WCW Beyond

Had this in my head for a long time. Let's see if I can do something decent with it, rushed start aside...

In March 2001, the world of Professional Wrestling changed forever when World Championship Wrestling, once a giant in the industry, was sold by AOL Time Warner to WCW’s rival, the World Wrestling Federation, for a mere $2.5 million (plus an additional $1.7 million for it’s tape library). This, combined with the bankruptcy of influential indie promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling left WWF owner Vincent Kennedy McMahon as the sole major wrestling promoter in North America, a position he has held in the decade since.

However, McMahon wasn’t the only one trying to buy WCW – former WCW President Eric Bischoff, along with a group of investors known as ‘Fusient Media Ventures’, has also attempted to purchase the promotion with the intent of relaunching it and continuing the so-called ‘Monday Night War’ with the WWF. Unfortunately, this would not come to pass due to the cancellation of all WCW programming on the Turner Broadcasting System by CEO Jamie Kellner. Despite attempts by Bischoff to secure a new television deal with another network, Fusient were forced to withdraw their offer – with no programming, WCW was worthless to them. The WWF was left as the sole bidder, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But what if it had been otherwise?
What if Eric Bischoff had managed to secure a television deal for WCW programming on another network?
Let’s find out…



Jamie Kellner cancels all WCW programming, causing panic among the investors of Fusient Media Ventures as without Television, WCW is worthless to them.
Fortunately, Eric Bischoff is able to secure a television deal with NBC, allowing them to air a show on USA Network (former home of WWF’s ‘Monday Night Raw’ until its move to TNN in September 2000).
Fusient Media Ventures continues with the purchase, buying World Championship Wrestling from AOL Time Warner for $8,000,000 (the price being driven up by a bid by the WWF).
However, Bischoff’s dreams of continuing the Monday Night Wars are dashed when USA only offers them a 90-minute Saturday timeslot (with the option of extending to two hours, pending good ratings). It is then decided (despite arguments from Bischoff) that the flagships shows, ‘Nitro’ and ‘Thunder’, should be retired. Thus, instead of Nitro, the new WCW’s flagship (and only) program will once again be a revived ‘WCW Saturday Night’, originally cancelled in June 2000.

While many members of the WCW roster choose to take the buyout of their AOL Time Warner contracts, a significant number of big names choose not to. Also, a number who do choose not to return to the now financially depleted WCW, instead choosing to pursue other options (the WWF, Andrew McManus’s World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) in Australia, etc).

After the sale in March (the final Nitro being broadcast on March 26th 2001 from Panama City, Florida, with US Champion Booker T winning the World title), WCW goes on hiatus in preparation for a re-launch in May.
Initially planned as a pay-per-view, The Big Bang (scheduled for the 6th of May) becomes a two-hour televised event, officially launching WCW on USA Network, with Slamboree 2001 becoming the new WCW’s first pay-per-view later in the month.

Before The Big Bang airs, USA Network airs a number of ‘Best of WCW’ shows in preparation for WCW’s debut on the network. These shows, while hastily edited together, draw decent ratings and help to hype The Big Bang broadcast (Both ‘The Big Bang’ and Slamboree being advertised in between segments).

And so the stage is set…
 
Oh man this is great I grew up in the Monday night wars and was actually a huge fan WCW. I can't wait to see where this is going.
 
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The Big Bang

Broadcast – 8pm EST, 6th May 2001 on USA Network
Running Time – 120 minutes (2 hours)
Venue – Grady Cole Center
City – Charlotte, North Carolina

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‘WCW’s The Big Bang – The Opinionated Recap’
Written by R.H. Paulson for ‘WrestleWatch.com’


The show started, predictably enough, with an equally predictable speech from Eric Bischoff himself promising ‘a new era’ and all that stuff. Maybe years of hearing Tony ‘Greatest Night in the History of our Sport’ Schiavone has desensitized me to these kind of announcements, but I just wanted them to get on with it.
Fortunately, Bischoff kept it short and to the point. If you really want to know what he said, just look at the adverts for the event – basically, they’re re-launching WCW and taking it in a new direction (as if there was any other option), one which will return WCW to it’s ‘rightful place’ as the number one company etc, etc.
As I said, Bischoff kept it short, so a mere five-or-so minutes into the show, we had our first match.

Singles Match

Norman Smiley VS Steve Corino

Norman Smiley defeated WCW newcomer Steve Corino (signed back in January and originally supposed to debut that same month at Sin) in a short, highly technical match. The two then shook hands after the finish.
Maybe I’m imagining it, but Smiley’s demeanour seemed a lot more ‘serious’ than usual, possibly signalling a change of direction for Smiley’s character. Personally, I’ve always liked Smiley, so I’ll be interested in whether they do anything with him. Sure, a US Title run is unlikely, but a guy can dream can’t he?
As for Corino, he did well enough but didn’t get a chance to really make an impression due to the length of the match. Unfortunately, I’m somewhat unfamiliar with Corino’s previous work, but what I’ve heard (former ECW World Champion, anti-Hardcore gimmick, etc) sounds interesting. The anti-Hardcore thing, in particular, could lead to something since WCW is apparently keeping its Hardcore Title going. The friendly handshake between Smiley and Corino after the match could also be the start of something, what with Smiley’s well known ‘reluctant Hardcore Champion’ routine.

I was a bit surprised to see this as the first match, to be honest, and at first I wondered what they were thinking, what with this being WCW’s big TV comeback and everything. Afterwards though, it made sense – a lot of WWF matches tend to be little more than basic punch-kick-finisher sequences (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing), so what better way to distinguish WCW from their competition than opening with a technical masterpiece (okay, maybe not ‘masterpiece’, but it was pretty damn good) like this? Of course, I could just be reading too much into this, after all, WCW’s recent track record doesn’t exactly lend itself to this sort of thing. Then again, ‘new owners, new direction’, so you never know.

A short advert for WCW Slamboree plays.

Singles Match

Chris Kanyon VS Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller

Another singles match, and interestingly, the ongoing feud between these two was mentioned. In fact, this was pretty much a rematch from Greed (minus Ms Jones, who it seems has been released). This time, Kanyon wins with the Kanyon Cutter after a good solid ten minutes. Whether they’ll continue this feud (though I’m not sure what the point would be) or not is something we’ll have to wait and see.
Speaking of which, don’t forget that, unless I missed something, Miller is still the onscreen Commissioner. Not sure whether they’ll be keeping him in that role though, or even if they’ll keep the Commissioner role itself. Yet another reason to watch ‘Saturday Night’, I suppose.
I’m still not sure about Kanyon’s new look (which debuted just before the Fusient purchase). There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just weird seeing Kanyon come out to dimmed lighting with a leather jacket. Also, Kanyon got a surprisingly good reaction considering he’s meant to be a heel. It’ll be interesting to see whether this leads to a face turn or not.

WCW Hardcore Title Match

The Barbarian © VS Shawn Stasiak

Other than re-introducing the Hardcore title (which is puzzling in itself for reasons which should be obvious), I’m not sure what the point of this match was. The Barbarian has never been particularly great and Shawn Stasiak probably never will be, so why they paired these two together is a mystery.
The match itself was thankfully short, for which I’m sure we’re all grateful, but despite being the weakest match of the night, it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Saying that, I found the lack of weapons in this match curious, to say the least. The only thing that separated this from any regular match was the lack of any actual wrestling (the bout being more a brawl than a wrestling match) and the fact that the pinfall was made outside the ring.
My first conclusion to this was that they wanted to keep the match as short as possible, but now I’m wondering if maybe they’re trying a new direction with the Hardcore title – one less weapon heavy, for a start. Personally, I’d be happy if they just got rid of it, but I’ll hold judgment until I see where they’re going with this (if anywhere).
I also noticed that Stacy Keibler was nowhere to be seen. Pretty significant seeing as she and Stasiak were still aligned as of the last Nitro – does this mean she didn’t survive the roster cut, or are they planning something else for her?

An ad for WCW Saturday Night plays.

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Title Match

The Jung Dragons VS ‘Prime Time’ Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo

Because Rey Misterio Jr chose not to re-sign, the Cruiserweight Tag Titles had to be vacated (Misterio being champ alongside Kidman as of the last Nitro), which is why we have this match between the Jung Dragons and the team of Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo (the latter being the first Cruiserweight Tag Champs). The Dragons won to become the new champs.
A good match, though a few too many high spots for my liking. The crowd certainly enjoyed it at least and it was certainly a good introduction to the Cruiserweight style for anyone watching WCW for the first time.
I noticed Leia Meow accompanied the Dragons to ringside – I guess she survived the cut. A good sign for the Dragons’ prospects, perhaps?
I’m still surprised that WCW didn’t just abandon the titles, but the fact that they both kept the titles AND went to the bother of having this match on their big television comeback is a promising sign for the fortunes of the Cruiserweights.
That being said, I am a little worried that there won’t be enough teams to maintain one Tag division, let alone two separate ones. Combined with the potential re-emphasis on the Hardcore Division, we could have the problem of too many titles and not enough airtime (or wrestlers) to make it work. Whether they can make the presence of all these titles work or not is something we’ll just have to wait and see.

Four-Corners Tag Match – Number One Contendership for the WCW Tag Team Titles

KroniK VS The Mamalukes VS The Boogie Knights VS Lance Storm & Mike Awesome

Not sure why this needed to involve four teams, but whatever.
As much as I love Storm & Awesome, they need to get out of the tag division and pursue some singles titles, preferably the world – Booker T’s going to need some legitimate contenders if the WCW title’s going to be taken seriously, and No, I don’t think Jeff Jarrett is that contender.
The match itself was a bit of a mess, as most multi-team matches are, and went on far too long. Maybe they were killing time.
KroniK get the win after one of the two Brians (Clark, I think) gets the pin on one of the Dancing Fools… sorry, ‘Boogie Knights’, making KroniK, the world’s least impressive Tag Team, the Number One contenders.
Joy.

Another ad for Slamboree plays.

Main Event

Booker T & Diamond Dallas Page VS Jeff Jarrett & Buff Bagwell

And we finish off with ANOTHER Tag match. I know the booking for this show was rushed, but come on!
Yes, I’m afraid Buff Bagwell is still around, even if his former Totally Buff partner isn’t.
Page wins with a Diamond Cutter on Bagwell, and I have a horrible feeling this is going to lead to a feud between the two. Booker and Jarrett also have something of a staredown after the match ends – I think I can guess what the main event of Slamboree is going to be.
Interestingly, Booker T came down to the ring with both the US and World Titles. I mention this because they usually vacate the US Title whenever the title holder wins the World Title (the most recent example being Goldberg). Either they’re going to keep Booker as a double champion or they’re holding off on vacating the US title (which’ll probably mean a Tournament to crown a new champ) until later.
While not particularly spectacular, it was a decent enough main event and it did its job in establishing who these people are and their characters for new viewers. DDP got a huge pop, both for his entrance and after he won, and with the shortage of big names, perhaps we’ll be seeing a main event run, or even another World title run, for DDP in the near future.

The show ends with a final plug for WCW Saturday Night.

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Final Analysis

Well, it didn’t suck. That’s a start, surely.

Given WCW’s track record of late (or the last two years even), my expectations weren’t very high and, sure enough, there were a few negatives here and there. On the other hand, it was a lot better than any Nitro I’ve seen recently (well, except for the last one, but that one doesn’t really count) and I’d even rank it above some of WCW’s recent pay-per-views. If this had been on pay-per-view as it was originally supposed to be, it would have been the best WCW PPV in a long time (not that that’s saying a lot, but still…), though whether it would have done well in terms of buyrate we’ll never know.

The differences in production quality and set design were noticeable, having decreased significantly now that they don’t have Turner’s money to spend. The graphics were a lot simpler too, with the wrestler’s names simply appearing on screen as plain white writing set in a blue rectangle (no logos, no animations). Overall, the quality, combined with the in-ring product, reminded me more of early-to-mid-90s WCW than mid-to-late-90s WCW – I haven’t decided on whether or not that’s a good thing.

Speaking of logos, I’d heard they’d simplified the existing WCW logo rather than going to the expense of designing an all-new one, but I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. Now that I’ve seen it, I think I understand now. And you know what? I kind of like it.

The in-ring product was surprisingly coherent. No convoluted storylines, no shocking swerves (it helps that Vince Russo’s no longer involved), no run-ins or No Contests, even the Referees managed to get through every match unscathed. Compare that to Vince Russo’s ‘Reign of Error’, the New Blood/Millionaire’s Club storyline, the Worked Shoots and the constant heel/face turns of a year ago – you’d think the two were entirely different organisations.

The match quality varied – three good matches, two okay matches and one not-so-good match. The good news that there was nothing particularly terrible, but on the other hand, there wasn’t anything that blew me away (not even the Cruiserweight Tag match). Still, Barbarian/Stasiak aside, it was good enough to make me want to stick around for more.

Now, obviously, we can’t judge the new ownership based on this one show, but I will say this – for the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to seeing the next WCW show (which premiers this coming Saturday on USA Network). Hell, I’m even thinking of ordering Slamboree later this month (only three weeks from now, so here’s hoping they make the most of the three Saturdays before then). That’s right; I’m seriously considering ordering a WCW pay-per-view! I honestly can’t remember the last time I even contemplated doing that.
So, overall, a good start to the ‘relaunch’. All we can do now is hope this is a sign of things to come.

Match Results

Norman Smiley def. Steve Corino
Chris Kanyon def. Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller
The Barbarian © def. Shawn Stasiak for the WCW Hardcore Title
The Jung Dragons def. Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo for the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Title
KroniK def. The Mamalukes, The Boogie Knights and Lance Storm & Mike Awesome
Booker T & Diamond Dallas Page def. Jeff Jarrett & Buff Bagwell

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Does Russo still have the book? I would have expected at least three run-ins if he did.
 
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Picking Up The Pieces
March-May 2001


To say that WCW in early-2001 was a shadow of its former self would be an understatement.

The promotion, at its peak valued at $600 million, was sold in March 2001 for approximately $8 million – even then, it’s said that the only reason the price was that high was a competing bid from Vince McMahon’s WWF. Thus, Fusient Media Ventures, the promotion’s new owners, were already financially further down than they’d expected. However, there was still hope.

After the cancellation of all Turner-based WCW programming (including Monday Nitro, Thunder and WorldWide), Eric Bischoff frantically searched for a new television deal that would allow WCW viable. For a while, the most likely candidate was the Fox Sports Network, but that ultimately fell through like all the others. Then, when all hope seemed lost, a new offer came through… from the USA Network.

The USA Network, owned by NBC, had long been the home of the WWF’s ‘Monday Night Raw’ (the rival to TNT’s ‘WCW Monday Nitro’) from its inception in 1992. However, this changed in 2000 when Vince McMahon decided that the only thing better than having a shitload of money was having an even bigger shitload of money.
Thus, a new television contract was signed with Viacom and Raw moved to its new home, the then-recently re-branded ‘TNN – The National Network’ (formerly known as ‘The Nashville Network’, now known as ‘Spike TV’) on September 25th 2000, leaving USA Network without one of its highest rated shows.
Then, six months later, with the cancellation of WCW’s programming, they decided to take a chance.
Despite Bischoff’s hopes of continuing the Monday Night Wars (Monday Nitro generally being considered one of his most prominent contributions to the wrestling business), USA were aware of WCW’s recent problems, and while even at its lowest, Nitro still drew ratings of at least 3.0 (roughly 3.5 million viewers), USA just weren’t willing to take the risk of competing with the still red-hot WWF. Instead, they offered WCW a 90-minute timeslot on Saturday evenings, with the option of expanding to two-hours, pending good ratings. With no other options, Fusient accepted the deal and ‘WCW Saturday Night’, WCW’s original flagship show until Nitro’s 1995 debut, was revived (having been cancelled in mid-2000).

With a television deal, WCW was now on somewhat steadier ground, but there was a lot of cleaning up to do if WCW was to be revitalised.

One of the first things Fusient did after completing the purchase was to abolish the ‘guaranteed contracts’ WCW used during the 1990s, something WCW just couldn’t afford without Ted Turner’s money behind them. Instead, they switched to a similar system to that used by the WWF, one centred around ‘downside guarantees’. Another money-saving feature of these new contracts was an alteration to the ‘No-Compete clause’, originally introduced in both WCW and the WWF during the 90s in order to prevent wrestlers from debuting for the rival’s company immediately after release. While the clause remained in the new WCW contracts, the ‘no-compete’ time would be reduced. Thus, in contrast to the WWF’s 90-Day No-Compete Clause, the new WCW contracts included a 60-Day No-Compete Clause, which, while serving the same purpose (preventing other companies from capitalising from a wrestler’s immediate momentum), also appeared more palatable to both the industry and the public (preventing a wrestler from appearing on TV for two months rather than three) as well as saving money (only having to continue paying the wrestler for two months rather than three). However, these contracts only applied to the lower and mid card talent. The headliners were a different story.
Due to the structure of WCW under Turner’s ownership, the contracts of major headliners such as Ric Flair, Sting, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, et al, were not with WCW itself, but with Turner Sports, and by extension AOL Time Warner. This, combined with the guaranteed nature of these contracts meant that many big names had the option of simply sitting back and collecting what was essentially free money from Time Warner until their contracts ran out. Those who wished to sign with the new WCW were offered a buyout of their existing Time Warner contracts at 50 cents to the Dollar. The nature of this buyout left those affected with a choice – earn a lot of money doing nothing, but risk losing the spotlight, or join the new WCW and stay in the public eye, but for a reduced wage.
Some, like Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page took the buyout and signed new contracts with WCW. Others, such as Goldberg, Hogan, Flair and Sting didn’t for various reasons. Scott Steiner, for example, is believed to have not re-signed with WCW due to nagging injuries. Others would also choose not to return to WCW due to the presence of Eric Bischoff and his association with the old regime (Ric Flair being the most prominent example of this, his bad blood with Bischoff already well-known).

Even without the issue of contract buyouts, the roster of WCW was very much in a state of flux, with many departures and roster-cuts to save money. For example, a number of valets, managers and other non-wrestlers would not be a part of the new WCW – the most prominent example would be the various members of the Nitro Girls, the popular dance troupe used to entertain live crowds during commercial breaks. Others left WCW willingly, wishing to pursue other eventually options, like the WWF and Andrew McManus’s ‘World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA)’ in Australia.
One particularly notable WCW departure was that Dusty Rhodes and his son Dustin Rhodes, who left WCW in order to concentrate on the Rhodes’ new promotion ‘Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling’, based in Marietta, Georgia. Despite this, both Dusty and Dustin would maintain ties with WCW, allowing for the possibility of TCW acting as a potential development league for WCW.

The lack of funds also affected WCW’s production values. Having already made multiple changes and cuts to the television production budget during 2000, the budget was slashed even further. Onscreen graphics were simplified tremendously, with on-screen animations simplified, if not outright removed. The standard Saturday Night set was, in many ways, closer to that of the ECW Arena than to those of the old WCW, a comparison not helped by the reduced size of Saturday Night’s venues – the average Saturday Night venue would be a far cry from Nitro’s selling-out of the Georgia Dome a mere three-years before.
Another consequence of the lower-than-expected budget was WCW’s logo – originally, the logo was to be redesigned. However, it was decided that the cost of doing so would be too high, and so it was decided that the existing ‘Star’ logo (introduced less than two-years prior) would be altered. Unfortunately, in a sign that the old WCW’s problems had yet to be shed, the design team (consisting mostly of amateur graphics designers – another cost-saving measure) came up with not one, but THREE different variants. These different versions of the ‘Star’ would be used interchangeably alongside the old logo, and were all supported by different people, even earning their own nicknames – the ‘Full-Star’, ‘Half-Star’ and the ‘Simplified-Star’.

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The original 'Star' logo (1999-2001)

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(From Left-to-Right) The 'Full-Star', 'Half-Star' & 'Simplified-Star'

Eventually, the ‘Simplified-Star’ would win out over the others, completely superseding the old ‘Star’ logo by early/mid-2002.

WCW’s ‘The Big Bang’, originally planned as a Pay-Per-View Event, would be broadcast on the 6th of May 2001 as a 2-hour televised introduction to the new WCW on USA Network. Despite lowered production values and rushed booking, it was considered an overall success, raising interest for the first edition of the revived ‘WCW Saturday Night’, scheduled for broadcast on the 12th of May 2001, from 8pm to 9:30pm EST.
However, there were still more changes to come.

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