WCW Appreciation Thread (The Bischoff Years)

[Bobbywoodhogan]

I no longer watch wrestling today, for me the magic has gone. I haven't actually sat down and watched wrestling properly for about 10 years now. I have watched little bits like when Bret Hart first came back but it's just not the same. For me the thing really missing is a from about 97 onwards I was a WCW guy, the nWo stuff was incredible and going back revisiting older events shiws from about 93 onwards was always a highlight for me. I remember when ?I was younger my Mum bought me a wrestling VHS from twin, Beach Blast 93. On the cover were Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Vader and Sid Vicious. I couldn't wait to watch it and despite reviews to the contrary that I have read recently, all I remember us how much I loved this event. I think it was mostly due to the main event itself as Sting had always been a favourite of move.

I even love the Hulkamania era (94-96) that I know is mostly hated but I was always a Hulkamaniac and there was something that just felt right about that era to me. Only way to explain it is it always seemed like Summer, which I know doesn't made sense but were you in my head you'd get it. I was obsessed with trying to find anything from this time but back in the day thus stuff was hard to come by.

The nWo era was one that changed the business forever bad I just lapped it up. Even in 98-99 when it was running out of steam I still loved WCW. I remember so much I loved about this era from the cruiser weights to DDP to Bill Goldberg. But the nWo stuff was my favourite, I'll never ever forget the night Hogan best Savage for the title when Bret a Hart came down and hit a Savage with the title belt. That same night I shirts really took notice if Goldberg when he best a Raven for the US Title. Another great night was when Goldberg beat Hogan in Atlanta (even though I did not want Hogan to lose). I loved the Finger poke of doom also, don't care what anyone says, thought it was a good idea (they probably just failed to build on it properly. My best memory bad the nWo was on its very last days was watching the Nitro when Hogan & Nash faced Flair & Goldberg, the night after Uncensored. I hadn't seen the PPV at the time as they weren't televised in the UK. So seeing Hogan hulk up on Nitro I was ecstatic. That will forever remain my favourite Nitro.

Move on to later in the year and you have the returning Hogan vs Savage in which a Hulk won the title, I thought it was a great match. Move on a little bit later bad you had the moment I was hoping for, a Hogan back in Red & Yellow, I remember watching that match 4 or 5 times that night, I woke up the next day and watched it again.

So these past few days I felt the need to revisit some of these memories and this morning I watched my first full wrestling match for a very long tine. Hogan vs a Flair from Halloween Havoc 1994 in the steel cage and ya know what AI enjoyed the hell out of it.

I still won't be tuning in to any of today's wrestling but I sure as he'll will has my nostalgic trips back. The WCW Bischoff era is what I consider my era of wrestling, it's one I will never forget the memories of bad one I think deserves a lot more respect than it gets. Thank you Hogan, Sting, Bret, Flair, Goldberg etc and mostly thank you Eric Bischoff.

 

[HeyYo]

Bobbywood,
I agree with everyting you said. The Bischoff Era is responsible for all things currently in the WWE from the use of cruiserweights (Mysterio, Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan etc, to the use of monthly PPVs.

Ironically the War with WCW in the late 90's is what SAVED the WWF from extinction as the product was stale and boring even with Michaels, Hart, Undertaker, and Razor Ramon.

Bischoff's actions energized the WWF to new, never seen before heights. Vinny Mac should be thanking Easy E everyday. Bischoff may not have been savy enough to make adjustments after Vince did with the Attitude Era, but it's because of his actions the WWF(now WWE) is where it is today.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Bobbywood,
I agree with everyting you said. The Bischoff Era is responsible for all things currently in the WWE from the use of cruiserweights (Mysterio, Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan etc, to the use of monthly PPVs.

Ironically the War with WCW in the late 90's is what SAVED the WWF from extinction as the product was stale and boring even with Michaels, Hart, Undertaker, and Razor Ramon.

Bischoff's actions energized the WWF to new, never seen before heights. Vinny Mac should be thanking Easy E everyday. Bischoff may not have been savy enough to make adjustments after Vince did with the Attitude Era, but it's because of his actions the WWF(now WWE) is where it is today.

I'm glad you understood what I was trying to say, I wasn't sure if it came across correctly.

I just love that era of WCW so much even today and I wouldn't say I'm a wrestling fan anymore. It's all about the nostalgia for me, Bischoff deserves a ton of credit indeed. I mean prime example DX are just a version of the nWo that pushed the envelope further.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I think Bischoff gets credit where it is due, he just catches flack for his failures. Bischoff got too close to certain talent and allowed that to dictate how the product was booked, to the detriment of the product. Killing Eddie Guerrero's heel push in 97 because the NWO guys like Hogan & Nash didnt want any other heels drawing heat. Pushing Goldberg into the midcard, failing to capitolize on what should have been huge money rematches with Nash & Hogan in 99 (why do you re unite the NWO if you're breaking them up three months later and never letting them face Goldberg), turning Brett Hart heel after he was maybe wrestling's most sympathetic figure following Montreal, just because Hogan didnt want to wrestle him in a big match (seemingly what you would do with a fan fave Hart, book him against the evil heel Hogan), there are so many bad booking decissions based solely on selfish backstage politics perpetuated by Bischoff's buddies. The lack of locker room discipline and constant morale issues also fall on his shoulders.

Now, when Turner Broadcasting purchased the NWA from Jim Crockett, Jr the NWA, soon to be rechristened WCW, fell on hard times due to Turner's insistence that TBS executives with no wrestling back ground. Booking became a joke, we were treated to characters like Oz alongside a revolving door of producers, constantly changing story direction and promotional style. They were Disney, they were old school, they were family friendly, they were hard core, they were a mess, especially after Flair left in 91 (fired before he could drop the title when he refused a contract extension calling for a huge pay cut after he refused to wear an earring and wouldnt even consider changing his name to Spartacus and becoming a Roman Gladiator character).

Now Bischoff comes in around 1993. He brought in a more focussed promotional strategy, better long term planning, and a much more modern media presentation, better taking advantage of Turner Broadcasting media production capabilities. Granted, the long term plan involving Sid Justice (fired due to fist fight with Arn Anderson) didnt pan out, but These was a significant and steady improvement in viewership and popularity.

Its easy for Bischoff critics to say 'ratings went up because he brought Flair in and went up more because he brought in Hogan' and while there may be some truth in that I counter that WCW was making a significant attempt to elevate midcard and new talent under Bischoff in those early days, especially when Nitro debuted. Fans forget that pre NWO Nitro often beat RAW in the ratings and drew even with them the rest of the time in late 95-spring 96. Nitro (which by now had added Savage and Luger , giving them more flexibility in the main events with Flair, Hogan, and Sting). Nitro offered the cruiserweights and exciting foreign wrestlers and mixed up and coming young wrestlers like Pillman & Benoit with the big names at the top of the card. He created an exciting but varied product that had a lot to offer, it was a better show on average than Raw. Of course Bischoff deserves credit for the creation and early success of The NWO angle which elevated WCW from a veritable tie with WWE (a major accomplishment considering how much ground they had lost in that war between the end of Crockett till Bischoff begins) into sole possession of #1 North American Wrestling Promotion Title. At his best he was a media presentation savvy producer as well being able to book highly compelling storylines and matches (he had some help here at various times from Terry Taylor, Dusty Rhodes, & Kevin Sullivan). His tenure, while noted for the contributions of stars established either by Crockett or McMahon, did produce Big Show, one the top stars in two decades (90s & 2000s), Goldberg (2nd only to Austin in terms of popularity among new stars in the decade), and DDP (huge star in the decade) so he did produce some huge new stars, not just 'riding the coat tails' of other promoters stars.

I think he deserves and typically gets credit for these things, he just cant escape citicism for the mistakes that marred the end of his tenure.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Eric Bischoff will be remembered as a man with a great - and succesful - business plan but one with little business acumen. Let's not skirt around it - Bischoff's business plan was simply to 'borrow' the best ideas from other organisations and marry them, this creating a super-promotion. That he had the drive to be able to untie Ted Turner's purse strings shows you how charismatic - and indeed how much he believed in WCW - that Bischoff was.

This is not a criticism - it is VERY hard to be completely original. Even if you think you are, a quick internet search (these days) will probably draw up some similar prospects. Look how many movie franchises get rebooted. Why so many? Because original compelling stories are hard to create. How many soap operas recycle the same themes? Same reason. And wrestling to me is the ultimate soap opera.

Bischoff signed a few key WWF wrestlers, staples of the 1987-90 'golden period' (in my eyes) - this was his signal of intent. Before Hogan, WCW really wasn't a true competitor, as far as I'm concerned, it was aimed at a completely different target audience, and it's anti-mainstream rules, particularly under the tenure of Bill Watts (no moves off the top rope and automatic dq for throwing someone over the top, my least favourite rule ever and one which was only finally reneged in late 1997/early 1998 I believe!); but once Hogan was signed, the signal flare if you will, it served notice to the wrestling world that WCW were about to become 'serious' (ironically.)

Bischoff next famously persuaded Turner to directly combat WWF by starting up Monday Nitro, and set about regaining his roster. Many of the wrestlers he had inherited were let go (the famous ones being Austin, Pillman and Foley but there were many more), a necessity to accomodate signings from other promotions: he largely raided ECW, a promotion who didn't have much national exposure but had a fantastic reputation amongst the tape-trading community. Significantly this included the likes of Rey Misterio Jr and Psicosis, which brought the promotion to the attention of the Latino community, whilst WWF's Latin 'representative' was the jobber (and very American) Aldo Montoya; the shock value of first Luger and then Madusa showing up on Nitro should have been enough to tell WWF that Bischoff was keeping a close eye on Titan's talent contracts. Finally the coup de grace - Hall and Nash. Hall a popular upper mid carder, Nash just coming off a year-long title reign and subsequent heel turn. The funny thing is, as popular as they were in the confines of WWF, the show was still only getting 2s in the ratings as the industry was still stale. Cartoonish storylines like the Dungeon of Doom didn't help. So Bischoff's next idea was an amalgamation of two other promotions: adapting the counter-culture premise of ECW and directly supplanting the nWo from New Japan Pro Wrestling, an organisation Bischoff had fostered close links with and who provided several wrestlers to Starrcade 1995. If you don't agree that the nWo was initially supposed to represent counter-culture, look at how the Outsiders, and later the nWo, were portrayed - from the off they were cool heels, not the usual cocky/arrogant type wrestling fans were used to.

With one booking decision (albeit with Bobby Heenan almost spoiling the moment with telegraphed commentary) Bischoff had found the antidote required to liven up a crippled industry - as noted earlier, Hall and Nash were only getting 2s on Raw, and Hogan similar on Nitro.

After riding the wave for two years, the inevitable downfall. No one can stay on top forever in a world of competition. But - like Bischoff before him, and himself before Bischoff - Vince McMahon adapted his roster and storylines by taking elements of other promotions' success. That McMahon was forced to adapt though is perhaps Bischoff's greatest achievement.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

I don't think you can say the WCW wasn't a true competitor, they almost out WWF out of business back on the day remember (or close to that).

 

[FlairFan2003]

Eric Bischoff will be remembered as a man with a great - and succesful - business plan but one with little business acumen. Let's not skirt around it - Bischoff's business plan was simply to 'borrow' the best ideas from other organisations and marry them, this creating a super-promotion.

This is not a criticism - it is VERY hard to be completely original. Even if you think you are, a quick internet search (these days) will probably draw up some similar prospects. Look how many movie franchises get rebooted. Why so many? Because original compelling stories are hard to create. How many soap operas recycle the same themes? Same reason. And wrestling to me is the ultimate soap opera.


Bischoff next famously persuaded Turner to directly combat WWF by starting up Monday Nitro, and set about regaining his roster. Many of the wrestlers he had inherited were let go (the famous ones being Austin, Pillman and Foley but there were many more), a necessity to accomodate signings from other promotions: he largely raided ECW, a promotion who didn't have much national exposure but had a fantastic reputation amongst the tape-trading community. Significantly this included the likes of Rey Misterio Jr and Psicosis, which brought the promotion to the attention of the Latino community, whilst WWF's Latin 'representative' was the jobber (and very American) Aldo Montoya; the shock value of first Luger and then Madusa showing up on Nitro should have been enough to tell WWF that Bischoff was keeping a close eye on Titan's talent contracts. Finally the coup de grace - Hall and Nash. Hall a popular upper mid carder, Nash just coming off a year-long title reign and subsequent heel turn.With one booking decision (albeit with Bobby Heenan almost spoiling the moment with telegraphed commentary) Bischoff had found the antidote required to liven up a crippled industry - as noted earlier, Hall and Nash were only getting 2s on Raw, and Hogan similar on Nitro.

After riding the wave for two years, the inevitable downfall. No one can stay on top forever in a world of competition. But - like Bischoff before him, and himself before Bischoff - Vince McMahon adapted his roster and storylines by taking elements of other promotions' success. That McMahon was forced to adapt though is perhaps Bischoff's greatest achievement.

Yes, Bischoff did "borrow" ideas and talent but in all honesty, all he did there was successfully update the Vince McMahon plan. Look at Vince during the national expansion in the 1980s....Hulk Hogan (main eventing and even offered the World Title in AWA), Roddy Piper (main eventing in NWA), Greg Valentine (long time upper mid carder in both singles & tag teams in NWA), Ricky Steamboat (same as Valentine), Curt Henning (AWA World Champion with an excellent series of matches vs Nick Bockwinkle), Ted DiBiase (main eventer in Mid South for years, numerous title matches), Paul Orndorff (popular upper mid carder in the NWA), Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (NWA Main Eventers and original members in the legendary Four Horsemen), The Rockers (AWA Tag Team Champs), Jake Roberts (member of Paul Ellering's original Legion Of Doom stable in the NWA), Randy Savage (major star on the independent circuit working for his father's promotion as well as Mid South) and these are just in the 80s....as he moved into the 90s Vince had no problem signing The Road Warriors (AWA & NWA Tag Champs), Lex Luger (multi time US Champ and former WCW Champ, long time main eventer), Ric Flair (second biggest name in all of 80s wrestling behind Hogan), Scott Hall (longtime AWA star, also portrayed The Diamon Stud in WCW, basically the forerunner to his Razor Ramoan character), Sid Justice (Mid South & WCW) and made good use of talent that had started in other promotions but wasn't as successful such as Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Undertaker.

In terms of storylines Vince famously copied the massive success of the Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express feud by creating the Hart Foundation vs Britiish Bulldogs (portraying The Harts as an almost carbon copy of the Midnights right down to their obnoxious, cowardly, southern heel manager). Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Man gimmick was based in part on Ric Flair, and in the greatest copy job of all time when he initially failed to sign The Road Warriors Vince just created a carbon copy (though not nearly as good) team in Demolition. Sometimes even match finishes were copied, such as Savage's win over Tito Santana for the IC Title which had an almost identical ending as Tully Blanchard's National Title win over Dusty Rhodes.

Initially Vince didn't do much to change the names and gimmicks of the guys he signed as Valentine, Piper, Roberts, Orndorff, Steamboat, Blanchard & Anderson, Savage, even Hogan didn't change much if at all from their previous runs in other organizations when they signed with WWE. By the late 80s Vince was big on changing gimmicks, trying to make established veteran wrestlers into something else like DiBiase & Henning (two of the most successful) as well as less success remaking "The Widow Maker" Barry Whyndam and portraying Dusty Rhodes more like a comedy act in his "Son Of A Plumber" routines (ironically based on his famous promo in the NWA). Vince however felt guys like The Road Warriors and Flair were so big it didn't make sense to change them, although Flair was the only guy signed during that time where it was acknowledged on WWE TV that he had wrestled outside WWE (first time in the Vince Jr era that his company admitted in any way onscreen that wrestling existed outside their company).

The point is Bischoff shouldn't be criticized for using free agency or re shaping ideas from other organizations (Flair-Savage, The NWO) since Vince made an empire doing business the same way.

Also, Im surprised no one mentioned how great Bischoff was in his on screen role as a villain, absolutely great as a heat drawing magnet for the NWO, the original evil boss character (another concept McMahon copied).

Despite defending him I actually am not a Bischoff fan....I do think in fairness he deserves a lot of credit for turning the company around and taking them to heights in popularity they hadn't seen the height of the Crockett years, even bigger. Plus, the company had lost a great deal in terms of national recognition between the time Crockett left and Bischoff took over, making the task that much harder. I don't like him because of the way he treated some of the talent (stories written about numerous times in other forums and wrestling books) and thinks he deserves serious criticism for how much lost control of the company and the locker room post 1997, and how much the company had fallen by the end of 1999. Bischoff also had some very good people working for him like Terry Taylor and Kevin Sullivan and at times Dusty Rhodes, plus he wasn't the one who recruited Hogan & Savage to join, that was Flair. Of course, Vince has had some really good people working for him at different times as well.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Yes, Bischoff did "borrow" ideas and talent but in all honesty, all he did there was successfully update the Vince McMahon plan. Look at Vince during the national expansion in the 1980s....Hulk Hogan (main eventing and even offered the World Title in AWA), Roddy Piper (main eventing in NWA), Greg Valentine (long time upper mid carder in both singles & tag teams in NWA), Ricky Steamboat (same as Valentine), Curt Henning (AWA World Champion with an excellent series of matches vs Nick Bockwinkle), Ted DiBiase (main eventer in Mid South for years, numerous title matches), Paul Orndorff (popular upper mid carder in the NWA), Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (NWA Main Eventers and original members in the legendary Four Horsemen), The Rockers (AWA Tag Team Champs), Jake Roberts (member of Paul Ellering's original Legion Of Doom stable in the NWA), Randy Savage (major star on the independent circuit working for his father's promotion as well as Mid South) and these are just in the 80s....as he moved into the 90s Vince had no problem signing The Road Warriors (AWA & NWA Tag Champs), Lex Luger (multi time US Champ and former WCW Champ, long time main eventer), Ric Flair (second biggest name in all of 80s wrestling behind Hogan), Scott Hall (longtime AWA star, also portrayed The Diamon Stud in WCW, basically the forerunner to his Razor Ramoan character), Sid Justice (Mid South & WCW) and made good use of talent that had started in other promotions but wasn't as successful such as Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Undertaker.

In terms of storylines Vince famously copied the massive success of the Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express feud by creating the Hart Foundation vs Britiish Bulldogs (portraying The Harts as an almost carbon copy of the Midnights right down to their obnoxious, cowardly, southern heel manager). Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Man gimmick was based in part on Ric Flair, and in the greatest copy job of all time when he initially failed to sign The Road Warriors Vince just created a carbon copy (though not nearly as good) team in Demolition. Sometimes even match finishes were copied, such as Savage's win over Tito Santana for the IC Title which had an almost identical ending as Tully Blanchard's National Title win over Dusty Rhodes.

Initially Vince didn't do much to change the names and gimmicks of the guys he signed as Valentine, Piper, Roberts, Orndorff, Steamboat, Blanchard & Anderson, Savage, even Hogan didn't change much if at all from their previous runs in other organizations when they signed with WWE. By the late 80s Vince was big on changing gimmicks, trying to make established veteran wrestlers into something else like DiBiase & Henning (two of the most successful) as well as less success remaking "The Widow Maker" Barry Whyndam and portraying Dusty Rhodes more like a comedy act in his "Son Of A Plumber" routines (ironically based on his famous promo in the NWA). Vince however felt guys like The Road Warriors and Flair were so big it didn't make sense to change them, although Flair was the only guy signed during that time where it was acknowledged on WWE TV that he had wrestled outside WWE (first time in the Vince Jr era that his company admitted in any way onscreen that wrestling existed outside their company).

The point is Bischoff shouldn't be criticized for using free agency or re shaping ideas from other organizations (Flair-Savage, The NWO) since Vince made an empire doing business the same way.

Also, Im surprised no one mentioned how great Bischoff was in his on screen role as a villain, absolutely great as a heat drawing magnet for the NWO, the original evil boss character (another concept McMahon copied).

Despite defending him I actually am not a Bischoff fan....I do think in fairness he deserves a lot of credit for turning the company around and taking them to heights in popularity they hadn't seen the height of the Crockett years, even bigger. Plus, the company had lost a great deal in terms of national recognition between the time Crockett left and Bischoff took over, making the task that much harder. I don't like him because of the way he treated some of the talent (stories written about numerous times in other forums and wrestling books) and thinks he deserves serious criticism for how much lost control of the company and the locker room post 1997, and how much the company had fallen by the end of 1999. Bischoff also had some very good people working for him like Terry Taylor and Kevin Sullivan and at times Dusty Rhodes, plus he wasn't the one who recruited Hogan & Savage to join, that was Flair. Of course, Vince has had some really good people working for him at different times as well.

Really great post

You said Dibiase in part was a copy of Flair but what did you mean? Cause I don't see it.

 

[therockiswwf]

My biggest problem with Bischoff's booking was he usually would book one major angle and the entire show for months would be just about that angle. This was a huge part of why I didn't like TNA. If you don't like the main angle, then you won't like the show for a few months.

I can get the NWO being a focal point for awhile, but at some point, you need to start having other things to focus on. He constantly had NWO this, NWO that. At the end of the day, the NWO was seemingly his one big idea and that was it. Bischoff lacked long term planning. His one long term plan, he messed up big time (Sting). Bischoff was just lucky to work with people who had a lot of talent. Once that talent started to get older and older, he did not adapt. Vince may have brought in established stars from other territories, like Bischoff. But when Vince had to adapt and make new stars, he did. Bischoff didn't.

Bischoff was in over his head. He wasn't very good at business deals at the time either (though he was at the beginning according to his interview on Austin's podcast). Take Jericho for example. In Jericho's book, he said Bischoff in a final attempt to keep Jericho offered him an $800,000 contract. Why is that bad? Simple. Jericho was mad at the lack of upward mobility he was having. Jericho knew he would not get a chance to rise above his current status in WCW, making his value very low. Which means he wouldn't make much money for WCW. Meaning WCW would lose money by giving him that much money. Jericho took a $400,000 contract with the WWE instead. Which Vince was mad at when Jericho first came in. He said someone sold Vince on Jericho as Vince didn't know exactly who he was. Vince then said to Jericho, after Jericho flailed for awhile after his debut, that Jericho wasn't worth the paper his contract was signed on. That right there shows me that Vince knew more about business than Bischoff. He gave Jericho the contract because someone sold him to Vince. He made Vince believe Jericho was going to be a star from the get go. When he failed, Vince knew he made a bad business decision (at the time before Jericho found his groove). But Bischoff was more than willing to pay him double what the WWE gave him and would have been perfectly happy with it. Even though he never intended to elevate Jericho.

Now I can't blame Bischoff's failure all on him. He said (also in the podcast with Austin) that executive meddling was rampant during his time. So maybe he did have some hindrance that we are not aware of.

Ted Dibiase said his gimmick was created by Vince. Vince told him that if Vince was a wrestler, that would be his gimmick. I don't think this was based off Flair. Dibiase was a rich mad man. Flair was an insane playboy. They really are not that similar. I'm agreeing with BobbywoodHogan on this part.

 

[salopstick]

Really great post

You said Dibiase in part was a copy of Flair but what did you mean? Cause I don't see it.

All the vignettes of dibiase was of a jet flying limousine riding sin of a gun surrounded by money, champagne and girls.

A great great gimmick

 

[detroitking02]

Bischoff did alot of great things in the wrestling world and he also made human mistakes. At the end of the day I wished AOL/Time Warner would of sold WCW to Bischoff I truly believe WCW would of existed today instead of VKM who had no plan to keep it running I truly

 

[FlairFan2003]

Bischoff did alot of great things in the wrestling world and he also made human mistakes. At the end of the day I wished AOL/Time Warner would of sold WCW to Bischoff I truly believe WCW would of existed today instead of VKM who had no plan to keep it running I truly

Vince definitely didn't have any plans for continuing to run WCW. What he saw was a potential gold mine on two fronts. One and most obvious, eliminate you're best competitor. When Vince stepped in he bought the rights to the WCW name/trademark, plus the entire video library stretching back over 40 years. With that no WCW name wrestler could promote themselves anywhere with any of that footage and no other company/investor could use that footage and name/trademark to open a new company and piggy back on the recognition and established reputation of the old one.

Second, the video library itself has been a huge profit maker for WWE. Finally, wrestling fans could get comprehensive sets that had matches and promos from their favorite stars from both their WCW & WWE time, the first Flair set sold a million copies in less than two weeks, and while that was an unusual success several hundred thousand copies of sets for Hogan, Austin, HBK (after acquiring the AWA library), Mick Foley, etc have continued the pattern of almost pure profit. Even a low selling set of already produced material that has almost no production cost sells 50,000-150,000 units. Even today, 13 years later, we are still getting "WCW Monday Nitro Vol I & II", sets dedicated to Clash Of Champions & Great American Bash, WCW Greatest PPV Matches, they've done two full Hogan sets with both WWE & WCW footage plus an NWO set, two full Flair sets plus a Four Horsemen set, and the list goes on and on.

Remember, though Vince bought the video library and the name, he didn't buy any other assets the company had, no property or office space, no other holdings (if they existed), and none of the talent contracts (they all remained under Time Warner). He did offer buyouts at something like 50 cents (maybe lower) on the dollar to some talent. This is why mostly only mid carders initially joined WWE. WWE approached Goldberg, Sting, & Flair right away. Sting obviously didn't want to work the WWE schedule, Flair at the time was considering retiring and wanted time off, Goldberg had a hefty contract he was still owed (all three still had contracts with Time Warner). Likewise Nash & Hogan still had time left on their Time Warner deals and were in no rush to give up the guaranteed money. Eventually as their contracts came to an end or near Flair, then Hogan & Nash (along with Scott Hall), then later Goldberg all signed on. Fact was, WWE didn't need them to make money but knew they could make money with them so they were content to wait for when the talent was interested in joining. The talent knew the same thing, when the Time Warner was done WWE could use them, maybe not at quite the same pay but they knew they would have jobs waiting, why give up guaranteed money now when you know a new deal will be waiting when you're ready ?

Vince and WWE was extremely shrewd in their deal, never actually buying the whole WCW company but gutting the most vital components and leaving the shell to Time Warner. They also got a guarantee that the Turner Networks wouldn't show a rival wrestling show for set amount of time, I think it was two years but I don't remember (anyone know please update??), meaning the top cable networks on TV wouldn't be running any other promotions on their channel opposite WWE and USA.