Matt D Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 The narrative that WCW was doomed until the NWO showed up is false. Savage vs Flair in early 96 turned house show business around and they were making steady gains in the ratings even before Hall showed up. A few years ago I wrote up the FEBRUARY 19, 1996 WON Cover story. I'll repost that here to show just how threatened Vince felt at the time. Expect tense and formatting issues. The story is that Vince is coming out "Guns blazing" against the Turner Empire. In the past 7 days he: -Filed a complaint with the FTC claiming that TBS has been enacting a "systematic plan to destroy the WWF so it can achieve a monopoly." He did this on 2/8/1996, attacking the Time-Warner merger, it seems, since that was a hot topic with a lot of eyes on it. Dave didn't have the exact details and FTC claimed not to have a copy of it. He said it wasn't a single action, but lots of different things: Nitro being put up against Raw, the shows starting a few minutes early/ending a few minutes late "unprecedented" in television in 1996, alleged contract tampering with WWF performers, snatching syndicated time slots from WWF using CNN Headline News as leverage, eating into profits by charging less for ad time to steal sponsors from the WWF, name calling on TV, and fabrication of stories about the WWF on the WCW hotline. The contract tampering mentioned Diesel, The Bushwhackers, and Jean Pierre Lafitte (there was a paragraph on that later). -Took out a quarter page ad in both Weds and Thurs NYT Financial sections claiming that Turner had a vendetta against WWF and warning the stockbrokers about it.WCW only responded with a quote in the Wall Street Journal saying the FTC thing was without merit. -Had McDevitt send a letter to Bischoff demanding an apology for comments on Nitro that WWF had caused a power outage in Lakeland during the 2/5 show. Bischoff had to apologize on air which he did begrudgingly. He was also forced not to talk about WWF on air which was apparently frustrating to him since he was about to do a "full court press." -Writing a letter to Turner complaining about blading. Which is kind of awesome: "Dear Ted: Since there has been no response to my repeated request and you and your pro-wrasslin' company stop the practice of self mutilation, I can only assume based upon the last two weeks of Nitro that the practice of self mutilation (slicing oneself with a razor blade) is not only condoned but encouraged. As you know, Hulk Hogan has been bleeding all over the place the past two weeks. There have been numerous references on your wrasslin programming that this weekend's double cage match will be so violent that one opponent will be "bleeding to the point of no recognition." This encouraged practice of self mutilation is disgusting, violent, potentially infectious and completely contradictory in everyway to your testimony before Congress in June of 1993 and contrary to your 1995 participation of "Voices against Violence." Notwithstanding numerous unprecedented predatory practices against the World Wrestling Federation, if you continue to promote self mutilation, I hope your stockholders hold you accountable for this unethically, guttural, potentially unhealthy practice." Dave says that this is looking pretty desperate especially considering that buyrates are up and Vader is coming in and the babyfaces are starting to draw and are pretty deep over in WWF land, but that Vince thinks he's fighting for his life again, and he's worried about the summer more than the spring (which makes sense given what would happen with Hall and Nash). He also says that on paper, WWF seemed way ahead on everything but ratings and that by going on the attack like this, the public perception would be that WCW was actually ahead. Dave does a lot of compare/contrast here between what Vince claims WCW had been doing and what he did himself ten years before, something that Vince at the time claimed was totally different. He said he wasn't trying to put people out of business back then, just survive and grow himself. There's plenty of listing of Vince's "sins" (like Survivor Series 87 and Rumble 88 and buying out the time slots and raiding the talents. There's some fact checking too as WCW claimed that WWF were under cutting them on ads, but "a third party" said otherwise. He also looked at Bret's blading vs Davey Boy back in December, which was suspect at the time but I think Bret's admitted to since. Dave spent a paragraph on the Billionaire Ted skits, saying that Vince claimed these were the only way he could legitimately air his grievances, because if he did so openly, it would turn off viewers. So he could use them to inform and entertain, and he could make he public aware of what sort of person Turner really was. He claimed that Ted had a vendetta against him since Vince would never let Ted buy in. He also said that Vince wanted to move Raw to a time period not up against Nitro (Monday night at 10 PM for instance). IF so, Dave said WCW would just expand to two hours anyway, which Vince said he actually wanted, since it would water down the WCW product and help him win. WCW thought Vince would be hurting himself by a move to 10 because they'd lose the kids and if they expanded to two hours then they could show 15 minute matches instead of 5 minute ones. Contract stuff: Diesel claims to have been offered a 3 year 750K per deal through an intermediary (Hogan wanted to bring him in as a heel, says Dave). Most expect him to take it given his age and how he has a family. Other people say it's 450K Bushwhackers offered 120K per a piece but were still under WWF contract (WCW didn't know). Vince wouldn't let them out. Lafitte seems like tampering. Not out til 7/7 but everyone knows he's jumping. He does his negotiation through Rougeau. Overtures towards an unhappy Razor (shrinking paychecks and unhappy with the Goldust feud). Vince said that Lex was under contract when he jumped. Luger said he wasn't. I think it's come out as a handshake or verbal deal no? Pretty interesting stuff all around, especially so early into 96, well before the NWO was a wisp of a dream. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go2Sleep Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 6 hours ago, HumanChessgame said: I wonder how much of that was Shawn's ego insisting that he win the title in an actual match instead of going with the original plan of Bret forfeiting the title? I think it was more about the egos of Vince and Bret. Both of them felt they were owed more respect from the other and were playing a game of chicken to prove they were right. Shawn was just needling Bret because he knew Vince was on his side. He was getting the last laugh against Bret either way. As far as the attitude era fallout goes, I think one of big things that made WWE so successful in 1998 was how outside of Taker, everyone at the top of the card had never been there before. They got pretty lucky with the timing of Bret's departure and Shawn's injury because they wouldn't have had the true freshness that they did with one or both of those guys still around, especially with how protective of their spots they were at the time. Both of them leaving forced Vince to go all in with the new stars. Based on what we've seen from Vince over the years, it's safe to assume he would've leaned on the "proven" guys long after he should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zev Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 23 hours ago, Craig H said: The one thing I don't get about the situation with Bret leaving for WCW is why they didn't think of the many other, much simpler ways of getting the title off of Bret, or better, just taking the belt from him. Have him say that win, lose, or draw, it's his last night in WWE. He wins, goes to the back, and right as he gets back to gorilla... YOU TAKE THE FUCKING TITLE FROM HIM. HELL, HE WOULD HAVE JUST HANDED IT OVER. You listen to Bret, Shawn, HHH, Vince, etc. and you'd think that Bret was a fucking ninja, like he'd go back to gorilla, drop a smoke bomb, and then vanish. Anyway, you do that same fucking thing regardless of the end result. Work an injury angle, have Bret relinquish the title, tell Bret to stay home, ANYTHING. They were just so fucking insistent on having the match between Bret and Shawn though. It's just insane. You know Bret is leaving, in your head you're going to screw him over. That's the plan. At no point did it cross Vince or Shawn's mind that maybe, just maybe, since they're planning on screwing Bret over, that they could do anything else with Bret and the title. Vince's giant concern was the world title appearing on WCW TV and there were so many simpler and less convoluted options that wouldn't have burned any bridges. Nevermind that Bret probably has a world title or 2 sitting at home from WWE, so him handing over the one that appears on TV is meaningless. Bret has said PLENTY of times he had no intention of showing up in WCW with the title. Bischoff has stated on Austin's podcast that he legally COULDN'T show up on Nitro with the belt, because of the lawsuit Vince had filed for gimmick infringement. Which leads one to wonder, why exactly would Vince really worry about the belt showing up on WCW television, since he had the lawsuit in his back pocket, and KNEW (or should've known at least) that WCW couldn't have Hart show up with the belt. I fully believe Vince wanted out of the contract for his own reasons. Bret spelled out the terms of the deal in the Wrestling with Shadows documentary. The money he was making, that Vince no longer had to pay after Montreal but supposedly couldn't afford before that anyways, quickly turned into Mike Tyson appearing at the Royal Rumble, a few Monday Night Raws, some press leading up to WM XIV, and of course WM. I think Vince immediately regretted giving Bret the contract, but felt he couldn't lose Bret at the height of the NWO formation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Cue up that Inspector Renault clip: Paige allegedly gets 2nd wellness violation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Either they are using a wellness violation to hide around that she is still injured or Paige is deliberately trying to get 3 strikes to get out of this company. I mean her first wellness violation was over maybe 2 weeks ago and she is already popped for 60 days. Is she that stupid/messed up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 I wondered if she has even been at a WWE event since her last vioation, between being in Tijuana, assorted Hooters and Glasgow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 I am leaning towards stupid as I am going guess that she never stopped taking/doing whatever it was she got popped for the first time. And she was probably tested again immediately after her first suspension was up and was nailed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilwaldo Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 At what point can we call into question the 'attack' on ADR. I read two variations. One was a homeless man and the other hit and run where they got the license plate. It just seems like this is one of those bad relationships where the guy is a user and drags his girl down with him. There, I said it. Now we can stop tip-toeing around the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Or maybe she should report things the right way and stop trying to be a martyr about it. She's aware that if she does something stupid, WWE can cite her for breach of contract and keep her out even longer, right? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 4 minutes ago, Michael Sweetser said: Or maybe she should report things the right way and stop trying to be a martyr about it. She's aware that if she does something stupid, WWE can cite her for breach of contract and keep her out even longer, right? I don't think she is and that would go back to my stupid point 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Just now, RIPPA said: I don't think she is and that would go back to my stupid point If she's smart (once again) she's got a call out to CM Punk asking for the number for his lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 I hope some more people flood into this topic now to give speculative relationship advice about her and ADR for pages and pages 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 I don't give a shit about Paige and couldn't care less. If she wants to shoot her career in the foot, let her. She's not listening to anyone else anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 I can't wait for more Hooters jokes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 26 minutes ago, Casey said: I can't wait for more Hooters jokes. Is there a U.K. equivalent that she can hold a press conference in? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Tallywackers? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 First thing that came to mind for me was Walkabout... Failing that a Hungry Horse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Ugh all these wrestling couples flaming out with WWE is going to keep Mike Bennett's career going interminably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 I really liked Paige's last story defending her violation: she missed a Wellness check-in and, as soon as she found out, sped off to get to the nearest place she could be tested, 200 miles away. This is some George Costanza level bullshitting here. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 On 10/7/2016 at 5:18 PM, AxB said: Apter should be in. He's a New York guy. Apter always had a pro-NWA bias against WWF when he was in charge, though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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