What If...?

[TMM]

WCW deal falls apart, promotion taking hiatus

The deal between Fusient Media Ventures and AOL-Time Warner to sell WCW to the Eric Bischoff led Fusient contingent apparently fell apart late this past week, leaving the future of World Championship Wrestling in serious doubt.

Apparently the problem stemmed from AOL executive Jamie Kellner, who is now in charge of the programming on AOL stations, stating that he couldn't guarantee the two prime time television time slots on the company's stations. Those two slots were the most attractive thing about WCW to a potential buyer, so when those were pulled, the entire deal changed, and fell apart.

WWF buys WCW

The World Wrestling Federation is buying the ailing World Championship Wrestling business from AOL-Time Warner Inc., ending an intense rivalry that has inflamed professional wrestling fans for nearly 20 years. WCW, a division of AOL's Turner Broadcasting System Inc. unit, had been planning to stop production after Monday night, but the deal announced Friday gives it new life. Stamford, Conn.-based WWF, whose Monday show is the top-rated program on cable TV, said it will carry produce new WCW programming to run on The National Network cable channel.

These were just a handful of the headlines that spread across the internet like wildfire in late March 2001. Eric Bischoff and his Fuscient group failed to agree a deal to buy the company, and Vince McMahon's WWF bought WCW from Ted Turner and AOL-Time Warner, with March 26th's Monday Nitro being the final show under the old WCW-banner, and the emotion of the final night was overshadowed by Vince McMahon appearing on the screen between almost every match and rubbing it in everybody's face that he had delivered the most devastating blow to his competition; he eliminated them by buying them out for a paltry $2m.

Eric Bischoff, former President of WCW during the 1990's attempted to buy the company from AOL-Time Warner with backing from Fuscient Media Ventures, but when the Turner Network executive Jamie Kellner cancelled all WCW programming and kicked WCW off of the station, Bischoff and his investors backed out, claiming that without it's Monday Nitro timeslot "WCW would only be worth...20 bucks."

"With no television to promote the product, Fusient lost interest, and Vince McMahon stepped in, buying WCW the way you would an old grill at a yard sale. Even with all of the company’s problems, I thought that WCW would sell for about $25 million. Instead, Vince picked it up for considerably less. If I’d known was going to be that low, I could have gotten investors and brought the company myself."

An excerpt from 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair's autobiography "To Be The Man", where he claimed he would've bought WCW himself if he knew the company would've sold so cheaply (about $2m in fact). Because Flair expected the sale to cost far more than it did, Flair never made a move.

Neither Bischoff or Flair made any concrete offer to AOL-Time Warner for the company, and it was sold to Vince McMahon. But what if one of them did? What if somebody outbid Vince McMahon?

This is what this diary is about, but the question is; who bought WCW?

(I've decided to relaunch this diary from scratch. I started this originally...wow, over two years ago now and it was one of my most enjoyable diaries when I did it. But it sorta died when I lost interest due to burn-out and what not. Also, looking back at it, there were lots of things I wouldn't be happy with doing now.

Anyway, this is the same backstory I used last time, and it's a short backstory because...well, I feel like it . I'm planning on going the same route I did with it, starting off with lots of backstage segments etc, and I'll get into the actual...ya know, wrestling bit when I'm happy with the rest.)

Edited December 24, 2006 by TMM

[TMM]

THE ANNOUNCEMENT…

Thursday March 22nd 2001

Every member of the roster, every member of staff and everyone who is currently under WCW contract has been asked to travel to the WCW headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia for a special meeting in regards to WCW’s future. They were all gathered in the room which was primarily used from press conferences, awaiting some news.

There was much talk about what was going to happen to WCW. They all needed job security. Many of them had little chance of heading to the WWF for one reason or the other, and because of ECW’s closure earlier in the year, WCW and the WWF were the only solid wrestling companies around. They had all read the reports on the internet about how different buyers were looking to purchase WCW, and how Eric Bischoff himself was amongst those buyers. They didn’t, however know about one other potential buyer.

There was a stir in the room as Eric Bischoff walked in and stood in clear sight of everyone.

Bischoff: Thank you all for coming. I know many of you have had to rush to get here, and there are a few people missing, and I apologise for the short notice, but unfortunately I had little choice in the matter. WCW is about to be sold. Unfortunately not to me, but to Vince McMahon.

That last statement made everybody stir, and there were whispers going around the room.

Bischoff: Vince McMahon has lodged a bid to AOL-Time Warner, and they are more than likely going to accept it. If that happens, some of you will probably get picked up, but I expect a lot of you will be left unemployed and without any job security, including myself. As many of you know, I’ve been trying to put together an offer to buy the company from AOL-Time Warner. However, since that bastard Jamie Kellner has kicked us of TNT and TBS, my investors have backed out. Whatever happens, after Monday night WCW will be going dark.

Other than myself, McMahon is the only other potential buyer to actually state a real interest, and as it stands, Vince McMahon will probably own WCW by this time tomorrow. I do not want that. I’m sure the vast majority of you do not want that either.

Again, there was a lot of chatter amongst the wrestlers and staff.

Bischoff: This company has been losing money for over a year because of a number of factors, and I can understand that as a reason for wanting to sell the company. Time Warner never cared for WCW, and the reason we’ve been on TV all these years is because of Ted Turner himself. He’s shown that he truly cares for this company, but he doesn’t have very much of a say in the running of things anymore. That said, he’s managed to give us one last thing; time. What I mean by this is, he has friends within AOL-Time Warner, and he has called in many, many favours to get them to hold off selling WCW for one week, and one week only.

This news certainly seemed to grab everyone, but it was clear a lot people weren’t quite sure where Bischoff was going with this.

Bischoff: McMahon’s bid is in, and AOL-Time Warner will hold off accepting it for one week, and in that one week, we must find a buyer who can outbid Vince McMahon. We must find a buyer.

Now, I refuse to let McMahon buy this company. This company that we’ve bleed for, because we all know what he’ll do with it. He’ll turn it into a joke, and WCW is not a joke. I want WCW to go on, and I want us to challenge the WWF for years and years to come. So I want to show you these.

Bischoff held up a piece of paper…a contract.

Bischoff: These are one week contracts. Why am I showing you one week contracts? Very simply because if you want to come to work for the new WCW if it finds a backer, you will need to sign these. Anyone who doesn’t will remain under contract to AOL-Time Warner and will receive a guaranteed pay cheque. Signing these contracts mean you will not be paid for this week, but will be a part of WCW if and when it is bought by someone other than McMahon. One thing that I must make clear, is that if you sign these contracts, and if WCW is bought out, your salary will be reduced. This is because WCW will no longer be funded by a billionaire, it'll be funded like any other sports franchise; by what comes in and what goes out. As of right now, two men have already signed these contracts, making their AOL-Time Warner contracts null and void as of right now, meaning they will not be receiving a cent from them ever again.

Bischoff points to the two men at the front, who nod in return.

Bischoff: Ric Flair and Steve Borden. The two biggest names in WCW history believe that something will happen. It’s up to all of you to decide what to do. I know it’s a difficult decision to make, but I know some of you will be willing to make this ‘leap of faith’ so to speak. You have 24 hours to make a decision. Thank you for coming.

Bischoff turned around and left the room, leaving the conference room full of wrestlers, writers, announcers, road agents and tea ladies behind, as they conversation erupted, and the questioning about what to do began.

Edited December 25, 2006 by TMM

[TMM]

DECISION TIME…

Friday March 23rd 2001

Eric Bischoff walked into WCW headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia the day after giving the crew of WCW the difficult choice of whether to stay with WCW and hope for a miracle, or to stay with AOL-Time Warner and pick up a steady pay cheque.

Bischoff headed for his office, only to be greeted by a great big pile of papers. Normally this sight would make Bischoff turn around and walk, but today he was overjoyed to see such a pile because it meant that many of the WCW roster and staff had signed his one week contract.

He looked over the list of contracts, and saw many names he was happy with, but was more concerned with the names that were missing.

Air Paris

Air Styles

Alan Funk

Alex Wright

Big Vito

Billy Kidman

Booker T

Brian Adams

Bryan Clarke

Cash

Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Chris Kanyon

Christopher Daniels

Chuck Palumbo

DDP

Disqo

Elix Skipper

Ernest Miller

Evan Karagias

Hugh Morrus

Jamie Knoble

Jason Jett

Johnny The Bull

Kaz Hayashi

Kid Romeo

Lance Storm

Lash LeRoux

Leia Meow

Mark Jindrak

Midajah

Mike Awesome

Michael Modest

Mike Sanders

Paisley

Reno

Rey Misterio Jr.

Scott Steiner

Sean O’Haire

Shane Helms

Shannon Moore

Shawn Stasiak

Stacy Keibler

The Wall

Torrie Wilson

Yang

Bam Bam Bigelow, Brian Knobbs, Buff Bagwell, Dusty and Dustin Rhodes, Goldberg, the Harris Brothers, Jeff Jarrett, Jimmy Hart, Kevin Nash, Larry Zbyszko, Lex Luger, Norman Smiley, Rick Steiner, Road Warrior Animal, Shane Douglas, Sid…all names missing from his pile of signed contracts. Most of them very big names. Most of the ones that had signed were fair bets, and to be honest, Bischoff had expected them to. Scott Steiner however, was someone who he expected to be a little cautious about taking a salary drop, so Steiner surprised him.

Goldberg and Jeff Jarrett were the two he was worrying about the most, but guys like Douglas, Nash, Bagwell and Luger were guys he wanted with the company as well if it was bought.

AOL-Time Warner gave him the 24-hour deadline so they could have everything in place should a buy-out occur, and Bischoff presumed that they would stick to that rule, but he needed a lot of time to talk to the men that had yet to sign.

In addition to talking to those men, he also had another very pressing matter; finding a buyer. Bischoff had been getting very little sleep over the past couple of months, trying to put together an offer for WCW with Fuscient, but when he found out Turner Network’s wouldn’t be keeping WCW programming on TV, all of Bischoff’s hard work was for nothing because Fuscient pulled out. Since then, Bischoff had been in meeting after meeting, been phoning countless money men trying to find an investor, but without TV nobody was very interested. He was running out of options, which meant WCW was running out of time.

AN IDEA…

Bischoff was sitting in his office, having just got off the phone with Jimmy Hart. Hart explained that his reasons for not signing the one week contract was because he was looking into other options outside of WCW, and said Brain Knobbs had left for the same reason. He explained that they were looking at a number of options for their careers. Bischoff didn’t know what he meant by that, but figured that neither Knobbs nor Hart would be a great loss. During the day he also received a text message from Road Warrior Animal. A text message! In it, Animal explained that he and Hawk had decided that the time was right for the two of them to work together again as the Road Warriors. Again, Bischoff wasn’t to bothered by this, and believed that Animal was pretty much useless without Hawk.

Throughout the day, both Bam Bam Bigelow and Sid had contacted Bischoff to explain they were both retiring; Sid because of his horrific leg break earlier that year and Bigelow because he needed time away from the ring, possibly permanently. Bischoff was sad to see Sid go because he was hugely popular with WCW fans, but Bischoff knew that Sid would probably never set foot in a ring ever again. Bigelow, well Bischoff was never really sure quite what made Bigelow as popular as he once was, so Bigelow’s departure didn’t mean a great deal to him.

Bischoff was just about ready to leave and head off to yet another meeting when both Steve Borden and Ric Flair walked in. Bischoff was a bit surprised, seen as they had both signed the week contract that he had issued yesterday, but presumed they were here to find out if Bischoff had had any luck.

Bischoff: Steve, Ric, how can I help you guys?

Borden: I’m guessing by that response that you’ve had no luck finding a backer then? Didn’t think so. We’ve been making a couple of calls, and nothing’s happening.

Flair: I hope you’re not planning on giving up though Bischoff, because I have no intention of working for McMahon right now. Unlike you Bischoff, I have no problems with McMahon, and I’d gladly go work for him if this thing falls through. But I’m WCW Bischoff, me and Steve both.

Borden: We’ve been discussing an idea Eric…and I think it’s gonna have to come down to this, because nothing else seems to be happening, and things have had since August to happen, and if nothing’s gone down by now, I hate to say it, but I don’t think it’ll happen now.

Bischoff: …what?

Flair: The buyout Bischoff. Your investors chickened out and fucked off, and nobody else has so much as sniffed around this place. WCW is a ship that has sunk, only nobody wants to admit it.

Bischoff: Well, I wouldn’t quite put it like that Ric, I mean…

Flair: Nobody’s going to ride in on a white horse this time Bischoff.

Bischoff: Well if you feel like that, why the hell did you sign away the money from AOL-Time Warner? Easy money to sit on your backsides all day long until your contracts expire. Maybe take part in some shitty game show or reality TV show, but you signed that all away yesterday. So explain to me why you did that if you think WCW is going to McMahon?

Borden: That’s actually why we’re here Eric…we’ll buy WCW.

Bischoff was stunned; completely and utterly. His mouth was wide open and all. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Bischoff: You want to do what? Buy WCW? Listen, I don’t want to say this, but I have more money than either of you and I can’t afford to buy and run WCW, not to mention you Flair; you spend money like it’s going out of fashion! So how do you two expect to do it?

Borden: You weren’t listening to me Eric…I said WE will buy WCW; the three of us!

Edited January 2, 2007 by TMM

[TMM]

DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES…

Friday March 23rd 2001

Bischoff: The…three of us?

Bischoff was just…just totally shocked. Flair and Sting buying WCW together was shocking enough, but Sting suggesting that he, Flair and Bischoff buy the company TOGETHER…that was a suggestion Bischoff wasn’t expecting.

Bischoff: The three of us? Together? Working together…to buy WCW…and run it? No offence Steve…but are you crazy? The three of us would never work!

Borden: Do explain Eric.

Bischoff: Well…uh….well, Ric and I don’t get on.

Flair: This is business Bischoff, this isn’t personal. This is about the future of WCW.

Bischoff: Yes…well, but…there’s also…

Flair: I told you it was a bad idea Steve.

Flair was ready to leave when Bischoff realised that he really didn’t have any other choice.

Bischoff: Wait! Ok wait, I don’t like this idea, and obviously neither do you Ric. But this is the only idea anybody has even come up with…so, as much as I may not like it, and as much as I may think it’s not going to work, it’s the only option WCW has. Look, we need to sit down and talk this through properly…

THE DEAL…

Friday March 23rd 2001

After hours and hours of conversations, arguments and ideas, Eric Bischoff, Steve Borden and Ric Flair had come to a decision; they would buy WCW, and run it together!

Borden: So we’re in agreement; the three of us will put together our resources and make this thing work. We’ll put aside whatever differences we have with each other for the good of the company and the boys.

Flair: No decisions are made without the others knowledge and blessing…I’m talking to you Bischoff. I know the sort of deals that you signed guys like Hogan and Nash to, those ‘creative control’ clauses, and that won’t happen. That’s my condition in all of this.

Bischoff: For your information Ric; those ‘creative control’ clauses you dislike so much were to make sure guys like Nash and Hogan weren’t exposed in the ring! Not everyone can be Ric Flair! Those guys were…ARE popular today Ric and that was what those contracts were about! Oh, and don’t forget you had ‘creative control’ when you were booking things Ric, so don’t go all high and mighty on me!

Flair got up as if he was about to lay him out, but Borden quickly jumped in his way and stopped him. Bischoff was nearly under his desk by this time. Borden quickly got Flair to calm down, and the three men sat down again.

Borden: If this sort of crap is going to happen in every meeting, this will never work. We need to let bygones be bygones. If we buy WCW, it’ll be a new WCW. Not the same WCW where David Arquette and Vince Russo were World champions; that WCW dies if we buy the company. When that company dies, we start a new one, and I want any animosity to be buried with the old WCW because otherwise we have no deal.

Both Bischoff and Flair stirred in their seats, feeling like the two unruly kids who’d been sent to the principal’s office. They both looked at each other, and Ric Flair extended his hand in the direction of Eric Bischoff, much to Bischoff’s shock and surprise. But he didn’t let it show. Instead he let Flair’s hand hang their for a few seconds before telling himself that he’s bigger than this, and that he is better than Flair. He convinced himself that Flair was just offering this peace gesture out of respect for Steve Borden, not because he gave a shit about Bischoff. ‘No way am I ever going to let Ric Flair look like the bigger man in front of me,’ he thought, and grabbed Ric Flair’s hand and gave him a firm handshake…and a fake smile.

[Guest Makegamesnotwar]

Pretty good backstory that sets up some interesting possibilities-

How would a combined team of Flair, Borden and Bischoff book a promotion, who would they hire? Would they fall into the trap that WCW fell into under Ole Anderson and later, hiring and putting their friends in main events, while putting a big glass ceiling over the talented younger midcarders? Besides the WCW talent, could this company compete with the WWF in acquiring Indy talent? Would Flair and Borden wrestle, Bischoff still be an on-air personality or would they decide that those type of deals always end badly for WCW? How would Vince react? Would they recruit from ECW or the Indies, use the Mexican and Japanese wrestlers that put on great matches in the undercard before the awful but dramatic and popular main events usually involving wrestlers over 40 and would they use that strategy, or decide to build new talent and push the people who weren't pushed in WCW and became stars in the WWF?

Questions galore. Pretty cool backstory, despite that I have just a little gripe about this "What If?" venture right now and it's this-

From what I've read and heard, it seems rather unlikely that this would happen(but that's easy suspension of disbelief of you deliver on a compelling backstory which you have) but- well- Eric Bischoff doesn't speak like that. At least from my estimation. The reaction from the back by 2001 seemed to be one of general dislike of Bischoff and I don't know if so many wrestlers who disliked him would stay on. Whatever. Just nitpicking.

Well, despite those questions(even though I said I only had 1 gripe, it was more of a series of interconnected gripes) this seems like it's going to rock.

Good luck.

[TMM]

Pretty good backstory that sets up some interesting possibilities-

How would a combined team of Flair, Borden and Bischoff book a promotion, who would they hire? Would they fall into the trap that WCW fell into under Ole Anderson and later, hiring and putting their friends in main events, while putting a big glass ceiling over the talented younger midcarders? Besides the WCW talent, could this company compete with the WWF in acquiring Indy talent? Would Flair and Borden wrestle, Bischoff still be an on-air personality or would they decide that those type of deals always end badly for WCW? How would Vince react? Would they recruit from ECW or the Indies, use the Mexican and Japanese wrestlers that put on great matches in the undercard before the awful but dramatic and popular main events usually involving wrestlers over 40 and would they use that strategy, or decide to build new talent and push the people who weren't pushed in WCW and became stars in the WWF?

Questions galore. Pretty cool backstory, despite that I have just a little gripe about this "What If?" venture right now and it's this-

From what I've read and heard, it seems rather unlikely that this would happen(but that's easy suspension of disbelief of you deliver on a compelling backstory which you have) but- well- Eric Bischoff doesn't speak like that. At least from my estimation. The reaction from the back by 2001 seemed to be one of general dislike of Bischoff and I don't know if so many wrestlers who disliked him would stay on. Whatever. Just nitpicking.

Well, despite those questions(even though I said I only had 1 gripe, it was more of a series of interconnected gripes) this seems like it's going to rock.

Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback.

I see what you're saying about Bischoff not speaking like that, but to be fair, nobody really knows? From what I've heard, he has an ego (duh!). He had heat with Flair, so that's where the whole 'one-upmanship' comes from there. The way I've worked his character is going on a mixture of stuff from what I've heard about him on the net, and some excerpts I've read from his book, but yeah, it's all about suspension of disbelief.

The three of them buying WCW together, well, I don't see that as to much of a stretch. Bischoff couldn't buy it by himself, and Flair (by all accounts) does actually spend money like it's going out of fashion, so I see it as a compromise because they need one another. And Sting's their middle man .

People disliked him true, but I don't particularly see it as them being loyal to him, just to WCW. Guys like the NBT wouldn't be given a chance elsewhere, guys like DDP, Booker, Kanyon and Disqo had been there for years, not to mention the WWF is the only other company in town. ECW is closed and nowhere else would be able to pay a lot of these guys what they were making in WCW.

But yeah, I do see what you're saying so I thought I'd give a bit of my own explaination here for ya or anyone else who may be thinking the same maybe.

Just to let people know, the next few updates will be stuff like news reports. My general way of doing this particular diary has always been to start off strong with the character stuff, and then once I've laid the basis, I'll use a lot of things like news and rumours, so that's what you'll be seeing soon.

[TMM]

FINALISING THE DEAL…

Friday March 23rd 2001

Ric Flair and Steve Borden left Eric Bischoff’s office several hours later after the three had finally agreed to buy WCW from AOL-Time Warner. Agreed to buy WCW; finally it was going to happen. Bischoff would own WCW! Not quite how he had hoped for, but still, he would have true control. Shared control, but control nonetheless. Tomorrow morning Bischoff would contact Ted Turner and get a meeting set up with AOL-Time Warner. This time next week, and as long as everything went smoothly Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair and Steve Borden would own WCW.

Bischoff grabbed some things and left his office, tired and ready to go home. He got half-way down the corridor when one of the secretaries at WCW headquarters flagged him down and handed him a bundle of papers. Bischoff wasn’t in the mood for this, but looked through the pile and quickly realised it was more contracts! He noticed that all of the WCW referees had signed the contracts, and amongst the other names he saw were Norman Smiley, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Arn Anderson, Madusa, Paul Orndorff and several others. He was happy, because this meant that with at least Paul Orndorff ad Madusa on board, the Power Plant would…’Shit! The Power Plant…I completely forgot about that’, and Bischoff quickly realised how difficult this was going to be. Commentators, but no TV deals. Trainers, but no facilities. Referee’s, but no matches. Wrestlers, but no events. Things had to be done very quickly for people to stay happy, and he knew some people would be very impatient.

Bischoff also silently cursed to himself again when he realised that the deadline that AOL-Time Warner had set for wrestlers to switch contracts had been and gone, and there was still so many big, big guys still unsigned. Jarrett. Goldberg. Nash. ‘Shit’, and Bischoff quickly pulled out his cell phone and tried to get through to someone, anyone at AOL-Time Warner who could sort this out.

After being on hold for what seemed like an eternity, he finally got through to somebody useful. After explaining the situation, and after saying a deal was going to be laid out soon, the representative told Bischoff that he could have another two days to get the contracts sorted out, and after that they were final. They explained that they had no desire to pay people they have no use for, but they can’t outright fire them for no reason, so they need everything finalised by Sunday night, otherwise guys like Jeff Jarrett and Bill Goldberg would be stuck on AOL-Time Warner contracts until they expired, which for Goldberg was at least two more years.

When Bischoff left his office for a second time, he realised that, apart from the cleaners, he was the only one left in the building. Looking at his watch he saw it was coming up to 11pm. Bischoff had come in at 8am! Bischoff figured he had to get a lot of sleep tonight, because tomorrow would be the make or break day for the future of WCW.

Edited December 25, 2006 by TMM

[Guest Makegamesnotwar]

I read your response to my feedback and all I can say is... wow! What a kind, thoughtful response to my criticisms and critiques, along with my gushing and marking out. In the small time I have been on EWB IV, let alone including my days on older versions of this board that is one of the best responses I have ever gotten. You took my constructive criticisms to heart, helped explain points of the diary that I was stuck on, addressed my concerns in a polite and fair manner, and overall did everything someone who posts feedback to a diary would want from the diary writer. Thank you.

Your points on the speaking style of Eric Bischoff seem to be dead on as I continue through the wonderful holiday present I received The Death Of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Brian Alvarez, it sheds more light on this part of wrestling history that I am not as knowledgeable about as say- WWF 2000-2004, when my wrestling fanaticism was at it's peak. Your reference to Borden as the middle man, the one who plays referee in the ego struggle between Bischoff and Flair seems to lead to rather interesting backstage happenings. As to your comment about getting the characters set down before starting the "real" stuff, the cards, you have achieved doing so in my estimation. The difference between loyalty to Bischoff, Flair and Borden and loyalty to WCW is a key factor that I missed when reading the backstory the first time. Speaking of Bischoff's book, I should pick that up, it seems that and the combined RF video and highspots shoot interviews are very helpful supplements towards enjoying diaries where the WCW ego battles are a factor.

Anyway, onto the latest post-

Who betta than Kanyon? Well, a bunch of people but Chris Kanyon still rocks the block and can raise a roof(no, I'm not at all hip so excuse my terminology) with the best of them. Hope he gets a nice push. DDP is an underused wrestler who can both cut a promo(acting as a very effective manager) and wrestle a decent match. Disqo is the same sort of thing. I usually end up hiring one if not all three of them in my games.

Bischoff's realization that this might be a bit harder than just starting the old band back up is classic and very spot-on from what I know of him. I know Bischoff to party with Hogan and spend a K of Turner's money easy, and to see him act like that is seemingly in character for the real Bischoff. Also, I like Bischoff working from 8 am to 11 pm on this, a schedule that indicates that he may have learned from some of his mistakes and really put his heart into this instead of coasting along on his(successful) formula of great undercards and money-drawing but lackluster main event matches between the Hogans and Nashes of the world. Of course, he can't use that formula any more because he won't have the Hogans and Nashes of the world for the most part available to him. Albeit, Ric Flair does spend money like it's going out of style and he could lure some of the big names over with wads of cash. Though I hope you don't bring in lots of big money free agents and really make this about the trio trying to build up their own talent from their existing wrestlers, development system and the indies instead of just grabbing Hogan, Nash, Goldberg, etc.

I'm not that keen on Bischoff getting another extension to the contracts so he can get everything in place but it does seem necessary in order to set the new WCW up for them to have a bit more time to get their stuff together. Just nitpicking.

This diary has all been very well done so far and seems to be on a very good course. I'm still reading, and I'm still enjoying it.

[TMM]

I don't believe in addressing criticism with a "no u r wrong!" responce. Dunno, I just always read what people reply and to be honest, kind of like explaining those sort of things. If ever anything doesn't make total sense, I can always just explain it.

Just want to address one thing:

I'm not that keen on Bischoff getting another extension to the contracts so he can get everything in place but it does seem necessary in order to set the new WCW up for them to have a bit more time to get their stuff together. Just nitpicking.

This diary has all been very well done so far and seems to be on a very good course. I'm still reading, and I'm still enjoying it.

The reason I gave him an extension is because, well, it's saving AOL-Time Warner money. The deadline was there because, well, deadlines are fun. But they gave the extension because basically by doing so it means Bischoff would have more time to take the biggest contracts off their hands (Goldberg, Nash etc), thus meaning they would have to shell out less money to (essentially) a bunch of talentless guys who are only known by wrestling fans, and would suck anywhere else.

[TMM]

FINALISING THE DEAL…PART II

Saturday 24th March 2001

For the second day in a row Steve Borden and Ric Flair met up with Eric Bischoff in his office and tried to come to an agreement about what exactly to do.

Bischoff: Right…we’ve got a meeting with Time Warner execs Monday afternoon.

Flair: Monday afternoon? We’ve got Nitro that night!

Bischoff: Unfortunately Ric, Time Warner really couldn’t give a shit about WCW at this point in time. Hell, half of them have probably never heard of Ric Flair or Sting.

Borden: I wouldn’t be surprised. But couldn’t this be done Tuesday? Maybe even tomorrow? Why Monday?

Bischoff: Well, apparently they want to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. So I asked why not tomorrow; the reply was very apathetic. They couldn’t care.

Flair: They have no respect, it makes me sick.

Bischoff: Like I said, they see WCW, no wrestling as an embarrassment. Which could work in our favour.

Flair and Borden: What?

Bischoff: They don’t care for WCW. They want to get rid of the company as quickly as possible. When I was trying to put together a package with Fuscient we were willing to go about fifteen mil, but I think they’re willing to sell it for much, much less than that. From what I’ve managed to find out, apparently McMahon’s bid was well under the five million mark, and they were willing to accept that.

Borden: Under five million? Wow, Ric and I expected a hell of a lot more; something like $20million maybe, but less than five?

Flair: What’s this amount getting McMahon?

‘He thinks I’m bullshitting him,’ Bischoff thought.

Bischoff: The libraries and the trademarks, and I think a number of contracts, but don’t know who’s. Luckily we don’t have to buyout any contracts, but we do need to purchase the Power Plant.

Borden: Yeah, I was wondering about that. I looked over the contracts and without the Power Plant, guys like Dwayne Bruce and Orndorff would be wasted. Any idea how much that’d set us back?

Bischoff: I’m not sure. But I think the best way to go is to make a flat offer for everything; trademarks, video and photo libraries and for the Power Plant. If we get drawn into negotiating separate prices for each separate thing, it could go on forever, and could cost a lot more than we want.

The trio discussed the highest amount they’d go for, as well as numerous other things until they reached an agreement quite a while later. There was still one more matter left on the agenda.

Borden: We’ve still got the matter of a number of guys who have yet to sign contracts. I spoke to both Lex (Luger) and Marcus (Bagwell) this morning and they said they’ll sign. They weren’t sure what was going to happen, but now they know who was going to be in charge, there both willing to sign.

‘Oh great, some of Sting’s friends. I thought I could get rid of them,’ Bischoff thought.

Bischoff: Well, I can talk to Nash and a couple of others…

Flair: Woah, Nash? I think I speak for everyone when I say that we can live without Kevin Nash.

Borden: Yeah, I’ve gotta agree with Ric here Eric. Nash is a name for sure, but I think we should be starting anew; pushing younger guys.

‘What do these two know? I led this company through it’s most successful period!’ Bischoff tried very hard not to say that out loud, but still had to say something.

Bischoff: No offence Steve, but you just said that you’d be able to bring Luger in. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t Luger been ‘at the top’ even longer than Nash?

Flair: Here we go…

Bischoff: What I’m trying to say, is that we should give Nash the offer. Sure he’ll probably turn down the offer of a salary cut, and then it’ll be fine and dandy, but we should leave that up to him.

Flair and Borden both stood there and realised they would reluctantly have to agree.

Borden: You’re right Eric. Talk to Nash, see what he says and Ric will talk to Jarrett. I’ll speak to Dusty and Dustin.

Bischoff: Yeah I’ve got a few others to speak to as well. We’ll leave this until Monday before the meeting and we’ll see how everything goes.

After a few more words, Flair and Sting left the office, and Bischoff picked up his telephone…and dialled Kevin Nash’s phone number.

Edited December 30, 2006 by TMM

[TMM]

FINALISING THE DEAL…PART III

Saturday 24th March 2001

The phone rang and rang, and Bischoff was beginning to get impatient. He had been trying to get a hold of Nash for nearly an hour, and he was ready to give up and forget the name ‘Kevin Nash’ when Bischoff finally got an answer.

Nash: Hey Eric.

Bischoff: Uh, hi…hi Kev!

Nash: Wow, you’d think I just rang you. You sound shocked to be speaking to me man!

Bischoff: Well…truth be told I am Kev; I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for almost an hour.

Nash: Really? Well, must be important then.

Bischoff: Well it…

Nash: No no Eric, lemme guess. Hmmmm…this is about those contracts you’re trying to get everyone to sign right? Yeah, so you can get them off of the Time Warner contracts…

Bischoff: Actually it is…

Nash: …and if they do that, they have to take a salary cut right? Yeah, I’m not signing it Eric.

‘What!?!’ Bischoff thought. That son of a bitch, after everything he had done for him since he came into WCW! Bischoff couldn’t believe Nash’s outright refusal. He expected it, but that didn’t mean he was suppose to actually believe Nash would do it.

Bischoff: What do you mean you’re not signing it? Don’t you see Kev? This is a new start for WCW! It can be a new start for you as well!

Nash: Yeah…but why should I care about a new start Bisch? I’m 41 and my knees are pretty shitty. What I’m saying is; what’s in it for me?

Bischoff expected this as well. Nash was always after something, and Bischoff knew that with Flair and Borden not particularly trusting him anyway, he’d never be able to give Nash any form of special treatment if he wanted to. It occurred to Bischoff that he wasn’t quite sure whether he did want to give Nash any special treatment anyway.

Bischoff: The same that everyone else gets; to work for WCW. That’s it. No special treatment Kev, I can’t do it this time around.

Nash: Woah man! Hold your horses Eric, what makes you think I’m asking for special treatment? I wanna know what’s in it for me. To be quite honest man, I’ve done it all. WWF champ, WCW champ, there’s nothing left. To be honest, I been thinking about retiring.

Bischoff: Retire? You can’t just retire Kev! We’ve only got Flair, Sting, Booker and Steiner on board right now! WCW needs names! We’ll fall at the first hurdle without big names!

Nash: Ok…ok I hear you Eric. So I ask you again; what’s in it for me?

Bischoff’s conversation with Nash continued for another half an hour before Eric Bischoff finally convinced Kevin Nash to take a pay cut and join the new WCW. Bischoff faxed over the one-week contract to Nash, and Nash got it back to him within the hour.

Bischoff ended the day with a glass of whiskey in one hand, and Nash’s contract in the other. Bischoff couldn’t think about anything else other a question that kept going round and round in his head:

‘What have I done?’

[pokerfreak]

I'm loving this diary so far, I'll be a regular reader. I only have one question. Now I know AOL - Time Warner were trying ot get rid of WCW quickly, I'm not sure if it was just who gave the highest bid, or if they would have recontacted Vince and told him what Bish, Flair and Sting would be offering, because surely if Vince could give another offer he would beable to blow Flairs, Stings, and Bish's offer out of the water, not only that but he would likley be more than willing to blow it out of the water since he would be buying his only real competition.

[Toasterovenmakingtoast]

This is one of the only diaries that I am going to read. Man I hate when I read a diary and get to the last post and I am like "damn".

[Cole]

I'm really, really loving it so far. I was a huge, huge WCW fan during their heyday and now looking back on it I was extremely unhappy seeing it go. With you writing this I'm pretty damn confident I can enjoy this and really reflect on what WCW once was, or even could have been if it would have continued on.

I'm liking what you're doing writing wise to start, Sting and Flair teaming up to buy the company was a little predictable in my mind but I still like it. I can tell the uneasy relationship is going to continue with the three during the time, and I'm loving it. I'm just hoping you keep the backstage stuff going while still producing the on-screen product, it'd be great to see the daily arguments between the three on booking and whatnot. As well as their conversations with other workers, etc, etc.

Keep it up, I guess I'm really looking forward to reading some more.

[CDuffy26]

I like the idea of you restricting yourself, not being able to keep all the big-names such as Goldberg forces you to build new stars. Can't wait to see where this goes, I'll be reading.

[TMM]

I'm loving this diary so far, I'll be a regular reader. I only have one question. Now I know AOL - Time Warner were trying ot get rid of WCW quickly, I'm not sure if it was just who gave the highest bid, or if they would have recontacted Vince and told him what Bish, Flair and Sting would be offering, because surely if Vince could give another offer he would beable to blow Flairs, Stings, and Bish's offer out of the water, not only that but he would likley be more than willing to blow it out of the water since he would be buying his only real competition.

Well, as far as I know, Time Warner were all ready to sell WCW to Bischoff and Fuscient until Nitro and Thunder were taken off the air, then Bischoff's group pulled out. As far as I'm aware, Vince never really showed any interest in buying WCW until that point.

Also (and I may be making this up) but I'm fairly certain that if there are two groups trying to buy a company/player/whatever, the group who actually owns the aforementioned thing doesn't actually have to tell the interested parties that there are other bidders, and how much they're offering. Besides, Eric Bischoff, Flair and Sting are current/former Time Warner employees, so I assume that, even if you don't give a shit about them, there must be a teensy tiny bit of loyalty there. Not to mention Ted Turner still has a minute amount of control, and he wouldn't sell WCW to Vince McMahon over his dead body if there was another bid.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'll hopefully be able to get an update in tonight, and a couple in over the weekend. The one tonight will be the meeting between the trio and Time Warner, and I'm going to do it as if it were just a chapter, without dialogue (mostly) because it'd be far more interesting that way I think.

Once I get this "under-way" I'll be doing a mixture of news reports and backstage stuff to keep it different and (hopefully) interesting. So after my next update (the meeting), and assuming all goes well and the trio do actually buy WCW () expect a news update.

[Renegade]

Nice diary. I like the back story. With 3 owners, it allows a lot of different booking opportunities, such as them going behind each others backs and stuff. The behind the scenes happenings seem like they could be as big as the actual shows, so thats gonna be cool to read.

[Guest Makegamesnotwar]

This diary is an example to others- even if you don't get feedback or even just one loyal fan posting, keep on doing your thing and it'll gain a following. But on the other hand, I'm feeling a bit jealous that other people are now reading my secret little obscure diary favorite. Though that's awesome and I hope it gives you even more inspiration to keep on keeping on, TMM. The last few posts have been wonderful and this reply is going to be much shorter than my usual.

My usual being paragraphs of feedback that is. Because, frankly, I don't have anything to really complain about. I mean, Eric's thoughts are just getting better and better, seeming very true to what I've read of him. You have assuaged my doubts about this diary, few as they were. Especially Eric Bischoff's tone, as he has become one the most interesting backstage character in EWB now. Pretty much, it's all good, keep it up and good luck on the first card which I'm sure will kick various body parts and open up cans of distilled whoopin' on our candied bums.

Oh, that was paragraphs of feedback. Well, when a diary is good, it's good. And this is real good. Definitely in the top five, maybe even top three of my favorite diaries, and just keeps on rising.

[TMM]

FINALISING THE DEAL…PART IV

Monday 26th March 2001

The meeting started at around 10am. Everyone was grateful for the early start because it meant they’d be able to hopefully finalise everything and then get on with their day. In Ric Flair, Steve Borden and Eric Bischoff’s case, it meant getting down to Panama City for Nitro. It’d be tight, but they hoped they would have plenty of time. Everything had been laid out, and the trio had agreed that they would book tonight’s show as if they truly didn’t know what WCW’s fate was.

Bischoff was doing the talking, and the meeting started off well, with the trio laying out their ground rules. They explained what they wanted for their money, and the AOL-Time Warner officials seemed to be listening well. They wanted the trademarks, the Power Plant, the tape and photo libraries…and they wanted a timeslot. Time Warner had no intention of giving WCW any time on Turner Network Television, and they were not budging. Bischoff kept pushing, but he knew there was no chance, but he Flair and Borden all knew that if their purchase of WCW went through, they’d need TV, and they’d need it soon.

Eventually Bischoff dropped a timeslot from what they wanted, and negotiations started to go a lot smoother. It finally came down to a price, and Bischoff was shocked when he was told that what they wanted would cost them upwards of $5million. Bischoff knew, he KNEW that McMahon was offering considerably less, yet they were ready to accept his bid. The three men spoke about a price, and had agreed that if Time Warner were going to accept a $2million offer from Vince McMahon, they would go as high as $3.5million. But $5million!?! That would be out of their price range. Bischoff was a good negotiator, he knew it and so did his two partners, but Bischoff didn’t think he’d be able to knock at least $2million off the price, so Bischoff was going to play his wildcard. Bischoff told them that he knew how much McMahon was offering, and they weren’t willing to pay a penny more. Time Warner were not happy with that at all. They demanded to know were Bischoff got that information from, but Bischoff would not tell give them a thing.

Bischoff tried to turn the negotiations on its head, and accused Time Warner of trying to essentially screw three men who had been on their payroll for years. Bischoff demanded to know why. Unsurprisingly to Bischoff, the representatives weren’t very talkative on that matter, so Bischoff finally laid out an offer; $2million. Bischoff explained that they instead of contracts, they wanted a facility, but other than that they would get everything Vince McMahon was going to get for the same offer. Bischoff thought it was a fair offer from someone who did everything within his power to make money for Time Warner over the years.

Later…

Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair and Steve Borden shook hands with the AOL-Time Warner representatives to signify the finalisation of the negotiations. WCW was finally theirs. Two and a half million dollars; pretty much what they had wanted, but they didn’t mean they weren’t surprised. There was a small part of each of them that expected the offer to be thrown out, and believed McMahon would buy WCW from under their noses. But no; they now owned WCW.

Well that's done. I might have another chapter up tonight, but it's more likely to expect it tomorrow.

[Kal_Jordan]

TMM

I'm not usually one for reading diaries. The ones I do read are often WCW based and they often start with a formula of "No more nWo, push the Cruiserwights and CM Punk" and thats it.

At the first the title of "WCW What if", seemed to be in same ilk as the others, but I am very impressed. The comments so far are so true, this should be the makings of a really good diary that has the reader hooked. You have a very intelligent base of ideas that will hopefully grow into a great mix of Sports Entertainment/Business Drama.

I'm very curious to see where this goes and I do hope you have plans to really run with this "Holy Trinity" idea. Please, don't break up the band I'm currently reading Eric Bischoff's Book (Controversy Creates Ca$h) and this diary seems to be written in the same ilk. I'm really looking forward to reading this diary and keeping up to date with it.

Looks like your gaining quite a following. Take Care

Kal Jordan

(www.brfm.net 95.6 for Sheppey and Swale)