Who Killed WCW Season 1 Episode 3
Who Killed WCW Season 1 Episode 3
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I had no idea how big it was going to be.
00:13I didn't know what the NWO was about to become.
00:17That leg drop was WCW's liftoff into the future.
00:21If you want surprises, this is where you come.
00:24Our show is live and you never know what's going to happen here.
00:28We were the number one cable rated show forever.
00:30The NWO!
00:31We already knew that we were running thin.
00:35And I think it showed.
00:37Did I like it?
00:38Fuck no.
00:39Bro, 40,000 people and that's what you're giving them?
00:43You can't pretend that people weren't mad.
00:47Idiots everywhere.
00:48It's just mind-boggling.
00:52Whenever you're leading a night and now you're not leading a night, there's reason for concern.
00:57WCW is literally unraveling here.
00:59My wife, she looked at me like, what are you doing here?
01:02And I said, I got fired.
01:04Before our very eyes, it's falling apart.
01:06Ted Turner hired idiots to run a billion dollar company and that was his mistake.
01:11You cannot sweep this under the rug.
01:14This is a fucking television show.
01:16I don't understand what he's doing.
01:17The real reason men commit lies.
01:26A lot of changes, ladies and gentlemen, at World Championship Wrestling over the last
01:3136 hours.
01:34WCW was one of many things that I was responsible for.
01:39And it was the thing that I liked the least.
01:43Eric is not there anymore.
01:46He was the glue that held it together.
01:49I was running it at this point.
01:50I didn't want to run it.
01:52And I wanted somebody to run it for me.
01:55And a little bit different.
01:56And Bill Bush was the guy who was sort of in place as an interim when Eric was no longer
02:02there.
02:03And he was the acting COO in a sense.
02:08About a month after Eric had departed, Bill Bush makes his first major move in running
02:14the day-to-day operations of the company, which is securing the services of the WWF's
02:18creative team.
02:20Bush, and he called me and said, we've made the best hiring decision ever.
02:26He said, we hired Vince Russo.
02:30Bischoff was gone.
02:31And I remember Bill Bush telling me they were going to bring Vince Russo in.
02:34He supposedly was some kind of genius.
02:38And now we've lured him from WWF.
02:41And now we've got their genius.
02:43When Vince Russo made the jump to WCW to run that entire ship, I remember thinking,
02:49good for him.
02:51Great.
02:52This is the world of professional wrestling.
02:54This shit happens all the time.
03:00I was excited when I heard Vince was coming in.
03:03Good.
03:04Finally, like, something new here.
03:09I heard that he was a genius.
03:12Why would Vince Russo want to leave the WWF and come here?
03:19I had a degree in journalism, and I started freelancing for the WWF magazine, where I
03:25started writing maybe about two articles a month.
03:30I would sit in while they were writing the television, and it was so bad that I started
03:35writing my own angles in the magazine that had nothing to do with the TV show.
03:40And I get a call from Vince McMahon's assistant.
03:44Vince wants to see you up in his office immediately.
03:47It wasn't even 9 o'clock yet.
03:49He had the WWE Raw magazine in his hand and said, this is what our television show needs
03:57to be.
03:59I was absolutely shocked.
04:02It got to the point where I was the head writer of the show.
04:06Then I got to work with Ed Ferrara, who was a bona fide television writer.
04:13If you were flipping the channel over to WCW, what were they doing that was different?
04:19It was real.
04:21It was real.
04:22You believed it.
04:24There was a sense of danger, like you almost had to watch it because you didn't know what
04:31they were going to do next.
04:33I was definitely influenced by what WCW was doing at the time, without a shadow of a doubt.
04:39We were head to head, and you had a lot of people switching back and forth, back and
04:45forth, back and forth.
04:46The idea is, you do not give them the opportunity to change that channel.
04:52Because once they change that channel, if something good is happening on Nitro, they're
04:57never coming back to your show.
05:00It's hard to argue with the objective data, which show that the WWF actually enjoyed a
05:06tripling of its revenues.
05:07The television ratings went from being anemic to skyrocketing to levels people didn't think
05:12of before.
05:13Absolutely sold out.
05:14The company was selling out arenas left and right, and Vince Russo was the head writer
05:18of the WWF during that time frame.
05:21And choose me while I kiss the sky, the summer love...
05:23Vince McMahon was starting another show, SmackDown, and he had pushed me creatively beyond my
05:30limits.
05:31I had three small kids.
05:33I wasn't seeing them at all.
05:34I honestly believe I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
05:40He just expected Ed and I to write a second show.
05:44I never offered any more money.
05:46And bro, it's like I was building such a close, tight bond relationship with Vince that I
05:53started asking myself the question, does this guy care about me as much as I do about him?
06:01Or am I the cash cow that's writing his show?
06:03I was so burnt out, I broke down and I cried in Vince's office, okay?
06:10I went right to my office and called my WCW connection.
06:16He made the decision, what's best for him and his family, and he went after an opportunity
06:21to go down to WCW and you're handed the entire book.
06:25Write the story.
06:26There was an awful lot of enthusiasm at that time that this could be what's needed to give
06:30WCW the shot in the arm that it needed.
06:33It's a brand new Monday Nitro!
06:36I looked at WCW as a great challenge.
06:39And what I saw here was I saw a whole breed of a new blood that was stuck somewhere in
06:45the middle because for whatever reason, they couldn't break that establishment.
06:50And listen, man, the day I walked into that locker room, I had every bit Carter coming
06:55up to me.
06:56I had never met them before.
06:57I'm talking about like the Milankos, Benoits, and the Konans, the Coventudes, and all these
07:08great people.
07:09I had those guys, Ray Mysterio, Ultimo Dragons, all those lucha guys that came in and pushing
07:17each other to be the best, pushing me to another level.
07:20We gonna turn this mother out, now can't you dig it?
07:24There wasn't anybody better in terms of ring skills than the mid-Carters.
07:29So I think that there's more talent there than people gave them credit for.
07:35And I remember locking eyes with Hogan the first time.
07:39You gotta understand, when you're a New Yorker, there's like a sixth sense.
07:46Like you just know, he did not trust me, bro, as far as he could throw me.
07:52He was not gonna believe one word that I said.
07:55And I'm gonna come out and say it, and I've never said this publicly before.
07:58No doubt in my mind, Bischoff was responsible for a little of this.
08:03I am partially responsible for costing Eric his job.
08:06Eric is gone, but Eric's boys, the people that he took care of and made rich, were not
08:13in tune with what Russo wanted.
08:15Don't wake a sleeping giant.
08:16I was always a fan of Vince's.
08:19I just told him, like, you ain't in Kansas anymore, like this ain't WWE.
08:25And one, two, three, count that down.
08:28This is some fucked up shit.
08:30Go back!
08:32Go back!
08:33I had an absolute great plan, and if you go back and watch the first three months, you'll
08:38see it.
08:39And at that time, Jerry Springer was so hot.
08:44So we always had that on in the background.
08:48And what was Jerry Springer?
08:50It was controversy with characters and storyline.
08:54That's what the show was.
08:57And basically, that's what we needed to do.
08:59Miss Russo's program, everything was quick.
09:03Boom, boom, boom, boom.
09:06I tried to stay positive.
09:07I was very hopeful.
09:08But it definitely was a shift from a more laid back sort of atmosphere, and it's more
09:14electrified and louder, faster, that sort of thing.
09:19It definitely was a shift.
09:21I know the numbers.
09:23The numbers are on the internet.
09:26And in those three months, the numbers went up slightly, but they went up.
09:33To me, it wasn't about wrestling at that point.
09:36It was lots of TNA.
09:38Woo!
09:39All right!
09:41It took us into a direction that even corporate didn't like.
09:45Watch it, Billy.
09:46It's his family hour.
09:48It had a little positive effect on the ratings, but not much.
09:52Certainly made it not advertiser friendly.
09:55My job was to make this show the absolute best that I thought it could be.
10:05And to make this show to not just please wrestling fans, but to be appealing to an
10:12entire wrestling audience.
10:14His thing was like, we already have a wrestling audience, let's get the audience that isn't
10:19watching wrestling.
10:20But bro, if you're a casual fan and you're watching Judy Bagwell on a pole match, why
10:27would you want to watch that, or a pinata match, or whatever?
10:33This is not WCW.
10:36This is a comedy act.
10:43I don't think it was for the fans.
10:45It seemed like, you know, he was entertaining himself.
10:48Hey, boys!
10:49Hey, boys!
10:50Let's go!
10:51Let's go!
10:54Vince Russo was just another idiot.
10:57He was a shit stain.
10:59And I always thought in the back of my mind that he was there to lead to our ultimate
11:03demise.
11:04When does our journey begin?
11:07On the seventh night.
11:09Maybe a good theory that Vince Russo had decent success at WWE because Vince McMahon was there
11:16to figure out what was good and keep that and throw away what was bad.
11:21And then Vince Russo comes in and he doesn't have that buffer.
11:27He doesn't have that person telling him no.
11:29Never do that!
11:31The whole group of people in the office thought he had gone too far down the road, away from
11:40where WCW was.
11:42Listen, man, the one thing I really started noticing was every time I turned around, Jay
11:49J. Dillon and Kevin Sullivan were having sidebars.
11:53And as soon as I looked at them, boom!
11:55Now the politics are rearing their ugly head.
11:58So, Bush calls me into his office.
12:00He said, Vince, with Dana going in a dark direction, we're going to go more into a committee
12:06and we want you to be part of a committee.
12:09And bro, without missing a beat, I said, Bill, I got a contract.
12:16The contract states that I am head of creative.
12:19I am not interested in any of your committees.
12:23I said, so I am going to go home and you guys can figure out how you're going to pay me.
12:29And that was the end of it.
12:31And I went home and they continued to pay me.
12:37Sullivan.
12:39I just thought it was such a complete change.
12:42When he first left, I said, we've got to get back to the wrestling.
12:47Benoit, Perry Saturn, DeMolenko, Eddie Guerrero.
12:51When those guys showed up at TV and I wasn't there, the undercard, they went absolutely ballistic.
13:00Because they knew.
13:01They went to work one day and Vince isn't here.
13:03They knew.
13:05They knew what had happened.
13:08They were such an intricate part of the show, but they weren't Nash, Hall, Hogan, Macho Man.
13:17They could have been, but they weren't.
13:22So in an effort to try to make it up to those guys and calm everybody down,
13:28Sullivan made the decision to put the belt on Benoit.
13:32Let's get the official word of the kid.
13:34I remember at that TV taping, they asked for their release.
13:37And Bill Bush said, yes, you can go.
13:39Not realizing exactly where they were going.
13:42It was a Monday night, sitting in the restaurant, having dinner with my wife.
13:46And on the screens, I could see that Monday Night Raw was on.
13:50And I see Eddie and Dean and Chris and Perry Saturn.
13:53And I thought, wow, WCW, Heavy and Rock Bottom.
13:56If those guys are jumping ship, it's inevitable.
14:00And I said to my wife, knowing Turner the way I do,
14:08how much you want to bet they're going to call me and ask me to come back?
14:2015 days after Chris Benoit wins the WCW World Heavyweight title,
14:25he appears on Monday Night Raw in the front row
14:28with the heart of the WCW midcard.
14:31Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn.
14:34Keep in mind that those defections have been happening the other way for the longest time.
14:38Well, now the opposite is happening.
14:40But it's especially damaging to WCW because these are characters
14:45and these are wrestlers who have their best years ahead of them.
14:49It was a big deal when those four guys walked out.
14:52Ooh, a silent hush heard around the Warhol.
14:58You knew that was big. You knew that was a big move.
15:02I think the office was like, fuck those guys.
15:05You know, we don't need them.
15:06And I was like, bro, if they would have let Eddie and Benoit and all these people
15:12do programs as the guys on top, we might still be in business.
15:18The ratings plummeted after I left.
15:20Sullivan's in charge. Boom. We hit rock bottom again.
15:25All the decisions went through me.
15:27And I think somebody suggested bringing Eric back
15:30since my relationship with Eric was always good.
15:33And we had a successful formula that was working when we were working together on it.
15:39So I think the idea of bringing Eric back,
15:41be involved as either a consultant or whatever he was,
15:44seemed like a good idea at the time.
15:47So I went back to Brad, said, OK, here's the deal.
15:50Write me a new contract. I don't want to be an employee
15:52because you guys are crazier now than you were when I left.
15:55I'll report to you, nobody else.
15:58That was my deal. And they took it.
16:01And Brad said, do you think, would you mind, before we make a decision,
16:07meet with Vince Russo and decide if you think you can work with him?
16:11I never thought it would work.
16:13But Brad Siegel said to me, here's what he said.
16:17I want you to work with Eric Bishop.
16:21Brad Siegel never said to me at any time,
16:25Eric is your boss, Eric is in charge with you, Eric has the final say.
16:30So I don't know what he had to say to get Eric aboard. I have no idea.
16:34My job was to oversee Vince. That's what I was hired to do by Brad Siegel.
16:39My job definition was overseeing Vince Russo and the creative process.
16:46You know, my memories of exactly what happened were really sketchy.
16:50But if Eric came back, I had to approve it.
16:54Look, I have a pretty strong opinion about Vince professionally.
16:58But as a person, he's a charming guy.
17:01And I thought, I can make this work.
17:05What? No way!
17:08Vince Russo and I have more in common than anybody knows.
17:15When I got back to WCW, in many respects, it was worse.
17:24I'm going to show you just a couple of clips.
17:26You're going to be watching it, and then just any commentary, reactions,
17:29anything that comes to mind.
17:31What was your thoughts on this?
17:33Kevin, I've got to ask you a question.
17:35How many brain cells have you burnt over the years, Kevin?
17:40I remember when they were trying to drop that blood on me.
17:43They missed, like, 19 times.
17:45Now what?
17:50You know what? Take that clip.
17:54You know what? Take that clip.
17:58And show it after the finger poke of doom.
18:03And then you tell me what killed WCW.
18:10Look at my face.
18:12Like, ah, you've got to be kidding me.
18:15The new blood strikes again!
18:17The new blood's simple.
18:20And Nash is walking slowly, drenched in the red.
18:24Kevin Nash in pursuit!
18:26This was a monthly doing, that they did something.
18:31Russo running out of the building.
18:33The company was in worse shape than it was when I left.
18:36They are getting to their limousine.
18:38There was no hope.
18:39Get that damn camera out of here!
18:42The only way I knew how to turn that around
18:45was to kind of force a creative reset.
18:48And that reset involved the Millionaire's Club,
18:53which was the established top-level talent,
18:56versus the young up-and-coming, the Young Guns.
19:01It's kind of a classic story.
19:03The Millionaire's Club fighting for their very careers!
19:06Bro, that was inspired by what has been going on
19:10in wrestling from day one.
19:12From day one, that's the wrestling business.
19:16I'm a firm believer that if you're going to create a story,
19:19try to create one that's based on some sense of reality.
19:23The Millionaire's Club at WCW
19:25were the top guys that were making all the money.
19:28Okay, you know, the Hogans, the Savages,
19:31the Flares, the Lugers.
19:34You know, Sting fell in that category.
19:37The new blood were the hungry, younger guys
19:41that were making a fraction of their salary
19:45because they were being held down by the Millionaire's Club.
19:49So now they were going to have their day in court.
19:52Hey! Terry, the bolster Hogan!
19:55Maybe, maybe you haven't paid attention around here!
19:59A lot of tension at that time
20:02because, you know, the changing of the guard,
20:04that stuff was real, too.
20:06You know, the stuff with Hogan and the older guys.
20:10You know, those guys didn't want to give up their spots.
20:13Yeah, like, we're making money?
20:15Yeah, because we earned our spot.
20:17You know, and bottom line is now we're finally making money.
20:20When Hogan said, you know, he's getting older,
20:23everybody's in that damn locker room is getting older, too.
20:26Ha-ha, you know.
20:28Well, yeah, Hulk Hogan's getting older,
20:30and so is every other damn wrestler in the back, too.
20:32Day by day.
20:34That was a real statement.
20:36That's someone who doesn't want to let it go, man.
20:39Get him!
20:41I understand it, but for me, you know,
20:45I always went as far as my talent could take me,
20:49not my politics.
20:51I knew there were going to be politics.
20:53I just never thought there were going to be politics to this extent.
20:58Bro, even with all these things,
21:01yes, I am going to go into this to win.
21:03I'm not going to go to work and go through the motions
21:06and just waste my time.
21:08I literally am still going to do
21:12every single thing I possibly can do
21:15to bring those ratings back up.
21:19Ready to Rumble was a major motion picture
21:22that they were going to do.
21:24David Arquette was going to be the star,
21:26and there were going to be multiple WCW wrestlers in it.
21:30I like wrestling.
21:31Are you going to be a wrestler?
21:34You got trouble wrestling your wee-wee out of your trousers
21:38to take a leak.
21:40It's not that I have trouble.
21:42I never really had an interest in becoming a professional wrestler,
21:47except for the fact that when I was a kid
21:49and I'd look up at them and I'd be like,
21:52oh, it would be so great to be the champion, you know.
21:56But I never really thought of myself as a wrestler.
22:01Steel cage.
22:02Steel cage! Done!
22:04But part of the storyline in Ready to Rumble
22:06is that my character Gordy becomes a wrestler at the end of it.
22:10And I think that was part of the germ of the idea
22:12in bringing me into WCW
22:14so that we could sort of have fun with those worlds.
22:18So we have our production meeting,
22:20and the match is Jeff Jarrett, Eric Bischoff
22:24against DDP and David Arquette.
22:27We have a regular production meeting.
22:28Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Everybody leaves.
22:30I'm literally there by myself,
22:33and Tony Schiavone comes over.
22:35And Tony says, Vince, do you mind if I pitch you something?
22:38I said, Tony, absolutely.
22:39And I got the, what if David Arquette wins that match
22:46and becomes WCW heavyweight champion?
22:48I call everybody back in.
22:51Guys, Tony pitched me this idea.
22:55What do you think?
22:57Bro, 100% of the people were for it.
23:00I don't remember how the idea generated.
23:03We've done other things to help promote movies
23:05and specific television shows in the past.
23:08This was a rather elaborate way to promote the movie,
23:13but I didn't see the harm in it.
23:15I just laughed out loud.
23:17Oh, yeah, right, so what are we doing?
23:20And Eric goes, that's what we're doing.
23:24I go, no, we're not.
23:26He goes, yes, we are.
23:27I go, bro, come on, stop fucking with me.
23:29We're not going to do that.
23:31I go, that's not a good idea.
23:33I was like, that's a terrible idea.
23:36You can't do that.
23:38Who can score the pinfall here?
23:43Spear by Eric Head.
23:45Oh, Jared's got the belt.
23:47One, two, three.
23:49What?
23:50What?
23:52What is happening?
23:54What's going on here?
23:56Save it on camera.
23:58Got this huge reaction when they made me the champion.
24:02You know, people throwing stuff and spitting on you
24:04and calling me the worst thing in the world,
24:07but it really hit me when I was in the locker room
24:11and Booker T was there, and he was getting ready.
24:15He goes, Booker, man, this is so great, man.
24:20I'm the world champion, I'm the world champion.
24:22And he goes, how many times have you been champ, Booker?
24:26He's like, I never won it.
24:29And then he goes, his mood totally changed.
24:36And I was like, oh, whoa, okay.
24:40That hit me.
24:43It was hard to see that.
24:45You know, you do have these guys who pretty much
24:48have given their lives for this sport,
24:51and then you have a Hollywood actor,
24:53even though it's David Arquette, who we know and love,
24:55come in and win that title.
24:58Yeah, that's a hard thing.
25:02I would say it was just another nail in the coffin
25:05of a company that was rapidly dying at that time.
25:09I thought it was a bad idea putting the
25:11World Heavyweight Championship on David Arquette.
25:15I mean, movie star or not, it's just not a good play.
25:19When you do something like this, you go,
25:21okay, where do we go from here?
25:22Well, people were pissed at this actor
25:24that had never paid his dues, because that's a big thing,
25:26paying your dues, right?
25:29And Vince's rebuttal to that was,
25:31it got eyes on the product.
25:33I don't know how well it did in the ratings,
25:35but I go, yeah, but it got people talking
25:37for the wrong reasons.
25:39I don't think that was a good idea.
25:41Bro, I'll never forget, the next morning after that,
25:43I get up, I go downstairs to the front desk.
25:46What's on the front cover of the USA Today?
25:48That would have never, ever happened in a million years.
25:53And at that time, that's what we are after.
25:56And again, bro, I'm going to say it,
25:58I write a television show.
26:01If you think about the importance
26:03of the world title in wrestling,
26:06yes, it's predetermined,
26:07but it does carry with it a huge amount of value.
26:10And I think fans perceive this as another attempt
26:13to get the interest back in one day
26:16rather than building for the future.
26:18The wrestling audience didn't appreciate it
26:20in the eyes of the hardcore wrestling fan.
26:23And I'm not dismissing them,
26:24I don't mean it derisively,
26:26but the really passionate wrestling fan
26:29felt that it really made a mockery of the title
26:33to use that title in that way.
26:36I didn't feel that way in that moment.
26:39I was looking at the bigger opportunity
26:41and felt like we could sustain a couple weeks of bad press.
26:45I think Eric put himself in a position
26:48to where he stopped calling the shots
26:51and just started being a part of the shots
26:53that were being called.
26:54And I think that was perhaps the biggest problem.
26:58It is what it is.
26:59I didn't stop it.
27:00Let's put it that way.
27:02I supported it.
27:03And I participated, for God's sake.
27:10I would do the same thing today, bro.
27:12Without blinking an eye,
27:13I would do the same exact thing today.
27:15To this day, do you understand the anger
27:17around making Art Arquette champion or not?
27:20Quite frankly, I could care less.
27:23Arquette goes out there the next day.
27:25He doesn't want the championship.
27:27Whoa, bro!
27:31We followed that up in the storyline.
27:33What did he have it, bro, for like a week?
27:37This has all been a big fluke.
27:38It's been a whole lot of fun.
27:40But I don't deserve to be the world heavyweight champion.
27:42And he went out on the next day,
27:44and he goes, man, I shouldn't have the title.
27:46People like Booker T should have the title.
27:48Tonight, I'm going to relinquish the belt
27:52and give up the title.
27:54I don't deserve it.
27:55How about that?
27:56These guys deserve it.
27:58Maybe Booker T deserves it,
28:00but I don't deserve it.
28:02I was like, wow.
28:04So he might have been my biggest cheerleader.
28:06He might have been the spark that lit the flame.
28:09I started at the bottom of that company,
28:11and I had seen these guys on television.
28:14And now I'm in the same locker room with them
28:16and competing with them at the highest level.
28:20I was doing something that I had never imagined
28:23or dreamt of doing in a million years.
28:26I knew Booker was going to be a big star.
28:29When he was putting on Reese Payton one time,
28:32and he was doing GI bro,
28:34he said, I'm here,
28:36and I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing,
28:38and eventually I'm going to get there.
28:40And I'm like, you know what, bro?
28:42You're right. You are.
28:43I said, you got the best attitude ever.
28:46Thinking about winning the world title for me in this company
28:49is something that I never really thought about.
28:52When I first came in this company, it was a click.
28:54It was a good old boy click.
28:56If you weren't in the good old boy click,
28:58you only went to a certain level.
29:00Why do you say that you don't think you ever thought
29:02it was possible to win the world championship?
29:07Because I was black, to be honest.
29:10I knew how good I was.
29:12That was a doubt in my mind,
29:15but you still wonder if that company
29:18would be willing to accept a black champion.
29:24He was beloved. Everybody loved him.
29:27He was so easy to work with.
29:29He paid his dues.
29:31Booker, like, had completely thrown in the towel
29:35of ever thinking he was going to be a champion
29:38because he knew the political game.
29:41Everybody's fighting for the same spot.
29:45And especially, bro, when you're on top,
29:49you got everybody gunning for you.
29:52So when Hulk was on top,
29:55yes, did he do everything he possibly could
29:59to secure that spot?
30:01Bro, 1,000%.
30:11Halloween Havoc, 99, I think was the last time Hogan appeared.
30:15Of course, I was sent home in September of 99.
30:18Hogan stuck around because he was obligated and advertised.
30:21But without me there,
30:23Hogan really wasn't too interested in working
30:27in any way, shape, or form with Russo.
30:31So when I came back to work with Russo,
30:35it certainly made it a lot easier.
30:37Eric is now treating me as I'm below him.
30:42And I had had enough.
30:45So I called Brad Siegel.
30:48And I said,
30:50Brad, if you want to make Eric head of creative,
30:55freaking make him head of creative.
30:57And, bro, Brad Siegel said,
31:00no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Vince.
31:02I want you to write creative.
31:05Bro, 2 days later was Bash at the Beach.
31:08Bash at the Beach 2000 was really the culmination point
31:12of the tension between Russo and what he wanted to do,
31:15me and what I was willing to do in the role I was in,
31:18and what Hogan was willing to do,
31:20given that he had creative control.
31:22I will say this up front without a shadow of a doubt.
31:25If there was no Eric Bischoff,
31:29I would have had a great relationship with Hulk Hogan.
31:32And I don't think there ever would have been an issue.
31:36Hulk and I have a good idea
31:38of what we want to do with his participation.
31:41He and I are on the same page, and Hulk Hogan has creative control.
31:44So that's pretty much the end of any dispute or conversation, right?
31:48But at the same time, Vince Russo had his ideas
31:51of what he wanted to do.
31:53And what he was able to do
31:55was take the original idea of Hulk and I's,
31:58which was create some kind of scenario
32:00where Hulk is so frustrated or disgusted or pissed off,
32:03he grabs the belt and walks out of the building,
32:06presumably never to be seen again.
32:09That was the plan.
32:11I'm saying to myself, bro, no,
32:14you're not walking out of here with the belt.
32:18Now what? I don't know. Who's laying down in this one?
32:21But what Vince Russo did was jump in the middle part of our plan
32:25and decide that once Eric and Hulk left the building,
32:28which he did, according to script, our script,
32:31Vince Russo jumped into the ring live
32:34and went into business for himself and implemented his own idea.
32:40Hey, let me tell you who doesn't give a shit about this company!
32:44That goddamn politician, Hulk Hogan!
32:47I remember looking around, talking to some of the other Nitro girls,
32:51like, is this what's supposed to be happening?
32:54Like, what's going on? Is this written? What is going on?
32:57Hulk Hogan tonight wants to play his creative control card!
33:04Holy shit.
33:06This is... He's shooting, you know, he's talking for real.
33:09This is not a work.
33:11But one thing I do want to point out, as much as this was a work
33:15and everybody was, you know, in on it,
33:18when I talk about reality, I really am this pissed off.
33:23Hogan got his belt and he went the hell home
33:26and I promised everybody or else I'll go in the goddamn grave!
33:30You will never see that piece of shit again!
33:33I didn't know that was coming and that promo, to me,
33:37felt as real as it possibly could be
33:40as far as two people having a venomous animosity towards each other.
33:45The point of this promo was not to run Hogan down.
33:49The point of it was, we need Booker to win the belt
33:53and I need to make sense of why this match is happening.
33:57For the WCW title, two deserving guys,
34:02Jarrett and Booker will compete for the WCW
34:07and they'll tear this goddamn house down!
34:10I found out about ten minutes before I had to wrestle.
34:13It all came as a surprise to me, I really don't know what's going on.
34:16Vince made the decision.
34:18Cutting that promo before I had to go out, man, I had so much energy.
34:22Opportunity has knocked and I will be damned if I don't answer that door.
34:26I am going to do what I have to do tonight to take that gold home,
34:30take it around my waist and take it into the next millennium.
34:32How can you dig that shit?
34:34I can. Toting it back to you.
34:36I was ready to become the world champ.
34:44I remember before the bell rang, I jumped up so high, you know,
34:48just because I was like, let's get this done, you know.
34:52He's going down!
34:54Fuck in! Fuck in!
34:56Two, three!
35:01Booker T is the champ!
35:13It took somebody like Vince Russo, somebody that was outside the box,
35:16that pushed him to make a decision and, you know, check their clutches for a second.
35:22I came back for the Booker T's!
35:25I was totally out of the loop as far as what was going on with
35:32Vince Russo and Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.
35:37Bro, the next day on the internet, everybody bought this hook line and sink it.
35:43And, bro, what you got over and over and over again was
35:47finally somebody put Hulk Hogan in his place.
35:51Hulk is at home and he's reading this and he's seething
35:56and his ego is kicking in because now it looks like
36:00this jackass Vince Russo got one over on Hulk Hogan.
36:05That's why this company's in the damn shape it's in because of bullshit like this.
36:12My phone's just non-stop vibrating. Hulk's phone's blowing up.
36:16And now we're starting to hear bits and pieces from different people about what Russo did.
36:21And we're looking at each other like this can't possibly be true.
36:25Hulk Hogan, who is contractually entitled to have final say over creative,
36:30and yet he throws all of that out the window and goes into business for himself,
36:34tears the script up and says, no, I'm going to do it my way instead.
36:37We couldn't believe that that happened.
36:39As far as Hulk was concerned, he's done. There's going to be a lawsuit.
36:43As far as I'm concerned, I'm done.
36:46Regardless of who did what and who says what,
36:49let's just look at it from the most important person in the equation,
36:53which is the people paying money to come and see the shows,
36:56buying the pay-per-view, showing up to the live events.
36:58Why would I buy into the idea that the next pay-per-view is going to be the biggest event ever
37:03or the next match is going to be unbelievable when it seems like every time they hype something up,
37:07some nonsense like this happens.
37:09Ultimately, I think what this represented was the blowing up of this new creative team
37:14that many had predicted was inevitable.
37:16And unfortunately, it played out, not behind the scenes, but in front of everyone to see.
37:21You could talk about angles and storylines and this and that.
37:24The fact that I was in a position to be able to do the right thing,
37:29Booker T becoming the champion and a man finally getting what he deserved
37:35and getting through all that red tape and all the BS was far and away my greatest moment.
37:42Russo's stunt made it impossible for me to, A, trust Vince Russo,
37:47or really the judgment of anybody else, including Brad Siegel.
37:51Brad had a choice. He could have sent Russo home following Bash at the Beach, but he didn't.
37:58Eric and Hogan were partners in what they wanted to do with WCW.
38:04And I was trying to do whatever I can do to get it back on track.
38:12I came back to the guys behind that curtain that give a shit about this company!
38:17Post-Bash at the Beach, now we have another creative shakeup.
38:20Eric goes home. Hulk is never to be seen on WCW TV again.
38:24And for the next three months, we have Vince Russo and a booking committee mapping out WCW storylines.
38:30So much had happened. There had been so many attempted restarts and reboots and changes of direction
38:37that the entire promotion was sort of in the state of shell shock.
38:41Once the bleeding started, it was a consistent deterioration of WCW's business.
38:50Everything was very spontaneous in the moment. What gets me excited now?
38:54You're the meaning of the word discipline!
38:58He was doing a lot of segments with himself involved.
39:03He was brought in to be a writer. And then he'd write himself into the show.
39:08And write himself as one of the main characters in the show.
39:12This is my show! This is my house! And these are my people!
39:17I'm just going to be 1,000% completely honest with you.
39:21As far as an on-air character, I felt that I was better than 80% of that roster.
39:28They put so much pressure on me, bro, that I made the mistake of saying,
39:33you know what? F it. If you want ratings, I will go out there and get ratings myself.
39:40I almost get killed, bro. I almost got killed.
39:52What I'm looking for tonight is ratings! Big ratings!
39:56And we're going to deliver, you son of a bitch!
39:59Like, to this day, people think that's who I am.
40:02That's why so many people dislike me, hate me, who don't know me,
40:07because they think I'm my character.
40:10Knock it off, man! Know your place!
40:12He put the belt on himself. He became champion somehow,
40:16which I just thought was kind of self-serving.
40:19I can't even imagine, you know, what brought that on,
40:22except for childhood dream that every one of us have had.
40:27So I get Vince doing it. I don't think it was a good idea, but I get it.
40:32And he had a lot of heat, you know, internal and external.
40:38Bro, listen, I never thought I was a wrestler.
40:41Again, this is a television show.
40:45All I'm trying to do is entertain an audience.
40:51Bro, I should have never gotten in the ring.
40:53I was really concerned about my health.
40:56They were hurting me on purpose.
40:59First of all, with Goldberg,
41:01he's supposed to spear me into the entranceway.
41:04And I told him ten times,
41:07bro, I got a concussion.
41:09Like, just please work me to the entranceway.
41:13What does he do, bro? He spears me right into the iron rail.
41:20Come on, man. Like, no question about it.
41:23If I wanted to intentionally hurt him, he'd be underground right now.
41:27And anyone who doesn't believe that doesn't know anything about me.
41:31Do you think Bill was purposely trying to hurt him?
41:34I think so, without a doubt. Without a doubt.
41:37And that was it. That spear, that was the one that put me away.
41:41That was it.
41:42Why am I putting my health on the line
41:46when obviously nobody gives a crap about this company anymore?
41:50Russo! I'm here and I'm waiting, Vince.
41:53The last show that Vince Russo is credited to have written
41:57is the October 2nd, 2000 edition of Monday Nitro.
42:02He gives an interview the next day on WCW Live
42:05lamenting everything that was going on in the company.
42:08And then he's gone from the picture after that point.
42:11This is Russo in 2000, baby.
42:13Hulk Hogan, I don't give a damn.
42:16You think I care about Eric Bischoff?
42:20I could give a damn.
42:22Ratings 2.7, 1.7, .7, I don't care.
42:28Vince Russo losing his job next week, I don't give a damn.
42:34When I see this and I see that guy there,
42:37it really reminds me of how much I hate the business.
42:40I mean, I'm going to be honest with you.
42:42There's a lot of people that don't like me saying that.
42:46That's the fact of the matter.
42:48It really brings me back to the damage emotionally
42:54that this business did to me.
42:57That's absolute truth, God honest truth.
43:01And then those same politics exist today.
43:07What is the fate of WCW?
43:10We're talking about a company that at its peak
43:12was generating in the neighborhood of $200 million a year
43:15and a huge part of pop culture.
43:18It's a hit every Monday night, but it wasn't anymore.
43:21It was so bad, the bickering, the infighting.
43:25We're Time Warner.
43:27Is it that important to own a wrestling company
43:30that's losing money, bleeding massively?
43:33I'll sit and watch the fucking thing sink from my fucking house.
43:36It didn't feel like a family anymore.
43:38You had to look out for yourself.
43:40What's going to happen here?
43:42Are they going to stick with this? Are they not going to stick with it?
43:44I said, Brad, why don't you let me explore selling WCW
43:50while it still has some value?
43:52Rick, going out!
43:54We thought we were coming to work like a regular day.
43:56Do you know anything?
43:57And no one knew until that night.
43:59Because the fate of WCW is in my hands.