes bulging from darkened and baggy eyes.

The rest of that meeting is a blur, but I recall going back downstairs with Eric and him taking me into his office. “Well VP. Congrats. Very nicely done.” That same day, I got a major pay raise and a new office.

The next few months were a blur. I didn’t tell Eric about the first two or three calls I had gotten from the Albany team about being a scout.The pull of my hockey obsession quickly became too much to resist. I was working diligently on the Thunder project with Turner executives I had, prior to these meetings, no idea existed. The tedious work drove me away from wrestling entirely.

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“You’re what?!” Eric screamed as I told him the news. “A fucking scout? What are they going to pay you?”

“I don-” I started

“Fuck it. Whatever it is, we’ll double it. I need you here. You’ve been pointman on this Thunder shit.” Eric cut me off.

“Well, that’s the thing Eric. I came here to be a writer. That’s all I wanted to do here. All this other stuff.. Honestly, I’m in way over my head. The scouting job isn’t about the pay. I want to be an NHL exec. This is, like, I don’t know. Not the same.” I must have sounded like a scolded child.

“What the fuck, dude. I’m… What can I do to make you stay?” Eric said in almost a whisper and the words rushed out in a heavy breath.

Make. That was the word that ended it for me. I wanted to be there because I WANTED to be there, not because I was being forced. I tried to find the words. “I just don’t think there’s anything here for me. I want to be in the NHL.”

“Alright then. I guess I need everything on Thunder.” Eric sighed.

And with that I moved from Atlanta to Albany, New York and began scouting. The next time that stands out is being in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Thursday, January 8, 1998, and watching a replay of Thunder in my hotel room. I was refining my notes on a prospect I had just watched play earlier in the evening. My attention was so divided, I knew I would have to turn off the TV to get any work done. The fax back to Lou and his staff was due by midnight for filing, and I glanced at the clock. 11:43. The decision was an easy one. I put the paper back into my binder and grabbed the remote. I pushed the volume button forward and melted back into my true passion.

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The next thing I knew, a few days had passed and I was in Wyoming, waiting for Eric to pick me up. I had expected to be sitting in an old classic muscle car or even some old beat up farm truck. My heart fluttered a bit when I saw a black Lincoln Limousine parked along the pick up lane, with a driver holding a sign with the name “Saint” on it. This might be the real deal. Eric’s fucking done it again.

 

[stlsaint]

Chapter Two: It’s Now or Never Fellas​

“Hello?” I answered my phone with a confused tone. The 203 area code was not one I was familiar with when it came across the caller ID. I grabbed a stack of bills and shuffled through to see any accounts I may have forgotten to pay in the weeks around what had, to that point, been the most difficult 5 months of my life.

“Hey, pal.” answered a gruff growl. I knew the voice, but I paused, waiting for him to confirm my suspicions. “Vince McMahon. You’ve caused quite a commotion up here. Any chance I can have you in for a meeting?” Vince, as I would learn in the coming years, doesn’t usually make these calls. I have never asked why I got such an honor, but I was definitely intimidated.

“Uh. Sure.” I slowly responded. A million things going through my head. Was Vince McMahon calling me to his office to gloat? To beat me up? What had I done to cause him to call me? MY brain started replaying the past 4 months. Had I been over egregious towards Vince McMahon or WWF?

March 22nd 2001, I flew from my temporary residence in Las Vegas to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Again, I was met with the limo treatment. Little did I know that I was travelling to the building that would be one (of several) bases of operations I would have for the next 5 years.

My mind wandered on the drive. I suddenly had a flashback to being in the limousine to Eric Bischoff’s residence in Wyoming.

--------------------------------------------

“How long?” I had asked the driver, sheepishly hoping a quick nap would be in order. I stared out the window into the cold December plains, snow littering the countryside as we passed. I was still scouting for the Devils, which was essentially a full time job and a half, and on the side was working on a business proposal of what I would do with the WCW brand and everything associated with it once it was purchased.

“It’s not too far, maybe 45 minutes.” Great, I thought, just long enough that I won’t be able to get to sleep and not long enough to dive into what had become 5-6 hour writing sessions working on the business plan. I leaned back in the seat, feeling the sweat on my back run up my dress shirt as I slouched down on the chair, horribly rounding my back. Even then, my brain shot to the moment Eric had told me, “we don’t have to wear those clown suits.” I couldn’t help but feel the grin come across my face. Everything was different now, but still I was nervous in anticipation of seeing Eric for the first time since I had dropped off the Thunder plans and rushed off to Albany 3 ½ years before. We had spoken on the phone several times, usually ending with a business proposal for me to think on.

We pulled up to the cabin, which is the best way to describe the residence Eric lived in. Don’t be mistaken, the cabin was massive, complete with a wrap around porch and a decent sized barn to the left. The driveway was the only part that wasn’t gravel. Eric was on the porch with a coffee cup. Eric grinned toward me, with that signature smile. He raised his cup and nodded. He then looked behind him, where I saw a single Red Bull can, dripping with condensation.

“I bet you didn’t sleep much, you never did before any meetings. I got you this…. You still drink this crap?” Eric shrugged toward me. I nodded and Eric tossed the can over the railing. “Come on, I’ll show you the office.”

I followed Eric through the house, gorgeous in every room, with a view of the long road back to the highway in front, fields to the left and right, and woods to the rear. Complete seclusion. Eric led me downstairs to a room with several mounted TVs, a few leather couches and two desks on opposite ends of the room, each equipped with PC computers, printers, fax machines and telephones. “Very nice, E” I said, my voice almost snapping as I hadn’t spoken the whole ride.

“Yeah, I figured we’d need a place to sit down and chat about this. Stephen and Brian are on the way.” I had researched them as well as I could. Stephen Greenberg and Brian Bedol had, as Eric explained, gained quite a bit of notoriety purchasing old NCAA football games and began shopping these around and found that ESPN was quite interested. Greenberg and Bedol had continued to buy, from local TV sports stations, colleges, etc, what had previously been thought of as unwanted footage. The two started their own television network, using solely this footage, the 24 hour-a-day Classic Sports Network. What quickly became apparent was that ESPN was showing an interest in events owned by Greenberg and Bedol, including the channel itself. Fairly quickly a deal was reached that made both very, very wealthy and filled their coffers to attempt to get into a business venture involving their real passion, wrestling.

(Brian Bedol, 1/2 of the money behind Fusient Media)​

Though my time with the two was brief, what I gathered from our conversations was that during mid 1998, during the largest growth period of the wrestling boom, Bedol and Greenberg had reached out to Verne Gagne and inquired about purchasing or licensing the AWA/American Wrestling Association name to begin their own wrestling promotion. The two had gained enough trust from Gagne and his family that the two were able to license AWA footage that would accompany the footage already owned by ESPN. A deal couldn’t be reached between the two and Bedol and Greenberg were back on the hunt.

In later conversations with Paul Heyman, former Extreme Championship Wrestling owner and also a co-worked at WWF, the two approached him in early 1999 about buying into ECW. Heyman supposedly told Bedol and Greenberg that ECW was in good shape financially and that there was no need for their investment. Knowing all three, I would say that Bedol and Greenberg wouldn’t have liked to be as in the dark as Heyman would seem to keep those outside of his inner circle and Heyman would have absolutely hated having any input from anyone outside of his most trusted right-hand men.

The meeting with Eric, Greenberg, Bedol and myself felt like 10 minutes. It flew by so quickly that it felt like we hadn’t even scratched the surface. The truth was, we had met for close to 6 hours and all of us were exhausted.

That evening,I settled into a guest bedroom of Eric’s residence, with my notes and studied them carefully. Eric’s idea was based mostly around shutting down WCW for about 45-60 days and coming back with a Pay-Per-View in early May, called “The Big Bang.” This would be held at the Hard Rock Cafe’s parking lot in Las Vegas. Eric had already started securing an investor who would help turn the parking lot into a 5000 person arena, specifically designed for wrestling. The whole meeting it felt like Eric was playing chess and I was playing checkers. All of my ideas had been on the creative side and how to generate a large pie of cash influx, between t-shirt and other merchandising, mainly focusing on filming of house shows for DVD distribution.

Greenberg and Bedol were the money. They were definitely smart, but they didn’t say much during the meeting, but I could see the wheels turning. Bedol made some suggestions about what to do with WCW’s current slate of 7 hours of television per week. Greenberg was the tweaker. Greenberg took meticulous notes and I could see him rearranging Eric and my ideas, combining things with arrows and question marks. However, the last part of the meeting stuck in my mind the most.

“So I spoke with the attorneys this morning. The number seems to be 12. Is everyone good with us coming in around 9 and starting the negotiations there?” Bedol said, with his head down, staring at a tv format and tapping the corners with a highlighter.

Eric rubbed his chin slowly. “I mean it all comes down to what Turner is selling.”

“That includes all the rings, all office staff not signed directly to AOL TimeWarner- around 15 employees, several production trucks, a few cameras, and something like 22 contracted wrestlers. Obviously the rest of the contracts are all going to have to be negotiated. Our biggest contingency is the continuation and negotiation of new television contracts for the tv shows.” Greenberg rattled off, never looking down at his list.

I stared down at what I had written for the necessities for WCW:

• Minimum 2 rings
• Minimum 5 cameras
• Office space and a “home base” team of 15-20 employees
• Production team (at least 20 employees)
• Merchandising
• Permanent arena space
• Touring plan
• Booking committee or head writer in place 6 weeks in advance
• Television
• Announcing and referees

The list seemed to go on and on. But I thought this was going to cost significantly more than 12 million dollars.

“Maybe I’m missing something? Why is it so low?” I looked toward Greenberg.

Bedol took the question though, “I mean it’s not worth anything anymore. 6 months ago, I asked for the asking price and was told Ted would start listening at 100 million. Now that ratings have tanked and Ted doesn’t have power, AOL TimeWarner wants to sell everything and fast. It’s now or never fellas.”

I know I didn’t sleep a wink, but I was energized enough to power through another long day. We were buying WCW and my life was only going to get crazier.

 

[stlsaint]

Chapter Three: Looks a Lot Like The Old WCW ​

“W-wo-work for you?” I stuttered. I was staring into the eyes of the most powerful man in wrestling, Vince McMahon. Vince had just pulled the rug out from under Eric, Stephen, Brian and I. With only a few hours left, Vince had been told what our offer for WCW was and matched it, and when Fusient had dropped their offer entirely, Vince renegotiated the terms of his deal. It had been a strange feeling. I wasn’t disappointed, so much as despondent.

I had put all of my eggs into the Fusient/WCW basket- with an eye towards expanding Eric and I’s business ventures into scripted television and other avenues.

(WWF Headquarters, my home for most of my time as the head of WCW)​

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The phone had rung late that night, Eric was frantic on the other end. “Did you get that fax? You need to come back to the office, right now.”

Eric had found us a temporary space in Las Vegas, just a few blocks from Hard Rock, where we had a few computers and what not to conduct day-to-day business. I had been working on a few different scripts and other advertising things there, but had kinda left the business side of things to Brian and Stephen.

“Uh- no. Hold on.” I scurried from my couch, where I had papers littering a small TV tray, my makeshift desk. I walked to the fax machine that Eric had installed in the room just a few days before.

Well, this might be the end boys. Turner and AOL just canceled all WCW programming. I’ll call in the morning after I talk things over with Johnny Ace.
-AA

I slowly walked back to the phone. “What do we do, E? What can we do at this hour?” I glanced at the clock. It was nearing midnight.

“I don’t fucking know! We can’t just give up. Stephen and Brian are going to drop out if there’s no TV. Maybe we can start brainstorming where to shop to? I just don’t fucking know.”

For the first time, Eric sounded defeated. Eric sighed heavily as I shuffled papers and grabbed at the TV channel list buried beneath my paperwork. “Well, what’s the options? What is the goal? MTV? VH1 could be a good option?”

“USA” Eric said firmly.

The ending was nearer than Eric had hoped.

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“Yes, work for me.” Vince deadpanned. I’m not sure how long I had zoned out. “You would basically be the Executive Vice President of WCW, or whatever they called what Bischoff was doing. You would oversee everything, but run it through me and my team. Jim, Bruce, Michael Hayes, and Johnny will be my guys. I’ll let you decide on a team for yourself, but I’ll have to approve them all. But, Jake… no Eric. He can’t be a part of this.”

I nodded slowly and scrubbed my chin.

“What about the talent roster? WCW is losing the entire main event scene.”

Vince spun a notebook toward me with about 20 names scribbled on it. Most were scratched out, but 6 remained. I didn’t know it at the time, but that would be the building blocks for the first 18 months of WCW’s reboot, under WWF.

Vince tapped his index finger to the top of the notebook. “I’d be willing to discuss a few more, but the names that aren’t scratched out, the deals are already done and waiting for some signatures. I need to know if these guys work or not.”

“Absolutely.” I quickly said. Eric had taught me very early on that a quick answer to a superior was always better than to stutter your way through it.

“Now, one of these guys,” Vince started. He looked at the paper and stretched across the desk and tapped at a name ½ down the page. “Him…. he’s going to have a program with me at Mania next year. So he’s a priority. And when the time comes I’d be willing to give you someone to replace him on your roster for a while. Jericho, Benoit, maybe Angle if he’s not doing something.”

“I… yeah. Let’s do it.” I had somehow pulled the rug back under myself. I just had to tell Eric.

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“Wow. Really?” Eric had paused for a pretty long time before responding. “You’re leaving me again.”

“Well, what was next, man? What was the next thing to try?” I had already practiced my retort several times in the hotel room. It came out a little robotic.

“I’ve been talking to Jerry Jarrett about something. He’s got a plan for something taking over the old Memphis territory. I don’t know. You were talking about doing TV. I’m still tight with a few people- Jason Hervey? We could try to break into scripted television?”

“I’ve gotta follow this, Eric. I put myself fully into it, it wouldn’t sit right with me to just move on without trying these ideas.” Eric had helped immensely with the formatting and production. Between my first stint with WCW in 97 and the past 5 months, I had learned as much as I possibly could, and almost all of it from Eric. “There’s something else.” Eric hadn’t responded to my last statement yet. “Vince is letting me pick my team, with one caveat. I can’t pick you.”

Eric still hadn’t responded. “Maybe a little down the road I can convince them that I need you. I’ve learned so much from you and you still have so much to give.” I finished. Part of me was just hoping he would thank me for the kind words. The rest of me was desperately trying to feel like I wasn’t turning my back on the Fusient team.

“You know I can’t do that. I can’t work there.” Eric calmly let out, through a deep breath.

“Alright man, I understand. I, uh, I’ll call you tomorrow. We have to close out all these Fusient and E&J accounts. I’ll finish out the week doing all that.” E&J, the production company Eric and I had started, was basically just an LLC to get credit to purchase things once WCW was up and running, but the ultimate plan was to get into production of multiple forms of television. The truth was that might have been the really exciting part of this whole thing. I was having serious doubts about the financial viability of WCW, especially with the talent contract situation.

“I’ll take care of all that. Good luck in New York.” Eric spit out. He then hung up.

New York. The words kept spinning through my brain as I once again looked over the list of names Vince had handed me.

These guys are the new WCW. Looks a lot like the old WCW. I thought, over and over, as I drifted off to sleep, as a big angle played out in my mind. The angle that would hopefully put WCW on the map with a bang.

 

[Dubb]

Welcome back! This certainly looks interesting. I love a good WCW BTB so I hope to see this one continue.

 

[Stojy]

I remember reading this elsewhere and really enjoying it. Enjoying reading through these early entries a second time, and looking forward to seeing the new formation of WCW under Vinnie Mac/Saint. Good luck.

 

[stlsaint]

Chapter Four: Anatomy of a Reboot​

Sitting down with Eric after Fusient had signed the intent to purchase WCW, in mid January 2001, Eric had asked me to put together what the reboot would look like. Here is the basic outline of what I had put together.

The last show before the reboot: (which ended up being the March 26, 2001 show)
Well you saw it. Booker T won the World Heavyweight Title, to become a double champion (US champion and World champion). This was our plan as well. Scott Steiner, as much as we wanted to have him around, he was too expensive for the early portion of our reboot.

Discussions had already occurred with 4 top talent; Diamond Dallas Page, Sting, Ric Flair, and Goldberg. Booker T had already agreed to a buyout, and was willing to work for WCW, for pennies on the dollar. I’m forever grateful for him.

These 5 were the predetermined Main Eventers. Everyone else was already gone, or would we would not even consider a buyout; Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Randy Savage, Sid Vicious, and many others. These guys were all contracted to AOL TimeWarner, and their buyouts, plus a weekly salary would prove to be too much.

A number of people had contracts directly with WCW; Kidman, Rey Mysterio, the entire Natural Born Thrillers group, Mike Awesome, Chavo Guerrero, and a few others.

After the final Nitro (which we had been told would be the middle of April), WCW would shut down for 3 weeks. The website and all advertising would push toward the Big Bang pay-per-view, which was tentatively scheduled for May 6, 2001, from Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Cafe’s parking lot, which would be converted to the "Nextel Arena". This was a 5000 seat arena Eric had been working on, and would eventually be built in 2002 to house the NWA:TNA promotion.

That card would be pretty basic, but we would have a mini tournament to crown a new United States Champion, a pre-show battle royal (to be shown on TBS) for the re-commissioned Television Championship, and every other title defended. The biggest issue that WCW was facing was that the original plans called for Goldberg to challenge for the World Title. Now that doesn’t sound like a problem, but as WCW’s biggest draw, we needed to advertise him; however, the feeling that introducing Goldberg as a big surprise also appealed to the “anything can happen in WCW '' approach Eric had taken with WCW since 1994.

After much debate, it was decided that Booker T would face Ric Flair, defending the World Title, while Sting and Goldberg would do battle for the Number One Contendership. This would be the surprise. The idea being that Sting would be announced for the match, and Goldberg would be the surprise opponent.

The card was booked to be

Pre Show on TBS “Sunday Night’s Showdown”
Battle Royal for Television Title: Winner would be: “Above Average“ Mike Sanders, last eliminating Big Vito
The announcement of the 4 competitors in the United States Championship Final Four: Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Shawn Stasiak and Buff Bagwell.

Main Card on PPV “The Big Bang”, with the winners underlined:
1. Cruiserweight Championship: “Suga” Shane Helms © vs Chavo Guerrero
2. United States Championship Semi-Final match: Lance Storm vs. Shawn Stasiak
3. United States Championship Semi-Final match: Buff Bagwell vs. Mike Awesome
4. Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship: The Filthy Animals: Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. (with Konan) © vs The Jung Dragons
5. Tag Team Championship: The Natural Born Thrillers: Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire © vs Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon (w/ Bam Bam Bigelow)
6. United States Championship Tournament final: Mike Awesome vs. Lance Storm
7. Number One Contendership: Sting vs Goldberg
8. World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T © vs Ric Flair

After defeating Flair, Booker T would turn heel and create a new faction: Down and Dirty, bringing in Tag Champs Palumbo and O’Haire, with Shane Helms and Paisley (later known as Booker T’s wife, Sharmell) joining later. Booker would beat down Flair and Arn Anderson, standing tall with a new attitude to end the show.

This would have led to the WCW World Title showdown at Bash at the Beach in June. With the heel Booker T, and his faction, taking on Goldberg. Basically, Booker would hold onto the belt, through underhanded tactics until Starrcade, including a WarGames match at Fall Brawl, where Booker and Co. would defeat Goldberg, Sting, Diamond Dallas Page and Ric Flair.

This feud would have culminated in a few things happening. Goldberg would win the World Heavyweight title at Starrcade. After that, Booker and the others would turn on O’Haire, leading to O’Haire’s first single’s babyface run. This would lead to wins over Palumbo, Helms and eventually Booker. O’Haire would then win a multi-man “Mayhem” Ladder match late in 2002, that would lead to him challenging Goldberg at Starrcade 2002.

Goldberg, all the while, would rack up victories on PPV, but rarely wrestle in singles matches on TV. The plan was to keep Goldberg as special as possible, while still having him appear every week. The ultimate goal was for Goldberg to have a tag match, a promo, and do something physically impressive- in no particular order- from pay-per-view to pay-per-view. It was thought that the biggest match Goldberg would have during his title run would have likely been at Halloween Havoc 2002 vs Flair (with a reformed 4 Horsemen in his corner). This Horsemen group would have taken most of 2002 to build and would hopefully include some new signees. (Lord knows, we had ideas on who we wanted in the group.)

Mike Awesome’s run with the US title was planned to be lengthy, but the direction was a little more hazy. Obviously, Eric and I had planned to make the US title a “workhorse” title, similar to the WWF’s Intercontinental Championship. The likely meant matches between Awesome and Lance Storm would be a regular occurrence. Ideas were jotted down- with Rey Mysterio Jr., leaving the cruiserweight division, but those were more contingent on Awesome moving on from the US title.

The Television title was being set up to be a 10 or 15 time limit championship. The basic idea was to defend it each and every week, so another workhorse was needed. I wasn’t sold on Mike Sanders, but Eric loved his character and I was open to the idea that he wasn’t as good, but was able to squeak by week-after-week, until we found the right guy to take the belt.

Eric, Stephen and Brian were so focused on the purchase and the Big Bang pay-per-view, it was my duty to ensure that the big picture story-wise was kept in mind. I was doing this at every meeting, writing my ideal main event scene for 2002 down on a dry erase board almost every meeting, only to have Eric erase the names to rearrange the card for Big Bang or to write out estimated figures for buying out the contracts of AOL TimeWarner stars.

Eric had an affinity for Kevin Nash and was bringing his name up at almost every meeting. The problem was that Nash would easily cost more than anyone on the roster, including Goldberg. Eric had spoken to Nash and was under the impression he would come back for exceptionally cheap. Eric contacted AOL TimeWarner for the buyout price, which was a major chunk of what Stephen and Brian had set aside for “talent acquisitions”. Eric fought to pay the exorbitant amount, because he felt that Nash would be an asset- both in the ring and as a member of the booking team.

Dave Meltzer is a name that doesn't come up often in my life. Once in 1997, he had gotten my desk number and called to ask about a rumor he had heard (about Disco Inferno, no less) and I had basically told him to shove off. Meltzer called around until he got my number again, in early 2001, to tell me that Nash had been negotiating a contract to return to the WWF. Somehow, despite the tightlipped nature of the whole sale, Nash had let slip to the wrong “stooge” that he was talking to Vince and Co. about a WWF run. This was predicated on WCW buying out his contract. Nash denied this all to Eric, but the damage was done and Eric no longer felt comfortable buying out the contract. Which was fine with me, I would get more Kevin Nash than I could handle in due time, but for the time being WCW was free of all of the albatross names that had become synonymous with the failures of the previous 2 or 3 years.

Dave Meltzer, founder, editor and chief contributor to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter​

The one name that I brought up, almost preemptively, was Hulk Hogan. I knew Eric was close to Hogan and I knew that from 1994-1999, Hogan was the top dog. However, since mid 2000, he had fallen into the background, being entrenched in a feud with Billy Kidman and then leaving WCW at Bash at the Beach 2000, after a strange turn of events led to Jeff Jarrett laying down for Hogan in a WCW World Title match and Vince Russo calling out Hogan’s hairline resulting in a lawsuit that wasn’t settled until early 2005.

Hogan had clearly been in contact with Eric, but knowing that I was ready to push the new era of star, Eric hadn’t brought a Hogan return up yet. My fear was that Hogan would be dropped in my lap on the night of Big Bang and be deeply entrenched in the main event scene that was already lacking the wrestling ability that made WWF’s World Title picture so much more exciting. Eric denied Hogan’s interest, but I knew that if Eric could find the money to buy out Nash, he could find the money to buy out Hogan AND pay him big bucks.

Philosophically, I believed that the matches should carry the show with the programs being vital to get to the PPV matches. I wanted the feuds to be personal. I wanted the Championships to mean something. I wanted rankings and time limits and tag ropes and explicitly stated rules. I wouldn’t say Eric had disagreed, but it was clear that Eric’s vision still included more sizzle than steak and was trying to create a WWF-lite product, based around crazy story lines and as much star power as we could muster. Hogan needed to be on the sidelines for the new WCW to work.

-----------------------------------------------------------

It’s almost comical to think about it like that, isn’t it? The most popular wrestler in the history of the sport, would have to be left out of the new WCW for it to succeed? Well it was something that I felt very strongly about. So much so that when Vince McMahon dropped the n.W.o. in my lap in the summer of 2002, I had to find a way to prevent the three from taking over the show.

I wouldn’t say the 3 were toxic. That’s not a fair assessment. In 2002, a lot of the personality traits that had made them public enemy #1 in WCW were gone. As were the egos. Hogan was still Hogan, but at the end of the day- he seemed willing to do business. I have wondered over the years if WCW would have been more successful initially in mid 2001 with those guys on the team, but the truth of the matter is- the lack of star power and name recognition made us all work harder. Booker T, Steiner, O’Haire, everyone is better because they were allowed to be the main focus of shows week after week. WCW rebuilt itself from top to bottom in those early months and even into the end of my tenure, they continued to build momentum. The biggest problem was that we started from about as low as we could possibly get.

 

[stlsaint]

PWI-online.com
Staff report
03/10/2001
Fusient Media’s attempt to buy WCW falls through, TNT and TBS cancel all WCW programming

As had been speculated for a few weeks- essentially since the sale was first announced on 01/01/2001- Fusient Media Ventures attempt to purchase World Championship Wrestling has fallen through. AOL TimeWarner cancelled all WCW programming, with an announcement last night.

“As of 04/01/2001, Turner Media will no longer broadcast World Championship Wrestling’s programming, including WCW Monday Nitro, WCW Thunder, WCW Saturday Night and WCW Main Event.”

It was about as basic of an announcement as you can get. This led to speculation of what Fusient would do going forward and they decided, just this morning, that their purchase of WCW was no longer viable without the TV slots.

The speculation now is that WWF owner Vince McMahon exercised an option to match the purchase price for WCW that Fusient was offering, believed to be in the range of 20 million dollars. As a strange judgement in a prior lawsuit, WWF was offered the option to match any purchase of WCW. This announcement from AOL TimeWarner leads many to believe that McMahon matched, causing AOL TimeWarner/Turner Media to cancel the programming.

Obviously there is much more to come in the story, so check back for updates. We will be putting out information as we receive it.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wrestling-World.Net
Opinion Column
By: Carter Wynn
03/11/2001

“WCW’s Death Wasn’t a Murder; It Was a Slow Suicide”​

If you’re looking for someone to blame for WCW’s demise, don’t waste your time on Vince McMahon or AOL TimeWarner. Don’t point at Fusient. And don’t look to some shadowy cabal in Stamford plotting the end of Turner’s wrestling empire. No, if you really want to understand what happened, you have to take a long, hard look at the bloated, ego-driven, creatively bankrupt machine WCW had become by the time the calendar flipped to 2001.


Fusient Media Ventures walked into the WCW graveyard with a shovel, sure. But the grave was already dug, the casket already sealed. All they had to do was drop the roses and walk away.


Let’s rewind.


In 1996, WCW was the company. They had Hogan turning heel, Hall and Nash lighting the industry on fire, and the hottest act in the business in the NWO. Eric Bischoff was an innovator, for a time. Nitro was must-see. The cruiserweight division? Years ahead of what WWF was doing. Starrcade '97 should’ve been the coronation. Instead, it was the first real crack in the armor. Sting beat Hogan… but did he really?


Fast forward to 1999, and things are unrecognizable. Russo-era swerves, title changes that made no sense, and mid-card talent with zero direction. By the time David Arquette was holding the WCW World Title in 2000, the company had become a punchline. And fans? We were still watching, but more out of morbid curiosity than genuine investment.


Fusient could have been a fresh start. For a moment, it felt like someone was finally going to treat WCW like the once-proud promotion it had been. But wrestling is a television business. No network, no platform, no lifeline. Once TNT and TBS pulled the plug, Fusient knew what we all did... this wasn’t a company that just needed CPR. It needed resurrection.


So now it’s Vince’s toy. Or will be, soon. And sure, there’s potential there. The roster is deep—Booker, Flair, Steiner, Helms, Rey, even Goldberg. If Vince is smart (and that’s a big if when it comes to non-WWF properties), maybe he lets WCW breathe as its own brand. Maybe we get Nitro vs RAW, a real war inside the same empire.


But make no mistake: the WCW that mattered is gone. The one Dusty built. The one Crockett risked it all for. The one that made Monday nights magic. What’s left is a logo and some tape libraries. Not to mention a lot of what-ifs.


So where does that leave us?


Wrestling is at a crossroads. The WWF has no competition. The independents are years away from building anything sustainable. ECW is dead, too. What we’re witnessing isn’t just the fall of a company... it’s the end of an era. The war is dead.


I’ll still watch. You will too. We always do. But man… something’s missing now.


Comments Section:


“HeatMachine99”:

Carter, man… this gave me chills. You said what I’ve been trying to explain to my buddies all week. It’s not that WCW died. It’s how long they dragged it out.

“EZWrestleMark420”:

At least WWF might make use of some of the guys. But you’re right, Russo was the Grim Reaper in a leather jacket.

“NitroForLife”:

I still say they should’ve sold to Bischoff outright in '99 when there was still something left. Too many cooks ruined this soup.

 

[Stojy]

Latest news articles to announce the failed purchase by Fusient is good. Love the added detail of the comments section. I wonder if "NitroForLife" is actually Eric Bischoff.

Anyway, continuing to really enjoy this. Looking forward to more.

 

[stlsaint]

Chapter Five: USA​

March 20, 2001

The moment it all fell apart. Talking to a panicked Eric, the night WCW programming was canceled, was really the first tumbleweed. The next few days were a whirlwind. It took years to find out what actually happened, but through various versions of events (all from the inner circles of Turner, AOL TimeWarner, and WWF) here’s the cliff notes version of what occurred and how Fusient Media’s response to those shaped what occurred.

Firstly, Fusient was aware of the strange lawsuit judgment that allowed Vince and the WWF to match any purchase price of WCW. We were fairly confident that Vince didn’t really want WCW, but more so he wanted a few of the wrestlers and possibly the tape library. In relation to those things, Vince had kicked the tires of AOL TimeWarner around the time it became public that WCW was for sale. This didn’t occur until Fusient had already began due diligence. Upon hearing our purchase price, $12.8 million dollars, Vince balked and seemingly moved on.

However, it seems that as our due diligence was being completed, in early March, Vince had changed his mind and called AOL TimeWarner with an offer to basically match Fusient’s offer. This deal was different, though. Vince wanted to purchase the company for an amount, later figured to be around $9 million dollars and he would spend an additional $9 million dollars in advertising of WWF programming and products, with Turner stations TBS and TNT, over the next 2 years.

Believing WCW was going to be bought by WWF, who had an exclusive rights package with Paramount, AOL TimeWarner immediately canceled all WCW programming, as they did not want the sale (and the additional 6 million in purchase price) fall through due to legalities.

Our response was to reach out to Vivendi Media, the new owners of USA Network, about bringing WCW programming to their networks. Fusient’s overreaction led to a few things happening at once. Firstly, AOL TimeWarner considered our deal to be dead; however we were not aware of this. We were operating under the impression that we were still in line to purchase WCW at the beginning of April, even if we had to go back to the negotiating table. Additionally, Vivendi contacted AOL TimeWarner to discuss when this switch could happen. AOL TimeWarner executives were very confused and tried to reach Eric or Stephen or Brian, apparently reaching Stephen first.

When Stephen found out that Vince had not only matched our offer, but exceeded it, Stephen offered to re-enter negotiations; however, AOL TimeWarner declined. Stephen told us he was willing to go as high as $20 million dollars, outbidding McMahon, but TimeWarner liked McMahon’s offer better. The truth was that Vince could easily come up with another $2 million dollars and knock us right back down. Additionally, that $20 million dollars was it. That was all the capital and assets Fusient could muster. That would essentially mean that WCW would not be able to obtain any more talent until it turned a profit. Even paying the current staff and talent would be near impossible. Simply put, the dream was dead.

I didn’t even feel angry — not yet. It was more like the floor gave out from under me, and I was watching the dream fall past me in slow motion.

Once the Fusient deal was dead, Vince could renegotiate the terms and he did. With no Fusient deal to drive back up the price, it was eventually settled that Vince would purchase the library for $6 million dollars and the rest of the purchase price would go toward advertising for the next 8 years- $4100 per day, which was nothing considering how many channels that put Vince’s advertising on: everyday, several times a day. It was an utter domination move by Vince. He had crushed us.

Stephen reached Eric, as he and I were just about to head into the meeting with Vivendi Media president, Jeff Watchel. Eric broke the news to me and Watchel at the same time. Watchel was disappointed, but I was despondent. Walking back to the car, I phoned Lou Lamoreillo. I was going to need to keep the job I had just so brazenly quit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
March 8, 2001

The glare of laser lights had temporarily caused me to have to cover my eyes. Sitting in the General Manager’s Suite as the New Jersey Devils started their game against the Minnesota Wild, I was gearing up for a meeting with the boss, Lou Lamoreillo. March 8, 2001 was much different that March 20th. March 8th, Fusient was still in good standing and was poised to own the second biggest wrestling company in North America. I was confident, if not cocky, and I was about to fully quit my job.

I had already resigned as the Assistant GM and the General Manager of the AHL team, stepping down to scout, while I got all the WCW ducks in a row. Now, I was going to quit with a lot of gusto, leaving a team that was poised to win a Stanley Cup.

Looking back, it's absolutely insane that I left the organization when I did, but- as I said earlier- wrestling had been my true passion, hockey had almost been a distraction.

“Sir, at the end of the season, I’m going to resign and go back to wrestling full time.” I had practiced how to say it about 5000 times before I had even walked into the arena.

“I know.” Lou was short with me. “It’s a shame. Team this good, going to need good men in the A to keep us chugging along.”

“Well that’s part of the problem, I’m never going to get a shot if all I’m doing is managing YOUR players. No one thinks me or anyone else has anything to do with the build of this team.” I was talking pretty fast, but I was confident enough that I didn’t stumble at all, despite how nervous I had quickly become. I was telling the reigning Stanley Cup winning GM that he was holding me down.

“Well it is my team and my players. If you don’t like that, you don’t have to stay.” Lou was looking over the glass towards the ice. His ever present pen and paper sprawled out on the small ledge in front of him. “I would love it if you stayed, but I won’t change things to appease you.”

“You don’t even get what I want- I’m being wasted! I am good at this job, I can do it! It… it’s too late now. I’m leaving Lou. I’m sorry.” I realized quickly that what was about to come from my mouth would be wasted. Lou didn’t deserve what I was about to say- he had been a successful NHL GM for 13 years at that point. He was the boss.

“If you want to be a GM, I’ll give you a letter of recommendation. Just say the word, kid.” and with that Lou stood up, walked over to the small fridge in the corner of the suite, grabbed a bottle of water and slipped out the door.

I looked down at the paper he had left, the corners torn and frayed from his hand picking at the corner. He had been taking notes and my conversation had clearly distracted his doodling, but it struck me.

Lou hadn’t been really writing anything, he was lost in his own mind, aimlessly doodling and drawing on the paper as he watched- a habit that I had then and still do to this day. Maybe it’s something? They say “Great Minds Think Alike.”

--------------------------------------------------------

Luckily the call from Vince McMahon had come before the end of the regular season, because if McMahon had waited another week or two, I would have called Lou and asked to stay on as a scout for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and I might still be there to this day. But, alas, the call from Vince pulled me right back into wrestling and I went right to work, with a whole new set of problems to solve.

The first item on the agenda: WCW to find a television home.

 

[Stojy]

Another fun update here, revealing the inner works of helping Vince crushed Fusient. The added detail of the conversation with the former boss is a nice touch to. Enjoying this as ever, TV deal should be interesting.

 

[stlsaint]

Chapter Six: Starting Over​

March 28th, 2001- Stamford, Ct. ​

As I sat in on the first WCW meeting of the new regime, I could only smile as I looked at the faces we had assembled. This would be a true “mom and pop” operation, under the umbrella of the ultimate wrestling company.

I glanced around the large conference table and was face to face with Arn Anderson- Eric and my’s so called stooge during the attempted purchase by Fusient, Konnan- a lucha legend, Johnny Ace- the head booker at the end of WCW and Tony Schiavone- the voice of WCW and NWA since the mid 1980s. Dusty Rhodes was also present, thought not yet part of the team. Vince McMahon’s Talent Relations head, Jim Ross, was also present. Jim had started the presentation:

“Vince doesn’t want to meddle, but trust me fella’s- he will undoubtedly meddle. Vince is in negotiations to get y’all some TV, as we speak. That’s why he’s not here. But trust me guys- Vince not only wants this to be successful, he needs it to.” Jim had started.
An assistant had rolled in an empty whiteboard a few minutes before Good Ol’ JR had walked in. Jim grabbed a marker and wrote at the top “First Show” and looked around the room.

“What is it going to be fellas?” Jim asked.

I started, “I think we keep the Nitro name, right? It’s good branding. And I think we start the show off right- Booker T vs Scott Steiner in the World Title rematch.”

“You read my mind.” Arn followed.

The rest of the meeting was a mess. We argued quite a bit before formatting essentially a 1 and 2 hour version of what would be the first Nitro. Right as the meeting ended, Vince entered the boardroom and brought the breath out of almost everyone.

“Well, it looks like you made some progress, heh-heh,” Vince growled and laughed. “So did we. Gentlemen, WCW is returning to television on MTV2 on Tuesday May 8th at 9 PM.”

Everyone applauded. Vince shook his head slightly and waived his hand at us. “What did we decide?”

JR answered quickly and assertively, “these guys want to keep the Nitro name and we booked a 2 hour show- if we need it.”

McMahon looked pleased, “good, good. MTV wants 90 minutes every Tuesday, with 3 hour specials every other month. Those will act as WCW pay-per-views for the time being.” McMahon nodded at everyone and turned to leave. Vince paused at the door and turned back, “Jake, with me. Jim, you too.”

JR and I followed closely as we walked toward the elevators. Vince grumbled something towards Ross and then turned to me. “How does all that sound?”

“Great….er… sir.” I had to throw the sir in there. Without it, the “great” sounded almost disrespectful and I had grown too accustomed to working with Eric. “I think we can do some awesome things on MTV2 and the specials sound gr-”

Vince held up a hand and powered over me. “Good, good. We’ve gotta go over this roster. JR will show you how we do payroll.” And with that, my duties grew even more.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

April 23, 2001 - Denver, Co.​

*BUFF……..DADDY……*

The music blared through the Pepsi Center in Denver. Vince was giving WCW a test run during the Sunday Night Heat taping on April 23, just 2 weeks before the debut on MTV2. Vince wanted Buff Bagwell vs Booker T for the World Title and was considering putting the match on WWF tv as a teaser of his “new toy.”

Bagwell exploded onto the entrance ramp with his ridiculous top hat and red trunks. Bagwell got a decent reaction from the crowd and he played to them well. The match was designed to be simple. Bagwell would be the heel, beat up Booker with a few hope spots and then when Bagwell would go for his finish, Booker would catch him with his axe kick, Spinaroonie, Book End and we send the crowd to RAW happy.

Harlem Heat’s theme played next. Vince had allowed for Book to get his customary flames on the entrance way, but with a new crew and new talent, they set them off a few moments early. Booker was okay, but the flames had literally singed the back of the belt and melted one of the clasps.

The next 12 minutes were no better. Bagwell, trying to impress, injured his knee early in the bout and quickly lost steam. The two bungled a few spots before Booker eventually just hit the axe kick and Book End to end the misery. Referee Charles Robinson wore it the worst and he apologized to me profusely in the back.

“What the FUCK was that?” Vince growled as he walked towards the Gorilla position. “If that’s the best you got, we’re in big trouble.” Vince waved us away as he slid on the headset and sat down at the monitor table. His trusty sidekick, Bruce Prichard slid into the chair next to him and looked up at me. Prichard shrugged and pulled the stopwatch out of his pocket as the pyro for Monday Night Raw started, signaling the show was live and there was no more discussion to be had.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Raw ended, I had been sitting outside of Vince’s office for almost 2 hours. After meeting with Booker, Buff and Charles Robinson, I had quickly packed my bag and notes and made my way to Vince’s makeshift office. I grabbed a steel chair and sat just to the left of the door, positioned so that Vince would have to pass me to make it into the office.

As Vince turned the corner, he let out a big belly laugh. I could feel his eyes drape from my head to my feed and back up. “Ah. You want to explain what happened?” Vince said with a little chuckle.

“Yeah. I think we need to talk about it.” I started. Vince and I had not really had much time to go over what was happening with WCW. Vince was embroiled in the WWF’s recent public trading, the creation of the XFL (more on that later) and also securing a television deal with MTV for WCW. “I think we have quite a bit to talk about, actually.”

“Well there’s room for one more on the jet with Bruce, Jim, Kevin and me. Come on.” Vince pointed toward the exit. I nodded as Vince stepped into the office, alone, and came out a few seconds later with a black leather briefcase and a grey Nike duffle bag. Vince led the four of us toward the limousine parked in the rear of the building. That ride from the Pepsi Arena to the Denver International Airport was only about 30 minutes, but it felt like an eternity as Bruce and Kevin Dunn stared at me, while Vince and JR went over notes from the Raw show.

We entered Vince’s jet and the atmosphere definitely relaxed. Dunn, JR and Bruce all grabbed a drink. Vince looked at me intently as I stood near the fridge. I grabbed a water and a Red Bull. I took a step back and looked toward Vince. He motioned for us to sit near the rear. “I’m glad you came to work.” Vince quipped.

We sat down and I pulled the black and red leather bound binder that had acted as my briefcase for creative. I flipped past the first 18 months of creative from the Fusient plan to where I had started with the May 8, 2001 edition of Nitro. Vince pulled an orange from the Nike dufflebag and leaned across the small table. He nodded and motioned for me to run it down.

4 hours later, Vince had approved the booking plan of WCW for the first 8 months- leading all the way to Starrcade.

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May 8th, 2001 - Center Stage Theater, Atlanta Ga. ​

Booker and Scott Steiner were entering the 15th minute of their match. I tapped Johnny Ace on his shoulder and pointed toward the run sheet and then toward the clock. The clock read 10:26 PM and Nitro was set to go off the air on MTV2 in 4 minutes.

Booker stretched his right arm back behind himself, trying desperately to free himself from Steiner’s finishing maneuver, the Steiner Recliner, a modified Camel Clutch. Booker grabbed Steiner’s ankle and tried furiously to rip his legs out from under him. Steiner jumped, slamming his rear end onto Booker’s lower back. The champ writhed in pain, but quickly went back to clutching for the ankle. Referee Charles Robinson leaned in close and whispered something to both men, totally unseen to the viewers at home or in the small crowd of the Charlotte Coliseum, but was obvious to someone as laser focused and terrified as I was.

I glanced toward the clock again and saw the time click to 10:27. Booker needed to make his move and fast. Steiner again jumped into the air, only this time Booker lunged forward, causing Steiner to slam his rear to the mat. Steiner hobbled to his feet, grabbing his tailbone and grimacing. Booker spun and hit Steiner with his spinning heel kick, downing the challenger. Steiner hurried to his feet again, this time Booker sent him off the ropes and hunched over, waiting to deliver a back body drop. Steiner slowed a step, causing him to slide off the side and grip Booker, prepping for a belly to back suplex.

Booker hooked his arm under Steiner’s and as Steiner attempted his suplex, Booker slipped down and delivered an arm drag. 10:28.

Booker hopped to his feet and nailed Steiner with an Axe Kick and Steiner got to his knees. Spinaroonie! Booker looked at his hand with gusto. Steiner slowly got up, and quickly went for a clothesline as Booker stood, Book ducked, grabbed Steiner’s wrist as the two passed each other, then twisted and whipped. Steiner’s arm going directly over his head and into the uranage position. Booker lifted Steiner and nailed him down with his finisher.

“Take em home, Book.” I mumbled under my breath as I again looked at the clock. Still 10:28. I stared deeply into the monitor, as it sat on top of 3 or 4 Yellowpages, atop a waterlogged wooden table. Booker shook his head and looked down at his hand again. Booker stood up the stunned Steiner and whipped him toward the turnbuckle. Booker lifted the challenger to a seated position, with his back to the ring, atop the top rope. Booker then hopped to the apron. The crowd cheered as Booker pointed to the sky and climbed. 10:29.

Booker had some reservations about doing the Book End from the top rope, and Steiner probably did too, but Johnny had convinced them that it was the spectacular ending the feud needed. And indeed it was.

Steiner and Booker took flight, in front of what we later learned was 3100 fans. The two crashed to the mat with a thud. Knowing time was short, Charles Robinson was already ready to count the pin, the WCW World Heavyweight Title just a few feet from his right arm as he slapped the mat to count Booker’s pinfall.
1….
2….
3….!
Booker (and Steiner) had pulled it off, in more ways than one. Charles Robinson quickly handed the Championship to Booker and raised his hand. The champ went to the corner of the ring and stood on the second rope holding the title high in the air with both hands. Book then took the belt in just one hand and did his patented “raise to roof” hand gesture with the title as WCW Nitro went off the air.

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“That’s more like it!” Vince had growled over the phone as we discussed the show a few hours later. “It wasn’t all great, but THAT ENDING!”

“Thanks boss,” I had almost whimpered. It finally felt like we weren’t starting over. Like we were actually moving forward with a plan. My plan.

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ProWrestlingTorch review of WCW Monday Nitro 5/8/2001
By James Caldwell

The first WCW Tuesday Nitro on MTV2, which was live from the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, opened with a video package, showing highlights of Ric Flair, Sting, Goldberg and Booker T. All of the video revolved around the WCW World Title. The package then ended with stillshots of Booker T and Steiner face to face, with the title underlayed in the background. The graphic read “WCW World Title match tonight!”
-This wasn’t the prettiest package, but it conveyed the message that the match tonight is a big deal. The championship has definitely gotten a good shine since Booker won it back in early October. Booker and Steiner have kept the title away from silliness since then (minus the Sin debacle at the beginning of the year).

In-ring promo: The Oversight Commissioner: Keeping in the recent trend of writers and backstage workers being thrust into a television role, WCW executive VP, Jake Saintangelo played an unnamed authority figure. He came out onto the ramp and cut a short, but sweet, promo- basically saying he is the WWF’s oversight of WCW and that all decisions would go through him. Thankfully this was the only time we see him on the whole show and the rumor going around is that Arn Anderson is pegged for this role or something similar. It definitely felt out of place, but since we don’t really know what the “place” of the new WCW is, if this kind of thing becomes the norm remains to be seen.

Match 1: WCW United States Championship Qualifier: Lance Storm vs Rey Mysterio Jr.: During this match we are introduced to Tony Schiavone and Mark Madden. The two explain that there will be a series of matches over the next few weeks- leading to a tournament concluding at the next (undated) Clash of the Champions- to crown the new WCW United States Champion. The title was vacated by Booker T. in a WCW.com video and article a few days ago.

These two put on a really fast paced match, with Storm acting as the base to Rey’s speed and aerial based offense. The end of the match saw Storm catch Rey’s leg during a 619 and pull him into the center of the ring for the Canadian Maple Leaf (½ Boston Crab). Definitely felt like the first 10 minutes of a really good match. Hopefully these two get to face off many, many times in the new WCW.

Match 2: The Natural Born Thrillers (O’Haire and Palumbo) vs Kronik- Palumbo and O’Haire were faces here. Kronik isolated Palumbo for the vast majority of the match. O’Haire got the hot tag and cleaned house before ending up getting caught in the High Times (double chokeslam). Palumbo made the save and the match spilled out of the ring. The 4 brawled near the ramp for a bit before the referee finally called the match for a double count out.

This appears to be leading to a feud going forward. This wasn’t terrible and maybe on a PPV or a main event of Nitro this match could really help get Palumbo and O’Haire to the next level as workers. Clark and Adams have both been in the WWF before and know the style, so maybe this match was more of ring rust than just poor chemistry.

Backstage interview: Scott Steiner- Steiner was with his brother, Rick and Madajah. He talked about how the fate of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was in the hands of Big Poppa Pump and there was nothing Booker T. or anyone else could do about it. Steiner ended saying that this might be the new WCW, but tonight will end with a familiar sight- Steiner holding the WCW Title high in the air.

Match 3: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Shane Helms © vs Jamie Knoble- These two put on the best match of the evening thus far. There was really no rhyme or reason to why Knoble was chosen to challenge, but the announcers spent the whole match putting over Helms and the division as being “open season” for championship matches- implying that Cruiserweight Championship matches will be the norm here. If this is the quality of match that the division will be producing every night, sign me up. There’s definitely a lack of star power, especially with Rey Mysterio seemingly moving up (although it remains to be seen what will happen with Kidman and Rey’s cruiserweight tag team belts.)

This match ended with Helms hitting the vertebreaker, with the crowd giving an audible gasp on impact. Helms then grabbed a microphone and called out Rey Mysterio to a championship match.

The announcers really played up that this could be Mysterios’s swan song in the division.

Backstage interview: Booker T (w/ Stevie Ray and Harlem Heat 2000) - Booker declared WCW as the home of Harlem Heat and announced that he and his brother were back on the same page. Booker noted that WCW should be ready for the coming era because he envisioned Stevie Ray and Big T winning the Tag Titles and Harlem Heat holding all the gold they can get their hands on. And that starts tonight with him retaining over his biggest rival.

Match 4: WCW United States Championship Qualifier: Mike Awesome vs Buff Bagwell- Awesome, thankfully, came out with no gimmick. No 70’s guy, no Fat Chick Thriller. Just Mike Awesome. Awesome and Bagwell had a pretty back and forth match, but only for about 8 minutes before Awesome nailed Bagwell with the Awesome Bomb and pinned him for the win and he advances to (seemingly) face Storm. The bracket was never shown, but rumor going around is that the WCW US championship should be awarded next week.

In-Ring Promo: Sting (Ric Flair interrupts)- Sting came out to his “Crow” music, so seemingly WWF didn’t want to spring for Metallica. Sting described a different feeling around WCW. He said that for the first time in a long time he was excited to be there. He talked about his history with WCW and stated that he was “here to prove something.”

Ric Flair’s music hits! The crowd goes wild at the Nature Boy. Ric has a short promo basically re-iterating Sting’s points. Flair then challenged Sting to a match next week! Sting accepts! The two men shake hands and Flair WOOOOOOOOOs us into a commercial.

Match 5: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T © vs Scott Steiner- back from commercial and Steiner is out first. Rick Steiner and Madajah follow closely, but Steiner tells them to go to the back.

Booker is out next. The crowd seems into the match in the early going. There’s a short feeling out period before Booker takes over with speed and athleticism. Steiner looks a little rusty and awkward at times. Booker mistimes a clothesline and Steiner takes over with a belly to belly slam.

Steiner controls for the next few minutes, including a middle rope clothesline for a near fall. The crowd definitely bites on a few near falls, including a Steiner cutting off a Booker comeback with a pretty vicious powerbomb, out of a caught standing sidekick.

Steiner locked in the Steiner Recliner and Booker had to fight to slip out of the move and eventually nailed an axe kick and spinaroonie, much to the crowd’s delight. Booker ended the match with 2 Book Ends (uranage), including a second from the top rope for the win. This match was very good, as these two have been repeatedly over the past 2 years. This definitely felt like the end of the feud for now and with nothing set up, WCW’s World Champion has no immediate challenger.

Update- WCW.com ran a short video hyping next week’s show (seemed to be a commercial) which hyped Rey Mysterio’s response to Shane Helms, Lance Storm vs Mike Awesome for the WCW United States Championship and Ric Flair vs Sting. The spot also teased “what’s next for Booker T.”

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May 9th, 2001 - Stamford, Ct.​

I closed the folder of print outs that acted as our “morning after reports,” and looked up from my desk at Jim. He didn’t look disappointed but he didn’t look particularly happy either.

“There’s something we have to discuss. You’re not going to like it. I know I sure as hell don’t,” Ross grumpily blurted out. “We meet in Vince’s office at 2 p.m…. Bring your booker’s hat.”

I couldn’t help but smile a bit. This was all a blur but things felt like they were going so well.

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(Author's notes: Sorry this took so long to get out guys. I just finished school (college at 36 was not easy, y'all.). So hopefully, I'll be able to be a bit more consistent with this. The next 4 chapters are essentially finished and just need some polish; however, I randomly started work on another project that had been swirling around in my head (ROH 2016).

Anyways, I'll try to roll this out on mondays, at least until I am to where I have currently written, so for anyone still reading- you have that to look forward to. Also now that I'm going to have some more free time, I'll try to hop in and provide some reviews for some of the other bookers I find interesting. )