If Ted Turner rebuilt WCW today...

[Trill Co$by]

So I was doing some research on Sting earlier today, wondering if there was ever a time when he was a big time name in Virginia. The answer is no, but that's not what is important. What is important is that, after going through and making my way to WCW's Wikipedia page I found out that Ted Turner does own the rights to WCW, as does Vince McMahon. And then I got to thinking, what if Ted Turner wanted to rebuild a new WCW?

With names like Eric Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner, and others still [I'd assume] in condition to make one final run; it would be all too easy for Ted to sign them as memorable WCW Superstars and then sign guys like ACH, Kyle O'Riley, Young Bucks, The Shard, Mikey Whipwreck, and others as the new brand of WCW. Sort of give WCW a new breath of fresh air. Or maybe he can use the same model as he did before by signing NWA rights over to WCW and rebuilding that way.

Obviously, of course, it wouldn't be as powerful as the old WCW nor would it be able to compete with WWE... at least not without a major network. If WCW 2.0 could get onto a major network, then WWE would have problems that TNA never thought possible. For starters, WCW was still drawing big ratings when they were bought out. And if Bischoff can get the right amount of support, he can do what he did in the past. He also could've put TNA in the spotlight, but for some reason; SpikeTV wouldn't work with him the same way Ted Turner and Time Warner did.

And before anyone starts saying that Wikipedia is highly unreliable, stop and realize that source pages are all at the bottom which direct you to valid proof of the information.

 

[TheICChampion]

If Turner wants to do that (and frankly I don't know why) then he needs to make a very big impact immediately and make it last long enough for people to get behind it. The average person today has a VERY SHORT attention span and seems to like to complain about every little thing. The stars have to align just right and even if they do Turner has to be very lucky for WCW to pick up any sort of momentum at all. And if Vince and Ted are co-owners of the rights to WCW, then he'd most likely have to get Vince's permission or approval to even attempt to revive WCW. Maybe, if someone cares about WCW enough or ol' Ted's still around once Triple H officially takes over, then MAYBE it could happen.

 

[J.J.]

While anything is possible, I don't see it happening. I definitely was a much bigger fan of WCW than WWE and even remained loyal the time they put they title on that David Arquite(misspelled his last name I know).

WWE is light years ahead now and unfortunately I don't see another promotion giving them a serious run. It's like when a new basketball, football or baseball league starts, none of them can fully compete with the main league.

The guys that were main stars in WCW then are old. Let's be real, that entire lost are made of guys 50+ and many aren't exactly well liked by fans today. Anyone born in the new millennium hardly know them unless they're die hard wrestling fans.

Push come to shove Turner could back Jeff Jarrett's promotion which I doubt.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

There's virtually no chance of it happening. There's always the slimmest of chances, but I think you'd have a better shot of winning a $400 million dollar Powerball jackpot solo and getting struck by lightning without a cloud in the sky on the same day than Ted Turner trying to recreate WCW.

WCW was ultimately a business opportunity for Ted Turner. While I personally believe that he was also a wrestling fan, just a hunch I've got is all, it was never part of who he is as a person in the same way with Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon is, literally, a 3rd generation pro wrestling promoter; his company is in his blood and he's someone that would do anything & everything to protect it because it's more than just a business to him. Whether you think Vince is a genius, a raving egomaniac, a cutthroat businessman, a hack out of touch with fans or any combination of which, he loves WWE and has a passion for it that goes beyond mere business. Turner would also, most likely, do what he did before in that he'd ultimately hand control over the company to a handful of executives while he pumped money into it as needed.

Ted Turner isn't a young man anymore. As with anyone that reaches a certain age, he doesn't have the type of physical energy or endurance he had 25 years ago. At age 75, I don't see Ted Turner embarking on the uphill challenge of building another wrestling organization from the ground up to the point where it could have a shot at challenging WWE. With WCW, Turner didn't have to worry about that so much because the company was long since established and had generations of fans who'd been watching just as WWE did. The only major difference was that Ted Turner had practically unlimited financial resources at his disposal that allowed him to lure away a good deal of talent from Vince. With the way contracts are structured these days, however, that couldn't just happen anymore. Wrestlers simply can't jump ship anymore without serious legal consequences. You wouldn't see Daniel Bryan on a WWE ppv or house show Sunday night and appear live on Nitro a week later like we saw with Lex Luger do on the debut episode of Nitro back in late 1995.

As I touched on earlier, WCW & WWE are companies that are long since established, their names are synonymous with professional wrestling. Even with Ted Turner backing it financially, it'd still take years to build the company's reputation. There are also a lot of former WCW stars who're signed to WWE under Legends contracts so, again, many of them simply couldn't just decide to work for Turner even if they wanted to. To my knowledge, Hogan, Hall, Nash, Sean Waltman are signed under Legends deals, thought I suppose it's possible Vince would be willing to let them out of their contracts. I'm doubting it, however, as they're able to make good money for simply allowing WWE to sue their likenesses for merchandise while not risking further injury. Hulk Hogan can't physically wrestle anymore and it'd be dangerous for him to try. I've also read that Scott Hall is in pretty rough shape himself physically, though he's clean & sober at least. Nash's knees are shot to shit an dare pretty much held together with spit and prayers. Goldberg hasn't wrestled in over a decade and only will for ridiculous sums of money with little to no interest in elevating younger talent, reportedly. Jeff Jarrett is trying to start up Global Force Wrestling, so I doubt he'd be interested unless he & Turner merged their businesses with some sort of 50/50 split of ownership. Scott Steiner turns 52 years old at the end of this month and while both he & Rick are able to physically wrestle, I doubt they'd make much of an impact.

Even if Ted Turner was able to sign all of these older, big name veterans, look what a mistake that turned out to be for TNA. TNA essentially spent years being built around veterans like Sting, Angle, Nash, Booker T, Scott Steiner, The Dudley Boyz, Jeff Hardy and signed almost any wrestler who'd worked for WWE that they could. It's only been within the past year or so that they've truly started working on building up their own stars, partially because so many of these veterans left the company or are thinking of leaving the company because Dixie can't afford to pay them those big salaries. At the same time, former WWE guys are generally still front & center with MVP as the heel authority figure, Bobby Lashley just won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, etc.

Even if Turner avoided the pitfall of making old guys far past their prime the center of his new company and went with younger talent, it'd still take a long, long time to build the company to a genuine rival to WWE because most fans don't have any idea who ACH, Kyle O'Reilly, Mikey Whipreck are. But, he'd have a better shot in the long run if he went with younger guys that could be built.

 

[capnwillie]

Ted Turner is 75 years old and isn't even on the board of directors for Turner/Time Warner anymore. Indeed, it would take someone with a Turner-esque reputation to start a viable mainstream company, but Turner is no longer the guy who would be in a position to do that.

Here's a hypothetical that seems much more possible at this point in time to me: Mark Cuban buying or heavily investing in Ring Of Honor. He's got the money and the track record to make something like that work. One needs only look at the major improvements he made to the Dallas Mavericks. Being from the DFW area, I can tell you that before he bought the team, nobody cared about the Mavs and they were dangerously close to being sold out and moved to another city. Mark Cuban not only turned them into a playoff and championship team but improved the overall "brand" for the Mavericks. I don't think that it is too much of a stretch he could turn ROH into a serious mainstream company and with a little time, even give WWE some competition. Especially when you consider the fact that ROH has, more or less, produced talents like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan among others.

Financial backing from a guy like Cuban would give ROH the resources to improve their production and add the small touches like better entrance ramps, video screens, broadcast tables and things like that which really enhance the show as a whole and make things look more slick and professional. ROH already has some great talents on their roster. Maybe Cuban could snag a few guys like Mick Foley or Jim Ross along the way to serve as road agents, work on commentary and generally work with talents backstage to also improve the product. Foley would definitely be a great coach to some of the younger workers in terms of ring psychology.

Sorry if I thread-jacked, I just don't see Turner or Time Warner bringing back wrestling anytime soon but felt compelled to offer a similar, yet alternative discussion point.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Okay, this kind of peaked my curiosity because I thought the WWE owned WCW pretty much lock, stock and barrel. Reading Wikipedia, it sounds like they own all of the intellectual property which as far as I'm aware includes all of the video library, trademarked names, logos, etc, while Turner's subsidiary (Universal Wrestling Corporation) holds liabilities such as the guaranteed contracts.

Based on that, Turner doesn't own the name WCW at all...that's owned by WWE. He owns some of the contracts which may or may not still exist, but supposing they did...would you want to bring back in Bill Goldberg or Kevin Nash under a guaranteed money contract from 1999 or 2000, some 14 to 15 years later? You'd be better off starting your own promotion over from scratch than taking that on. What UWC holds is the leftover baggage that WWE didn't want.

 

[Catacomb]

if ted turner wanted to bring wcw back he'd have to buy it back from wwe, since vince owns the name, logo, intellectual propertys.

edit ^^dude above me beat me to it lol

 

[BadGuy]

The answer is simple.If we want to watch real wrestling like wcw vs wwf war (1998-1999) we will need competition for WWE.I don't care about names tna or new wcw ,but I would like to give WWE motivation to improve quality of their product.

 

[therockiswwf]

The answer is simple.If we want to watch real wrestling like wcw vs wwf war (1998-1999) we will need competition for WWE.I don't care about names tna or new wcw ,but I would like to give WWE motivation to improve quality of their product.

1999 sucked. Like really really sucked (for both companies). Russo was running wild in WWE around that time and WCW was doing what it normally did.

Ted Turner does not own WCW in any shape or form anymore. Vince bought the trademark to WCW. Meaning Vince basically does own WCW.

Ted Turner CANNOT open a company called WCW without being sued (successfully) by the WWE. I believe Ted Turner (maybe AOL, not sure) still owns the trademark to Universal Wrestling Corporation and not WCW.

Basically:
Vince owns WCW. Vince does not own Universal Wrestling Corporation.

Someone owns Universal Wrestling Corporation.

 

[Reflection]

Based on what I have read on the internet over the years, I think Ted Turner was a lazy guy that instead of scouting, breeding and building talents on his own, used to buy off readmade talent from the other company at a higher price... something that the Million Dollar Man would have done if his gimmick was real. "Everybody has a price! HAHAHAHAHA" The most simple question that comes to our minds when we witness such a situation is "What happens when you run out of money?" See: The Ant and the Grasshopper. And that's exactly what happened with him and his company. That's not how you succeed in the long run. Before anything else, the perception and strategy will have to change.

 

[J.J.]

Based on what I have read on the internet over the years, I think Ted Turner was a lazy guy that instead of scouting, breeding and building talents on his own, used to buy off readmade talent from the other company at a higher price... something that the Million Dollar Man would have done if his gimmick was real. "Everybody has a price! HAHAHAHAHA" The most simple question that comes to our minds when we witness such a situation is "What happens when you run out of money?" See: The Ant and the Grasshopper. And that's exactly what happened with him and his company. That's not how you succeed in the long run. Before anything else, the perception and strategy will have to change.

You are slightly uninformed. It's not the Ted Turner money they ran out of. Granted they were losing to WWE in more than just the,ratings..1999 was the turning point for WCW is argue as far as declining. Then you fast forward and the AOL/Time Warner merger. Ted Turner was against it but the board voted against him and the,merger happened. The new CEO was against wrestling and ultimately wanted wrestling off TNT and TBS, thus the company being sold. Ted Turner never ran out of money, as his other Sport teams,he,owned were sold following the merger too.

 

[The Dark Warlords]

Even though i would like to see it happening, i do not think that it will because i believe that he is still partnered up with Time Warner. I think, if memory serves me correctly, they did not want Wrestling on their network. So that is why WCW had to be sold. Also, just as others have said, It would take years for WCW to once again regain its top spot in the business. I think that for Turner to get back into the game, two things must happen:

1. Permanent dissolving of the merger of his company with Time Warner.

2. Back another company that is ran by WRESTLING MINDED PEOPLE!

Or hey, just thought about this as a 3rd option

3. After dissolving, work out a deal with a major international company, and showcase it on his networks either as live shows of tape delays. Five companies that come to mind are:

1. New Japan Pro Wrestling

2. All Japan Pro Wrestling

3. Pro Wrestling NOAH

4. Asistencia Asesoría y Administración

5. Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

That is the only way i see it.

 

[A11oftheLights]

If you were going to do it you'd go out and try and get John Cena to jump ship, like Hogan. I'd also try and get as much of the young/misused/not mainstream talent as you could get. As in Reigns, Ambrose, Steen, Adam Rose, Damien Sandow, Steen, etc. along with some big TNA players like Aires, Joe, Roode and Storm and you could have something interesting. Throw in AJ Styles and who knows.

OR you could do the unthinkable and sign CM Punk

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Read Eric Bischoff's book... very enlightening about what ACTUALLY happened.

The reality is once the merger took place, Ted was marginalised and other corporate goals became the priority. WCW was basically the red headed stepchild of Turner to begin with... once the AOL/Time Warner execs got in with their agendas, it was the black sheep... and needed to be culled.

As to the OP/Topic... Reality check... the only person EVER rebooting WCW is Vince... he owns it, he owns the IP and Ted can't barely say he ever owned it on TV without giving Vince a dollar.

Now... if Ted Turner decided to get back into "'rasslin'", he would go with Jarrett and GFW... the guy has a proven track record of being able to start up, make a profit after time or break even (TNA was profitable for a while before Dixie took over) and to enthuse talents... TNA got a lot of high end talent to work relatively cheaply in its first few years...mainly cos they liked Jeff.

Remember however Ted Turner is now a VERY old man compared to the "risk taker/maverick" he once was... an old man with bad experience behind him from this merger... At 55 and a multi-billionaire, married to Jane Fonda with nothing to lose, then you'll give a relative kid "Two hours on prime time on a Monday night" to compete with your rival... A 75 year old man with a divorce behind him, who lost his company in reality and lost that war... probably isn't going to want another crack at it...

The only people who would EVER get into wrestling now that "big" are Disney... and if they do they'll buy WWE cos all the IP is already in place to be exploited...

 

[lil steroid meat]

It would be cool to see a WCW/Nitro logo on my television in 2014, and it would be cool to have an option to turn to something else when RAW gets unbearably stupid.

But I would surely hope that he didn't use ANY former WCW talent, as WCW has been closed for 13 years and these dudes were in their mid-late 40's then.

Dude is 75 though, I don't think he has the energy to do something like that, but I wouldn't mind another wrestling program on Monday nights.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

What would be the point? Even if Turner was able to purchase the WCW trademarks back from Vince McMahon (which is very unlikely due to the WCW presence as a big part of the WWE Network, DVDs etc), then the only thing that would be similar to how WCW was in back in the day would be the name and logo.

None of the talent would be the same, the announcers would be different. It wouldn't be the WCW that anyone remembered, and the roster would be filled with the same talent you see on the larger indie shows, as there aren't many talents about with "name value" that aren't signed to WWE or TNA. The active WCW wrestlers from the 90s are pretty much all retired or well into their 40s/50s now, as it's been THIRTEEN YEARS since WCW closed it's doors.

Let's have a look at some of them:

Hulk Hogan- Back in WWE. Can't wrestle any more
Kevin Nash- WWE legends contract. Completely broken down
Scott Hall- A total wreck
Randy Savag- RIP
Lex Luger- A total wreck
Bret Hart- Contracted to WWE. Stroke victim
Sid Vicious- Semi-retired after serious injuries
Sting- Finally joined WWE
Ric Flair- In his 60s and back in WWE
Arn Anderson- Retired
Diamond Dallas Page- Semi retired and working with WWE on occasion
The Giant- Still in WWE as Big Show
Rey Mysterio Jr- Still in WWE and close to retirement
Billy Kidman- Retired and working for WWE
Scott Steiner- Still wrestling on the indies- broken down
Raven- Still wrestling on the indies- broken down
Goldberg- Currently retired but may return for 1 match in WWE, if at all.
Kanyon- RIP
Buff Bagwell- Retired and working in adult films and as a male escort
Mike Awesome- RIP
Sean O'Haire- Retired with alot of personal issues
Chris Jericho- Back with WWE
Chris Benoit- RIP -We all know what happened there
Dean Malenko Retired and suffered heart attack
Eddy Guerrero- RIP
Perry Saturn- Semi retired, only just resurfaced after living on the streets
Bam Bam Bigelow- RIP
Lance Storm- Semi retired
Dustin Rhodes- Back with WWE
Hugh Morrus- Working in WWE developmental
Norman Smiley- Working in WWE developmental
Juventud Guerrera- Back with AAA in Mexico
Pscicosis- Back with AAA in Mexico
Jeff Jarrett- Starting Global Force Wrestling

You get the idea. Even guys who were very young at the tail end of WCW are pushing 40now- like Shane Helms. You could probably put a (very weak) card together of still-active ex-WCW wrestlers, but it wouldn't draw. Anyone with any name value is retired or with WWE. The only benefit that a reformed WCW would have over any other new company would be the brand name, but then people would see straight through that and realise it would be the same as any other company.

Plus, Ted Turner is in his mid-70s now and with all the issues he had with the original WCW, then why would he bother? Face it, WCW is done and dusted and Vince McMahon won the war. Move on.

 

[Just Do It]

Base it around EZ Money who worked the last month or so. Still stunned that WWE picked up his contract but never brought him up. he won the heaveyweight title in their developmental system at the time as well.