A Post Apocalyptic Mafia Game

[SeanDMan]

There was a shakeup in the WCW offices the night following Souled Out as Eric Bischoff was told that he was being removed from his position as head of creative and would now be working with a committee instead.

It's strange timing as many people felt that Souled Out was actually a great show, but there had been murmurings of unhappiness with Bischoff for some time. Among the issues were his reluctance to work with Ric Flair, his lack of enthusiasm to book Bret Hart, his friendship with Hulk Hogan, and Ted Turner's frustration with the cruiserweights.

Bischoff and Flair have never really gotten along, and for a big chunk of December, Bischoff seemed willing to ignore Flair and leave him off TV. Then, Flair returned at Starrcade and played a big part in the finish of the Sting match, and continued to appear on TV after that. While it was written logically and there was nothing to suggest it was a last minute adjustment, some are wondering if this was Turner forcing Bischoff to include Flair. Flair is still under contract and still very over, so not using him doesn't make a great deal of sense. Of course, the problem with using him is that means dealing with him at all and if it's true he and Bischoff are on bad terms, it would explain a lot.

There was also a rumor that Bischoff had gone to Turner and made the sell to bring in Bret Hart, despite the fact that Bischoff doesn't really have a lot of respect for, or plans for, him as a worker, and was done instead to keep his drawing power and workrate away from Vince McMahon. Turner, meanwhile, sank a lot of money both into signing Bret and into the lawyers who have been working on releasing him entirely from Vince's grasp, and he expects some on screen benefit for that investment. Bischoff doesn't tend to book "Bret types", the strong on work, weak on entertainment sort of types, very hard, so that may have been a point of contention.

A big argument broke out following the conclusion of The Giant and Kevin Nash match. While Ted Turner himself doesn't attend events, there are definitely "Turner people" backstage. Supposedly there was a lot of heat after Kevin Nash was left standing tall over The Giant for the second pay per view in a row.  It was felt this was less a Bischoff decision and more a Hogan decision, to keep himself and his friends strong. This may have been the proverbial straw camel. It's been felt that WCW has suffered as friends of Hogan (Hall and Nash) and Bischoff (DDP and to an extent Buff Bagwell) get over at the expense of people WCW used to climb to the top (Sting, Flair, etc).

The end result of everything is that, rather than working alone, Eric Bischoff will now collaborate with Terry Taylor, a Turner guy, and Arn Anderson, who is clearly there on behalf of Flair and "the boys". This might mean a decreased focus on the nWo and an increased focus on Flair in coming months, but that remains to be seen. This Nitro is the last one with Eric having final say; afterwards, the three will collaborate on a script, which Taylor will get to sign off on as Turner's representative, before filming begins. Because of his experience Bischoff will still work as head producer and Anderson will work as the agent in charge of putting together the matches.

The locker room seems to be mixed on the development. Most just seem confused, as Souled Out was thought to be, despite a lack of hype and build and no A level main event like Starrcade, to have come off as just as good of a show. The rating is down which is a disappointment, as Souled Out drew a 0.78 on pay per view, just below the 0.80 Royal Rumble managed and well below the 1.00 Starrcade managed. It's felt that this was a better show than In Your House but managed a worse buyrate, with some speculating business overall is trending down, in which case, it's an odd time to jettison the crew.

Bischoff has made no public comment and declined to offer a comment when asked.

In other WCW news, WCW has made a series of purchases to spend some of the $2.5 million they made the last two months. Firstly, WCW has purchased a Florida soundstage which they have nicknamed "The Mothership". This staging setup, part of the Universal Studios backlot, can accommodate a ring, entrance set up, locker room and various backstage facilities, and a 5,000 person crowd in bleacher seating. The general idea is going to be to replace Saturday Night as a touring show; WCW will air Nitro live on Mondays, tape Thunder in the same state the next night, then tape Saturday Night from Florida with a separate crew on Thursday, then do friday and saturday house shows. This will allow the main attractions to have wednesday and thursday off to their families, then sunday as an off day/travel day.

Negotiations for airtime and stations are still ongoing but it appears WCW intends to start taping and airing Thunder sometime before the summer.

Thirdly, WCW offices purchased three title belts, namely the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team titles, and the AWA World Heavyweight title. The AWA World Heavyweight title had been in the possession of Larry Zybysko, current WCW contracted performer, and Eric Bischoff had good ties to the AWA's late leadership, so expect that belt to be used in angles and show up on TV. Not sure about the other titles, but anything is possible.

The upcoming Nitro will be "Eric Bischoff Appreciation Night", an odd coincidence given the backstage news. What exactly that entails is uncertain but many are speculating it will be somewhat akin to the nWo Nitros or the nWo Souled Out show where Bischoff has more kayfabe control and the show is more of an nWo showcase than a standard Nitro.

It's not sure with the creative shakeup where this leaves future hiring plans or plans for the supposed pay per view in Japan.

On the subject of Japan, a lot of people are reportedly disappointed with Satoshi Kojima. Kojima was brought in to make Malenko look good, like he was a world beater, and their match was okay, but not considered great. Some were critical of Kojima, feeling he used a week off between appearances to enjoy the culture a bit too much, and was bloated and blown up in his feature match.

There was some reader feedback so let's address that before we sign off.

A three part letter from Tkasto, who begins:

Quote

One of my favourite things is Dean Malenko

Dean Malenko has been a workrate staple of WCW's undercard since his debut. While he isn't very tall and isn't absurdly ripped like some of the other WCW roster members, he can work hold and counter hold like very few. He is a perfect fit in and around Ric Flair, even though Malenko is far better technically than Flair ever was (Flair would probably admit as much, though adding he is much better looking). Malenko definitely fills a niche and it's unlikely that he is going anywhere, but unfortunately that also includes up; he is probably in about as big a spot as he's going to get, but hey, not everyone is going directly to the top of the card.

Tkasto continued:

Quote

Raven is just spot on perfect

As for Raven, it's interesting because WCW legitimately could have gotten in a lot of trouble for not delivering Raven vs Benoit at Starrcade (they still haven't had a one on one match) and yet managed to dodge that bullet. Raven has been protected as a character so much that he can be a cowardly heel who dodges every fight, and can also go weeks without showing up, and it makes sense that he wouldn't be there because he's an outsider, he comes and goes as he pleases. Raven is definitely over and definitely has people in the company behind him, so it will be interesting to see what the future holds for one of WCW's more unique acts.

Tkasto finished off by saying:

Quote

Those Royal Rumble results sound like a disaster. Ahmed vs Michaels…

Royal Rumble was not a great show and I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it. As for Wrestlemania, WWF still has time to change the course. Michaels might lose the title or Ahmed might lose his main event shot. There's been a lot of talk that the WWF is desperate to bring in Mike Tyson to get eyes on the product, so what creative direction they go with him will be interesting.

Before we close the issue, let's take a brief look at the TV ratings.

For the first four weeks of 1998, Raw is War delivered a 1.17, 1.12, 1.16, and a 1.17 rating on USA, TSN, and Sky Sports UK. In WCW, Monday Nitro delivered a 1.93, 1.91, 1.85, and a 1.60. While the WWF numbers seem steady, a lot more can be inferred from the WCW numbers. It seems like the product was very hot coming out of Starrcade and a lot of eyes tuned into their first post-Starrcade Nitro. By comparison, the go home show to Starrcade drew a 1.52, so the number was way up. However, it's bad news because WCW has subsequently lost these viewers and is trending down. It is not the end of the world and WCW is still leading, but they are trending in the wrong direction, so it will be interesting to see how a new creative situation and a well thought of pay per view effect the ratings.

Monday, Week 1, February
WCW Monday Nitro (live from Long Beach, California)
3 Weeks Until Superbrawl

The show opens with Ric Flair already in the ring. Ric says they have a lot to celebrate last night, as WCW managed to take the World Tag Team titles back from the nWo. However, Diamond Dallas Page had suffered a terrible loss, both of wife Kimberly and the WCW United Heavyweight championship. Buff Bagwell interjects, and says that he wants a title shot tonight. Flair says Bagwell can have a shot… but he’s going to earn it. Tonight, Buff Bagwell will take on Diamond Dallas Page, and the winner will get a rematch at the title that they lost.

The match begins after the break, with Page on the attack. He seems more violent than before, much less the cerebral, defensive fighter he was against Savage. The announcers can only speculate as to what caused this change. As Page slams Bagwell again, he turns his eyes to the aisleway, as The Macho Man is making his way down to the ring with a chair in hand. Page almost immediately abandons Bagwell, launching himself over the top rope and atop Savage. As the two struggle up to their feet, Page is up first and Page gets the chair. The repeated sounds of metal against flesh sound and echo until the referee finishes counting, giving a slumped over Buff Bagwell a victory by countout.

Coming out of the break, the ring is full of nWo members, with Bischoff pacing back and forth. This was originally meant to be a celebration, but lately, the nWo hasn’t had a lot to celebrate. However, Eric Bischoff is excited to announce that with the success of the video game, WCW/nWo World Tour, a sequel had been announced, nicknamed WCW/nWo Revenge! Bischoff said that in the nWo, he was all about spreading the love, so he produced a duffle bag. He said inside the bag was his share of the royalties, and he wanted to give each and every member of the nWo a taste of that, as a bonus for all their hard work.

Stepping forward from the crowd, comes the Macho Man Randy Savage. Savage notes that some members of the nWo have been more successful than others, and deserved a bigger cut of that pie. Hogan steps forwards and says that Savage is selfish and has a huge ego… which is why he’s such an effective alpha, brother. Hogan pulls out a thick envelope and says it is his own share of the royalties, but since he doesn’t need the cash, Savage is welcome to it.

Then Savage turns to the rest of the group. He says that things have been on a downward curve lately, and the nWo isn’t dominating like it should be. He says that certain people need to adjust their priorities, and instead of worrying about partying, and looking good, they should keep their eyes on the ball. He then turns directly to Buff Bagwell, who protests that it wasn’t his fault… before Savage pulls back and nails Scott Norton with a forearm! The entire nWo then crowd around and lay the boots into Norton before ripping his nWo shirt off and rolling his limp body out of the ring.

After the break, we cut to Chris Jericho, already in the ring, with Roddy Piper standing at ringside. Goldberg’s music hits, and both men turn their attention to the entrance way. A pair of police officers knock on Goldberg’s door, but all of a sudden there is a roar from the crowd, because Goldberg is already in the ring, and he has a chair! He’d slipped in from the crowd and blasts Chris Jericho with the steel chair. Despite it being a blindside attack, the crowd has no love for Jericho, so they cheer along as he is viciously assaulted. The referee throws the match out, having never rung the bell to start it, it officially never happens.

When Goldberg is done beating on Jericho, he grabs a microphone. “Hey Piper!” he shouts, getting the veterans attention. “We’re on the frontlines of a war! It’s time to pick the right side… with my talent, and your knowledge, we can destroy the nWo and cut the cancer out of this company. Or you can go back to Canada and enjoy your retirement.” Goldberg looked down at Jericho and threw down the microphone onto his body, then shouted loud enough for the camera to hear, “your choice!”

Coming back from commercial, it’s the hour one main event as the nWo’s Scott Hall comes down to the ring for a match with The Four Horsemen’s Chris Benoit. The two begin by brawling and both men take turns on offense, one catching a blow and reversing, then the other. When both men have torn off the top layer of the other’s skin and their knuckles have bruised, they settle into wrestling. Benoit has the advantage in terms of technical skill, but Hall doesn’t hesitate to take shortcuts, grabbing trunks and hair to put the brakes on before Benoit can get into stride.

The finish of the match comes when Benoit sets Hall up for a back suplex off the top rope… but Hall counters by poking Benoit in the eye. When Hall gets down, he sets Benoit up for the elevated Outsider’s Edge… when Perry Saturn climbs onto the apron! Hall rushes him and hits him with a forearm, but then is pulled down to the mat by the other members of Raven’s Flock! The Flock members, chief among them Horace Hogan and The Flunky. Once Hall has been subdued, The Flock members carry him into the crowd and out into the arena!

Meanwhile, Raven slides into the ring. He stands face to face with Benoit. The two men seem to be considering putting their past behind them… before members of the nWo slide into the ring! They attack, and Benoit and Raven stand side by side to fight them off… but once they’ve fallen, Benoit and Raven turn on each other and start brawling! Bagwell and Syxx get back in the ring and chaos reigns as the show’s first hour ends.

Coming out of the break, Sting and Luger are backstage, talking about trying to isolate the nWo and take them apart one by one. To that end, Luger has gotten Hulk Hogan, tonight, in a one on one match that hopefully will leave the nWo leader feeling it for weeks. The two are interrupted by shouting in the background as a loud and obviously furious Randy Savage shouts “Where is Raven?” while tearing up the backstage. Sting smirks and says this is the first time he’s been grateful that miserable bastard is around.

Up next is a match between Lex Luger and Hulk Hogan. Hogan tries to reason with Luger, he says his mind isn’t into this match because he’s concerned about Scott Hall, and he says he’ll just walk to the back and Luger can have the countout win. Luger doesn’t accept that and drives his forearm into Hogan’s back! The match pretty much proceeds like that, with Hogan cowering, and Luger clubbering, and clubbering, and clubbering. Luger smartly focuses on Hogan’s back, and Hogan smartly tries to put distance between himself and Luger.

Just when Luger seems to have Hollywood on the ropes, though, the attention of everyone in the building shifts, as Randy Savage has charged out from the back and is shoving over guardrails and chairs. Although The Giant and Sting come out to confront him and chase him to the back, he draws the attention of both Luger and the referee long enough for Hogan to fire an uppercut directly into Luger’s nether realms. Hogan then gets up, dusts off his gloves, and slams Luger in the center of the ring. Leg drop, three count, roll credits on this match.

By this point Savage has slid into the ring. He grabs Hogan almost like he’s going to slug him, but Hogan calms him down and the two begin putting the boots to Luger instead. The crowd roars as Sting slides in, baseball bat in hand. Savage ducks and rolls outside but Hogan isn’t so lucky, and Sting batters him in the ribs, and then across the back. The feed cuts to commercial with Savage and Sting staring at one another, Savage tugging on his own long hair.

When the show comes back, the rinside is absolutely full. The nWo seems to be on one side, with WCW wrestlers crowding the other side, and Ric Flair and Chris Benoit in the middle, keeping them apart. In the ring is Randy Savage. Flair says that while he doesn’t respond well to threats, he does believe in accountability, so he isn’t calling out Raven just because Savage is threatening to kidnap the entire show until Raven comes out, but because Raven needs to take some accountability and answer for his actions. And so, out comes Raven, making the rare entrance from the back, with music, and flocked by… well, The Flock naturally. Raven’s backup might even have more members than the nWo… but none of that matters as the nWo is led by someone crazy, as Randy Savage dives out onto Raven, Flair, Benoit, and the effect of the crash pretty much sends everyone sprawling.

With the locker room more or less all knocked on their asses, Savage has the opportunity to get Raven to himself, and he grabs him and rolls him in, then just starts blasting him with punches. Raven finally gets himself up on the ropes and then Savage takes a run at him and knocks him over the top rope with a clothesline. As Raven tumbles to the outside members of the nWo jump him, and he quickly rushes back inside. He locks up with Savage but Savage quickly hooks him up with a suplex and drops him down, then down onto him with an elbow. Savage calls for a chair and Bagwell throws him one from the outside, which is the point when all hell breaks loose as the WCW roster has had enough of the nWo and charge at them.

With chaos outside, Savage takes a chair and gives Raven a double arm DDT on it. He then sets the chair up on his face, before climbing to the top rope. Savage leaps and crashes down, crushing the chair into the face of Raven. Then, the ring fills, as members of The Flock come charging in. Savage fights them with fists but the numbers game becomes too much, and they pull him, and Raven, into opposite corners. The show fades to black with Savage, rage across his face, and Raven… his face, a bloody mess… smiling?

Saturday, Week 1, February
WCW Saturday Night (live from The Mothership, Florida)
3 Weeks Until Superbrawl

The show opens with a big time fireworks display as this will be the first WCW Saturday Night airing from The Mothership in Florida, the first integrated WCW Power Plant training center and television broadcasting arena. And the show isn’t wasting any time, as the one of a kind tune indicating Hollywood Hulk Hogan plays to signal a rare appearance by the nWo lead here on WCW Saturday Night. Hogan stands alone on one of the ropes and points to Raven, who is sitting ringside. Hogan echoes what Flair said, that Raven needs to be held accountable. Hogan wants Hall back, and he wants Raven to pay a price tonight.

The first match at the new stage is a big one with big stakes, as La Parka, Ernest Miller, and Glacier take on Wrath, Mortis, and Locust. Early on, the match is all Wrath, as he uses his significant size advantage to throw the other trio around. But Glacier manages to get the upper hand, staggering Wrath with kicks and chops. Mortis tags in and he seems evenly matched as Parka and Miller cycle in and out. But with Glacier back in and Locust his opponent, he throws a kick, but Locust catches it, folds him, and then drops him with a leg capture pile driver. Glacier twitches on impact but after Mortis runs interference, he isn’t going to kick out.

Backstage, Meng is walking down a hallway, familiarizing himself with the new arena, when out of nowhere, Goldberg attacks! He spears Meng against a wall which crumbles as his shoulder slams into it. He then squats over the Tongan and slams his fists into his forehead over and over. When Meng is subdued entirely, bleeding and unconscious, Goldberg dusts off his hands and walks away.

After a commercial break, Buff Bagwell was walking backstage when he came across Rick Steiner. Bagwell notes that Steiner hasn’t been doing so well since his better brother has been suspended. Steiner says that while his tag team might be on the sideline for a little while, Bagwell’s partner was an even bigger loser and now Bagwell is nothing more than a pretty face. Bagwell says he’ll meet Steiner in the ring later and they’ll see who the real loser is, and as he storms off, Rick looks very unimpressed.

Coming back from a break, Buff Bagwell and Rick Steiner are both in the ring. They start brawling and seem relatively evenly matched, until Bagwell rakes the eyes to take the advantage. He starts working Rick over, and taunting in between, which the commentators advise against. Sure enough, Bagwell ends up hitting a wall and Rick starts absorbing his shots and shaking them off. He backs Bagwell into a corner, but Bagwell sidesteps the charging shoulder… rolls Steiner up… and puts his feet on the ropes! Bagwell steals a victory and quickly slides out, doing his posing outside of striking range of a furious Rick Steiner.

The next match is Chavo Guerrerro Jr. and Hector Garza, with Eddy Guerrero by their side, against Booker T and Stevie Ray of Harlem Heat. The commentators speculate that this match could have title implications, especially if the Guerrerro Clan can emerge on top. The two teams seem evenly matched, Harlem Heat have a bit of a strength and power advantage while the Guerrerros are quicker and more agile. It looks like that agility might get the job done as Chavo manages to roll up Stevie Ray with a sunset flip… and Eddy reaches in and holds onto Chavo, adding leverage to make the pin! Chavo and Hector bail, and sit on the outside making motions around their waist that they want the belts…

But before the show goes to break, Ric Flair’s music plays throughout the arena. He comes out and says that “crap” like that was fine when Bischoff was running things, but this is The Mothership, this is a WCW show, and shenanigans like that have no place in WCW rings. Flair says that Bischoff isn’t running WCW; he says I am not sure Bischoff can even keep the nWo house in order since “that house seems to be missing a Hall”. He says he spoke to the competition committee and they agree that Hector Garza and Chavo Jr. have earned a title shot, but there are two conditions. One, if Eddy interferes, all three will be suspended 90 days. And the match will happen right now!

So after a brief sponsors break we get a graphic of the beautiful WCW Tag Team Championships to indicate that they are, in fact, on the line. Eddy is not allowed to interfere so he takes a seat at commentary and spends the entire match arguing how unfair the stipulations are, how The Guerrerros had already won a match tonight, etc etc. He also insults a bunch of the other cruiserweights just to be a jerk. This match is much like the other one and it almost seems like it might end the same way, as Chavo hits a sunset flip on Stevie Ray. Ray, however, holds himself up and drops down atop him, throwing haymakers to the grounded Chavo. Chavo gets up as Booker T tags in, and gets knocked back down with an axe kick. Booker knocks Hector off the apron with a superkick and then blasts Chavo with the Harlem Hangover, leaving Eddy shaking his head all the way to the back.

We start the second hour with Rob E. Breeze in the ring. He says today is a warm day on the beaches of Florida but inside The Mothership, everything is cool when Rob E. Breeze is around. Rob says that he was going to just chill tonight and throw on his “Little Green Bag” vinyl but since tonight it is a special night, the takeoff of The Mothership, he felt like he wanted to be a part of it. He says he doesn’t have an opponent but maybe if someone else feels like he does, they’ll come down to the ring and can have a chill, friendly contest against each other.

Out from the back comes Louie Spiccoli. Rob says “Hey dude, I didn’t know you hang out here”, and then welcomes him to get in the ring. The two lock up, and it’s an exhibition for REB, as he batters Spiccoli with spin kicks, drops him with press slams, and hits him with handspring and cartwheel splashes. After dropping Spiccoli with a tiger driver, Rob goes up top and flies off, landing a 450 splash on his downed opponent. Spiccoli isn’t about to get up from that and it’s another impressive win for Rob E. Breeze.

There’s a brief commercial break and when we come back Booker T is on commentary. He said things were getting wild backstage and while he had a glass of champagne, he’s a married man and it’s probably safer out here on the commentary desk. He’s just in time for a showdown between The Forces For Change, Rick Martel and Tito Santana, and their opponents, the Faces of Fear, The Barbarian and Meng. Meng is still sore from his earlier run in with Goldberg. That allows the other side to isolate him and work on his ribs with bearhugs and abdominal stretches. Finally, Meng seems to have the upper hand but Martel counters his irish whip by leaping out of it into a springboard crossbody! The impact to the torso flattens a wounded Meng and drives the air out of him, giving Martel the win. After the match, Martel and Santana make their way to the desk and have some mostly polite words with Booker T.

It is then time for Saturday Night’s main event, as the nWo contingent of Randy Savage and Konnan come out to the ring. Coming out from a side entrance to the building is Kidman and Raven. Savage doesn’t wait for Raven to get into the ring, instead jumping the guardrail and beginning to brawl with him in the crowd! The crowd is on fire as the two brawl in and amongst them while, in the ring, Kidman and Konnan try and have a regular wrestling match. Savage manages to remember he is supposed to be in the ring and rejoins the match legally, but he isn’t in the ring for long as he spots Diamond Dallas Page charging up the ramp! Savage then bails to attack him, and then Raven comes in and attacks them both! Absolute chaos reigns at ringside and then the crowd erupts… Scott Hall is in the ring! Hall kicks Kidman, lifts him in the Outsider’s Edge… and throws him over the top rope, taking out all three men on the outside! The referee has lost complete control and has no choice but to throw the match out as a no contest.

That doesn’t stop the brawl, though, as Hall slides out and, after a wide eyed realization by Randy Savage that his brother is back, the two begin fighting side by side! Kidman and Raven are outnumbered so out spills a bunch of flock lackeys, with Sick Boy, Riggs, Saturn… then out comes Bagwell and Hogan… then out comes Rick Steiner… then Lex Luger and Sting… then a host of WCW officials, Florida State police, pretty much anyone that WCW can find to try and break things up… as bodies start getting pulled away, Hogan, Hall, and Savage end up in the ring.

Hall gets on the microphone. “Hey yo,” he begins. “Now, I appreciate that when I got carried away, my brothers came looking for me, and for once, I wasn’t getting carried away cause I was making bad decisions. I bet a lot of people are wondering, what happened to The Bad Guy. Well, suffice it to say, that Raven… chico, you have a lot to answer for. And for people who speculated, that this attack, means the end of the nWo… you haven’t been paying attention, because when you’re nWo, you’re nWo… for… life chico! Hit the music.”

The show closes with half the roster under arrest and Scott Hall shuffle stepping and posing in the middle of the ring.
 

Edited February 6, 2021 by SeanDMan

[Plubby]

Let's knock off some of that scum rust.

[Ace]

@Molly 🙂

[SeanDMan]

Haha, sixteen is fine. I'm writing things up now at work so we should be playing by the morning,

[Molly]

I could have joined but I'd have only been in it to kill Cloudy and Ace. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

wow

[Molly]

I'm cranky, kinda violent and I hold grudges. 

[SeanDMan]

Tbf, very much how I like my women.

[Meacon Keaton]

@SeanDMan should you need a replacement, I’d be willing to step in. I know you’re getting low in numbers but there’s also been no posts in nearly a day...

[SeanDMan]

Well yeah, but that's the problem isn't it: which inactive player do I replace first? How do I judge who has been more inactive than others?

[Meacon Keaton]

I'll just take all the roles then. It's likely the only way I'll ever win. 

[Molly]

I eagerly await Meacon getting into a heated argument with himself, that drags on for several pages until one of him rage quits.