Who Killed WCW S1E4 June 26th 2024
Who Killed WCW S1E4 June 26th 2024
Who,Killed,WCW ,S1E4,June,26th,2024
Who,Killed,WCW ,S1E4,June,26th,2024
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00:00WCW is about to dominate the globe in professional wrestling.
00:0810 million people in the United States were zeroed in on professional wrestling.
00:13We were the number one cable rated show.
00:15For almost two years, mind blowing.
00:18And when something gets too big too fast, shit's gonna hit the fan at some point and it did.
00:23Little by little, we just fell.
00:26We already knew that we were running thin.
00:29It is so good to be king.
00:32He cared more about ratings than he cared about advertising dollars.
00:35It was a shit show.
00:38Vince Russo was just another idiot.
00:41He was there to lead to our ultimate demise.
00:43Kiss my ass!
00:45I was done. It was over. I could have cared less.
00:49No doubt in my mind, Bischoff was responsible for a little of this.
00:53Another nail in the coffin of a company that was rapidly dying at that time.
00:57I don't control that shit. I go out and I do my job.
01:01My check didn't change.
01:03It was the easiest money I ever made in my career.
01:05Like, they got what?
01:07When guys got those kind of agendas, thinking about themselves, that's pretty much when the ship started to go down.
01:13This is some fucked up shit.
01:16You ain't in Kansas anymore.
01:18You cannot sweep this under the rug.
01:22This is some fucking television shit.
01:24The real reason men come in lies.
01:51I believe WCFU has come to an end.
01:53It is at an end.
01:56It didn't feel like a family anymore.
01:58It felt like everybody was out for themselves and it seemed like the blood was in the water and the sharks were coming to get it.
02:05I think everybody just didn't know what was happening.
02:07We were still hearing the rumors that we were just going to shut the doors.
02:11So I think at that point everybody was just really unsettled.
02:15It's easy to lose sight of how lucky we are to be a part of this.
02:18Hopefully it ain't over.
02:20WCW wrestling is so important to me.
02:22There's just that one guy, Turner, I think just doesn't think wrestling is cool when it's on the road with millions of people.
02:30I think Turner finally started looking into the books and said, we got to pull the plug on this.
02:35No matter how much Ted Turner loved this business and wanted to keep it afloat,
02:41you start looking at the books at that time and seeing how much money we were spending.
02:46I can only imagine how much money went out the window.
02:48Oh my God.
02:51After Brad brought me back to kind of oversee Russo,
02:54it was apparent to me that things were more dysfunctional within Turner Broadcasting and the relationship between Turner and WCW than they had ever been.
03:03I'm not talking about what was going on in television or how much money they were making or losing.
03:07I'm just talking about the relationship.
03:11Time Warner is a company of winning brands and winning people and so is AOL.
03:17Before this merger, just like when we put Turner Broadcasting into Time Warner, it made the company much, much stronger.
03:23And I think we're all committed to making this thing work.
03:26AOL was absolutely ubiquitous at that time in terms of, in the public consciousness,
03:31the company introduced many people to the concept of logging onto the internet for the very first time.
03:37I've been on America Online two months and it's really been a revelation for me.
03:42You got mail!
03:45This was at the time where a lot of the new internet.com businesses were receiving wild overvaluations based on promises of future growth.
03:55If you looked at the assets besides furniture, they have a subscription list and that's the people who subscribe to AOL.
04:05AOL's leadership in the early part of 1999 also were keenly aware of this reality as well.
04:11So one option that was considered was to merge with a media and entertainment conglomerate, which was Time Warner.
04:17The combined company, which will be called AOL Time Warner, gives each partner what it now lacks.
04:23What ended up happening is that AOL shareholders would receive 55% of the new company and Time Warner 45%.
04:33Now, my dad's never been online in his life, never touched a computer, never owned a cell phone, never used an ATM, right?
04:39He's old school. So I think it was a whole generation gap loss on AOL's going to buy this giant company with nothing,
04:49where the older investment guys are like, well, you can't turn it down.
04:52It's hundreds of dollars a share. This is going to be awesome.
04:55We're only going to make a billion dollars, but nobody would stand up and go, this is a Ponzi scheme, man, right?
05:01This is all going to fall apart.
05:03The blockbuster deal still needs regulatory approval and a nod from Time Warner and AOL shareholders.
05:08AOL had serious, serious issues. WCW got caught up in that also. In a sense, you could say it was collateral damage.
05:19Wrestling has become fun, crazy entertainment. It's an alternative. It doesn't define our network. It's one night a week.
05:27It's a hit every Monday night, but it wasn't anymore because it was broken and I had to fix it.
05:33I was a physical presence there. I was in there trying to do whatever I can do to get it back on track.
05:40Big mistake!
05:42What a bunch of fucking boobs.
05:45It was so bad. I really felt like, okay, stake in our heart.
05:49It was a chaotic shit show and a blur. And I said, I'm about to get the hell out of here because I've had it.
05:57You had to look out for yourself.
05:59I just felt like Brad didn't know anything about wrestling. I mean, he knew about the corporate side, but he wasn't a wrestling person.
06:06He wasn't somebody that was going to try to help save the company. It was like going through the motions.
06:12To be completely honest, I couldn't fix it and the red kept getting redder and the ratings kept falling and falling and falling.
06:19In addition, WCW drove away its paying audience.
06:22A look at the difference in buy rate between the uncensored pay-per-view in March of 1999 and the same event just 12 months later in March of 2000.
06:31They basically put on the exact same main event, Hogan Flair, two years in a row.
06:39In March of 99, the uncensored pay-per-view enticed some 325,000 viewers to purchase the event.
06:47But just 12 months later, only 60,000 people were willing to purchase the 2000 version of WCW Uncensored.
06:54That represents a drop of 81%.
07:00The narrative is at the end of 2000, WCW had losses of around $62 million. That's the narrative.
07:07And I think that there probably is a grain of truth to that. But what people don't understand is the why.
07:14Professional wrestling is very different when you're a company like Time Warner AOL.
07:19A lot of answering to shareholders that have expectations on a monthly and quarterly basis.
07:26I think there was a lot of debt from other divisions in the company that could be allocated, legally, but allocated as losses against WCW because everybody knew it was going to be written off as a loss anyway.
07:39The bullshit internal transfers that people tried to park all the trash on our books while we were getting hurt.
07:47It was clear to me at that point that Turner Broadcasting didn't want anything to do with WCW.
07:53And I said to Brad specifically, I said, Brad, why don't you let me explore selling WCW while it still has some value?
08:04Because the velocity at which WCW was losing ground at that particular time was pretty dramatic.
08:12Brad kind of chuckled at me and he said, Eric, you know this company, we don't sell anything, we buy things.
08:20So I just let it go. Fast forward.
08:24Good evening. Today we announced that the Federal Communications Commission has approved the merger of America Online and Time Warner Inc.
08:34So the merger was announced on January 11th, 2000, finalized on January 11th, 2001.
08:40There had actually been a lot of financial experts who had been predicting the imminent demise of AOL for quite some time.
08:48Keep in mind that throughout the year 2000, a number of significant things happened.
08:53We had the dotcom recession, right?
08:56We had a number of these internet companies that were going to be the darlings of the future that went belly up, which affected AOL in a serious way.
09:04Its stock price dropped by 50%, which of course creates a huge pressure to look closely at which divisions are profitable and which are registering huge losses.
09:15That put WCW even more in the crosshairs.
09:18There were a lot of executives at very senior levels. The only person standing in front of them was Ted Turner.
09:26The merger happens. Ted becomes vice chairman.
09:30You know, he was excited about that at first. And you know, you have an office in New York, you know, I've made it.
09:35Well, no, your name made it, your businesses made it, or they didn't want to even hear at the board meetings from him.
09:42Ted Turner was no longer a challenge. Ted Turner was regulated to the corner and didn't have a voice or vote in his own company.
09:50You know, Ted is no longer in a position to have control over WCW and its affairs.
09:56I remember saying, you know, we're Time Warner. Is it that important to own a wrestling company that's losing money, bleeding massively, has lost money every year of its existence except for one or two years?
10:10Is that really what Time Warner needs to own? I don't think we need this.
10:24I get a phone call from Brad. He said, so let me ask you, Eric, a couple of months ago, you brought up the idea of selling WCW.
10:31Do you think you could find a buyer? And I immediately said, sure. I had no idea. I'd never done anything like that before.
10:37But I assured him that I could find someone who had the resources to buy it.
10:41I said, you want me to put a deal together? You want me to try to put some people together? And he goes, see what you've got.
10:46I went to a guy by the name of Peter Goober. Peter Goober, at that point in time, owned a company called Mandalay Sports and Entertainment.
10:53He's a very, very, very well-established Hollywood guy.
10:56And he said, look, I'm not interested in investing in buying WCW, but I think I know some people who may.
11:02And he put me in touch with Brian Bedall and Steve Greenberg, who owned a company called Fusion Media Ventures.
11:07Fusion Media Ventures had created the Classic Sports Network, which became ESPN Sports Classic.
11:14Brian and Steve understood media. They had great connections in New York on Wall Street.
11:19And we hit it off and started the process. I called Brad back, said, OK, I got the investment.
11:25Fusion Media funded the initial round with $5 million of their own, and then went out and raised $62 million in the market.
11:33I felt like I was capable with the financial resources and the right partners with me, that there was potential for WCW.
11:39The professional wrestling genre as a whole is indestructible. It's just a matter of the company being in the right hands.
11:47Eric was invested in trying to keep WCW alive and moving, so it was very exciting when the opportunity came up to buy it.
11:58And it wasn't surprising that he went 100% all-in and just gave it all he had.
12:06We had come up with a loose plan of what we were going to do once the deal was consummated.
12:11For example, went out to Las Vegas, we met with Hard Rock, and they were planning on building an entertainment theater on top of one of their parking garages that would hold about 3,500 people.
12:21So we started to negotiate the opportunity for kind of a full-time location, producing our shows in front of a live audience in Las Vegas every Monday night.
12:29And one of the initial thoughts we had is, let's bring WCW back with this pay-per-view called the Big Bang.
12:38So on January 11th, 2001, it appears that Fusiant Media Ventures has purchased the company.
12:45The figure that was reported at the time of the apparent sale to Fusiant was $67 million.
12:51You know, there's a lot of exuberance about, once again, this being now the turning point.
12:56Now we've got the new owners in play, now Eric Bischoff's back in his position, this is where we're off to the races.
13:01The new goal is 100 weeks in a row, and that's kind of what's in the future for WCW.
13:05We always looked at this as a partnership between us and Eric.
13:10You know, we certainly aren't buying this because we think it should just stay number two.
13:17We won't be satisfied until this thing is number one again, and our goal this time is 100 weeks, not 96 weeks in a row.
13:25I was excited. I thought, you know, okay, great, this is going to open a new door, we're going to continue to go on like we are.
13:31I think we were going to see a smarter, newer, more refreshed version of Eric. He looked really gung-ho to make this work.
13:38Turner Broadcasting guaranteed us our time slot on Monday night and Thursday night.
13:44So our job was then to produce the show, find the advertisers, and turn the show profitable.
13:49I remember that being part of the deal, and I like that as part of the deal.
13:53Knowing that you've got that slot, then being able to calculate what the advertising value of that's going to be, it's critical.
14:00So it was a fait accompli as far as we were concerned, and we were scheduled to close that deal.
14:07On March the 6th, Jamie Kellner is announced as the new CEO of Turner Broadcasting.
14:13Jamie Kellner is someone whose reputation certainly preceded him in the television business.
14:17He is credited with having a huge influence over the growth of the Fox network, and then actually becoming a founding partner of the WB network.
14:27And upon being appointed to the role, his initial comments to the press were that,
14:33I'm paraphrasing, this is a great company, full of great people, I'm going to try not to mess things up, I'm going to tweak it.
14:40Jamie Kellner was one of the best television executives in the business, but Jamie hated wrestling.
14:46He hated it. You know, he hated it, didn't get it, didn't want anything to do with it.
14:51It was a pain in the ass, and we were losing so much money all the time, that I think I made the suggestion to sell WCW.
14:59I don't know if it came from me or somebody suggested it and I latched on to it.
15:04And Jamie was like, yep, get rid of this as fast as you can. I don't want anything to do with it.
15:09March 16th, Brad Siegel sends out a memo advising WCW employees there's going to be a period of hiatus.
15:17Then just a few days later, actually there's not going to be a hiatus,
15:22but the programming is being cancelled after a 29-year run on the Turner Networks.
15:27And that leads us to an episode of Monday Nitro in the midst of all of this chaos that has to occur in Gainesville, Florida that Monday evening.
15:36Many of you may know that for the past six months I've been working with a group of people whose goal it was, and is, to acquire World Championship Wrestling.
15:45But recently we've hit a couple roadblocks that may be, in fact, brick walls.
15:51And while it is still in my power, I want to do something befitting what could be, very well, the last night of wrestling on the Turner Networks.
16:03That being said, I'll see you all in Panama City next Monday night, the Night of Champions.
16:09Incredible!
16:12We were just getting ready to close, and I got a call from Brian Badal.
16:17And Brian said, Eric, it's done.
16:20I said, congratulations, Brian.
16:22He said, no, you don't understand. It's done.
16:24The deal is over. It's off the table.
16:28We were rounding third, heading for home, and there was no warning whatsoever. It came completely out of the blue.
16:36Jamie Kellner, he was the head dog.
16:38And he looked at the WCW deal and contemplated us having at least a couple years of two hours of primetime on Monday night, two hours of primetime on Thursday night.
16:48And Kellner didn't want that beachfront property to be dedicated to wrestling content.
16:53He wanted that primetime schedule for other programming.
16:56The cold, hard truth is that WCW was completely reliant on television.
17:01So much so, in fact, that Eric Bischoff famously quipped that without television, the company was worth 20 bucks, if anything.
17:08So at that point, when you take the television distribution off the table, you're taking 90% of the revenue out of the equation.
17:16The deal was not worth it to us. It effectively killed the deal.
17:20I was devastated.
17:26What am I doing here?
17:27Stu, Snyder, ready, go. Action.
17:32Growing up, I loved wrestling.
17:34I lived in New York.
17:36I remember going to Madison Square Garden once a month.
17:39Bruno Sammartino, Ivan Putsky, Gorilla Monsoon, George the Animal Steel.
17:45I can go on.
17:46I enjoyed it. I loved it.
17:47It's a core element of my childhood.
17:49I joined Turner Broadcasting in 1993.
17:52My responsibility was to come on board and head up a unit called Turner Home Entertainment.
17:58And then I left, did a few other things, including becoming the president and chief operating officer of WWF Entertainment.
18:07The first thing I was looking to do was to keep growing the core business, to look for new opportunities for the company.
18:14I continued to read about what was happening at WCW.
18:17I kept reading about the behind-the-scenes angst going on there.
18:21The ratings weren't improving.
18:23What's going to happen here?
18:24Are they going to stick with this? Are they not going to stick with it?
18:27And what I recall is picking up the phone and calling Brad and, you know, just checking in, first of all, because we've known each other for a long, long time.
18:36Keep reading about this stuff. Are you okay?
18:38And, you know, he'd share with me some of the angst he was going through.
18:42I may have said something to the effect of, hey, look, if there's ever a reason to have a conversation, I think we might be interested.
18:49We were aware that there was another player.
18:52It didn't factor into anything.
18:54I didn't know their deal.
18:55I didn't know what they were offering.
18:56I knew nothing.
18:57Internally at WWF, we had made a decision and thought if we could do a transaction to acquire WCW, we were going to work really hard to get that done.
19:09On Friday, March 23rd, the WWF announces the unthinkable, that it has purchased its competition, WCW.
19:17Thank you.
19:24On March 26th, 2001, the final episode of WCW Nitro is broadcast live from Panama City Beach, Florida.
19:32Oh, what is this for?
19:33We're doing a little documentary on the last day of Nitro.
19:36The last day is in the mall, huh?
19:41Believe what you want to believe.
19:43Believe what you want to believe.
19:45But don't believe it yet.
19:49It's great.
19:54Get the fuck out of here.
19:57Do you know what you think is going on tonight?
19:59Brother, I have a cameraman right here in my back pocket.
20:02Holy shit.
20:03What is that all about?
20:08Panama City, Florida. Vince McMahon vignette.
20:11Wow.
20:12That's big time, brother.
20:13Here we go, in five, four...
20:18You had Vince McMahon starting the show on camera.
20:22It's hard to overstate just how shocking that was at the time.
20:26Imagine that.
20:29Me, Vince McMahon.
20:32Imagine that.
20:34Here I am on WCW television.
20:39How can that happen?
20:40How can that happen?
20:42Well, there's only one way.
20:44You see, it was just a matter of time
20:46before I, Vince McMahon,
20:50bought my competition.
20:52That's right.
20:54I own WCW.
20:57Therefore, in its final broadcast
21:01tonight on TNT,
21:03I have the opportunity to address
21:05what is the fate of WCW.
21:08Because the fate,
21:11the very fate,
21:13of WCW
21:16is in my hands.
21:21We thought we were coming to work like a regular day.
21:23And no one knew until that night.
21:26No one knew.
21:29We saw Vince come up on the trot.
21:31No matter how you look at it at that point,
21:33no matter how it's spread,
21:36they win the war.
21:37When WWE acquired WCW,
21:40it felt like the end of an era.
21:43It sucked.
21:44The 800-pound gorilla of the room had won.
21:47Had no idea what Vince would do with it.
21:49I didn't know if it was more advantageous for him
21:52to buy it and keep it afloat
21:55and then have the competition
21:58or destroy it.
22:00So the fear of the unknown is pretty heavy.
22:04There was a lot of sadness
22:05and a lot of uncertainty.
22:07Who they were going to hire,
22:08who they were going to cut.
22:11We don't really know what's going on.
22:12People are happy and sad at the same time.
22:14They don't know why.
22:16I don't think you want my real feelings about it.
22:18Because they ain't pretty.
22:19It was very emotional.
22:21I remember Dusty was there,
22:22so I was sticking pretty close to him.
22:25There were WWF signs up,
22:27which was really weird.
22:29You know, because there's always signs
22:30like on the dressing room doors,
22:31you know, wherever.
22:32And you were seeing WWF.
22:34I mean, it felt like a slap.
22:36I remember Shane McMahon coming in
22:37and he had like a little brief meeting
22:39with everybody.
22:40And we get told the company's been sold
22:42to the WWE.
22:44And tonight, everybody's going to find out about it.
22:46And a lot of guys were like,
22:48oh my God.
22:50As I was seeing, you know,
22:51the wrestlers and performers backstage,
22:54you know, shoulders might have been slumped
22:56before they walked through the curtain.
22:57But then when they walk through,
22:59it's back to business as normal.
23:01And then when they came back
23:02after their match or segment or whatever,
23:04it's back to,
23:05what's going on?
23:06What's going to happen?
23:07Let's not lose sight of the fact
23:09this is the last Nitro
23:10on the Turner Network.
23:11And we're going out with the bang.
23:13Scott Steiner and I,
23:14we had a conversation.
23:16And Scott goes,
23:17you know,
23:18what do you think you're going to do, man?
23:19What do you think you're going to do?
23:20And I look at Scott and I go,
23:21bro,
23:22who's auditioning that night?
23:24But Bucket King,
23:25the cover!
23:26Down goes the Warrior!
23:27The El Blaster!
23:28Yes, he is!
23:29And he nailed it!
23:30Everyone was working that night.
23:31So we went out and we rocked it.
23:33He's got it!
23:34Bucket!
23:35Here it is!
23:36The one,
23:37two,
23:38could it be it?
23:39Yes, yes!
23:40Bucket King!
23:41I didn't know I was going to win
23:42the world title that night.
23:43But then when I did find that out,
23:44I go,
23:45oh yeah, man.
23:46I got a chip in the game.
23:47They got eyes on me.
23:49You know,
23:50so I was,
23:51I was really excited.
23:54I was probably,
23:55perhaps one of the only guys
23:56that was excited, though.
23:59I mean, it was sad,
24:00you know?
24:01It wasn't even sad,
24:02it was pathetic.
24:04Why?
24:05Because fucking people
24:06actually showed up.
24:07Hey!
24:09You guys want to be
24:10on the Titanic?
24:12Nah.
24:13Good.
24:15I'll sit and watch
24:16the fucking thing sink
24:17from my fucking house.
24:19I didn't watch it
24:20as it happened live.
24:21I feel bad for the talent
24:22that were there.
24:23I feel bad for the production
24:24staff that were there
24:25that didn't see it coming,
24:26had no idea what their
24:27futures were going to be.
24:28It's a big life change.
24:30But as far as
24:31the brand itself,
24:33I walked away from it.
24:34I no longer cared.
24:36It's going to be
24:37an emotional thing.
24:38You see a lot of
24:39production guys,
24:40a lot of people,
24:41cameras taking pictures
24:42of the guys.
24:43And to me,
24:44I look at it as
24:45the day you left college
24:46and guys you might
24:47not see again.
24:48But this is a Titanic
24:49group of guys we have.
24:50It's like one of the
24:51camera guys
24:52and one of the
24:53sweetheart guys,
24:54he'd been working
24:55for the company
24:56for 27 years.
24:57All of those people
24:58lost their livelihood.
25:01And that's why
25:02I say,
25:03fuck you,
25:04Jamie Kilner.
25:05I was concerned about
25:06a lot of people
25:07that just couldn't
25:08walk into a job so easily.
25:09Our jobs are so different.
25:11It's not a factory.
25:13We don't do the same
25:14thing every day.
25:15We're a combination
25:16of a circus and an army.
25:17And to get that good at it,
25:19we had to have
25:20the right people
25:21in the right places.
25:22And the way you got
25:23to that point
25:24was the trust
25:25of one another.
25:32Then now you can't
25:33do it together anymore.
25:37Everybody was
25:38in a bad space.
25:39A lot of them
25:40didn't know
25:41what they were going to do.
25:42But there was a time,
25:43you know,
25:44you got to let it go.
25:46But in this business,
25:47it's a little bit different.
25:50What was really weird to me,
25:52this multi-million dollar
25:54company was sold
25:55to WWE for like nothing.
25:58I'm not saying
25:59that there was anything
26:00spooky kooky going on there,
26:02but I have my suspicions.
26:23When you think about
26:24the final purchase price,
26:26we're talking about a company
26:27that at its peak
26:28was generating
26:29in the neighborhood
26:30of $200 million a year
26:32and a huge part of
26:34pop culture
26:35that gets sold
26:36for a little over
26:37$4 million.
26:38I always thought that
26:39when I heard the price
26:40of what they paid for WCW
26:41it was an inside job
26:42of some sort.
26:45Somebody filled their pockets
26:46by making that deal
26:47for as cheaply as it was.
26:49Maybe there's an envelope
26:51pushed across the desk.
26:53Maybe you got influence
26:55with the guy that's selling it.
26:57Look, there's some
26:58murky circumstances.
27:00Stu Snyder was an executive
27:01at Turner Broadcasting.
27:03Oh, by the way,
27:04Stu Snyder after the fact
27:05just happens to land
27:07a plum executive role
27:08with WWE.
27:17Bob Ryder,
27:18he was one of the hosts
27:19on shows that were broadcast
27:21over wcw.com.
27:23So in the summer
27:24following the sale
27:26of WCW
27:27being purchased
27:28by the WWF,
27:29Bob Ryder puts out
27:30a widely disseminated post online
27:33essentially alleging
27:34that there had been
27:35a conspiracy at play.
27:36Bob Ryder,
27:37he was a good man
27:38and a good friend.
27:39And I know that Bob
27:40had written about
27:41a theory that
27:42Brad Siegel
27:43helped facilitate
27:44the actual sale
27:46to WWE
27:47by convincing
27:48Jamie Kellner
27:49to take
27:50the distribution
27:52of programming
27:53out of the deal.
27:55Bob's theory was
27:56Brad Siegel
27:57really didn't want
27:58WCW as a part
27:59of the Turner portfolio
28:01and this was
28:02Brad Siegel's way
28:03of using Jamie Kellner
28:05to kill the deal.
28:06The conspiracy theory
28:08was really
28:09something like
28:10out of a wrestling
28:11storyline essentially.
28:12There was a plot
28:13initiated by
28:14Brad Siegel
28:15and Stu Snyder
28:16to clear the path
28:18for it to have
28:19a quick sale
28:20to the WWF.
28:21Stu Snyder at that time
28:22was the president
28:23of the WWF.
28:24He had previously
28:25said that
28:26Turner Broadcasting
28:27had a relationship
28:28with Brad Siegel
28:29and so
28:30the allegation was
28:31that there were
28:32covert talks
28:33between the two
28:34and the primary
28:35piece of evidence
28:36was the fact that
28:37WCW was sold
28:38for 4.3 million bucks.
28:39I don't know
28:40that that's true.
28:41It is a
28:42conspiracy theory.
28:43Unfortunately
28:44there are enough
28:45questions
28:46and questionable
28:47relationships
28:48that lend
28:49interest
28:50in a conspiracy
28:51like that.
28:52Because
28:53if your friend
28:54was Stu Snyder
28:55it was a way
28:56to ensure
28:57the WWF
28:58would have
28:59an advantage
29:00to the sale.
29:01No.
29:02Well first of all
29:03it was
29:04I mean
29:05we'd known
29:06each other
29:07our entire careers.
29:08I mean
29:09the fact that
29:10Stu Snyder
29:11was running
29:12WWE
29:13and was
29:14a likely
29:15buyer for
29:16WCW
29:17is purely
29:18coincidence.
29:19Did you have
29:20any advanced
29:21knowledge
29:22that the
29:23WCW
29:24was a
29:25possible
29:26buyer?
29:27Simple as that.
29:28My understanding
29:29is that
29:30Brad reported
29:31up to
29:32Jamie Kellner
29:33and that
29:34Jamie
29:35made the
29:36decision
29:37to say
29:38I don't want
29:39it on our
29:40on our
29:41end
29:42and cancelled
29:43it.
29:44If you think
29:45about how
29:46serious
29:47these particular
29:48allegations
29:49are and the
29:50fact that
29:51they would
29:52lead to
29:53people
29:54that we're
29:55talking about
29:56and what
29:57they stood
29:58to lose
29:59if
30:00eventually
30:01they would
30:02be convicted
30:03essentially of
30:04corporate
30:05espionage.
30:06I'm not
30:07saying I'm
30:08100%
30:09convinced
30:10that Stu
30:11Snyder
30:12was part
30:13of an
30:14orchestration
30:15to make
30:16sure WCW
30:17got sold
30:18for nickels
30:19on the
30:20dollar.
30:21I understand
30:22gossip.
30:23I understand
30:24rumor.
30:25But
30:26it's easy
30:27to sit on the
30:28sidelines and
30:29not really
30:30understand the
30:31economics of the
30:32businesses to
30:33say what
30:34something is
30:35worth.
30:36If there was
30:37a deal out
30:38there worth
30:39$60 million
30:40I can guarantee
30:41you as I'm
30:42sitting here
30:43today the
30:44Turner
30:45executives would
30:46have made a
30:47deal.
30:48We wanted to
30:49sell it.
30:50The ratings
30:51started to
30:52plummet.
30:53We could not
30:54find the
30:55right story,
30:56the right
30:57players in
30:58that story
30:59to turn it
31:00around.
31:01That's a big
31:02regret of mine.
31:03We weren't
31:04successful.
31:05Sometimes that
31:06happens.
31:07You can't
31:08always be
31:09successful.
31:10I feel a
31:11responsibility
31:12for it
31:13because I
31:14clearly was
31:15not the
31:16person to
31:17do it.
31:18I didn't
31:19know how
31:20to do
31:21it.
31:22I'm really
31:23sad about
31:24that and
31:25regret it
31:26wasn't a
31:27different
31:28outcome.
31:29Could
31:30anything have
31:31been done
31:32to save
31:33WCW?
31:34In my
31:35opinion,
31:36without a
31:37strong
31:38advocate who
31:39really believed
31:40in the
31:41business,
31:42it would
31:43have been
31:44tough to
31:45exist there
31:46with everything
31:47else and
31:48without
31:49that
31:50person.
31:51I don't
31:52know how
31:53it succeeds
31:54there.
31:55For good
31:56or for
31:57worse,
31:58all the
31:59talent knew
32:00where the
32:01buck stopped
32:02at WWF.
32:03It was
32:04Vince.
32:05You were
32:06either in
32:07line or
32:08out.
32:09That's how
32:10Vince ran
32:11that place.
32:12That place
32:13was a
32:14different
32:15story,
32:16different
32:17story.
32:18I think
32:19it would
32:20have been
32:21challenging.
32:22It's been
32:23proven that
32:24it was
32:25challenging.
32:26Let me
32:27be clear.
32:28We weren't
32:29looking at
32:30all to
32:31buy something
32:32and kill
32:33it.
32:34This brand
32:35is still
32:36good.
32:37It's still
32:38relevant to
32:39an audience.
32:40We're going
32:41to figure out
32:42how do we
32:43keep it
32:44alive and
32:45maybe over
32:46the next
32:47five years
32:48we'll
32:49figure
32:50out how
32:51to
32:52keep it
32:53alive.
32:54It's
32:55a
32:56great
32:57story.
32:58It's
32:59a
33:00great
33:01story.
33:02It's
33:03a
33:04great
33:05story.
33:06It's
33:07a
33:08great
33:09story.
33:10It's
33:11a
33:12great
33:13story.
33:14It's
33:15a
33:16great
33:17story.
33:18It's
33:19a
33:20great
33:21story.
33:22It's
33:23a
33:24great
33:25story.
33:26It's
33:27a
33:28great
33:29story.
33:30It's
33:31a
33:32great
33:33story.
33:34It's
33:35a
33:36great
33:37story.
33:38It's
33:39a
33:40great
33:41story.
33:42It's
33:43a
33:44great
33:45story.
33:46It's
33:47a
33:48great
33:49story.
33:50It's
33:51a
33:52great
33:53story.
33:54It's
33:55a
33:56great
33:57story.
33:58It's
33:59a
34:00great
34:01story.
34:02It's
34:03a
34:04great
34:05story.
34:06It's
34:07a
34:08great
34:09story.
34:10It's
34:11a
34:12great
34:13story.
34:14It's
34:15a
34:16great
34:17story.
34:18It's
34:19a
34:20great
34:21story.
34:22It's
34:23a
34:24great
34:25story.
34:26It's
34:27a
34:28great
34:29story.
34:30It's
34:31a
34:32great
34:33story.
34:34It's
34:35a
34:36great
34:37story.
34:38It's
34:39a
34:40great
34:41story.
34:42It's
34:43a
34:44great
34:45story.
34:46It's
34:47a
34:48great
34:49story.
34:50It's
34:51a
34:52great
34:53story.
34:54It's
34:55a
34:56great
34:57story.
34:58It's
34:59a
35:00great
35:01story.
35:02It's
35:03a
35:04great
35:05story.
35:06It's
35:07a
35:08great
35:09story.
35:10It's
35:11a
35:12great
35:13story.
35:14It's
35:15a
35:16great
35:17story.
35:18It's
35:19a
35:20great
35:21story.
35:22It's
35:23a
35:24great
35:25story.
35:26It's
35:27a
35:28great
35:29story.
35:30It's
35:31a
35:32great
35:33story.
35:34It's
35:35a
35:36great
35:37story.
35:38It's
35:39a
35:40great
35:41story.
35:42It's
35:43a
35:44great
35:45story.
35:46It's
35:47a
35:48great
35:49story.
35:50It's
35:51a
35:52great
35:53story.
35:54It's
35:55a
35:56great
35:57story.
35:58It's
35:59a
36:00great
36:01story.
36:02It's
36:03a
36:04great
36:05story.
36:06It's
36:07a
36:08great
36:09story.
36:10It's
36:11a
36:12great
36:13story.
36:14It's
36:15a
36:16great
36:17story.
36:18It's
36:19a
36:20great
36:21story.
36:22It's
36:23a
36:24great
36:25story.
36:26It's
36:27a
36:28great
36:29story.
36:30It's
36:31a
36:32great
36:33story.
36:34It's
36:35a
36:36great
36:37story.
36:38It's
36:39a
36:40great
36:41story.
36:42It's
36:43a
36:44great
36:45story.
36:46It's
36:47a
36:48great
36:49story.
36:50It's
36:51a
36:52great
36:53story.
36:54It's
36:55a
36:56great
36:57story.
36:58It's
36:59a
37:00great
37:01story.
37:02It's
37:03a
37:04great
37:05story.
37:06It's
37:07a
37:08great
37:09story.
37:10It's
37:11a
37:12great
37:13story.
37:14It's
37:15a
37:16great
37:17story.
37:18It's
37:19a
37:20great
37:21story.
37:22It's
37:23a
37:24great
37:25story.
37:26It's
37:27a
37:28great
37:29story.
37:30It's
37:31a
37:32great
37:33story.
37:34It's
37:35a
37:36And he has his bust on the Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling executives.
37:41Everything that went wrong, the fusion sail falling through, the fact that the narrative
37:46is Eric Bischoff, creator of WCW.
37:50I had an opportunity to write the last chapter of my story.
37:54Wait a minute.
37:55What?
37:56What the hell is going on?
37:57What is this?
37:58You know, I had been with WWE for a few years as that general manager character, and everything
38:03was going great.
38:04And I remember getting a phone call from Stephanie McMahon, who was head of creative at that
38:07point.
38:08She goes, Eric, I don't want you to take this the wrong way.
38:10You've done a great job, but we're going to go in a different direction.
38:13Eric Bischoff has abused his power for too long.
38:18John Cena was going to hit me with his finish and then drag me out of the ring, and John
38:22Cena was going to throw me in the back of a garbage truck, and I was going to be hauled
38:26out of the arena.
38:28And I very seldom questioned creative.
38:31But I went to Vince and said, it doesn't make any sense.
38:34For John Cena to do it, it makes more sense for you to do it.
38:38And I thought, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to have fun doing it.
38:40I'm going to make this fun for me.
38:42And I did.
38:43And I had a blast.
38:44And I got to live a dream and rewrite my own chapter.
38:47And I loved it.
38:48Every minute of it.
38:49There's not a second of it that I regret.
38:59Who killed WCW?
39:00Ooh.
39:02Who killed WCW?
39:06I think it was Turner Corporate.
39:09And some of the people within the booking committees.
39:12AOL, Time Warner, the executives, they were embarrassed by Goofy Wrestling.
39:18The guys in Turner that didn't want us and didn't like us, and the top guys not letting
39:24the mid-card guys interact with them.
39:28WCW killed itself.
39:30The cast of characters that was WCW killed WCW.
39:35It didn't function as a team any longer.
39:37It functioned as a bunch of self-seeking individuals.
39:42I've never seen anybody that was that high up in the food chain take less responsibility.
39:50This is what killed WCW.
39:52They were fighting within themselves.
39:54They were eating their own.
39:55The wolves.
39:56Who killed WCW?
39:58That's easy.
39:59They were sports.
40:00It would have to be the person with the checkbook.
40:02It would have to be Eric Bischoff.
40:05Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, two guys that had zero knowledge about how to run wrestling,
40:12and they put themselves in a position to tell people like me what to do, and that's what
40:17killed WCW.
40:19As a matter of fact, I'm going to give myself a round of applause for that.
40:24Yes, thank you.
40:25Bro, they took such a drop from where they were to where it was when it was sold and
40:32so much money lost, I don't think anybody could have done anything.
40:36So I would say a business decision killed WCW.
40:41I don't think one person could have killed WCW by any stretch of the imagination.
40:45There were a shitload of people who contributed to its downfall.
40:48I think it's a collection of factors, a number of reasons that explain its demise.
40:53There's plenty of blame to go around, but I think ultimately it was inevitable that
40:57it was going to fall apart.
41:00A good buddy of mine, he's one of my best friends, downtown Bruno.
41:04When I first started, I said, Bruno, give me some advice.
41:07He said, you're going to hear a voice one day, and that voice is going to say, go on
41:12home, the big run's over.
41:15WCW as an entity, they heard that voice, and the big run was over, and it was fucking awesome.
41:24Wow, man, what a run.
41:27It was always about the performances for me.
41:29It was always about the fans.
41:31We were rock stars.
41:34Everywhere we went, it was packed.
41:38The whole WCW experience was a hell of a ride, period.
41:43Let us remember the lessons learned and strived to build a fairer and more equitable future for wrestling.
41:51We've done over 350 or 60 some odd nitros, and a lot of these people are like family to me.
41:57It was a good ride.
41:58It was fun.
41:59You were like a big family, even though you're a dysfunctional family.
42:02You may not get along with everybody, but you're still going to be there when it comes to it.
42:06It was the greatest job.
42:08They let us be as creative as we wanted to be.
42:11The first time I realized WCW was big was my very first show, when I debuted.
42:17There was a palpable energy.
42:18You could feel the crowd.
42:20There's something special and something different about a wrestling fan.
42:25It just blew my mind to see what a big deal WCW really was.
42:31He's got him up!
42:33Those were some great times.
42:34Terrific times.
42:35And it came to an abrupt end like that.
42:37But, hey man, all good things come to an end.
42:43I still think that when it comes down to it, WCW is Eric's creation.
42:47Any success they had was with Eric.
42:50There's nobody on this planet that can look in the mirror and say,
42:54I beat Vince McMahon at professional wrestling for 83 weeks.
43:02It's a pretty fucking huge accomplishment.
43:08Cool.
43:11Time fucks with your head, you know?
43:13It becomes distorted.
43:16My memory is more like a series of photographs.
43:20There's bits and pieces and moments that stand out in my mind.
43:24But as time goes on, they kind of just all blur together.
43:28When I look back at my time during WCW,
43:30the journey, the ups, the downs, the ride all along the way was a rush.
43:35We were the number one wrestling company on television in the world.
43:38Very proud of that.
43:39I was able to experience and achieve things that nobody thought possible.
43:45And I wouldn't have had any of this if it wasn't professional wrestling.
43:48So I'm grateful for every minute of it.
43:50The good, the bad, everything in between.
43:53Very lucky.