WCW Monday Nitro 3/26/01
by Brian Bayless
Before the credits roll, we see Vince McMahon standing in the RAW is WAR background. This show was being broadcasted on both WCW and WWF programming at the same time. He go on by saying “I bought WCW, how could of that happened.” He says that is was just a matter of time before he bought of his competition. He goes on about how he now has the chance to address both WCW and WWF fans. He asks “What is the fate.” He then notes that the very fate of WCW is in his hands.
After the credits and opening pyro, we see a very worried Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson. Tony says that tonight is a landmark night in the industry. He then dubs this show “The Night of Champions,” as all five titles will be on the line tonight. They both tell us how surreal this day has been to them, as they wonder if they will have jobs when the night is over. Scott then tells us that we will be starting out with a bang as the U.S. Champion Booker T takes on the WCW World Champion Scott Steiner in a title unification match.
All of a sudden, Ric Flair’s music hits and he heads toward the ring. Tony says that no one means more to WCW that Ric Flair. They note that he is a 13-time WCW World Champion. Flair looks over the crowd and says did he just hear that Vince will hold the fate of WCW in his hands. He then names Dory Funk, Brisco’s, Road Warriors, Sting, Harley Race, Steiners and Steamboat and questions if Vince controls their fate as well. He then coins the phrase I don’t think so. Flair tells us that someone very close to him tonight told him not to go on the show knowing that it will be the last time you will ever be on TBS or TNT. He calls WCW the greatest organization in the world and mentions how they ran neck in neck with the WWF for years. He tells us that in 1981 when Vince was trying to be an announcer, his dad Vince Sr. was on the board of directors. I am presuming that it was the NWA Board of Directors Committee. Ric said that his dad voted for him to be the World Champion. Ever since then he has been a “Limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing, wheeling and dealing son of a gun. The camera zooms in on a sign in the crowd reading “McMahon is Satan.” Flair says that every night he paid the price to be the best. He asks Vince if he ever wrestled an hour long match while you were cutting yourself, bleeding, sweating, traveling on the road for forty days and forty nights, going from town to town. In closing, Flair says that if we are going out tonight, it will be against his best opponent that he ever faced, Sting. Good, emotionally charged promo by Flair. He kind of rambled on at times, but you could feel that he rally meant what he was saying.
Booker T (U.S. Champ) vs Scott Steiner (WCW Champ) w/ Midajah
Booker starts by getting the crowd behind him. They start by exchanging hammerlocks. They trade punches until Booker ducks a clothesline and delivers a sidekick for two. Steiner backs Booker in the corner and slugs away. Scott whips Booker in the corner, but charges and eats an elbow. Book clotheslines Scott in the corner and tries the 10 punch routine. He makes it to eight, then Scott powerbombs him. Booker gets pushed to the outside and gets slapped by Midajah. Scott pulls a lead pipe from underneath the apron. Scott swings the pipe but Booker dives out of the way. Scott rolls Booker back in and does pushups. Booker gets shoved in the corner and gets chopped. Scott hits a belly to belly suplex that gets two. Steiner puts Booker in a surfboard as the crowd rallies for him to fight out. Booker gets to his feet but gets shoved in the corner. Scott tries a back suplex but Booker fights out and hits a dropkick. Booker comes back with some punches then hits a scissor kick. Steiner gets whipped against the ropes and gets pancaked down. Booker does the spinarooni which gets the crowd going. He hits a sidekick and goes for the Book End. Scott blocks it and hits a northern lights suplex for two. Scott gets Booker up for a powerbomb, but Booker lands on his feet and gets the Book End for the victory. *3/4 (6:22)
Thoughts: Decent enough match. Pretty short for a title unification match, but they had a lot of matches on the show and they were all rushed.
The camera cuts to Vince in his office. He is on the phone with his attorney. Mentioned that it was fitting that the last broadcast be
Jung Dragons vs Three Count vs Filthy Animals
The winner of this match will face Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper later on tonight on tonight for the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Title. Kidman ducks a clothesline by Shannon and whips Kaz who hits a tilt a whirl headscissor on Shannon. Moore gets a sunset flip on Kidman that gets broke up by Kaz. Evan comes in and gets a wheelbarrow facebuster on Kaz. Evan stars dancing and ducks a clothesline by Yang. He tries a wheelbarrow on Yang but gets thrown. Yang mimics Evan’s dance and Rey hits him in the back with a springboard missle dropkick, sending him to the floor. Rey follows him outside with a springboard flipping senton. Kaz takes out Rey with a plancha. Evan then nails Kaz with a springboard crossbody. Kidman gets yanked off the top rope by Shannon. Shannon takes out both of the Jung Dragons with a twisting senton. Kidman the takes out Three Count with a springboard shooting star press. Very good high flying fast-paced action from everyone involved. Yang gets back in the ring but Rey slingshots in and takes him down with a headscissor. Rey misses a charge and Yang drops him face first on the turnbuckle. Yang goes up top and hits a corkscrew moonsault. Kidman breaks it up at two and tries the kid krusher on Shannon. Shannon counters it and gets a rocker dropper. Kaz breaks up the count with a hard kick to the back of Shannon’s head. Yang places Shannon on the top turnbuckle and he and Kaz get a flipping slam powerbomb combo. That sounded a lot better than it looked. Evan breaks up the pin attempt with a dropkick. He then hits a reverse neckbreaker on Rey. Evan goes up and hits a 450 splash, but Kidman makes the save at two. Kidman whips Evan, who holds up at the ropes. Kidman then comes back with a crossbody, sending both men to the floor. Rey stomps on Shannon in the corner and signals for the bronco buster. He tries but Shannon gets his foot up nailing Rey in the balls. Rey gets whipped but does the 619 and stands up. Shannon charges and gets backdropped, landing on the apron. Shannon gets caught in the middle rope and Rey climbs to the top and hits a guillotine leg drop for the win. ** (3:46)
Thoughts: For an under four minute spotfest, this was a good as it gets. High Flying moves at a lightning quick pace.
Chavo Guerrero vs “Sugar” Shane Helms (Cruiserweight Champion)
Helms theme song is some Backstreet Boys knockoff, complete with a pack of backup dancers. For some reason he looks a lot more buff than he does now. Chavo starts by hammering on Helms in the corner. Helms fights back and puts Chavo on his shoulders and drops him face first against his knee. Shane gets a jumping neckbreaker. He whips Chavo, but puts his head down and gets kicked then gets clotheslined to the outside. Chavo rolls him back in a gets a belly to belly suplex. He tries a superplex but Helms shoves him off and gets a sunset flip for two. He really got up high for that. He reverses an Irish whip but gets taken down with a clothesline. Chavo knocks him down with a hard chop, causing in to go on the apron. Chavo tries to suplex him back in but instead gets his head rammed against the buckle. Helms climbs to the top and connects with a crossbody for two. Helms tries a suplex but Chavo reverses it into a T-Bone suplex for two. A sequence of reversals ends up with Chavo getting a Northern lights suplex for two. Chavo’s attempt at a sunset flip gets blocked by Helms for two. Helms gets a tilt a whirl backbreaker and shoves Chavo in the corner. Chavo ducks the Sugar Smack(Super kick) but Helms gets out of a tilt a whirl attempt and pushes Chavo against the corner, this time hitting the Sugar Smack. He signals for the vertebreaker and Chavo flips out of the attempt. Chavo’s attempt at a brainbuster gets blocked and Helms connects this time with the vertebreaker for the win. *3/4 (4:44)
Thoughts: Decent Match. These two always worked well with each other. Too bad they only had a short amount of time.
They continue to hype Ric Flair versus Sting throughout the show.
Booker T is backstage with both belts. He says that he is going to prove that he is the best in the business and if anyone wants to test him, step up like a man. Then uses his old catchphrase “Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.”
Team Canada come to the ring as Lance Storm tells the crowd that you are looking at the next Tag Team Champions.
Vince is backstage with Trish Stratus and gets interrupted by Michael Cole. Cole is wearing a Wrestlemania X-7 jersey. Cole asks Vince about what will happen to WCW? Vince interrupts and asks him how he feels about his job security. Trish tells Vince that she loves it when he is forceful. Vince toasts to that.
Team Canada vs Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire(Tag Champions)
You know, instead of bitching at him for playing video games in the locker room or not introducing himself, Sean O’Haire should have been one of the top pushed WCW guys during the invasion angle. He had a great look combined with power and speed. Instead they sent him to OVW and did not let him use the offense that got him over. They even wasted time building a character for him through vignettes and made him second fiddle to another Piper-Hogan feud. Match starts with O’Haire and Storm. O’Haire hammers Storm and quickly tags Palumbo. Palumbo whips Lance, leapfrogs him and catches Lance for an overhead slam. Palumbo knocks Awesome off the apron but gets caught with a super kick from Lance. Awesome tags in and gets a slingshot splash for two. Awesome whips Palumbo in the corner but Palumbo gets out. Awesome gets whipped but steps up the ropes and hits the elbow. Awesome then knocks O’Haire off the apron and tags in storm. Storm tries to chop Palumbo but gets pushed away. Storm misses a dropkick and Chuck slingshots him to the corner and rolls him up for two. Palumbo the makes the tag to O’Haire and he cleans house. He whips Awesome and catches him with the widowmaker. Palumbo comes in and attacks Storm. Awesome reverses a whip by Palumbo, who gets nailed by a superkick from Lance. Palumbo ducks a double clothesline attempt and O’Haire drags Storm out of the ring. Awesome gets Chuck up for the Awesome Bomb but Palumbo slips out and nails him with the jungle kick. O’Haire climbs to the top and hits the Seanton Bomb for the win. ½* (3:15)
Thoughts: Okay match. Too short to be anything and Palumbo was messy at times.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs Shawn Stasiak w/ Stacy Keibler
Stacy Introduces Shawn before the match. They showed a replay of last week’s Nitro were Bigelow challenged Stasiak in a loser gets a tattoo match. Bigelow starts by catching Stasiak’s foot and taking him down with a clothesline. Bigelow charges and gets taken down by a clothesline. Stasiak goes up top for the crossbody but Bam Bam moves out of the way. Stasiak gets slammed and Bigelow goes up top with a falling headbutt. Stacy distracts the ref as Bigelow takes down Stasiak. Bigelow tries the Greetings from Asbury Park but Stacy grabs Shawn’s leg, allowing him to slip out and hit a reverse neckbreaker for the win. DUD (1:23)
Thoughts: I don’t care and you shouldn’t either.
DDP tells us that he is grateful for WCW for allowing a kid from Jersey to become DDP. He then says that hard work, not the promoters determine how successful you are. That works over a long period of time I guess. DDP closes by thanking Kimberly, his wife.
Next a montage of all WCW stars past and present.
Vince is backstage in his office on the phone saying it’s time to get ready.
Filthy Animals vs Primetime & Kid Romeo(Cruiserweight Tag Team Champs)
Primetime attacks Kidman from behind. He whips Kidman in the corner and misses the charge and gets taken down with a headscissor. Primetime tries a wheelbarrow, but Kidman catches him and puts him in a full nelson. Rey then hits him with a springboard missle dropkick while he is still in the full nelson. Nice move. Romeo breaks up the cover at two. Primetime gets a belly to belly on Kidman and tags in Romeo. Romeo goes to the top and Primetime flips him off, landing on Kidman. Romeo goes after Rey and the ref holds Rey back, allowing the champs to double team Kidman. Romeo alleyoops Kidman and tags in Primetime. Kidman gets a crossbody but Primetime uses the matrix to get out and takes down Kidman with a spinning heel kick. Romeo tags in and gets dropkicked while trying a crossbody. Rey tags in and the crowd goes wild. Springboard seated senton to Primetime and a jumping tornado ddt on Romeo. Primetime tries to alleyoop Rey to Romeo, but Rey takes Romeo out of the ring with a hurricarana. Rey gets a flying forearm to Primetime and then gets the bronco buster. Romeo knocks down Kidman from behind then hits him with a double underhook facebuster. Rey hits Romeo with a powerbomb. Kidman blocks the play of the day and gets the kid krusher(unprettier) for the win. ** (4:28)
Thoughts: Decent match. If you really want to see a great full-length match between these two, watch their match from the Greed PPV. It was a tremendous match on the last ever WCW produced PPV.
Sting is in a room with baseball bats hanging from the ceiling. He says that the only thing sure about Sting is that nothings for sure.
Vinnie Mac is shown walking through the halls of RAW.
Ric Flair vs Sting
They start up in a lockup position and Sting shoves Flair across the ring. Sting then takes him down with a shoulderblock as Hudson goes on about their match at the Clash of the Champions that went up against Wrestlemania IV. Flair breaks up a test of strength with an eye poke and chops Sting in the corner. Sting fights back and gets a hip toss and a dropkick on Flair, prompting him to roll to the outside. The crowd is really cheering for Sting. Flair comes back in and takes down Sting with a shoulderblock then does his strut. He charges at sting but gets caught in a gorilla press slam. Sting whips him in the corner and does the ten punch routine, causing Flair to do his famous flop. Sting grabs Flair by his neck until it gets broken up by a low blow. Flair chops Sting in the corner and takes in down with a snapmare. He climbs to the top but Sting gets up and slams him off. Sting misses a dropkick and Flair slaps on the figure four. Flair gets a few two counts then holds the ropes for leverage. Sting breaks the hold then gets chopped by the Nature Boy to no avail. Flair gets whipped upside down in the corner and Sting then puts him on top for a superplex. Sting locks on the Scorpion Death Lock for the win. Both men hug each other in the ring to celebrate their last match ever. * (7:07)
Thoughts: This was like the beginning of a thirty minute match. Not a whole lot of action.
We go back to RAW as Paul Heyman calls Vince the czar of sports entertainment. Vince comes to the ring and gloats about how he bought out his competition. Vince says that he will sign the contract for the purchase of WCW when Ted Turner himself comes down the aisle at Wrestlemania and hands him the contract. He then says that the only way to beat a billionaire is to become one yourself. Vince says that you have to take your competition by the throat and squeeze the life out of it, and that his own son Shane will find that out at Wrestlemania. Vince asks the crowd for input, whether WCW should be put on the shelf, or buried forever. His other suggestion is that some of the WCW stars could come to the WWF and he could create a huge media conglomerate like WCW. He mentions stars to the crowd and tells them to say if they want them or not. No one wanted Lex Luger, Hulk got a decent amount. Buff Bagwell surprisingly got a favorable reaction and Booker T, Scott Steiner, and Sting got good pops. He stops running down the list and the crowd chants “GOLDBERG.” He then mentions Goldberg and the crowd goes wild. Vince then makes his decision and says that he wants to go down to the redneck beer-joint where Nitro is held at and say to every WCW superstar, “You’re Fired.”
Shane McMahon’s music interrupts, but he does not come out. Instead he is in Panama City, Florida where Nitro is being held. He tells his dad that, as usual, your ego got the best of you. Instead of waiting for Sunday to sign the contract, Shane decided to fly down and buy WCW and that at Wrestlemania, just like WCW used to, he is going to kick your ass.
Final Thought
This show had far greater impact back then than it has today. Even if the end of the show did seem like an advertisement for WM X-7, it still had people watching. The WCW Invasion angle failed miserably. Instead of getting actual stars from WCW, they used people like Kidman and Lance Storm to be important figures in the Invasion. Then the WWF workers did not like some of the WCW workers acted in the locker room and those workers got completely buried from the start. As far as the actual wrestling, the show had very short matches but most of them were quite action packed, especially the three team cruiser match. I would recommend this show because it signals the end of a very historical time in wrestling.
It must be a nightmare to book a ‘last ever show’ because you want to fit in as much as possible and get all of your wrestlers on there. Plus, if I recall correctly, the buyout was done very quickly so they didn’t have much time to prepare. In that respect, seems like a pretty good show. Of course with WM17 taking place in 6 days then you had to expect Vince to heavily promote the PPV.
Saddest day of my life as a wrestling fan. I was always a huge NWA/WCW fans growing up, and only had a passing interest in the WWF. Watching the company rise to such heights and then implode was tough, and watching Vince McMahon on WCW TV saying that he bought them was like a kick in the gut. And wrestling still hasn’t been the same for me since WCW died. Other than the awesome Austin heel turn during the abomination called the Invasion, the initial rise of John Cena, Eddie and Benoit rising to the top, and the recent awesomeness of Jericho and Smackdown, WWE has been nothing but stale since 2001.
Am I wrong, or was the final Nitro also supposed to have a match with The Franchise?
Anyone know what the rating to this show was? I realize WCW had hemoraged millions of dollars in the past couple of years, but I believe Nitro’s ratings were still above 2, which is almost double your usual Impact, ECW or Superstars today.
http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/wcw/wcwnitro.htm
Last episode got a 3.0, they seemed to be averaging around 2.5 for the year leading to its death. Not to shabby really.. considering the wrestling audience in general were watching Raw religiously by this point.
Those who knew Vince bought out WCW tuned in out of curiousity, which drove up the rating.
I have one serious problem about this show.
Maybe a couple of nitpicks, but only one major problem.
It was the last show WCW ever had on a Turner network, and it turned out to be the last show ever with WCW as a separate entity of any type, and they couldn’t at least have Tony and Scott do a last goodbye? I’m pretty sure Tony knew he was gone for good, anyway — even if they were planning a separate show, like they seemed to have been doing, did they really need Tony and Scott there?
Just a thought. It still feels to me like Nitro ended on a diminished seven chord and needed to be resolved.
I seem to recall there was actually an issue with time constraints. If you recall, when they cut to the simulcast, Vince was walking back up the ramp and said something about needing to redo his entrance b/c he didn’t get the proper respect from the audience. I think what was going on was that they were having issues with the timing, and that Vince’s “re-do” was somehow related to that.
And given that Vince and co. buried a lot of people on the final episode (remember Regal takings shots at WCW, and Tony getting pissed off and saying something about Regal?), I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t care whether Tony got to say goodbye or not. I imagine that at the time, he was still on Vince’s shit list.
On WorldWide the following weekend, Hudson and Schiavone did do kind of a half-assed farewell. That show was weird to watch because it aired after the “final” show.
Even though the Invasion failed, the business move was smart.
Vince bought WCW’s library and remaining assets. He wasn’t responsible for all the “stars” with those bloated guaranteed contracts and limited appearance dates and he didn’t pay for them.
The Invasion probably could have printed money if it were to be done correctly, but it would have costs a lot and it was a very risky proposition. Was it worth paying these guys millions of millions of dollars to execute this. Vince didn’t think so. Guys like Booker T had reasonable contracts so he was brought in rather quickly. Others like Sting, who made far too much money and only had to work a 1/3 of the events, was left on the sidelines until his contract expired.
Vince has had a few bad contracts in his day (i.e. Mark Henry’s huge deal) but damn if his guys don’t work. Every week, every PPV they are booked for, every house show they are needed. So he wasn’t going to pay that much money to guys who didn’t have to work all the time.
And if he told a Sting or Goldberg or whoever, hey I’ll pay you, but your ass is working RAW, Smackdown, house shows and PPVs…and Heat when I need you to. If they said cool, he probably would have taken on the contract, but they rightfully said “fuck that” and they sat out and collected.
Buying the library was the best part of the deal,as Vince can make money forever with what he has. The Invasion should have been done better as they could and should have elevated some of the younger talent. You didnt need to spend a ton on guys like Sting, Goldberg etc, even though they had the $. Booker T was quite established and DDP could have been better used than the horrible stalker angle.
The acquisition of the library is to me, the single best thing that happened with the WCW buyout. We’ve gotten some amazing DVD’s in the years since that would have never been possible without enormous gaps in the wrestler’s careers.
They need to figure out how to capitalize on the gigantic library they own. Their DVD department bled money this year, especially when compared to the last few years and to their other sales.
In The Monday Night Wars DVD, Bish’ says that without TV time, WCW wasn’t worth $20. How many f’ning dollars has Vince made thanks to the acquisition of WCW’s library? I’ve always thought he was a MAJOR idiot for negating the financial promise of WCW’s video library. Sales would have been good enough for them to broker some kind of deal on TV. Where was your Starrcade ‘97 lead-up patience then, Eric?
Yikes.
scrublife.wordpress.com – The Cheap Seats
What I think Bisch meant was that WCW wasn’t worth $20 to anyone EXCEPT Vince (whose decision to buy up the library, and others’, was amongst the smartest he ever made in terms of ROI). I think Jerry Jarrett expressed interest in buying the tapes, but who knows if he even made a realistic offer.
The only people who would have wanted to buy WCW would be (a) people with the ability to leverage the tapes and (b) people with an already-established home video or DVD business. There was literally only one possible suitor, namely Vince.
The Invasion is one of those angles that is today, understandably, viewed through an almost universally negative perspective. Ultimately it was a failure, and by the time the big blowoff came at Survivor Series, most were relieved it was over. But it did have some highlights. As has been discussed before, blending the Austin heel character with the Invasion seemed like an emergency band-aid. It was, however, somewhat devastating because here you had all of these newly-acquired wrestlers and they mixed the WCW and ECW together in one “Alliance” under Stephanie and Heyman, and the guy who was put in charge of carrying it was Austin.
Austin’s heel character likewise gets kicked around today. He seemed to have so much fun doing that, though. I think most would be much more forgiving of it if the heel turn had a better beginning, middle and end. As is, many believe it tarnished WM-X7’s conclusion, was thrown into the Invasion pot to apparently save two failing angles at once, and had a terribly weak, forgettable ending. (Of all the things WWF produced in 2001, one of the things I’ve most forgotten is how and where and why Austin was turned face in the late fall. One visit to Wikipedia brings it back, but I can remember Saturn running around with Moppy more clearly.)
And of course the acquisition of the library was certainly the best thing that happened due to the WCW buyout. So much wonderful material and excellent DVDs.
Austin’s heel turn character sucked and his involvement in the Invasion Angle made even SUCKIER since he spent his time utterly BURYING the WCW/ECW guys, causing most of the damage to them as far as making them look like losers.
They should have just turned Jericho (who DID have WCW connections) heel and killed Austin’s heel turn then and there as far as transitioning Jericho versus Austin out of the Jericho/Benoit versus HHH/Austin seeing that HHH and Benoit were injured. Jericho leading WCW could have worked to keep the brand afloat PLUS they could have had some fun with Austin, having turned face again, struggling to get the WWF guys to let him lead them, especially as far as the Undertaker basically making Austin a pariah because he sold out to Vince at WM and as such, not fit to lead.
Vince should have paid Goldberg absolutely anything he wanted to come in for the Invasion. I understand the other guys were making too much and Flair/Hogan were old, who knew if they still had the appeal. But Goldberg, thanks largely to injury, was not ruined by the end of WCW.
Goldberg v. Austin in 2001 would have been absolute cash money in every way possible. To this day, I don’t understand why they didn’t at least do that. What would a Goldberg/Austin at SummerSlam drawn as a buyrate? Insanity.
Because Vince demanded a lot for his money. Say WCW was paying Goldberg $3/year for his fairly light schedule (hell they didn’t work half the fucking PPVs). Even if Vince offered him $5 million, he was going to want him to work four nights a week.
So take a little less and sit on your ass or take a little more and get worked on a stressful schedule (and the WWE’s schedule to a WCW worker was pure torture).
Vince probably offered Goldberg a ton of money and he said no. I’ll take the $3 million to sit and do things I like to do.
Not to mention, if he pays Goldberg 3 million to work 8 dates a month, what does he have to pay his main event guys who draw the same or more and work more dates to boot?
It’s the same reason Vince breached Bret Hart’s contract in 1997; when one guy in a relatively equal pack is paid out of proportion to the others, the others are going to want theirs too.
Well, what were those guys going to, go back to the independents? Japan? It’s funny how any other time in history, Vince McMahon is portrayed by both past and present employees as this powerful Machiavellian tyrant who rules his lockerroom with an iron fist. And yet somehow there was this fear that the lockerroom would revolt and stage a massive walk-out or worse if he gave a WCW main eventer or two a lucrative short-term contract. If they didn’t revolt when he screwed Bret Hart (and really, if there was ever a time, that was it), they weren’t going to breach their contracts and face a costly lawsuit over something like this. Besides, Vince had such financial and psychological holds over most of his top guys that I have no doubt he’d have been able to smooth things over and maybe even sell them on the idea as beneficial to all. If things had been properly handled and certain people had simply swallowed their pride and faced reality, the revenue that this angle could have generated would have made everyone (especially the WWF main eventers) involved a lot of money.
Besides, it’s amazing how compliant disgruntled employeed become when they have no other alternatives.
I agree 100%. Vince should have opened the vault for Goldberg when he bought WCW, and he also should have hired Eric Bischoff IMMEDIATELY. Those two alone would have given the Invasion instant credibility, and as you said, an Austin-Goldberg match would have forced Vince to buy another house just to hold all the money. Shane & Stephanie should have been kept as far away from WCW (and later ECW) as possible.
It also would have been nice if DDP wasn’t treated like a complete jobber. One clean win over the Undertaker = instant WWF star.
The less said about DDP-Undertaker, the better. SummerSlam 2001 was a great show to attend, but that tag team cage match was an abomination.
I’ll always remember the night DDP first showed up on Raw when he took his helmet off in the ring. Crowd went crazy, and my friends, who had not been interested in wrestling in a long time were immediately captivated. Then they had him talk about him stalking Sarah and in 30 seconds DDP in WWF went downhill forever.
I’m not a DDP fan, and it’s questionable how much of a future he would have had at his age, but that was such a horrendous program in just about every imaginable way.
Also, as has been oft-said, making the Invasion angle really about McMahon vs. McMahon for what was already the umpteenth time at that point was disastrous. Bringing Bischoff in right then would have helped enormously.
If Goldberg only wanted to work one date a week, who cares? Goldberg vs. Rock, Austin or Triple H (assuming no injury) would have provided such a return on investment that it wouldn’t matter. Look at the fairly insane buyrate the Invasion PPV did despite have no big WCW stars and an odd buildup. Imagine if that captive audience is given Austin/Goldberg. 1 million buys? 1.5? That’s a WrestleMania buyrate in July.
Vince was playing hardball because he thought his stars were big enough to carry the Invasion. I think he realized over the next few years, when he eventually doled out the big money to all the WCW guys anyway, that he was wrong.
As for Bischoff….I wonder if he even would’ve come on board in 2001 since his deal to buy WCW fell through.
Exactly. Even if you had Flair (as the mouthpiece), Goldberg, Booker and DDP as the frontline, that would have been better than what we actually got (in fact, DDP didn’t even associate with the InVasion group early on because he was busy with the Stalker angle, which left Booker as the nominal leader). Of course, you’d also have to book them as an actual threat, but it’s clear that Vince wasn’t going to do that under any circumstances. So maybe it wouldn’t have mattered who was actually brought in to simply fail, all things considered.
Goldberg DID NOT WANT TO GO. And there was nothing that was going to sound better than making super money for doing nothing. Pound that through your head. He chose to sit and collect.
And Goldberg is not a dummy. He knew Austin and HHH weren’t going to put him over and because of their resistance, the Rock wouldn’t do it either.
He wanted no part of it.
And yet he chose to come in two years later with no leverage, for less money, and an even more powerful HHH to deal with? Plus a vengeful Vince McMahon looking to make him pay for not accepting the original deal? For such an astute guy, he should have known better. Why not go in as a hot property, make a shitload of money, and leave an even bigger star? I doubt they’d have put a Golddust wig on him in 2001.
Who knows, maybe with Goldberg on board Vince wouldn’t have felt the need to bury the WCW brand.
The argument about Vince not wanting to absorb the WCW contracts because of monetary issues and whatnot don’t really hold up when you realize that he did bring in all of the major WCW players aside from Sting, and I assume that most of them didn’t come cheap. So why not spend the money when it counts? Bringing in the likes of Goldberg and the nWo after you’ve tainted the WCW brand name and everything associated with it makes no sense unless your goal is to bury said entity once and for all. And there was little doubt that WWF vs. WCW, if done properly, would draw (the InVasion PPV did a huge number despite WWF’s best efforts to sabotage the angle) and that any money spent would be couped in short order.
I’ve decided that the InVasion angle was never really about making big money for the WWF, but rather was a way for Vince to get his jollies and restore his confidence in himself, and ‘prove’ that WCW was vastly inferior from the start of the Monday Night Wars and never a threat to his company. Especially after the failure of the XFL left him exposed to the media as a one-trick pony and not the promotional genius he’d always painted himself out to be (and for the record, I don’t by the ‘XFL’s failure made Vince financially gun-shy about bringin in big name WCW talent’ theory either). Everything he did from Day One was designed to make the company look like incompetent losers who lucked and cheated their way into victories over the ‘real stars’ (like Hardcore Holly and Bradshaw, naturally) and who were so goofy and non-threatening that they needed Paul Heyman, the ECW crew, both McMahon siblings AND Steve Austin to even begin to pose a real threat to the WWF.
And for those who think that Vince isn’t petty or crazy enough to spend money, company resources and airtime just to settle a personal grudge, I’ve got two words: Stan Kroenke.
That should be ‘doesn’t’ and ‘recouped’. I really wish we could edit these posts.
What high-priced stars did WCW have besides Goldberg and Sting, neither of whom had any motivation to sign and work a regular schedule?
DDP? Worked out a new contract and came in June because he DID want to work.
Steiner? Waited until November when his contract expired and took some ridiculous sum (like 100K+ per appearance) to work in that short-lived Australian promotion.
Goldberg? Waited until the summer of 2002 when Time Warner bought him out themselves and he went to Japan
Sting? Waited until Time Warner bought him out and went to the same crap-assed Australian promotion for an ungodly amount of money.
Ric Flair? Waited until his contract expired in November.
He took all the young talent that was reasonable.
Again guys, Sting and Goldberg wanted no part of the WWE schedule and they were making tons doing nothing. Nash, Hall and Hogan all waited until their contracts expired.
You guys act like Vince tried to make it fail. It’s hard to do something when the people needed to make it succeed had no motivation, financial or otherwise to work.
Obviously paying super money for Goldberg would make everyone here happy but there was a reason why WCW went under and that doesn’t need to be ignored.
“You guys act like Vince tried to make it fail. It’s hard to do something when the people needed to make it succeed had no motivation, financial or otherwise to work.”
So that excuses him making all WCW wrestlers look like total losers or bumbling fools? I understand your point about guys like Sting and Goldberg, but for Christ’s sake, take what you DO have and build around it. I mean, it’s simple – WCW comes in, they go on the attack in an nWo/gang warfare manner, gain wins over major WWF guys, and become a credible threat to the WWF. You don’t bring them in and immediately start jobbing them out to everyone, nor do you have Steve Austin berating and “punishing” them as if they’re idiots. Vince had Booker T, DDP, Sean O’Haire, Palumbo, Kidman, etc. All capable wrestlers who could be taken seriously with any kind of push or build. TV’s Tim is right – the Invasion was nothing more than Vince working out his petty insecurities and stroking his hurt little ego.
Booker T. was buried? Really guys. He came out the gate attacking and “injuring” Austin, got put over Kurt Angle to regain the WCW World Title and main evented Summerslam against The Rock.
All in his first three months in the WWF…
Sounds like a burial to me.
He had major programs with everyone, held every single title and won King of the Ring. I hate the HHH bullshit to this date, but it was still the top program in the promotion.
They even pushed Scott Steiner two years after he was worth anything.
The young workers, with the exception of certain guys like Lance Storm, were trashed. I grant you that. I thought the Undertaker’s treatment of O’Haire and Jindrak in a RAW match was pretty pathetic. But the Undertaker acts like that sometime.
DDP is the one I will grant everyone. I thought they blew that they blew that badly. I even thought the Positively Page gimmick had great potential if it was done correctly.
But Goldberg didn’t have any real desire to do this and you all know about Vince and the way he deals with talent that doesn’t have the desire. Even so, Rock gave Goldberg the golden path to success.
So your argument is that because Booker wasn’t treated like a complete jobber for the first few months and they pushed Steiner two years after the angle was done, all the other stuff they did to bury the WCW talent was okay?
Plus, he was never really portrayed as the official leader/spokesman of the group, he starting playing second fiddle to the McMahons and then Austin almost immediately, he was buried constantly as a goof and a wannabe on commentary, and he jobbed more often than he won. Eventually, he did get a decent push after the InVasion was done, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.
And for all the talk of Goldberg not wanting to deal with this and that and Vince not wanting to pay him, he ended up coming in anyhow longer after his value had been depleted! And he couldn’t have come cheap and all the same issues were still there. Spending money when it counts is always preferable to stuffing it into a mattress (or buying a shitty restaurant or starting a football league).
Excuse me Princess, but you really think the WWE really wanted to push Booker T or Steiner, without burying them first?
Steiner was mega-pushed at the start, but once he wrestles Triple H at the Royal Rumble – they buried him. Sure most smarks and workrate freaks appluded his burial due to him stinking up the ring with Triple H – but hell was Triple H putting on stellar matches in 2003? If Triple H wasn’t the son-in-law to be of Vince McMahon – he wouldn’t have been near the Main Event in 2003 either.
I mean we get used to it now because we know there is no escape – but in 2003 – I hated Triple H and he was burying everybody. And after Steiner got face pops no selling Triple H’s facebuster – Vince turned Steiner into a midcard joke. At least Steiner got the last laugh and got a sh-tload of money for midcarding against Test in 2003.
Seeing how the Invasion ppv ended with the Rock vs Austin as the main feud going froward, with Steve Austin representing the alliance, I dont see how Booker became so huge due to the Invasion angle. They obliviously didnt trust/believe he could lead WCW, even though fans did buy in to him.
Regarding Steiner, they had no one to chalenge HHH as the defeated/buried all of the faces. They had no choice than to build someone up quickly.
So he brings in the guys ‘who wanted to work’ and booked them as goofs, and you think he didn’t want the angle to fail?
Even with talent he did bring in, Vince never really allowed them to shine or even pose much of a challenge to ‘his boys’. DDP got slapped around by the Undertaker and his wife, Booker T. was comically tossed around by Austin in a grocery store, all the other WCW guys had to resort to sneak attacks to gain any sort of advantage over the WWF ’stars’, and week after week the company was buried on television and behind the scenes and never given a chance to succeed. How is that a recipe for success?
And this isn’t ‘poor old struggling promoter Vinny McMahon scrapping together pennies to try and make a go of it while the greedy fat-cat wrestlers refuse to cooperate’. There was plenty of money to go around, and if his goal wasn’t just to bury WCW six feet under, then Vince should have gone to the negotiating table determined to bring in at least one major name to make this angle work. The reaction that Goldberg’s name alone got on this show from a WWF crowd should have been all the motivation he needed to make a deal. Of course, it’s also possible that those WCW stars who didn’t come in knew what Vince was planning, and wanted no part of his bullshit.
I’ve got nothing against Booker and DDP, but having them lead the InVasion without the likes of Sting or Goldberg would be like having a KISS reunion with just Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Yeah, they’re part of the band, but it just doesn’t work without Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. And it doesn’t help if you put Frehley and Criss out there in tuxedoes and have them sing showtunes. It’s failure by design.
Some guys are stars, and some guys are the backing band.
I certainly think Vince had no interest in making WCW look anywhere near the equal of WWF. It makes some sense…he spent 20 years fighting them, the company was a joke when they folded, why should they be at the same level?
But on the other hand…the fans wanted a true WCW v. WWF battle and I don’t think Vince really wanted to give that to them. His brand was the WWF, end of story. At the end of the day…do you think he really cares the Invasion failed? He still got a huge buyrate from the Invasion PPV, he still has increased DVD sales thanks to the library and he’s now the only game in town.
I’m sure Vince feels the InVasion angle was a huge success, despite all the potential revenue that was lost and the millions of fans who were still watching WCW at the end and whom he failed to convert in 2001. After all, he won the WAR, dammit!
Even if the end of the show did seem like an advertisement for WM X-7
Well, the last thing ever seen on Turner TV/WCW programming literally *was* a graphic for WM X-Seven…
I always loved how one aspect of Goldberg’s reasoning for not even considering a buyout should it have been offered was that he was “loyal” to AOL/Time Warner and wanted to “honor his commitment to them.”
I wish *I* could show my loyalty by collecting millions of dollars for doing no work.
“He kind of rambled on at times, but you could feel that he rally meant what he was saying.”
Of course, later he claimed that this was the happiest night of his life because of how WCW management had treated him over the years. But with Flair, you never really know which way is up.
It’s hard to believe a word that comes out of Flair’s mouth anymore.
WWE.COM reports Rey Mysterio was suspended for 30 days for a wellness violation. Maybe whatever he’s taking is what’s making his pupils white.
And it’s effective Wednesday, September 2. If you could bet on wrestling, Dolph Ziggler winning the IC Title at the next tapings would be taken off the board.
Well, there goes that push, especially after that little skirmish over money a while back. Almost makes you wonder…
Gotta love smarks, never let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy.
At the time, the WCW tape library was probably only valuable if you had enough footage to start a wrestling cable channel. At the time, that’s what people thought Vince would do: a 24 hour cable network with WWF, WCW, and ECW footage. At the time DVD was a VERY new medium, similar to Blu-Ray now. Outside of PS2’s very few people I knew had DVD players. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the buzz was about the DVDs.
Also, the idea that Vince sabotaged the invasion on purpose is laughable. Vince, an admittedly greedy egomaniac, purposely screwed himself out of money? I’m not saying the Invasion was booked well (far from it) but I don’t think it was on purpose.
What incentive was there for WCW stars to come to the WWF? Even if they got paid the same as in WCW (which they shouldn’t have, I’ll get to that in a second) they’d still have to work more and get less creative control. Signing before the Time-Warner contracts were up would have been foolish. Also, I’m guessing the WCW guys would have gotten more guaranteed than the WWF main eventers. They might not have walked out, but the WWF guys certainly had egos. And the WCW guys hadn’t been proven draws for over three years at the time. Why take a high risk for little reward?
I think that I understand Vince’s logic (though I don’t agree with it) in regards to how the Invasion was booked. My theory was that Vince thought the WWF fans were brand loyal and wanted to see the WWF guys kick the crap out of WCW guys. And as the payoff, he was probably right, but that didn’t work as a whole storyline.
What frustrates me is that I 100% believe the booking team could have gotten over the WCW guys that invaded if they had worked at it properly.
“Also, the idea that Vince sabotaged the invasion on purpose is laughable. Vince, an admittedly greedy egomaniac, purposely screwed himself out of money? I’m not saying the Invasion was booked well (far from it) but I don’t think it was on purpose.”
So he booked the invaders as goofs on purpose and expected WCW to flourish as an entity? So he either screwed up the biggest wrestling angle in history because he was a myopic idiot, or he was a shrewd scoundrel who wanted to exact revenge on WCW and managed to make a few bucks in the process. I think he looks better in my version, but anything is plausible.
And using the terms ’smark’ as an insult pretty much makes you one.
“Why take a high risk for little reward?”
Yeah, all those millions that people were clearly willing to pay for WCW vs. WWF (witness the InVasion number even with the shit booking)? Mere peanuts, right?
I’m 100% a smark.
I think that Vince thought the fans wanted to see the WWF beat the crap out of WCW which is why it was booked the way it was.
How much money and control do you think Vince would have had to give up to get the guys who were getting guaranteed money to sit at home and not work?
I’m 100% a smark.
At least you’re honest. Most people are in denial about such things.
I think that Vince thought the fans wanted to see the WWF beat the crap out of WCW which is why it was booked the way it was.
Well, obviously that was going to be the end result. But wouldn’t it have made more sense to actually make the InVaders a geniune threat and then beat them? Isn’t that Booking 101? Who cares if you ‘beat’ WCW if ‘WCW’ is presented as a group of losers who need Shane and Stephanie to lead them around by the nose? And by the end, the whole feud boiled down to a McMahon family feud and a bunch of WWF guys supposedly fighting for control of the company at Survivor Series 2001. Which made Vince’s over-the-top victory celebration at the end of that PPV (which they had the nerve to include in the old ‘WWF Desire’ music video as a symbol of him ‘winning’ the Monday Night Wars) all the more ridiculous.
How much money and control do you think Vince would have had to give up to get the guys who were getting guaranteed money to sit at home and not work?
He’d have had to pay out some serious money for sure (which would have been recouped even with the InVasion number, let alone for the other WCW vs. WWF shows), but even if he signed someone like Goldberg to a one year deal (which he did anyway TWO YEARS after anyone gave a damn) with limited appearances, would that really have broken Vince’s bank account or drove the company into the ground? How much did he pay Trump and Mayweather for a single Wrestlemania match years later? Yeah, he was still dealing with the XFL fallout in 2001, but the coffers were still full and the WWF had cash to burn on stuff like theme restaurants and movie production companies. So why not spend it where it counts?
Now, if Sting and the others were asking for creative control or company shares or co-promotional rights or anything asinine that they knew Vince would never agree to, then he would have had every right to halt negotiations and just focus on the talent who already signed contracts and use them in the proper way to make the angle work. But he didn’t even do that.
Interesting points here, I agree that Vince should have moved heaven and earth to sign Goldberg but I also agree he probably wouldn’t have had a chance because there was no way Goldberg wanted in.
There is one other consideration though – everyone wanted the Invasion to be booked as an nWo style takeover, get huge heat on the WCW wrestlers and extend the programme for a year or two before WWE eventually emerged triumphant. While I agree that WCW wrestlers were terribly booked, I think there would have been a problem…WCW’s biggest stars (Goldberg and Hogan) would have been cheered through the roof. We all saw the reaction Hogan got in 2002, even though he feuded with the Rock. The fact is he wasn’t Hollywood Hogan to most WWE fans – he was Hulk Hogan from the 1980s and they loved him. Judging by the crowd’s reaction to Goldberg’s name on this episode of Raw, he would have been a superface as well.
That’s not a reason to not book it – if the Invasion PPV had included Goldberg, Sting and Hogan then it would have easily broken 1 million buys. I’m just saying that, as a long term feud, it would have thrown creative in a loop because I don’t think fans would boo some of WCW’s biggest stars.
“He go on by saying “I bought WCW, how could of that happened.” He says that is was just a matter of time before he bought of his competition.”
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