The Rise and Fall of WCW.

[Scott Free]

The new DVD set is being worked on right now, and news about Bishoff and Ted Turner turning down participation in this compilation have made the rounds, Jim Ross made his statement about the deal, and it is apparently now going to be an official WWE only version of history. I can't help wondering how they will handle the project. Their Rise and Fall of ECW was pretty fair I thought, they left out bits and pieces, but overall, I'd say it was fair, I think Paul Heyman was working with the WWE at the time though, I'm not sure. This is another story, they could easily turn it into another "The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior" which was a pure case of character assassination. My personal feeling is that the WWE will try and make it as fair as possible, but will put themselves over in the process, they might not bother with the details of how WCW actually folded, which was as a corporate merger casualty, being acquired by a bigger corporation that had no interest in having a pro wrestling organization that had huge salaries and costs attached to it, the WWE might tend to perpetuate the myth that they put WCW out of business, which is simply not true. What do you think ?

 

[NOLUBEZ]

Hopefully it is done in the same manner as the AWA,ECW,WCCW dvd's as those are all really well done and I have watched each of those quite a few times on the other hand if its just made to bash WCW and put WWE over than that is just pointless much like the Warrior dvd, I happen to own that one and although I'm not a Warrior fan I think it's probably the worst documentary they've put out to date, seriously he doesn't need help to make himself look like a raging moron. Then again the starrcade documetary wasn't too bad so there might be some hope.

 

[Mustang Sally]

My personal feeling is that the WWE will try and make it as fair as possible, but will put themselves over in the process, they might not bother with the details of how WCW actually folded, which was as a corporate merger casualty, being acquired by a bigger corporation that had no interest in having a pro wrestling organization that had huge salaries and costs attached to it, the WWE might tend to perpetuate the myth that they put WCW out of business, which is simply not true. What do you think ?

If you're saying that the fall of WCW wasn't the result of any one action, you would be right. They were losing $60-$80 million dollars a year in a direct attempt to knock WWE out of business and leave the field clear for themselves. If they had succeeded in closing Vince's company, they would have been able to put the squeeze on wrestler's salaries and production costs and try to turn themselves into a profitable operation.

But this is where the McMahons' come in. Despite the tremendous odds against them, they took the wrestling public away from WCW and back to themselves and forced Time-Warner to realize that the situation was hopeless. Sometimes, I don't think people realize what an incredible thing Vince McMahon accomplished.

So, if the DVD puts WWE over rather than portraying the other factors that led to WCW's downfall, I say all the power to them. Personally, though, I hope they go into WCW finances a little. The DVD might prove a useful tool for college level Business Marketing courses to use in showing how not to run a business.

 

[Scott Free]

But this is where the McMahons' come in. Despite the tremendous odds against them, they took the wrestling public away from WCW and back to themselves and forced Time-Warner to realize that the situation was hopeless. Sometimes, I don't think people realize what an incredible thing Vince McMahon accomplished.

That's exactly the kind of bs that's being spread as gospel by the WWE. I would like to point out that Time-Warner had a huge merger with AOL in 2001, AOL took control over Time-Warner, and when Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division, he deemed WCW wrestling to be out of line with their image. Thus they dumped the company. They didn't care about Vince, his accomplishments, the wrestling public or WCW, simply put, they wanted no part of the wrestling business. Now, if you want to believe the underdog poor old Vince beating the odds and besting the evil billionaire Ted Turner, be my guest, but the truth is far from that. It's more about corporate takeovers and how the dominant partner chooses to run the company in a way that more familiar to THEIR business expertise, AOL didn't know a thing about pro wrestling and didn't care to learn about it.

 

[supersayian]

Kurgen your 100% right let me add a little though Ted Turner gave up his rights to Turner broadcasting because he realized how he could not pay the wrestlers there big contracts but that is blamed on Bishoff for some reason. Turner knew his company was going under so he did the smart thing and cut his losses and let the comany drown. Yes Vince can say all he wants but WWE did help put them out with Ratings. Turner and the Company were the ones not able to turn the tables. i hope they go into the ways of not how to run a buissness to. not being able to pay contracts promised and running it to the ground.

 

[Mustang Sally]

They didn't care about Vince, his accomplishments, the wrestling public or WCW, simply put, they wanted no part of the wrestling business.

I'm sure that's true. But if Vince hadn't fought the good fight and kept his company in business, WCW might have been able to put themselves on a paying basis and justify their own existence. By establishing their prime time Monday show in direct competition with WWE and by buying their top wrestlers, WCW showed that their goal was to drive WWE into bankruptcy. Vince met the challenge and turned the tables. It was an amazing accomplishment.

 

[Scott Free]

I'm sure that's true. But if Vince hadn't fought the good fight and kept his company in business, WCW might have been able to put themselves on a paying basis and justify their own existence. By establishing their prime time Monday show in direct competition with WWE and by buying their top wrestlers, WCW showed that their goal was to drive WWE into bankruptcy. Vince met the challenge and turned the tables. It was an amazing accomplishment.

See, that's not all that of an amazing accomplishment. What else was Vince going to do but try and survive ? Run the XFL ? The WWE was all he had, all he knew. Let's put it into perspective, shall we ?

If successful, AOL’s proposal to buy Time Warner for $165 million will be the largest merger in history, creating a true Colossus of e-commerce.

The above article ran just before the merger happened, WCW wasn't mentioned, because it was unimportant to AOL, in fact, they care little about TBS and TNT also, which turned into a wasteland of re-runs with little original programming shortly after the merger. Ted Turner himself was more involved in getting out of the merger with a top position than worry about Vince McMahon who was running a company that was comparable to just a tiny shred of the Time-Warner Corporation holdings at the time. Yet Vince flatters himself into thinking he was in direct competition with Ted Turner, a man who turned his father's billboard business into a multimedia giant, what did Vince do ? He turned his father's pro wrestling business into a bigger pro wrestling business, notable, but not comparable. Look up Ted Turner and his biography, you'll be shocked to see his life goal wasn't to run Vince McMahon out of business, in fact, by the time of the merger, I'd bet he even forgot he even had a pro wrestling business. I'm just saying, reality is a bit more complex than a wrestling storyline, where Vince played the face and Ted was the heel, even though Vince had used the very same tactics Bishoff later used on him to lay waste to the Territories, Vince likes to play the victim and the survivor, people believing that crap only feed his ego, and lord knows, it's huge enough already, so let's stop it now.