What IF Eric Bischoff purchased WCW in 2001?

[SharpShooter083]

Ok so we all know that in 2001 AOL Time Warner sold WCW to Vince McMahon and the WWF for an undisclosed sum of money. Before this sale took place apparently Eric Bischoff and a group of investors were in negotiations to buy the company as well. What if Bischoff and his associates actually won that bidding war? Would WCW have a chance to thrive or would Bischoff's regime fail like the WWF attempt?

Things to keep in mind:

a.) Time Warner took all of WCW's programming off their TNT & TBS stations, wanting to eliminate wrestling from their programming. So the company would have been without any TV deals.

b.) The biggest issue that faced the WWF when it purchased WCW would have faced Bischoff. All the top tier WCW talent (Goldberg, Sting, Nash, Steiner, etc.) were signed to contracts exclusively to Time Warner. They were guaranteed a lot of money whether they worked or not. Most opted to just stay home and collect a paycheck rather then have to go back on the road. The only top stars to break their deals and go to the WWF were DDP and Booker T. Do you think Bischoff would have been able to talk the rest into breaking their Time Warner deal in order to sign with his WCW (for far less money I would assume)? If not his WCW roster would look exactly like the WWF version of WCW except without a lot of the WWF talent that they had to move over to fill the WCW roster out (Austin, Dudleyz, Raven, Rhyno, Christian, etc.).

Opinions? Thoughts?

 

[Makaveli31]

Once Turner lost power within AOL Time Warner it effectively killed WCW. Once Kellner decided to kill WCW programming....that was it. As you stated the big names were signed to Time Warner contracts....why would they kill themselves in the ring when they just stay home and collect a check?

If Bischoff would have been allowed to keep the programming on TNT I think it would have been OK. Maybe not challenged the WWF in ratings but Nitro was still doing decent numbers. It would have been interesting because with only themselves as competition the WWF eventually released several wrestlers who had been instrumental in the Attitude era. Guys like Brian Christopher, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Chyna, and even ....Stone Cold in 2003 I believe. Imagine if Bischoff was able to hold on until he was able to get Austin. Plus you had an entire new generation of stars coming up in the Indy's right around that time. Imagine if Bischoff was able to get his hands on John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Masters, Batista etc....

 

[Caitiff]

Eric Bischoff had a raging hard-on for raiding ECW for talent. With ECW out of business, and their entire roster being unemployed, Bischoff could have, very easily, I think, cherry-picked people like Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, and Rhino, and rebranded WCW as being about the younger talent. This could also, since we're talking about Bischoff, led to him cherry-picking talent from across the country.

Also, since the WWF was on TNN/SpikeTV at that point, Bischoff could have marketed WCW to the USA network, offering them another wrestling program, at a fraction of what they were paying the WWF. This would have given them a ready made time-slot, since Monday at 9:00 PM was open.

It would have been hard as hell to rehab the brand, but if Bischoff was smart enough to check his ego at the door, I think he could have made a go of it.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The one thing that could have worked was the one thing that would never have happened. We know the Fusient deal was based on TV and once it was gone Bischoff was dead in the water... but what if HE'd gone to Vince himself?

Sure Vince could and did pick everything up cheaply anyway, but with a little foresight (and a no doubt very awkward, but enjoyable for Vince meeting) a deal could have been worked out. Vince could have approached HIS TV companies or even used the Smackdown slot in the short term to have WCW run seperately but "under the umbrella", Shane could have run the show with Bischoff or potentially Heyman and building towards a major Wrestlemania crossover launching an invasion.

With Vince involved in this way, some of the guys on Warner contracts could possibly have been swayed, someone like Sting would have been a hard sell, but the Nash's and the like would have likely seen the upside.

We know Vince bailed out ECW for a long time, doing so for WCW rater than obliterating it would have proven a far better option for the business as a whole... but as a pure business deal, you can't argue with paying less than $2m for the company that not even 5 years prior nearly put your $500m company out of business...

 

[BSA2Tone22]

If Bischoff had been able to Purchase WCW, it would have eventually failed. Look at what he and Hogan have done to TNA. Giving Hogan, Nash, Hall and other former WWF talents contracts they failed to keep their backbone. Sting was their franchise man and so was Goldberg, but they lost Jericho, Big Show, Benoit (who was framed), Eddie Guerrero, Saturn, and Malenko. Not to mention it was a circus because WCW made it's Fatal Mistake by hiring Russo. He ruined the storylines, scrapped matches at paper views, and made WCW seem like pee-ons compared to WWF. Its no wonder Rock asked "Who the Hell are you?" to Booker T when they came face. And that's the reason Sting didn't sign with WWE. Because WWE made it clear that WCW was a failing product. Although Sting is the Best of All Time.

 

[vampxx24]

If Bischoff had been able to Purchase WCW, it would have eventually failed. Look at what he and Hogan have done to TNA. Giving Hogan, Nash, Hall and other former WWF talents contracts they failed to keep their backbone. Sting was their franchise man and so was Goldberg, but they lost Jericho, Big Show, Benoit (who was framed), Eddie Guerrero, Saturn, and Malenko. Not to mention it was a circus because WCW made it's Fatal Mistake by hiring Russo. He ruined the storylines, scrapped matches at paper views, and made WCW seem like pee-ons compared to WWF. Its no wonder Rock asked "Who the Hell are you?" to Booker T when they came face. And that's the reason Sting didn't sign with WWE. Because WWE made it clear that WCW was a failing product. Although Sting is the Best of All Time.

im not sure if it would of failed. i was 16-17 so i was aware of the going ons with the eventual demise.

originally wcw wasnt going to end. they were going on "season break" which they announced on the 3-4th last nitro...then it suddendly changed i believe int he 2nd to last where they made the annnouncement that itd be 2 weeks till the last nitro.. im assuming this is where eric jumped the shark and assumed he was going to make the purchase. the idea was going to be eric buying out wcw and signing with fox. as others have noted eric loved to raid ecw, and at the time rvd and sabu were set to sign with wcw and debut on the "season" debut which was slated for the fall.

theres a bunch of what ifs that follow but i think signing with fox would of def kept them alive and you can only wonder what would happen to talent if wcw survived.

 

[Makaveli31]

Look at what he and Hogan have done to TNA.

Comparing WCW in 2001 to TNA in 2010 is like apples and oranges. The wrestling business was still hot in '01 compared to lukewarm at best in 2010. WCW in 2001 blew anything TNA ever did away.

but they lost Jericho, Big Show, Benoit (who was framed), Eddie Guerrero, Saturn, and Malenko.

Jericho and Big Show left a couple of years before the merger and I don't think their loss had the impact people thought it would. Not going to even touch on Benoit. Eddie definitely benefitted from making the jump. Saturn and Malenko non-factors.

If they could keep Russo away from writing...They definitely had a chance!!

 

[vampxx24]

Comparing WCW in 2001 to TNA in 2010 is like apples and oranges. The wrestling business was still hot in '01 compared to lukewarm at best in 2010. WCW in 2001 blew anything TNA ever did away.



Jericho and Big Show left a couple of years before the merger and I don't think their loss had the impact people thought it would. Not going to even touch on Benoit. Eddie definitely benefitted from making the jump. Saturn and Malenko non-factors.

If they could keep Russo away from writing...They definitely had a chance!!

this..... big show at the time was on a down hill slump and was almost fired by wwe. after his debut, he started to gain massive weight and was sent to ovw where he was almost fired. show then lost some weight where he wouldl see his return to main roster.

jericho wasnt a HUGE blow to wcw then, had it been in his later wwe days then yes. chris and eddie benifitted and while i dont think the loss of eddie,dean,saturn hurt wcw.......wcw actually invested time in chris and were pushing him to the moon in order to make him stay. he had his series of matchs with jarrett in which i believe he broke his nose with the head butt of the ladder then his world title win against sid to which chris bascially said f u too little too late and left.

as said if they kept russo and hogan away and if things went to plan it wouldnt of been out of question wcw would of re risen. wcw had a bunch of young talented guys coming up(which wwe buried) which tells me i think bishoff started to realize his mistakes with jericho,chris ect ect. and it seemed esp towards the end they were trying to get away from hogan nash ect ect....... storm was likely headed to main event(again buried by wwe but was hot in wcw) andwith the additions of rvd, sabu and some others it would of def been interesting. keep in mind wcw would of been on fox which would of generated huge ratings.

this is something people really dont understand and why its not fair to really rank on tna( unless they do pisspour). people are comparing usa network to spike. as an avid fan of mma they actually broke down how ratings work when strikeforce vs ufc was happening before ufc bought them out. ufc at the time was on spike while strikeforce would air on cbs. strikeforce(now think in terms of this being wwe) would be getting rating of 5.2-5.5 mill while ufc would be getting ratings of 1.2-1.4. strikeforces last cbs card drew 5.2 to which ufc ran a program against iti which drew a 1.4.............. strikeforce was actually considered the loser of the ratings .....why?......... its not straight numbers to whos winning essentially. ratings are based on percentage as well. while ufc had the much smaller number, cbs is reached by 99 percent of homes while at the time spike was only carried by something like 46 percent. when you look at the numbers spike won the war as the 1.4 had a higher viewer percentage than cbs had.

the point is while tna is drawing lower numbers, it also has to do with the channel. usa and tnt are equivlant but usa vs spike is another story. i dont even think its possible for tna to even draw over a 2.5 on spike as the viewer percentage wont allow it.

 

[BretHitmanHart92]

Bischoff talks about this in his book and says that Spring Break Nitro in '01 was going to be the last Nitro for at least 90 days. WCW was going to go dark. In the meantime he was going to find a home in Vegas. He said WCW did well there and he was going to find a place to hold all the TV shows there (only the PPVs would be on the road) similar to the Imapact Zone.

The thing is I'm not sure if Bischoff and his partners would have been able to keep everyone. Hogan would have had to sign on for a lot less than his previous WCW contracts. I think Goldberg would have been re-signed and probably have been the main guy.

Bischoff had a little influence on creative in 2001 since he thought he'd be buying the company so he was re-establishing a cruiserweight division. He even introduced the cruiserweight tag team titles. I think he would have signed a lot of wrestlers from Japan and Mexico again if he bought WCW.

Booker T is another guy I think he would have actually kept and pushed since by that point Booker T was established finally thanks to Russo and the other creative team giving him the world title in 2000. Steiner would have probably stayed. Same with Sting. I think Bischoff knew at that time though that WCW had to go in a younger direction. Goldberg and Booker T would have been the top guys. Along with maybe Vampiro, Lance Storm and Buff Bagwell? Can't forget about the Natural Born Thrillers either. O'Haire, Jindrak Palumbo and Stasiak had potential. I think O'Haire and Palumbo especially would have been pushed. Jarrett would have continued his run but as midcard guy more than main event wrestler.

Someone mentioned the recent WWF releases at that time. I think Jerry Lawler was going to sign with WCW. He had been released in January/February. Road Dogg would have likely been released. Maybe X-Pac comes back and joins Hall and Nash. I think Hall would have been brought back as well.

ECW would have still gone out of business and I'm sure a lot of guys would have signed with WCW.

 

[BretHitmanHart92]

With ECW out of business, and their entire roster being unemployed, Bischoff could have, very easily, I think, cherry-picked people like Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, and Rhino, and rebranded WCW as being about the younger talent. This could also, since we're talking about Bischoff, led to him cherry-picking talent from across the country.

Man, WCW might have had an incredible roster in 2001:

Goldberg
Sting
Booker T
Rhino
RVD
Lance Storm
Scott Steiner
Kevin Nash
Scott Hall
X-Pac
Jerry Lynn
Buff Bagwell
Vampiro
Jeff Jarrett
Rey Mysterio
Kidman
Konnan
Sean O'Haire
Mark Jindrak
Chuck Palumbo
Shawn Stasiak
Mike Sanders
Norman Smiley
Road Dogg

Then, of course, Hogan and Flair as their two legends.

I wonder if Bret Hart would have wrestled eventually. If he didn't have that stroke he might have fully recovered from those concussions and maybe returned to the ring.

Edit: Can't forget about the guys that eventually went to TNA. WCW already had AJ Styles signed. Maybe they would have signed guys like Samoa Joe, Robert Roode, James Storm and others.

 

[J3Piecenickas]

I wonder if Bischoff would have changed the way in which wrestling was viewed as the discussion of a new season came about. If he had taken WCW and turned it into a seasonal program with a big payoff at the end of the season (Starcade or whatever PPV they chose) it would have created a different dynamic. Also, it would make WCW more must see as a product since it would not air every single week and have more thought out storylines in place. But in the end it didn't matter because Vince wanted them gone permanently. So he acquired the business and created a monopoly which still exists today.

 

[tuffy412]

I think although Bischoff is a complete douche at times that he had what it took to have kept WCW and wrestling a relevant and a relevant sport respectively. I don't think he would've been a savior of the sport of wrestling but he would have saved WCW. Sting was a Wcw posterboy so he would've came back. Hogan is Bischoff's life partner so he would've came back as well. Their were so many television options at the time. TNN/Spike,Fox,EspN etc. I would have loved to see a new Wcw still hanging in there with WWF. I sadly miss having two (or more) Major wrestling companies. It was good for the sport of wrestling,the fans and good for the business. No one company should have a monopoly!Tna is no competition!!

 

[Caitiff]

Man, WCW might have had an incredible roster in 2001.

Yeah, they did have a decent roster. But, let's go through the list that you gave.

Goldberg (AOL Time Warner contract)
Sting
Booker T
Rhino (ECW)
RVD (ECW)
Lance Storm
Scott Steiner (AOL TIme Warner contract)
Kevin Nash (AOL Time Warner contract)
Scott Hall (Fired from WCW, because of his alcoholism)
X-Pac (WWF)
Jerry Lynn (ECW)
Buff Bagwell
Vampiro
Jeff Jarrett
Rey Mysterio
Kidman
Konnan
Sean O'Haire
Mark Jindrak
Chuck Palumbo
Shawn Stasiak
Mike Sanders
Norman Smiley
Road Dogg (WWF)

You listed more than a few people who were contracted to AOL Time Warner, and would not join a revamped WCW. You mentioned Hogan and Flair, who were also under AOL Time Warner contracts.

And, then there's the list of people you brought up who were simply not with WCW, when they were purchased by the WWF. Of those, it's not a stretch to think that Bischoff could have signed a few of them. I mentioned RVD, Jerry Lynn and Rhino in my first reply. But, they weren't locked in. In fact, Rhino signed with the WWF almost immediately after the end of ECW.

And, then there are the people who are simply too old, or have no real connection with the crowd. Jeff Jarrett, Vampiro, and Norman Smiley stick out immediately.

So, that would leave Booker T, Sting, and DDP (maybe) in the main event, with more to be built. To be honest, the main event would have been a revamped WCW's biggest weakness. But, that's something that can be corrected, given proper booking.

Hell, given that ECW went out of business shortly after WCW did, I wouldn't have been shocked if Bischoff had simply tried to purchase ECW, as well, and get hands on those wrestlers' contracts. It would have served to increase the number of high quality wrestlers that were available, and allow WCW to cut the fat, and cut it mercilessly. And, that's what WCW really needed at the end.

Like I said earlier, it would have been hard as hell, but if anyone could have done it, Eric Bischoff was that man.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

I wonder if Bret Hart would have wrestled eventually. If he didn't have that stroke he might have fully recovered from those concussions and maybe returned to the ring.

Bret was released from WCW in October 2000 and subsequently announced his retirement. He would not have returned. And the stroke in 2002 was believed to have been caused by the concussion. As huge a fan of the Hitman as I am, and as much as I would have loved to see him return when he could still go, he never would have returned to the ring in the early 2000s.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

I hate the state of wrestling right now. I was a WWF guy from the jump but the truth is that during the Monday Night Wars I was watching both programs religiously. When WCW folded in 2001, it was disappointing from a standpoint although I was a WWF fan.
Wrestling -the fans, the wrestlers, the industry- suffered when WCW closed shop.

Now Bischoff did a lot of things right during his tenure but he also did make a lot of mistakes. I understand why he felt that he couldn't make the situation work. I just disagree with him for not buying the company and giving it a shot.

If he bought the WCW, he could have made it work. So you don't have a tv deal to work with, do arena shows, ppv events and then work on getting the tv deal. The fan base is big enough and loyal, the roster is strong might not have the stars that WWF or the best stars WCW has to offer, but they are good enough to gain a following and entertain a crowd. The roster is good enough to work with until he can get the other WCW stars on contract to Time Warner. The foundation for success was there.

 

[Rayne]

What would have happened if Eric Bischoff purchased WCW? The backloaded deal proposed to Time Warner/AOL would have failed within two years. The company at that time was losing eight figures per year, and Eric Bischoff had no plans to restructure WCW. The company itself was never a sound investment; the one good year Eric Bischoff has based his career upon was founded on a loss of $80 million.

That's a number which is too large to make sense to most people here. There is Eric Bischoff wasn't replaced with someone with television experience, but of all things, an accountant.

Eric Bischoff never intended to buy WCW. The offer he proposed to Time Warner- a company which was in the process of trimming all of its failing divisions, not just professional wrestling- would have required Time Warner to guarantee three years of television time to a product which was nose-diving in the ratings, while assuming financial responsibility should WCW go bankrupt. NO ONE in their right mind, and almost no one in their wrong one, would agree to such a deal. There are almost zero television shows which have their future guaranteed that far in advance, and the very few that are have ratings which are through the roof. WCW's, at the time, were nose-diving and no one (except professional wrestling fans who like to see cool flips) thought it was coming back up. If you really want to know how worthless WCW was, and how much of a joke Eric Bischoff's offer was, ask yourself why there were no other buyers for WCW at a price range anything close to discussed by Bischoff. If WCW was a property worth saving, that could be turned into a profitable investment, someone would have made an offer. The only offer that came in was one to disembowel the company.

Eric Bischoff wasn't trying to save WCW- he was trying to be the man who said he tried to save WCW. Smart move on his behalf, because he's already played that into two other jobs. By the way, how's he doing in TNA, anyways? Have I not been saying for three and a half years that he's one of the best con artists in professional wrestling?

But some people don't want to believe that millions of dollars in debt with no plan to repay it was what killed WCW. No, it was that big meanie TV executive, and you've even heard a shoot interview that proves it!

 

[shalliin]

I hate the state of wrestling right now. I was a WWF guy from the jump but the truth is that during the Monday Night Wars I was watching both programs religiously. When WCW folded in 2001, it was disappointing from a standpoint although I was a WWF fan.
Wrestling -the fans, the wrestlers, the industry- suffered when WCW closed shop.

I agree with this almost completely. I hate stopped by then, but for a while I was watching both shows just as you describe, comparing one to the other on my personal bias and trying to determine which was better. Even during the much vaunted but highly over rated 80 week period Nitro was getting higher ratings. Sure Nitro was getting higher ratings for those weeks, but they were hemoraging money as fast as they could. And looks at the previous ten years of wwe television programing and closed circuit(ppv precursor) sales compared to the nwa/awa/wcw ratings and sales and wwe made wcw their redheaded stepchild.
People talk about the 2 year period WCW was beating WWE, but it wasn't really 2 years. 1.5 to 1.75 at best and while that might seem like nitpicking the numbers, jsut think that when most people think about the so called 2yr period, they generally are really considering a period of close to 3yrs in terms of actual time, not the 2 they claim. They assume that it started the minute Hall appeared on wcw programming, if not before to some time in 1999/early 2000.

Now Bischoff did a lot of things right during his tenure but he also did make a lot of mistakes. I understand why he felt that he couldn't make the situation work. I just disagree with him for not buying the company and giving it a shot.

If he bought the WCW, he could have made it work. So you don't have a tv deal to work with, do arena shows, ppv events and then work on getting the tv deal. The fan base is big enough and loyal, the roster is strong might not have the stars that WWF or the best stars WCW has to offer, but they are good enough to gain a following and entertain a crowd. The roster is good enough to work with until he can get the other WCW stars on contract to Time Warner. The foundation for success was there.

Maybe that would work in the 70's and early 80;'s but not in the late 90's early 2000s. The problem would have been taht they couldn't be in every city every night/week so this would make it extremely difficult to keep their audience with out the tv deal. remember, this was before there was such easy and good access to the internet so if they tried an internet show instead of tv, it would have been terrible due to tech limitations and accessibility of the material at the time.

it's not that Bisch felt he couldn't make it work, the deal fell through when he couldn't secure a tv deal or the proper financing. He WANTED to try and make a go of it because if he could do it and succeed he would be throwing it in the face of people who had vilified him for what happened during the monday night wars. As much as most of us blame Bisch and Russo and Hogan for the downfall, a major factor was time warner execs agreeing to the ridiculous prices and contract stipulations to sign those people.

Personally, I think it still would have failed. The company he was trying to work with didn't have the resources to continue for long without some solid endorsement and tv/ppv deals. The cost of producing the show would have worn them down and out long before they could have started reversing the damage to the wcw reputation and turning a profit. Ignore the TW contract hold outs, since they wouldn't be on the books of the new company, and they still had a bloated roster to try and pay out as well as all the backstage staff, the cost of venues, production staff and equipment, travel and so on.

There would have to have been some major cuts, so if they did go the youth route(which is doubtful as bisch is the kind of guy who only cares about name recognition and can't build any one properly, goldberg being a fluke and not exactly a lasting name in the public concious), guys like booker and rey would likely still have left for a chance at the then much larger and healthier stage of wwe. Especially if as someone suggested they try to bring in ecw guys (who in all honesty would more likely go to wwe anyway since they knew that wwe had helped keep them going and should have felt a bit of responsibility to return some of the favor), as this would mean having to push the newcomers and younger guys hard and fast to try and manufacture replacements for the guys sitting out their contracts.

As for the person who suggested Austin going to work for a wcw run and owned by Bisch.... wow. just wow. That is completely insane. Austin at that time and for a long while after and before HATED Bisch for the way he was fired by wcw the first time around. That was the actual basis for the entire 'stone cold' persona, which started when austin went first to ecw and ranted about hating EB and wcw. Later, he turned it against Vince but the actual genesis was about bischoff. It would have taken insane contract $$ and stipulations to get Austin to work for EB again.

 

[shalliin]

I wonder if Bischoff would have changed the way in which wrestling was viewed as the discussion of a new season came about. If he had taken WCW and turned it into a seasonal program with a big payoff at the end of the season (Starcade or whatever PPV they chose) it would have created a different dynamic. Also, it would make WCW more must see as a product since it would not air every single week and have more thought out storylines in place. But in the end it didn't matter because Vince wanted them gone permanently. So he acquired the business and created a monopoly which still exists today.

You mean turn it into a normal show with the PPVs being like movies for them? To get any legs out of this would have to get most of the guys to sign up with SAG, and maybe something could be done. Hell, with a little work maybe could get people listed and considered as actors and then show could go up for things like the emmy's. I've always felt wrestlers are live action stunt performers and character actors so this could have worked. For fans though, would have to make a lengthy season, unless you buck the traditional model at the time. Say have a 36 week 'season' and then 4 ppv to (1 to wrap up season storys, 1 'allstar' type listing, 1 holiday special, and 1 to introduce the new season) have season run from Jan to Aug, and the ppvs in sept, oct, nov and dec.

 

[Wald]

Only difference I see between now and this alternate universe is that TNA would have bought the rights to the WCW name from Bischoff (or be paying him an amount of money to use it) and the brand recognition would be helping their ratings.

WCW was gone from Turner, unless Fox took up a deal with Bischoff's WCW I don't see it doing anything except allowing Bischoff earn a lot of money off WWE to use it's library for a few years before TNA built itself up to purchase the rights to use the name off him.

Brand recognition counts for everything in business. Nash used to say that when he was at TNA he'd have wrestling fans asking him where the hell he's been. I guarantee a lot of them would have known where he was had TNA been called WCW, all it would have taken would have been for them to hear once that there is a rebooted WCW and they would have checked it out.

Suddenly, instead of Impact Wrestling, you have WCW Thursday Night Nitro with Hogan as GM and starring Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Sting, Bully Ray and a whole heap of new talent like Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, James Storm etc.

That to me does better numbers than Impact is doing and could rival Smackdown as the number two show in pro wrestling.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Just as a heads up, RVD, Steve Corino and Jerry Lynn were all expected to sign with WCW, having been raised by Dustin Rhodes (whose dad Dusty was on the booking team at this time). Corino was actually signed for like a week I think before the company went under.

@Rayne: There were actually several offers through 2000 and 2001 to acquire the company, mostly from WCW partners who were involved in motorcross or handling events to the tune of over half a billion dollars. But Ted Turner kept using what little sway he had to reject them, and by the time Bischoff managed to get his coalition (derived from Hollywood types he'd met and befriended during the last few years of the nineties I think), they cancelled the TV and suddenly WCW wasn't worth it for them.

 

[Rayne]

@Rayne: There were actually several offers through 2000 and 2001 to acquire the company, mostly from WCW partners who were involved in motorcross or handling events to the tune of over half a billion dollars. But Ted Turner kept using what little sway he had to reject them, and by the time Bischoff managed to get his coalition (derived from Hollywood types he'd met and befriended during the last few years of the nineties I think), they cancelled the TV and suddenly WCW wasn't worth it for them.

This is the first I've ever heard of anyone offering half a billion dollars for WCW. This is the first time I've heard WCW valued at half a billion dollars, even at their heyday when people hadn't yet realized that they were getting their fame off of a massive operating loss.

But even if we concede that- what you're saying is that without the television spot provided by TNT, WCW was worthless. That the thing of actual value wasn't WCW, but the television block it aired Nitro on. That WCW was a company which produced a television show that no television networks wanted. If WCW still had value, and Jamie Kellner was really capable of being the big bad meanie who shut it down because it didn't appeal to his artistic tastes, why didn't WCW simply offer their show to other networks? If WCW was this big profit center in the making, how come no other networks were approached about airing its television? From this perspective, it makes even more sense for TNT to drop WCW; why would you yoke yourself to a failing company, when you could make a far better percentage off of original programming and showing movies? (Percentage, which is ratings versus cost, not straight ratings. WCW achieved higher ratings, but they just couldn't do it in a cost-effective manner.)

The answer makes a lot more sense then "some guy is a big meanie who didn't like my television show". The answer is "WCW was hemorrhaging money, and no one with a brain wanted anywhere near it unless they could get someone else to pay for it."

 

[MrHashasheen]

This is the first I've ever heard of anyone offering half a billion dollars for WCW. This is the first time I've heard WCW valued at half a billion dollars, even at their heyday when people hadn't yet realized that they were getting their fame off of a massive operating loss.

Can't remember the names, but I'll look for them tonight if I can get my laptop back from repair and get you the links.

But even if we concede that- what you're saying is that without the television spot provided by TNT, WCW was worthless. That the thing of actual value wasn't WCW, but the television block it aired Nitro on. That WCW was a company which produced a television show that no television networks wanted. If WCW still had value, and Jamie Kellner was really capable of being the big bad meanie who shut it down because it didn't appeal to his artistic tastes, why didn't WCW simply offer their show to other networks? If WCW was this big profit center in the making, how come no other networks were approached about airing its television? From this perspective, it makes even more sense for TNT to drop WCW; why would you yoke yourself to a failing company, when you could make a far better percentage off of original programming and showing movies? (Percentage, which is ratings versus cost, not straight ratings. WCW achieved higher ratings, but they just couldn't do it in a cost-effective manner.)

Not quite what I meant. WCW did have a host of other problems. I freely admit that, as much as I love WCW Year 2000. Bad storylines, continually shifting creative teams and directives, their top talents either too old and battered to preform properly or not getting enough of sustained push to carry the company to the point needed, their workhorses jumping ship, people just not giving a shit, etc... They lost money on a lot of stuff (some of which I assumed so was actually free though according to other sources), and the ratings were steadily dropping at a time when WWF's were through the roof and they were having their most profitable year ever. But at the same time, WCW was a Warner-owned company that was branching out into a number of fields with some success (cologne, gaming, cereal, movies, etc...) and backed by one of the richest men in America. There were several things that Warner took the profits on that WCW produced (including PPVS and video distribution), so they weren't making the optimum amount of money they could have anyway.

But despite that, they were still the highest rated show for the Turner stations, and that was on a national network with a lot of reach (even if they didn't actually have it all). So in a sense, there was something to lure prospective buyers with, even if you ignore the other issues or gloss over them like Bischoff no doubt had. And hell, he was friends with Hogan and the others, known big names to sell unawary investors on. So you've got a good facade to keep one, one that looks like it just needs some good people running it to turn things around.

But when you don't have the television slots that made it a powerhouse? You lose a lot of the shine, and suddenly people aren't lining up to try and save what looks like an unsaveable ship. What do you have besides a company that's losing major bucks, is in an generally niche product with a far superior product dominating the industry and has had a really bad 18 month run recently? People drop out, they don't want to bid on it, they don't want to try and save that sort of money. To quote you in other threads regarding the Carters, you don't throw good money after bad.

And of course, that's ignoring that it wasn't the only thing AOL Warner sold off to make ends meet as the merger was going on, including sports-franchises, tv channels and a whole host of other things. WCW cost them 60 million in one year. AOL/Warner lost at least a hundred billion in a few more as a result of the merger.

*shrugs*

In my opinion, it was just a confluence of a bunch of shit coming together to fuck things up in a variety of fields.

 

[nWo2]

Eric Bischoff had a raging hard-on for raiding ECW for talent. With ECW out of business, and their entire roster being unemployed, Bischoff could have, very easily, I think, cherry-picked people like Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, and Rhino, and rebranded WCW as being about the younger talent. This could also, since we're talking about Bischoff, led to him cherry-picking talent from across the country.

Remember Mike Awesome as WCW champion? WCW did take ECW guys and got ALL the wrong ones.

If Bischoff bought WCW he would have tanked them, gave Hogan 12 more championship runs and Sting would have joined WWE by 2003 and we would have had Sting vs Flair, HBK, Y2J & Taker instead of Flair vs Taker, Y2J vs HBK, HBK vs Taker (twice)

 

[zhaff2004]

Remember Mike Awesome as WCW champion? WCW did take ECW guys and got ALL the wrong ones.

If Bischoff bought WCW he would have tanked them, gave Hogan 12 more championship runs and Sting would have joined WWE by 2003 and we would have had Sting vs Flair, HBK, Y2J & Taker instead of Flair vs Taker, Y2J vs HBK, HBK vs Taker (twice)

wait, when was Mike Awesome ever wcw champ?

 

[EastCoastFan]

Had Bischoff been able to close the Fusinet deal and buy WCW (and even if WCW's TV hadn't been cancelled), he still would have run it into the ground. Bischoff didn't know how to develop new talent, didn't know how to properly utilize the guys he had and certainly didn't know how to keep an eye on expenses. Bischoff's success in WCW had everything to do with opening Ted Turner's wallet and signing every big-name star he could sway in.