WWF Buys WCW – 10 Years Ago Today!!!

Yep…. this was how it looked on CNN.com ten years ago today.

And it changed wrestling forever…

Paul Heyman’s ECW had closed weeks earlier.  Eric Bischoff was attempting to buy WCW but when Nitro and Thunder TV contracts were cancelled, the deal fell apart.  Vince McMahon snapped up WCW for pennies and had in his lap the biggest angle in the history of the business.

I was sitting at my desk on a sketch comedy show I was working on at the time and couldn’t believe my eyes.  What would happen?  Would we see Goldberg, Sting, Flair, Nash, Hall, Hogan come in and the big names of WCW “invade”?  WWE promised a “landmark” night of television that Monday night when WCW and WWF would simulcast  on TNN and TNT.

Shane McMahon was installed as the “front” man of the new WCW.  But we didn’t get Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Bischoff, Sting, or Flair.  Because those talents all had high dollar contracts with AOL/Time Warner – they didn’t appear during the WCW “invasion”.

I was not there at that time, I started with WWE in February 2002 but it seems the same problems that hurt the company today hurt this storyline.  WWE did win the Monday Night War.  WCW in 2001 was NOT the same company it was in 1997.  The ratings had fallen badly and the PPV numbers were disastrous.  If you want to know more about the “downfall” of WCW you can pick up this book The Death of WCW or this dvd – WWE: The Rise And Fall of WCW.

The Invasion PPV is the highest Non-Wrestlemania buyrate in the history of WWE.  A last minute call to add ECW into the WCW helped make sure this event was as successful it was.

Eventually, this all fell apart because the “powers” with the ear of the boss convinced him that these “WCW guys” can’t be seen being our “WWF stars”.   So what we got was the “invader” team filled with WWF turncoats including Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The WWF/WCW invasion storyline ended in seven months.  Eventually, WWE did bring in Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Bischoff, and Flair within the next two years.

Since this day 10 years ago, the business has NEVER been the same.  If you’re working in the business, you need to look at the lessons learned.  How to protect your brand.  ECW was “relaunched” in WWE back in 2005/2006 only to not be what people remembered.  If you’re a fan of the business.  Support the brands you love.  If you like TNA, support TNA.  If you like ROH, support ROH.  If you like WWE, support WWE.   Support the wrestling you want!

Without support, we’re left with a one horse race.  And that’s not good for anyone, including the one horse.

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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Zuffa Buys Strikeforce! Lessons of the WWE Brand Extension

In news that shocked everyone, Zuffa announced that they are buying their closest competition – StrikeForce.  News broke as Ariel Helwani conducted an exclusive sit down interview on MMAFighting.com with Dana White.

Dana White used the term “business as usual” about the future of StrikeForce and UFC.  The two companies will continue to operate independently while existing contracts run over the next two years.  This deal is just another step towards making the letters UFC as powerful to the sport of MMA as NFL is to football.

Ten years ago this month, the landscape of wrestling and MMA changed forever with two different business deals.  Zuffa bought UFC and Vince McMahon and WWE bought WCW.  In one swoop, Vince McMahon had erase all of his competition (with ECW shutting down a month earlier).  Dana White brought up the business decision to buy Strikeforce was to fill the ever growing demand for more fights worldwide.  WWE has positioned itself as a powerhouse internationally and launched the brand extension to fill that same demand.

In 2001, WWE tried to weave WCW and ECW’s brands into the fold.  The influx of new talent and the “invasion” storyline lasted under 5 months.  The WCW and ECW talent (under WWE contracts) were made to look inferior to the WWE talents.   Much has been written on why it failed but in the end it’s the same story when any wrestling organizations merge; proving that the “buying” brand was superior.

In 2002, WWE decided to split their roster in two.  Raw and Smackdown, which were simply TV Show names, became separate companies under the WWE umbrella.  I remember going with Paul Heyman during the day of Wrestlemania 18 to produce Linda McMahon’s brand split announcement that aired the next night on RAW.  It felt historic at the time; a way to create “competition with yourself.

A few different critical things happened at the infancy of the 2002 brand extension.  The top two stars vanished;  The Rock went from full-time to part time to being gone  & Stone Cold Steve Austin walked out of WWE in June of 2002.  The men who brought the attitude era into the national spotlight were gone.  And the brand name for pro wrestling that everyone grew up up with vanished as well.  In May of 2002, World Wrestling Federation and the iconic letters (WWF) were gone.  A lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund stripped the company of the three letters that branded them.  They became World Wrestling Entertainment.  A fan who tuned out in February of 2002 and returned in September of 2002 found No Rock, No Austin, no WWF and two different “companies” called Raw and Smackdown.

The brand extension was done to help international touring and open opportunities for new stars.  It brought us John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, JBL, and many more .  The writing teams were separated and it provided opportunity for me.  I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to lead Smackdown without it. But there are some lessons that can be learned over the last nine years.

1. Patience… Patience… Patience

The rosters never remained locked.  In Summer of 2002, just after Stone Cold walked out, Vince Russo was rushed in and then out, and the rosters got shifted just four months after first draft.  Then the draft became a yearly event.  Then talents began moving back and forth all the time.  Then Smackdown stars would appear on Raw and vice versa.  They were never kept apart.  If you were asked what brand MVP was on in summer of 2008 could you?

2. Equal Footing

Raw is the flagship.  It’s live and it’s always been more important.  It shifted even further when Smackdown was moved from Thursday to Friday.  ECW’s launch in 2006 further watered down the brands and showed that the brands were not equal.  Look at how the announcers talk about talent and even worse how NXT is talked about on air.  If the company is telling you something is no good, why invest time in it and even more why invest your money to support it.

3. Championships

With two brands (and adding a third) – the number of championships ballooned.  During this brand extension the WWE had the following titles – WWE Title, World Heavyweight title, United States Title, Intercontinental Title, ECW Title, Hardcore title, Cruiserweight title, World Tag Team title, WWE Tag Team Title, Women’s Title, and the Diva’s Title.  The importance of titles was diminished with so many prizes.

4. Vision

One company needs one vision.  RAW and Smackdown are portrayed as different companies yet they look the same, sound the same and feel the same.   The major difference between the brands now is color.  Raw is red.  Smackown is blue.  NXT is yellow.  Beyond talent, what makes these shows unique?

For the next two years, Dana White declared that UFC and Strikeforce will be run as a separate companies.  Imagine if Vince McMahon did the same in 2002 after WWE bought WCW and ECW.  Let Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman run the companies under the supervision of WWE as a parent company but with their own unique vision.  The installed fan bases of ECW and WCW would not have been run off by WWE’s need to show they were the “winners” in the wrestling brand war.

UFC took steps today to strengthen its future.  WWE is a very strong brand.  I don’t ever hear anyone saying “I’m a RAW fan” or “I’m a Smackdown fan” -they’re “WWE Fans”.  Whoops… sorry, they’re not fans.  It’s the WWE Universe.  It’s just like you never hear anyone saying, “That Shawn Michaels was a hell of a sports entertainer.”   Do you feel WWE should continue with RAW and Smackdown or just put it all back together?

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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David Arquette’s First Interview Since Rehab – TODAY!

Most wrestling fans know the name David Arquette for one reason….

I met David Arquette this past year through a very good friend of mine Ben Joseph.  Ben and David have worked together and been friends for years; sharing a great love of wrestling.  David invited me and my manager Dmitri Johnson to his play “The Female of the Species” with Annette Bening earlier this year.  David played against type in the play and showed his range as an actor.  After the show we talked for hours about wrestling and his place in it.  I hope to have David on the podcast at some point so you can hear how passionate he is about wrestling straight from his mouth.

We all have read the TMZ stories of how his life spiraled out of control.  I’m glad that David got help and is now on the road to recovery.  His first interview since that is today on Oprah.

You can see a full preview here now.

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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Sting on Why He Didn’t Go to WWE in 2002

We’ve all seen the 2/22/11 video by now.  Frame by frame searching for clues; does the smoke spell Sting? I believe we’ll see another video this week that will provide more clues and questions but my gut tells me we won’t get answers until that Monday on Raw.  There have been reports that WWE hasn’t even talked to Sting.  Could those videos be simply for the return of Undertaker?  The next two weeks will be full of that speculation.   But why didn’t Sting come to WWE before now?

As talked about in my article last week, Sting was first approached to wrestle Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 18 in 2002.  WWE wanted Sting to work the full time schedule.  Sting has stood firm on the life he wanted and didn’t come for that reason.  But there also was another reason that he spoke of in the video below.

WWE became the number one brand brand in wrestling in 2001 when they bought WCW and ECW.  In their hand was years of storylines and potentially millions of dollars in brand vs. brand programming.  The alliance (WCW & ECW) vs. WWE storyline lasted from June 2001 – November 2001.    Sting spoke on how WCW talent was used in WWE  especially the Booker T/Rock confrontation why he decided to not go to WWE.  Below we have that clip and a few others on how WCW talent was used in WWE.

 

Rock/Booker T – “Who are you?”

Scroll to 6:30 for the line.

 

Goldberg / Goldust – “The Gold Wig”

 

 

Eric Bischoff / Mae Young – “The Bronco Buster”

 

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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Who was that Trench Coated Man? Wrestlemania 27 Buzz!

Who was in the trench coat entering the cabin?  Who will show up on Monday Night Raw on 2/21/11?  Three shots and a date have created talk and chatter the likes of which every marketing executive dreams of.

Positioned in “commercial time”, this video caught everyone by surprise; asking more questions then it answered.   Immediately on Twitter, discussion blew up over the vignette.  I applaud WWE because in one minute they created buzz and intrigue in this crucial Wrestlemania season.

Wrestlemania hasn’t had this much discussion since October when rumors surfaced of a potential big name potentially returning to WWE.  This news didn’t break in the body of WWE programming or even on their own website.  It was during the aftermath of the October UFC event in Las Vegas. Ariel Helwani of AOL Fanhouse was doing a post show interview with a huge MMA fan and WWE Legend The Undertaker.

The idea of Lesnar vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania 27 got fans buzzing.  Ariel didn’t know that Brock was going to walk by Undertaker or there would be a confrontation.  It was spontaneous, it was real and it captured the attention of wrestling and MMA fans.   This is the kind of intrigue wrestling fans have been craving.   UFC president Dana White, protecting his investment in Brock, shot down this rumored match; not wanting Lesnar to wrestle for UFC’s biggest monthly PPV competitor.

Due to injury, Undertaker was written off WWE TV losing a Buried Alive match after being laid out by Wade Barrett.  This set in motion the idea of Undertaker returning to get revenge against the brash newcomer in the future, possibly Wrestlemania.  But the question is, does it “feel like Wrestlemania?”

Then the 2/21/11 video aired.  The Save-Mart center in Fresno, which is hosting the 2/21/11 Raw lists on it’s website that show being the “Return of the Undertaker”.  Does this video signal the return of the Undertaker to WWE?  Or is it building up someone else.  Could this possible lead to the WWE debut of Sting?

Currently a free agent, Sting has never appeared in WWE.  He is the one guy who never made the jump having spent the majority of his career with WCW.  In recent years, he’s wrestled for Dixie Carter’s TNA Wrestling on Spike TV.   With the appearance of Booker T and Kevin Nash (as Diesel) at the 2011 Royal Rumble, speculation the next night after this video aired that it was for Sting.

Wrestlemania 27 is in Atlanta, GA; the former home of Ted Turner’s WCW.  Could Sting be another name to go along with Shawn Michaels into the Hall of Fame?  Is there money in Sting wrestling at Wrestlemania for the very first time?  Is Sting vs. Undertaker the kind of attraction that will excite fans just like the idea of Lesnar vs. Undertaker?    Think fans are jazzed by the idea?  Look at this poster a fan made to pump up this potential dream match.

Sting at Wrestlemania almost happened nine years ago.   Wrestlemania 18 will always be remembered for the memorable Hogan vs. Rock battle in Toronto.  That event also featured Triple H winning the undisputed World Title from Chris Jericho and Steve Austin facing NWO Scott Hall (w/Kevin Nash).  Sting was approached that year to make his WWE debut and wrestle on the big event.  Once he was introduced to the brand, it was pitched that at Wrestlemania 18 Sting would face Kurt Angle.  If you remember, Kurt was eventually thrown into a match with Kane with little setup.  The deal apparently fell apart as Sting wasn’t willing to work the full WWE schedule.  Now nine years later, we might finally get to see Sting in WWE.

I’m the biggest proponent of pushing new talent in high profile positions.  I see Wade Barrett as one of the shining stars of WWE in 2010.  The table is set very nicely for new talents to be featured in main events of Wrestlemania this year with Alberto Del Rio and Miz.  But what is lacking that “big fight dream match” to attracts casual fans.  Last year we had Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart and Undertaker vs. HBK “Streak vs. Career”; previous years featured Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show, and Trump vs. McMahon.   Based on the buzz off this simple 45-second video, the fans are voicing their opinion on what they want out of Wrestlemania 27.  I don’t have any answers but we will all find out on 2/21/11.  Ask yourself – is Sting vs. Undertaker the dream match you want for this year’s Wrestlemania?

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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