Vince Didn't Get Rid of WCW

[Tattooed Jesus]

Inspired sorta by the Jericho commenting on TNA thread. Jericho said that he wants TNA to be a huge success and that even Vince wants TNA to be a huge success because at the end of the day, thats better business for him. I can believe that because it is a fact that WWE did it's best ratings and made it's most money when they were able to go head to head with WCW. Now a lot of people are saying they don't believe this because if it were true then Vince would never have gotten rid of WCW. Well Vince didn't get rid of WCW, Ted Turner and more specifically AOL/Time Warner got rid of WCW. They didn't want wrestling on their networks anymore so basically they cancelled it just like any other program. Yes Vince bought all the contracts, library, etc associated with WCW and could have continued using the name but WWE already had two shows on two different networks, so it might have been difficult to shop another show that had basically just been cancelled on one network to any other networks. Yes Vince and WWE as a whole pretty much fucked up the WCW Invasion angle and screwed over a lot of the guys that came over at that point, thats a given, but Vince didn't get rid of WCW, it was dead in the water far long before he got his hands on it.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I believe Vince likes competition.

But I think the WCW thing was on a different level. There was bad blood to a smaller degree, between Vince and Ted Turner before WCW even starting rivaling WWE in the ratings. Then, the things WCW did during the Monday Night Wars made it all even more personal.

Announcing RAW results before it aired and overall just trying to put WWE out of business made killing WCW a must for Vince. I think he proved a point with WCW and hurt WWE's competitive side to wrestling, at the same time by leaving no one to compete with.

I am sure if TNA or some other federation starting competing, we would see a big change in WWE to stay on top. As long it doesn't get too personal, mirroring the "below the belt" things WCW did, I could see it being great for not only WWE and it's fans, but the competing fed and it's fans as well. Overall, competition is great for any sport, and it would bring wrestling programming back to a higher level and we would all benefit from it.

 

[Donberto Del Rio]

We need something to force WWE to out on their A-game. WCW helped WWF start Attitude as something fresh and original.

 

[Minnesota Connection]

In my opinion, I think he's learned from a past mistake.

WCW happened by a fluke and it took a lot of backing/marketing from both companies to make the Attitude Era/NWO Era come into fruition.

TNA isn't as lucky, but after WCW, the WWE declined as a result.

So, maybe he has learned?

 

[Decarow]

Actually, Russo and company destroyed WCW. Let's compare this to Ol' Yeller. Tuner, Russo, etc., were the rabies. Vince was the little boy that pulled the trigger.


But WCW succeeded on stars that were HUGE 5 years before and they carried the company. Now those same stars, 15 years older, are trying to do the same thing. The thing that would have really been huge for TNA, is if in 2004/5 they had acquired Austin, Rock, and maybe Jericho. But they didn't.

TNA most likely won't turn out as huge as WCW. Lack of star power. Yes they have Hogan and Flair and Sting, but they were huge 20/30 years ago. Get veterans that aren't that, for a lack of term, veterany. People who aren't has-beens. Kurt Angle is the only guy like that they have. I'm sorry, but RVD and Jeff Hardy are past their primes.

 

[user2011]

what about this 90 day clause, Clearly vince doesn't want talent to appear on TV with his competition which is TNA. Seem to much like BS, Vince wants a Monopoly PERIOD.

 

[The_Reptile_]

I get the feeling that Vince likes competition and wants other promotions to do well, but only if his is the top dog. Which, at thus point, probably isn't that much of an issue, so there ya go.

 

[ECW Sandman]

I agree with Bionic Redneck Vince did not get rid of WCW WCW was dead before he even bought it Does anyone remember ''The Yeti'' that has to be the worse gimmick ever in WCW or wrestling period besides two others, WCW's The Shock Master aka WWF's Tugboat and Kevin Sullivan's ''Brother '' Dave ''Evad'' Sullivan, WCW did some shocking things I will give them that Results of Monday Night RAW Bringing in WWF Top Stars of the 80's and early early 90's IE Hogan Savage Mean Gene Bobby Heenan Jim Duggan the list can go on and on but people who blame Vince and The WWE for the fall of WCW they Vince and His Billion Dollar Company World Wrestling Entertainment had nothing to do with it they just bought it yeah it sucks they did not revive it but in all honesty you can't it's cool there bringing back WCW on DVD but as a company I would rather remember it how it was BEFORE it went to hell in a hand basket.

 

[Chauncy Talon]

In my opinion, I think he's learned from a past mistake.

WCW happened by a fluke and it took a lot of backing/marketing from both companies to make the Attitude Era/NWO Era come into fruition.

TNA isn't as lucky, but after WCW, the WWE declined as a result.

So, maybe he has learned?

WCW wasn't a fluke. WCW was a part of the NWA. During that time, all of the best wrestlers was coming to WCW because of Jim Crockett. Without Jim Crockett Jr. you would never had seen: Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Ron Garvin, the Road Warriors, Jim Ross, Tony Schavione, the 4 Horsemen, Warload, the Barbarian, Rick Rude, Lex Lugar, Sting, the Great Muta, Sid Vicious, the Midnight and Rock and Roll Express, and many more.

Also, the WWF was on TBS aka the SuperStation. It took over Georgia Championship Wrestling, but then was canceled to put WCW. GCW and WCW was a part of the Jim Crockett Promotion and these were aligned with the NWA.

Jim Crockett was the man. Ted Turner bought WCW from Jim Crockett because Jim Crockett was broke. This acquisition is the reason why WCW had two world titles. They own the Big Gold Title, after they paid Flair for it, and the WCW World.

Your statement as WCW being a fluke is due to you not knowing your prior history of the business.

 

[Tripleb2k1]

what about this 90 day clause, Clearly vince doesn't want talent to appear on TV with his competition which is TNA. Seem to much like BS, Vince wants a Monopoly PERIOD.

reason being, when released, they sign a termination contract that the 90 days is the main rider clause. for those 90 days they are still being paid by WWE as a severance package... but they will allow released talent to appear on independent shows providing its not a broadcasted league

 

[CKguy217]

TNA has hired a lot of WCW people that had a big portion to do with WCW's failure.
Russo, Hogan, Biscoff, all had a hand in the fall of WCW. Why would TNA hire them?
However, to be fair, they also had a hand in WCW's success.

My family owned a restaurant, we closed, the economy had dropped. We were keeping it over to help out the employees, because we knew no one else would hire those people (they weren't the brightest). Well, eventually we ended up closing BECAUSE of the employees.
Well, we sold the building and the guy who bought the building leased it out to a guy who reopened it...under a different name. He hired back most of the old staff, they closed within a year...

 

[hunterXhunter21]

Actually, Russo and company destroyed WCW. Let's compare this to Ol' Yeller. Tuner, Russo, etc., were the rabies. Vince was the little boy that pulled the trigger.


But WCW succeeded on stars that were HUGE 5 years before and they carried the company. Now those same stars, 15 years older, are trying to do the same thing. The thing that would have really been huge for TNA, is if in 2004/5 they had acquired Austin, Rock, and maybe Jericho. But they didn't.

TNA most likely won't turn out as huge as WCW. Lack of star power. Yes they have Hogan and Flair and Sting, but they were huge 20/30 years ago. Get veterans that aren't that, for a lack of term, veterany. People who aren't has-beens. Kurt Angle is the only guy like that they have. I'm sorry, but RVD and Jeff Hardy are past their primes.

No, the heads at Turner after the merger decided they didn't want wrestling on their channel any more. Nitro was pulling in 2.1-2.6 in the ratings each week which is about what Smackdown is doing now. It had been doing that rating for most of 2000. While the rating were down they were not terrible. Even Raw ratings had started to slip by 2001. They were no longer doing the 6s and 7s they once were. So people were still watching Nitro, but the wrestling audience started to lower. Raw and Nitro combined had a 7.7(4.7 for Raw and 3 for Nitro)rating on for the very last Nitro. What should have been a huge show with people turning in to see the "series finale" of Nitro and to see Vince talk about buying WCW did way less then it did the same time last year of 9.2(6.6 for RAW and 2.6 for Nitro). The one problem it had at this point was it was losing tons of money.

When Jamie Kellner took over Turner Broadcast on his first week he canceled WCW program. If the merger had not taken place I think Turner would have at least keep Nitro on the air. Even if he did sell it he always had a place in his heart for the company that more or less helped make TBS.

 

[Calderownz]

Truthfully, I don't think Vince worries about taking out competition. I think he enjoys just winning, period. Sometimes, winning involves taking out your opponents. However, that's simply a by-product of it for McMahon, I think.

If he thought he could have made money with WCW, it'd still be around today. Same with ECW. He tried with ECW, he couldn't. I believe the original plan was to have WCW branch off. Due in part to the bad story with the invasion and due to dwindling support of WCW, that didn't happen.

However, if he somehow received tons of desire for WCW, TONS, I think he'd want it back on air ASAP.

 

[Mr. HD]

Truthfully, I don't think Vince worries about taking out competition. I think he enjoys just winning, period. Sometimes, winning involves taking out your opponents. However, that's simply a by-product of it for McMahon, I think.

If he thought he could have made money with WCW, it'd still be around today. Same with ECW. He tried with ECW, he couldn't. I believe the original plan was to have WCW branch off. Due in part to the bad story with the invasion and due to dwindling support of WCW, that didn't happen.

However, if he somehow received tons of desire for WCW, TONS, I think he'd want it back on air ASAP.

You mean the new ECW that debuted in 2006?

Because this is what I heard. The new ECW was doing so well for the fact that it was a one hour show. It started to pull in higher ratings than SmackDown. I admit I even watched it more than RAW & SmackDown.

Once Vinnie found out, he sabotaged it. December to Dismember being the prime example. That ppv was horrible and Heyman was blamed for it, but he had nothing to do with it.

After that, he fired Heyman and basically paid him to stay at Home because he didn't want him going to TNA. And once that happened, ECW just went down and down and down until it got replaced with NXT.

Again, this is just what I heard. I'm a bit fuzzy when it comes to Backstage Politics Stories.