Walking Upon a Different Path – a wrestling timeline
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New Dawn Fades
"He was no man from this world, a man who has the finest quality of the human condition, a man who thought out his time didn't change his character but his outlook, a man who was once dawn the superman of the wrestling world now nothing more than the villain, a man who could conquer us all".
"I'm forever grateful for the opportunity which WCW give me, I don't dare to dream what's my future would have been if I didn't get a second chance." - John Cena
The winter massacre of 2002 which saw many wrestlers fired from WWE due to the business not performing as well as many believed that the company would, that's the narrative of Vince McMahon in reality McMahon wanted to get rid of some deadweight, the reason behind the decision was taken from the bloated roster which McMahon had at the time, seeing some way to save cost McMahon let go of many much younger wrestlers who in his mind "didn't have the makings of becoming an Superstar". Many criticise McMahon actions for being both short sighted and the short term goals in the hopes of the rebound wouldn't work, in a interview with Off the Record McMahon said "why'd have a boated roster when I have the next big thing",(referring to Brock Lenser),"in all seriousness I tired of hoping to evolved the young talent but unfortunately they didn't have it in them, I see my roster and the guys I want to push for the main event, guys like Orton and Cena didn't fit in with my vision." When asked if the talent could return "absolutely with the right character and more experience in this business I would wholeheartedly take then back in a second." Only time will tell how Impactful the consequence of McMahon's action will take on the wrestling world.
"I was shocked when I heard about Johns firing, we had the next Hulk Hogan in our hands and than Vince fires the whole dammed developmental talent, he turns to me and said "Jim I'm sorry but I couldn't see the talent in them, there's were no character perhaps when they get more development." I told Vince "your a fool for not only keeping the younger guys but you just handed them over to Bischoff and co." Vince smile at me and said "maybe that's the plan Jim." If only we knew at the time.
Eric Bischoff on the first time meeting John Cena "to be honest I didn't much in the kid,sure John had a excellence word ethnic but his wrestling abilities weren't there, I had a hard time convincing myself that Cena wasn't worth it but his attention towards the industry had me interested, I thought hey he will willing to put the work in and improve lets at the very least give him a chance, I couldn't imagine that we found the next Hogan."
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"I was injured at the time when WWE let me go, I was scared of my future in the business since I just broke into it, I didn't have any idea where to go until I had a phone call from WCW, I don't quite remember what they said but I remember being hopeful, they told that they were interesting in me and wanted me to have a try out match, when I told them I was injured they said it was fine and that I should come down to Georgia anyway to see about working for them, with not much going on I took the offer and travel down to the power plant, from that day onwards the company head guy took me under his wing,I can't thank enough to the man who save my career, I wouldn't have been given a second chance." - Randy Orton
From an interview with Eric Bischoff in 2016 about the 2002 massacre he said "truth be told I didn't have much interest in bringing the talent who was let go, I had to be convinced by Paul to at least give them a tryout, I believe he would watch some WWE when he was off schedule to see if there's were some younger talent, I didn't want to have more people than I wanted, I already let Flair back in earlier that year when he made a fool of himself in the WWE by his request, I thought about it for some time and agree to at least have them tryouts for WCW, my philosophy was that if they prove useful than what's the harm, looking back at it now I believe that Paul might the right call, there's a reason why he was picked by Tuner to be the Senior Vice President of the company, the guy has a good knowledge of the business." Eric Bischoff referring Paul Levesque.
.............................................................................................................................
"He was no man from this world, a man who has the finest quality of the human condition, a man who thought out his time didn't change his character but his outlook, a man who was once dawn the superman of the wrestling world now nothing more than the villain, a man who could conquer us all".
"I'm forever grateful for the opportunity which WCW give me, I don't dare to dream what's my future would have been if I didn't get a second chance." - John Cena
The winter massacre of 2002 which saw many wrestlers fired from WWE due to the business not performing as well as many believed that the company would, that's the narrative of Vince McMahon in reality McMahon wanted to get rid of some deadweight, the reason behind the decision was taken from the bloated roster which McMahon had at the time, seeing some way to save cost McMahon let go of many much younger wrestlers who in his mind "didn't have the makings of becoming an Superstar". Many criticise McMahon actions for being both short sighted and the short term goals in the hopes of the rebound wouldn't work, in a interview with Off the Record McMahon said "why'd have a boated roster when I have the next big thing",(referring to Brock Lenser),"in all seriousness I tired of hoping to evolved the young talent but unfortunately they didn't have it in them, I see my roster and the guys I want to push for the main event, guys like Orton and Cena didn't fit in with my vision." When asked if the talent could return "absolutely with the right character and more experience in this business I would wholeheartedly take then back in a second." Only time will tell how Impactful the consequence of McMahon's action will take on the wrestling world.
"I was shocked when I heard about Johns firing, we had the next Hulk Hogan in our hands and than Vince fires the whole dammed developmental talent, he turns to me and said "Jim I'm sorry but I couldn't see the talent in them, there's were no character perhaps when they get more development." I told Vince "your a fool for not only keeping the younger guys but you just handed them over to Bischoff and co." Vince smile at me and said "maybe that's the plan Jim." If only we knew at the time.
Eric Bischoff on the first time meeting John Cena "to be honest I didn't much in the kid,sure John had a excellence word ethnic but his wrestling abilities weren't there, I had a hard time convincing myself that Cena wasn't worth it but his attention towards the industry had me interested, I thought hey he will willing to put the work in and improve lets at the very least give him a chance, I couldn't imagine that we found the next Hogan."
.............................................................................................................................
"I was injured at the time when WWE let me go, I was scared of my future in the business since I just broke into it, I didn't have any idea where to go until I had a phone call from WCW, I don't quite remember what they said but I remember being hopeful, they told that they were interesting in me and wanted me to have a try out match, when I told them I was injured they said it was fine and that I should come down to Georgia anyway to see about working for them, with not much going on I took the offer and travel down to the power plant, from that day onwards the company head guy took me under his wing,I can't thank enough to the man who save my career, I wouldn't have been given a second chance." - Randy Orton
From an interview with Eric Bischoff in 2016 about the 2002 massacre he said "truth be told I didn't have much interest in bringing the talent who was let go, I had to be convinced by Paul to at least give them a tryout, I believe he would watch some WWE when he was off schedule to see if there's were some younger talent, I didn't want to have more people than I wanted, I already let Flair back in earlier that year when he made a fool of himself in the WWE by his request, I thought about it for some time and agree to at least have them tryouts for WCW, my philosophy was that if they prove useful than what's the harm, looking back at it now I believe that Paul might the right call, there's a reason why he was picked by Tuner to be the Senior Vice President of the company, the guy has a good knowledge of the business." Eric Bischoff referring Paul Levesque.
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Thinking of restarting the project since I lost my original writing, I have recently come to the conclusion that in order to save WCW we have to go back because truth be told I want to write from a certain year onwards, I have this version of what I imagine the story would be but I don't know to incorporate it within this story, I feel it would be better if I could reset the project from the beginning instead of having to keep creating context but it's not like I give context anyway I'm a bad headache in that regard, and while I'm writing this the plan for ECW was that's it would turn into ROH with the mix of GCW, it would run on TNN from 1999 - 2010 until finding a new home with a new network maybe MTV or the WWE buys the company and turns its into a development show, the real reason why I kept ECW around was for one reason for that I wouldn't have to witness the same fucking ECW originals reunion for the tenth time, I don't have any knowledge of both ECW nor ROH around the time. As for NWA I thought it would be nice to have TNA around since I couldn't find room with Jeff Jarrett or Vince Russo within the rebirth WCW since Russo would leave in ealry 2002 with Jarrett feeling unwanted by the company. See you around.
A couple suggestions for ECW.
1) Chance the Extreme to Evolved, that way you reflect the changing product and get to keep the logo.
2) Have two world titles. One for the "Pure" Honorable wrestlers and another for Extreme wrestlers.
1) Chance the Extreme to Evolved, that way you reflect the changing product and get to keep the logo.
2) Have two world titles. One for the "Pure" Honorable wrestlers and another for Extreme wrestlers.
I used to read them too, but it looks like they deleted their re writes so I don't bother anymore.
When the new site came up, RD did just say we're going to put it back eventually. So its just a permanent case of wait and see.
I'll did a bit of research and found that Vince wanted to keep WCW around which was supposed to be the original brand spite, I would think that Raw was gonna become the rebirth WCW because he could rebrand WCW Monday Nitro I believed, pretty interesting stuff but there's a major problem I believe that I unknowingly copyed the idea if you view raw (2002 - 2005) as a rebirth of WCW. Here I thought I was being original turns out I'm just a poser it's over.
The only reason RAW felt like Nitro, hell the only reason WWE was able to pull off the brand split, was because they brought in so many people from WCW and ECW. In your story they can't do that meaning they go in an entirely different direction.
Your story may not be the most original thing ever but it's original enough.
Your story may not be the most original thing ever but it's original enough.
I was joking about being unoriginal but when I heard about Vinces idea about the original plan for the brand spite it's does kinda make sense in retrospective in our timeline, I found it's funny that's me and Vince had the same idea unknowingly.
Wrestling Time Slots from 2001/2023.
wrestling television schedule from August 2001.
Monday - Raw on SpikeTV
Tuesday
Wednesday - Wednesday Night Nitro on FX
Thursday - Smackdown
Friday - ECW on TNN
Saturday - WCW Saturday Night on TBS
Sundays - mainly PPVS.
Wrestling television schedule as of March 2023.
Monday - Monday Night Nitro on TNT/ Monday Night Raw on USA Network (1)
Tuesday - NWA Impact on ShowTime (3)
Wednesday - AEW Dynamite on TBS (2)
Thursday - Thursday Night Thunder on TBS
Friday - Smackdown on Fox/AEW Rampage on TBS
Saturday - WCW Saturday Night on TBS/PPVS
Sunday - Mainly PPVS or Premier Live Events if you're WWE
1. Don't get your hopes up its not a another Monday Night War situation, it's more of a friendly competition for WCW and a living hell for the once owner of Vince McMahon, the show returns when WCW was sold back to Time Warner in 2015, Time Warner believe that they could create a alternate wrestling show due to the WWEs low ratings, also they well about to lunch their own streaming service HBO Max and value for the WCW library.
2. I have AEW here because I think it's a good alternative to the two giants of the wrestling landscape, it's service as ECW before getting brought by the WWE in 2010, why TBS I don't know many Americans networks and it can't be harmful to have two wrestling shows on a network.
3. NWA has a partnership with paramount in 2016 and change channel to Showtime, they remain independent but did agree to have their shows on their streaming service.
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Monday - Raw on SpikeTV
Tuesday
Wednesday - Wednesday Night Nitro on FX
Thursday - Smackdown
Friday - ECW on TNN
Saturday - WCW Saturday Night on TBS
Sundays - mainly PPVS.
Wrestling television schedule as of March 2023.
Monday - Monday Night Nitro on TNT/ Monday Night Raw on USA Network (1)
Tuesday - NWA Impact on ShowTime (3)
Wednesday - AEW Dynamite on TBS (2)
Thursday - Thursday Night Thunder on TBS
Friday - Smackdown on Fox/AEW Rampage on TBS
Saturday - WCW Saturday Night on TBS/PPVS
Sunday - Mainly PPVS or Premier Live Events if you're WWE
1. Don't get your hopes up its not a another Monday Night War situation, it's more of a friendly competition for WCW and a living hell for the once owner of Vince McMahon, the show returns when WCW was sold back to Time Warner in 2015, Time Warner believe that they could create a alternate wrestling show due to the WWEs low ratings, also they well about to lunch their own streaming service HBO Max and value for the WCW library.
2. I have AEW here because I think it's a good alternative to the two giants of the wrestling landscape, it's service as ECW before getting brought by the WWE in 2010, why TBS I don't know many Americans networks and it can't be harmful to have two wrestling shows on a network.
3. NWA has a partnership with paramount in 2016 and change channel to Showtime, they remain independent but did agree to have their shows on their streaming service.
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Gotta say I don't see TBS hosting both WCW and AEW. Traditionally in America the major networks pick that air wrestling limit themselves to one company and given the choice between an untested newcomer and a company they've worked with for decades, I don't see Turner executives struggling to much with the decision.
Now that doesn't mean AEW couldn't find a good home. Two channels that come to mind are HBO -another channel owned by Warner Bros Discovery- or perhaps ESPN which aired wrestling during the 80's and 90's and airs UFC today.
Though I must say, as much as I love what AEW is today irl, I think in a world that still has WCW and the NWA on major networks, ECW feels like more of a actual alternative.
That said, I do like both these line ups.
Now that doesn't mean AEW couldn't find a good home. Two channels that come to mind are HBO -another channel owned by Warner Bros Discovery- or perhaps ESPN which aired wrestling during the 80's and 90's and airs UFC today.
Though I must say, as much as I love what AEW is today irl, I think in a world that still has WCW and the NWA on major networks, ECW feels like more of a actual alternative.
That said, I do like both these line ups.
Wrestling overview in 2001.
Timeline of Wrestling in 2001.
ECW - The beginning of the year started with the Guilty as Charged Pay Per View on January 7, 2001 which saw RVD finally winning the ECW Championship from Jerry Lynn, after the PPV however there's was a lot of uncertainty over the promotion, with Tuner advertising campaign for the Pay Per View and McMahon willingness to work with Heyman at the time there's was growing tensions within the company, nevertheless the show must go on as they say which ECW did, Heyman would feel lost within his creation of the fact that he wanted to change the philosophy of ECW, the company had been known as the land of extreme which Heyman wanted to distance himself from the label, the new philosophy of the decade was known as work rate in essence the term "work rate" mean rewarded by the in ring work instead of the hardcore factor which the whole industry would evolved from, Heyman would "leave" ECW while still remaining both ownership and creative, McMahon offered Heyman a job at the WWF to be a commentator which he agreed with on the terms that he could still run ECW, with Heyman "leaving" everyone began to wonder their place in the company, famously the champion at the time RVD said that "the whole company that we build up only for the owner of the company to jump ship is not just disgusting but a disgrace to the boys in the back", this was a worked shot angle known as the "Heyman sold out" storyline, it was a cover up for the new philosophy of which the company was taking and for Wrestlers in ECW to find work for the landscape at the time was uncertain, many wrestlers turn their head toward WCW since the company has been rumoured that Bischoff was interested in bringing in a few ECW guys for his new reboot, Bischoff was more than happy to negotiations between him and wrestlers, meanwhile you wouldn't know since the television were doing well with the Living Dangerously in March gaining a good reception among both fans and critics.
The rumours about the ownership of the company began to spread around the Internet regarding the "real owner" of ECW, the rumours began from the Internet Wrestling Community when an post was made "confirming" that the WWF has made a purchase of ECW in the coming month of April, while there were some people who dismissed the information as false many other believe that this was Vince's way of getting back at Bischoff for screwing him out off buying WCW, Heyman did comment about the rumours saying "there's nothing to worry about it's only temporary." When April came round there were a announced that the WWF were interested in buying ECW, there's were even one rumour that one Donald J. Trump was interested in running a New York based wrestling promotion in which if he brought ECW there's would be changing within the company but luckily talks about the purchase of ECW fall through. Vince did agree with keeping ECW afloat in order for more competition and the WWF could used the company as a vessel for talent.
Many originals would leave ECW such as RVD dropped the title to Rhino at the CyberSlam PPV in order for him to join WCW in May, the others joined the WWF since Heyman works their and their hope that Heyman would protect them from the other WWF guys, this was a good advertising campaign for ECW due to them being on the same network with the WWF, the original storyline were a ECW invasion of the order of Heyman who wanted to get his revenge on Vince McMahon who he believes betrayed him by cutting the head of ECW in coup attempt at controlling the wrestling world, the storyline didn't go anywhere but at least they try to explain why the ECW roster was there.
The ECW on TNN had some cross over with the WWF with wrestlers from the WWF would come to ECW to challenge the wrestlers there who believed that they were below them, wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit would go down to the ECW arena in order to get some buss for the show, the ECW championship was even defended on WWF television from time to time since they were both on the same network they was no rules against cross over, the company saw new talent from the indies scene of trying them out to see if they were comfortable with working for the television, wrestlers such as CM Punk and Bryan Danielson were there for the tryouts, many fans of the original ECW which was more hardcore in nature saw less of the brutality of what they wanted instead they got lot more technical wrestling matches, there were some hardcore elements such as blood and weapons but it was more timed than it was before.
November saw the return of Paul Heyman to his creation and was a on scene character, Heyman was there to negotiations between the two companies that were having disagreement over whether ECW should become a developmental scene for the WWF than a competition, there were some booking disagreement over the championship in ECW which the WWF believed they had a say on the championship mainly who was champion, ECW response was to have a WWF star to job on ECW television to show their message to the WWF, negotiations broke down by December and the two companies didn't have a agreement with the crossover the two had, in short order ECW began to shooting on the WWF which was the end of the partnership between the two, Heyman was caught up with the two which Vince wanted Heyman to work with him instead of his creation, Heyman stayed in ECW for another month before selling his shares in the company in February 2002, the company was renamed from Extreme Championship Wrestling to Evolve Championship Wrestling with began their new philosophy younger guys of the next decade.
WCW - the most important year of the company's history, the beginning of the year saw Ted Tuner himself selling the company while keeping some stocks within, it was Eric Bischoff who was lucky enough to buy the company from Tuner with a ten year television deal on the Tuner Network, no one knows about the meeting of the two which had the deal finalists for the company, Bischoff tells the story differently each time he tells it while Tuner remains silent about the meeting, the company was changing its philosophy of old this new WCW would be focusing on the younger talents which help build the company, there were some theories of the older guys such as Kevin Mash and Ric Flair and how they would fit in this new version of WCW, Bischoff stated in a interview "they still have a place in WCW, they are the guys who will put over the younger generation and if willing help with the new version of WCW." There were much speculation about the payment of the wrestlers while Bischoff brought the company from Tuner they would still be on their Time Warner contents until resigning for a new one under the new regime,it didn't take long until the online wrestling community began to theories that some of the guys might be jumping to the WWF until their contracts run out.
The last ever Monday Night Nitro on TNT happen on the 26 March was a farewell from the show and amity also a defeat for the company owner pride, while being off air Bischoff decision to run a Clash of the Champions in April to get some buss around the Big Bang PPV, the three hour special which aired on TBS from April 19, 2001 dub the Night of Champions was well received by fans, while still airing on TBS Bischoff wanted to find a time slot for Nitro sine he believed that the shows still has name value, Tuner didn't want Nitro on his network so Bischoff went to other television stations in order to find a way to revive Nitro, there were two networks who were out of the negotiations they were the USA Network since they were hosted the WWF and SpikeTV who were airing the WWF at the time, Bischoff found his station in FX which was hesitant at first about airing Ntiro, Bischoff negotiations with the Network of the details of the show such as time slots, it was agreed upon by both parties that Nitro would aired on FX but with a different day of not having to run the same hour as the WWF to being in more viewers without the worries about changing the channel, the day that was agree to was Wednesday with a two hour two slot from 8 pm to 9 pm,the only question that remains was the announcement of the day Nitro would aired.
The Big Bang PPV aired which was received well by both fans and critics, the general consensus about the PPV was that it was a good step in the right direction for the company, the PPV prove that there were some fans willing to pay for WCW and the return of the southern style of wrestling was a welcome return to many, during the end of the PPV it was announced that Nitro would return on FX to many surprises, the first Nitro on FX was a success with a viewership of 4.6 million people tuning into the show.
The rest of 2001 for WCW saw great growth in both terms of revenue and precaution, no where near as they once were but recovered from the downturn that they once were, the philosophy of the show began to pay off with the younger guys having more time to develop and the older began to put them over, Ric Flair would leave the company in November after having a loser leaves the company match against DDP at Halloween Havoc, there were rumours about Kevin Nash leaving the company as well by next year which was confirmed by Nash himself as he lost to Scott Steiner at Starrcade for he released by Bischoff, by the end of the year the company show great promise and hopefully would keep the good will that the company has.
WWF - the WWF still remains both the largest and most popular wrestling show in North America as McMahon's wrestling empire continues to grow, the year 2001 might be a turning point in the WWF while its remaining popular with fans there's a stagnation in terms of viewership and growth, the company had its most successful PPV with WrestleMania 17 which was praised by both fans and critics apart from one shadow over the event which was the ending, the ending saw the anti hero Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on the fans by seemingly siding with McMahon himself or as JR called it shaking hands the Devil Himself, lucky Austin stunted Vince but remains a heel, the heel turn is a mix bag for the wrestling community on the one hand Austin wanted to turn heel in saying that he done everything he do as a face and wanted to be a heel, on the other it's Steve Austin how could you boo the man who been the top face for the past four years, it was a challenge which the WWF hadn't considered the possibility of the turn backfiring on them, Austin became a lone wolf type of character akin to his early days of the characters with a bit more brutality mixed within, Austin wouldn't back down from a fight from anybody and the ones who dare challenging him ends up being much more beating up in the end, it was the rematch between the Rock and Austin which main event Summer Slam with the rock picking up the victory after a hard turn battle With Austin, The Rock would have the championship for two months until dropping the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy, Jericho would have the title for the rest of the year until dropping it at WrestleMania.
ECW - The beginning of the year started with the Guilty as Charged Pay Per View on January 7, 2001 which saw RVD finally winning the ECW Championship from Jerry Lynn, after the PPV however there's was a lot of uncertainty over the promotion, with Tuner advertising campaign for the Pay Per View and McMahon willingness to work with Heyman at the time there's was growing tensions within the company, nevertheless the show must go on as they say which ECW did, Heyman would feel lost within his creation of the fact that he wanted to change the philosophy of ECW, the company had been known as the land of extreme which Heyman wanted to distance himself from the label, the new philosophy of the decade was known as work rate in essence the term "work rate" mean rewarded by the in ring work instead of the hardcore factor which the whole industry would evolved from, Heyman would "leave" ECW while still remaining both ownership and creative, McMahon offered Heyman a job at the WWF to be a commentator which he agreed with on the terms that he could still run ECW, with Heyman "leaving" everyone began to wonder their place in the company, famously the champion at the time RVD said that "the whole company that we build up only for the owner of the company to jump ship is not just disgusting but a disgrace to the boys in the back", this was a worked shot angle known as the "Heyman sold out" storyline, it was a cover up for the new philosophy of which the company was taking and for Wrestlers in ECW to find work for the landscape at the time was uncertain, many wrestlers turn their head toward WCW since the company has been rumoured that Bischoff was interested in bringing in a few ECW guys for his new reboot, Bischoff was more than happy to negotiations between him and wrestlers, meanwhile you wouldn't know since the television were doing well with the Living Dangerously in March gaining a good reception among both fans and critics.
The rumours about the ownership of the company began to spread around the Internet regarding the "real owner" of ECW, the rumours began from the Internet Wrestling Community when an post was made "confirming" that the WWF has made a purchase of ECW in the coming month of April, while there were some people who dismissed the information as false many other believe that this was Vince's way of getting back at Bischoff for screwing him out off buying WCW, Heyman did comment about the rumours saying "there's nothing to worry about it's only temporary." When April came round there were a announced that the WWF were interested in buying ECW, there's were even one rumour that one Donald J. Trump was interested in running a New York based wrestling promotion in which if he brought ECW there's would be changing within the company but luckily talks about the purchase of ECW fall through. Vince did agree with keeping ECW afloat in order for more competition and the WWF could used the company as a vessel for talent.
Many originals would leave ECW such as RVD dropped the title to Rhino at the CyberSlam PPV in order for him to join WCW in May, the others joined the WWF since Heyman works their and their hope that Heyman would protect them from the other WWF guys, this was a good advertising campaign for ECW due to them being on the same network with the WWF, the original storyline were a ECW invasion of the order of Heyman who wanted to get his revenge on Vince McMahon who he believes betrayed him by cutting the head of ECW in coup attempt at controlling the wrestling world, the storyline didn't go anywhere but at least they try to explain why the ECW roster was there.
The ECW on TNN had some cross over with the WWF with wrestlers from the WWF would come to ECW to challenge the wrestlers there who believed that they were below them, wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit would go down to the ECW arena in order to get some buss for the show, the ECW championship was even defended on WWF television from time to time since they were both on the same network they was no rules against cross over, the company saw new talent from the indies scene of trying them out to see if they were comfortable with working for the television, wrestlers such as CM Punk and Bryan Danielson were there for the tryouts, many fans of the original ECW which was more hardcore in nature saw less of the brutality of what they wanted instead they got lot more technical wrestling matches, there were some hardcore elements such as blood and weapons but it was more timed than it was before.
November saw the return of Paul Heyman to his creation and was a on scene character, Heyman was there to negotiations between the two companies that were having disagreement over whether ECW should become a developmental scene for the WWF than a competition, there were some booking disagreement over the championship in ECW which the WWF believed they had a say on the championship mainly who was champion, ECW response was to have a WWF star to job on ECW television to show their message to the WWF, negotiations broke down by December and the two companies didn't have a agreement with the crossover the two had, in short order ECW began to shooting on the WWF which was the end of the partnership between the two, Heyman was caught up with the two which Vince wanted Heyman to work with him instead of his creation, Heyman stayed in ECW for another month before selling his shares in the company in February 2002, the company was renamed from Extreme Championship Wrestling to Evolve Championship Wrestling with began their new philosophy younger guys of the next decade.
WCW - the most important year of the company's history, the beginning of the year saw Ted Tuner himself selling the company while keeping some stocks within, it was Eric Bischoff who was lucky enough to buy the company from Tuner with a ten year television deal on the Tuner Network, no one knows about the meeting of the two which had the deal finalists for the company, Bischoff tells the story differently each time he tells it while Tuner remains silent about the meeting, the company was changing its philosophy of old this new WCW would be focusing on the younger talents which help build the company, there were some theories of the older guys such as Kevin Mash and Ric Flair and how they would fit in this new version of WCW, Bischoff stated in a interview "they still have a place in WCW, they are the guys who will put over the younger generation and if willing help with the new version of WCW." There were much speculation about the payment of the wrestlers while Bischoff brought the company from Tuner they would still be on their Time Warner contents until resigning for a new one under the new regime,it didn't take long until the online wrestling community began to theories that some of the guys might be jumping to the WWF until their contracts run out.
The last ever Monday Night Nitro on TNT happen on the 26 March was a farewell from the show and amity also a defeat for the company owner pride, while being off air Bischoff decision to run a Clash of the Champions in April to get some buss around the Big Bang PPV, the three hour special which aired on TBS from April 19, 2001 dub the Night of Champions was well received by fans, while still airing on TBS Bischoff wanted to find a time slot for Nitro sine he believed that the shows still has name value, Tuner didn't want Nitro on his network so Bischoff went to other television stations in order to find a way to revive Nitro, there were two networks who were out of the negotiations they were the USA Network since they were hosted the WWF and SpikeTV who were airing the WWF at the time, Bischoff found his station in FX which was hesitant at first about airing Ntiro, Bischoff negotiations with the Network of the details of the show such as time slots, it was agreed upon by both parties that Nitro would aired on FX but with a different day of not having to run the same hour as the WWF to being in more viewers without the worries about changing the channel, the day that was agree to was Wednesday with a two hour two slot from 8 pm to 9 pm,the only question that remains was the announcement of the day Nitro would aired.
The Big Bang PPV aired which was received well by both fans and critics, the general consensus about the PPV was that it was a good step in the right direction for the company, the PPV prove that there were some fans willing to pay for WCW and the return of the southern style of wrestling was a welcome return to many, during the end of the PPV it was announced that Nitro would return on FX to many surprises, the first Nitro on FX was a success with a viewership of 4.6 million people tuning into the show.
The rest of 2001 for WCW saw great growth in both terms of revenue and precaution, no where near as they once were but recovered from the downturn that they once were, the philosophy of the show began to pay off with the younger guys having more time to develop and the older began to put them over, Ric Flair would leave the company in November after having a loser leaves the company match against DDP at Halloween Havoc, there were rumours about Kevin Nash leaving the company as well by next year which was confirmed by Nash himself as he lost to Scott Steiner at Starrcade for he released by Bischoff, by the end of the year the company show great promise and hopefully would keep the good will that the company has.
WWF - the WWF still remains both the largest and most popular wrestling show in North America as McMahon's wrestling empire continues to grow, the year 2001 might be a turning point in the WWF while its remaining popular with fans there's a stagnation in terms of viewership and growth, the company had its most successful PPV with WrestleMania 17 which was praised by both fans and critics apart from one shadow over the event which was the ending, the ending saw the anti hero Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on the fans by seemingly siding with McMahon himself or as JR called it shaking hands the Devil Himself, lucky Austin stunted Vince but remains a heel, the heel turn is a mix bag for the wrestling community on the one hand Austin wanted to turn heel in saying that he done everything he do as a face and wanted to be a heel, on the other it's Steve Austin how could you boo the man who been the top face for the past four years, it was a challenge which the WWF hadn't considered the possibility of the turn backfiring on them, Austin became a lone wolf type of character akin to his early days of the characters with a bit more brutality mixed within, Austin wouldn't back down from a fight from anybody and the ones who dare challenging him ends up being much more beating up in the end, it was the rematch between the Rock and Austin which main event Summer Slam with the rock picking up the victory after a hard turn battle With Austin, The Rock would have the championship for two months until dropping the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy, Jericho would have the title for the rest of the year until dropping it at WrestleMania.
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2001 may have been the most eventful year in American wrestling history. Quick question, did you mean to say Nitro would air on FX at 8:am?
On an unrelated note, something you can consider when describing WCW's relationship with HBO Max in the future is that in addition to their own video library they also owned the library of Jim Crockett Promotions which included....
Eastern States Championship Wrestling 1945-73
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 1973-88
Central States Wrestling early 1950's - 86
Championship Wrestling from Florida 1961-87
Championship Wrestling from Georgia 1984-85
NWA Tri State/Mid-South/Universal Wrestling Federation 1950's - 87
And Heartland Wrestling Association 1990's
Just something to consider.
On an unrelated note, something you can consider when describing WCW's relationship with HBO Max in the future is that in addition to their own video library they also owned the library of Jim Crockett Promotions which included....
Eastern States Championship Wrestling 1945-73
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 1973-88
Central States Wrestling early 1950's - 86
Championship Wrestling from Florida 1961-87
Championship Wrestling from Georgia 1984-85
NWA Tri State/Mid-South/Universal Wrestling Federation 1950's - 87
And Heartland Wrestling Association 1990's
Just something to consider.