The Heart Attack
Sunday April 5th 2009 saw Wrestlemania XXV be a huge success all over the world but during the main event Randy Orton with The Legacy vs. Triple H with Stephanie, Shane and Vince McMahon, Vince McMahon suffered a heart attack which everyone backstage and in attendance thought was kayfabe but this was not the case and it was announced the next night on RAW that Vincent Kennedy McMahon JNR was in intensive care. The following day it was announced that Vince had passed away on April 7th 2009 at 15:43.
The Will
The will got read to the family the next day the usual things happened Shane and Paul “HHH†Levesque were left cars, limo’s and planes. Stephanie and Linda inherited a vast fortune and houses from Vincent McMahon. Bret Hart received an apology letter over the whole Montreal Screwjob affair. Michael “HBK†Hickenbottom received priceless things from Vince including several WWE Championship’s amongst other things. The will then stated that Shane got the rights to the Elimination Chamber Match. The will took a turn for the worst when it stated that the WWE would be sold to the highest bidder. The family did not contest it but instead went to Vince’s close friends and employees and asked if they were willing to help save the company from some strange investor. Several members of the WWE franchise said that they were willing to help out. Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Linda McMahon, Paul “HHH†Levesque, Michael “HBK†Hickenbottom, Mark Calaway, Jim Ross, Jerry “The King†Lawler and Howard Finkel put together $50,000,000 to try and buy WWE but they were told by the solicitors that they would have to up the bid because an offer of $1,000,000,000, they said they could not afford that. The solicitors apologised saying there wasn’t anything they could do.
The Secret buyer’s and Investor
It was announced on Sunday April 12th 2009 that the secret investor was in fact Eric Bischoff and Terry “Hulk†Hogan. They were backed by an investor from United Arab Emirates on the news of that several WWE employees cancelled there contracts because of how WCW was run. (Rather then list all of who left I will type who stayed). The wrestlers and employee’s who stayed were as follows - Raw - Dave Bautista JNR, John Layfield, Michael Hettinga, James Reiher JNR, Smackdown - Paul Wight JNR, Brian Myers, Andrew Hankinson, Edward Fatu, Oleg Prudius, Matthew Cardona, ECW - Richard Young, Steven Lewington. This meant a lot of free agents and a lot of people out of work.
New Organisation run by legends
Due to the vast clear outs of WWE and the demise of TNA everything was up in the air. Then WWE legends Michael Hickenbottom, Paul Levesque, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Mark Calaway, Richard Fliehr and Steve Austin decided to set up there own company. They decided to contact several people to tell them don’t sign for any other company till they have this company running properly and fully. The seven men thought long and hard what about what to call the company. They thought long and hard about the name and they came up with The Great American Wrestling Organisation or GAW for short. They also bought several bits of TNA including Pay Per View names and the rights to there videos etc. They also hired Shane and Stephanie as executives.
GAW Wrestlers and Other Talent
Male:
Main Event:
Christian
Chris Jericho
CM Punk
Edge
Jeff Hardy
Matt Hardy
Randy Orton
Upper Midcard:
AJ Styles
DH Smith
Eric Young
Samoa Joe
Midcard:
Cody Rhodes
Hernandez
Homicide
John Morrison
“The†Miz
MVP
Paul Burchill
Petey Williams
Ted DiBiase JNR
Teddy Hart
TJ Wilson
X Division:
Alex Shelly
Chris Sabin
Christopher Daniels
Consequences Creed
Jay Lethal
Kazarian
Low-Ki
Matt Sydal
Rey Mysterio
Female:
Gail Kim
Katie Lee
Madison Rayne
Melina
Natalie Neidhart
Roxxi
Ring Announcer:
Lillian Garcia
Backstage Interviewer:
Lauren
Agents:
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Undertaker
Ric Flair
Steve Austin
Jim Ross
Jerry Lawler
Tag Teams
Motor City Machineguns : Chris Sabin and Alex Shelly
Best Generation Tag Team : Ted DiBiase JNR and Cody Rhodes
Hardy Boys : Matt and Jeff Hardy (occasionally)
Hart Foundation : DH Smith, Teddy Hart, TJ Wilson and Natalie Neidhart
Lethal Consequences : Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed
Edge and Christian (occasionally)
LAX : Homicide and Hernandez
Miz and Morrison
Commentators
Matt Striker
Michael Cole
Tazz
Booker
Paul Heyman
Championships
GAW World Championship : Vacant
GAW Television Championship : Vacant
GAW X Division Championship : Vacant
GAW Tag Team Championship : Vacant
Pay Per Views
Lockdown - April
Sunday Bloody Sunday - July
Desolation Row - October
Proving Ground - January