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Today is the five year anniversary of arguably the single most important event in the modern history of professional wrestling in North America. On this day in 2001, the then-WWF not only "won" the Monday Night War, they changed the industry forever by literally buying their competition, World Championship Wrestling. The business has never been the same, and on this historic date, I thought it would be interesting to look back at the events surrounding the sale of WCW to the WWF.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
As 2000 came to a close, WCW was, for lack of a better term, a mess. Backstage power plays, out-of-control egos, poor booking, almost rotating leadership (if any), and a inspired WWF product as competition had left the once mighty wrestling company in shambles. The company that was pulling in ratings in the high fours and low fives for Nitro was now barely staying in the low two's. However, there seemed to be an end for the downward spiral WCW was on, and it was coming in the form of the man who had helped bring WCW to it's highest peak. Eric Bischoff had convinced Fusient Media Ventures to purchase the company from Turner Broadcasting (which was now under the AOL-Time Warner umbrella). With Bischoff taking control as President of WCW once again, and Turner Broadcasting retaining a "minority interest" in the company, as well as rights to WCW programming, the future looked bright. In a January 2001 press release that announced the planned purchase, Bischoff was quoted as saying "Wrestling fans can rest assured that we will give the WCW the adrenaline shot it needs to once again become the most exciting brand of wrestling in the world." The purchase was expected to be finalized within the first few months of the new year.
As 2001 rolled on, conflicting reports surfaced regarding the sale of WCW to Fusient and whether it would actually take place. WCW had no shows scheduled after March 26th, except for a May 6th PPV date, for which no location had been announced. However, since there had been talk of the company "going dark" for part of April, and then "re-debuting" under the new management, this didn't cause much worry at first. Then a bombshell was dropped when Time Warner announced on March 16th that the Turner networks (TBS and TNT) would cease airing wrestling after the March 26th edition of Nitro from Panama City, Florida. The shows were cancelled, and Fusient had second thoughts about buying the company. Without the television outlets, WCW was a lot less attractive as a business proposition.
Eric Bischoff, now scrambling to get WCW a television slot and save the sale, attempted to work a deal between Fusient and Fox, so that Fusient would purchase WCW and bring the shows to either FX or Fox Sports Net. Bischoff even called into Nitro during this period, and promised that the final show on TNT would feature several past World Champions. The thinking amongst some was that Time Warner was letting Bischoff run an angle to kickstart the company onto a new network as a way of getting rid of the money losing organization. However, the talks with Fox fell through, and Fusient withdrew it's bid to buy the company. With WCW's programming set to end on March 26th, it seemed no one was going to be interested in purchasing the company. After all, what good is a wrestling company without television?
Enter the WWF, which in late 2000 actually passed up a chance at purchasing WCW. Due to a past legal settlement between the two companies, WWF actually had the right to match any offers to purchase WCW from Turner Broadcasting. However, WWF chose not to try and match Fusient's offer for the company. However, with Fusient out of the picture, and WCW looking less valuable (due to losing the TV slots), WWE stepped back into the picture, and began performing due diligence (checking the books) to see if they wanted to purchase the company. Meanwhile, many WCW wrestlers, who had gotten use to the "everything is a work" mentality of the Vince Russo-era thought all the talk and speculation was an elaborate ruse to build hype about WCW before Fusient took over. Others, realizing that this was no storyline, prepared themselves for the demise of the company.
On March 20th, an Associated Press story stated that while wrestling was off of TNT and TBS as of thr 26th, AOL Time Warner and Fusient Media Ventures were still in talks to have Fusient buy the scaled down (as in no television outlets) version of WCW. The report also mentioned that the WWF was also in talks to buy the company. However, the next morning Fusient would release a statement that with Time Warner canceling the WCW TV shows, they were no longer interested in buying the company. Eric Bischoff had failed to work out a television deal with Fox, and Fusient was not interested in purchasing what essentially amounted to a name, production equipment, and a bunch of contracts for wrestling talent. On March 22nd, Vince McMahon, who was doing a number of interviews to promote his new XFL project, stated several times that WWF was "likely" to purchase WCW, and said they would run it as a separate entity.
THE DAY THAT CHANGED WRESTLING FOREVER
Then, on March 23rd, the announcement that shook the wrestling world was made:
STAMFORD, Conn., March 23, 2001 - World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF) today announced its purchase of the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) brand from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS Inc.), a division of AOL Time Warner.
The purchase of WCW creates a tag team partnership with the World Wrestling Federation brand that is expected to propel the sports entertainment genre to new heights.
In keeping with the company's strategic alliance with Viacom, new WCW programming is anticipated to air on TNN in the near future. The possibility of cross-brand storylines and intrigue, however, may start as early as Monday night during WWF Raw Is War on TNN and the final performance of WCW Monday Nitro Live on Turner Network Television (TNT).
The binding agreement provides World Wrestling Federation Entertainment with the global rights to the WCW brand, tape library, and other intellectual property rights.
"This acquisition is the perfect creative and business catalyst for our company," said Linda McMahon, Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. "This is a dream combination for fans of sports entertainment. The incendiary mix of World Wrestling Federation and WCW personalities potentially creates intriguing storylines that will attract a larger fan base to the benefit of our advertisers and business partners, and propel sports entertainment to new heights."
"The acquisition of the WCW brand is a strategic move for us," said Stuart Snyder, President and Chief Operating Officer for World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. "We are assuming a brand with global distribution and recognition. We are adding thousands of hours to our tape library that can be repurposed for home videos, television, Internet streaming, and broadband applications. The WCW opens new opportunities for growth in our Pay Per View, live events, and consumer products divisions, as well as the opportunity to develop new television programming using new stars. We also will create additional advertising and sponsorship opportunities. In short, it is a perfect fit."
Following that announcement, Brad Siegel, a Turner executive who had been put in charge of WCW (and who had become public enemy number one amongst WCW employees for essentially being absent and not letting anyone know what was going on) issued the following memo:
Today, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. is announcing that we have reached an agreement for the sale of WCW. This agreement with WWF holds tremendous potential for the WCW brand and assets. The press release announcing the news is attached.
As we told you last week, WCW programming will not appear on TNT and TBS Superstation after March 27. We will share more information with you about the WWF's immediate plans for WCW in the all-staff meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, at 10 a.m. at the Power Plant. Thank you.
Linda McMahon did a press conference later that day, again stressing that WWF planned to keep WCW as a separate organization. Rumors and speculation ran wild that day, but it did come out that while WWF was purchasing WCW and their contracted wrestlers, the higher priced talent, like Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Sting and Ric Flair, would not be included. Their contracts were not with WCW, but with AOL-Time Warner itself. This left AOL-Time Warner in the position of having to pay out their deals, or get them to accept a buy out of some kind. Over the next few months, some would take a buyout (and go work for the WWF), while others would get every cent owed to them in their contracts.
THE END OF AN ERA
With the deal in place, WWF prepared to take advantage of WCW's final night of programming on TNT on March 26th. It was decided that Shane McMahon, Bruce Pritchard and Gerald Brisco would attend the final Nitro, and that the show would be rewritten by WWE. Word also spread that the WWF was planning a satellite link up between Raw and Nitro for an angle. The morning of the final Nitro, it was decided that Sting (who did not have to appear, but choose to do so) would wrestle Ric Flair in the final match to be seen on a Turner Network. Vince McMahon would appear on-screen at the beginning of Nitro, announcing that he had bought the competition. During the end of Nitro, with a simulcast on Raw, Vince and Shane McMahon played out an angle that would see Shane "steal WCW out from under" his dad. On the Nitro broadcast, Booker T defeated Scott Steiner for the WCW World Title, and Sting defeated Ric Flair in the final match to be seen on a Turner network. The last segment of Nitro was devoted to the angle between the McMahons, which was simulcast on Nitro and Raw. Nitro's final image was a graphic hyping what would be happening in the next hour of Raw on TNN.
The next day, WWF stock, with news of their acquisition spreading, shot up almost a dollar and a half. Word also spread that Vince McMahon had addressed his wrestlers prior to Raw, and thanked all of them for their efforts in helping the WWF take over WCW and win the war. Vince reiterated to them that WCW would be run as a separate company. Ironically, a WCW segment was scheduled for the Smackdown taping the next night, but when runners couldn't find WCW merchandise to use in the segment at any stores, the idea was dropped.
On March 28th, at 10am, a final piece of business regarding WCW took place as officials of AOL-Time Warner told the assembled WCW employees during a meeting at the Power Plant that WCW was no more. The meeting lasted about 40 minutes before being broken up into smaller groups where most of the WCW employees were terminated (about 20 employees were retained for the transition period). At the meeting, a WWF human resources representative told all of the workers that that if they wished to apply for jobs with the WWF version of WCW, they could fill out a form and they would be considered. Two days later, WWF issued the following press release:
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. Closes Transaction With Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2001--World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF) today announced that it has closed its transaction to acquire certain assets of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
And with that brief statement, the World Wrestling Federation now controlled professional wrestling on this side of the planet. The only other viable company, ECW, had been non-existent since January, and Paul Heyman was now working as an announcer for WWF. In March, HHG Corporation, the parent company of ECW, officially filed for bankruptcy. WWF now stood alone as the only national professional wrestling company in the United States.
THE AFTERMATH
Contrary to what you might think, WWF really did have intentions of running WCW as a separate company, even booking a TV taping on May 9th in Trenton, New Jersey, with the idea that TNN would be giving them a late night Saturday night slot for a WCW show. However, the timeslot wasn't worked out, and the show was canceled, with a new taping tentatively set for June 13th in Fairfax, Virginia, but that never materialized either. There was then talk of possibly launching WCW as a new product in September, but instead it was decided that WWF would have an "invasion" angle with former WCW talent beginning that June.
This led to the disastrous "debut" of the new WCW on the July 2nd edition of Raw. Given the final half hour of the show, Buff Bagwell and Booker T had what many fans felt was the worst main event in the history of the program. Bagwell, who had his first match in months the day before on a house show, blew up quickly, and was using long restholds in a match that should have been non-stop action to put over the quality of the WCW performers. Booker T tried, but was still shaking off the ringrust himself, and was not in a position to carry Bagwell. The match was embarrassing, and chants of "Boring" and "This Match Sucks" were clearly heard throughout. A WWF source said Vince McMahon "absolutely hated" the whole WCW segment.
In a conference call, Linda McMahon stated that there were plans for WCW house shows, and possibly four PPV's in the coming year, with the first tentatively set for October. She did admit that the idea of a separate WCW TV show, at least at that point, was off the table. However, the WCW concept was quickly faltering, and Extreme Championship Wrestling was raised from the dead in the hopes of revitalizing the storyline. However, WWF's decision to join WCW (led by Shane McMahon) and ECW (led by Stephanie McMahon) into the "Alliance" resulted in longtime WCW and ECW fans being disgusted, and with the exception of the Invasion PPV doing a good buyrate, the concepts crashed and burned, and the WCW name was eventually laid to rest for good.
AND A FINAL NOTE FOR ALL YOU CONSPIRACY THEORISTS OUT THERE....
When the WWF filed their annual report with the Securities Exchange Commission on July 27th, it was revealed that the WWF paid only $2.5 million dollars to AOL-Time Warner for the purchase of WCW, which included the name, tape library and logo. Related costs to the sale were estimated at $1.8 million. The WWF managed to take over their stiffest competition ever for only $4.3 million. The question many then had was, why would AOL-Time Warner sell the company for considerably less than they could have gotten for it? One popular train of thought was that Brad Siegel, the man in charge of the company for AOL-Time Warner during the sale, purposely steered the company towards the WWF, since his old friend Stuart Snyder was Chief Operating Officer of the WWF. Others feel that once Jaime Kellner, AOL programming chief, made the decision to abruptly ax the WCW television shows (killing the Fusient deal in the process), AOL-Time Warner had to dump the company quickly, and WWF, who didn't have as many conditions on their purchase offer as others, were the obvious choice. Either way, it is doubtful we will ever truly know all the circumstances behind the sale, but we do know that the WWF got to take over the wrestling business in the United States, and got to do it for less than it cost to sign The Big Show.
PWI
At least when WCW was still alive the WWE had a true rival and the fans were the ones that benefited from seeing each company trying to be the best wrestling company on TV and the Monday night wars were great watching them each trying to outdo each others programming.