Post by Chris Lionheart on Feb 13, 2012 3:50:55 GMT
The changes from real life:
Jericho faces Goldberg at Halloween Havoc 1998 in a losing effort, taking a record amount of Jackhammars in the process. Although Jericho would take some time off to sell the injuries from so many injuries, he would return in mid-1999 during a time when Goldberg himself was "injured" (preparing for his movie debut in 1999 film Universal Soldier: The Return alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme). This kept the pair away from each other, giving them something to return to at a later date.
At the beginning of 1999 Ric Flair won a match with Eric Bischoff which gave him the title of President of WCW. Unfortunately Flair quickly became corrupt with power. The Giant was kicked-out of a reunited nWo in January, losing favor with Hogan as he reunited with Nash. A storyline then started with Ric Flair courting The Giant back into WCW, signing him to a new 10 year deal, mirroring Paul Wights real-life contract negotiations with the company. The Giant was out for blood and wanted Hogan in a match, but Flair abused his power by inserting him into the match in place of The Giant. This began a short feud between Flair and Giant, which took-over most of the early 1999 telecasts. Flair eventually suspended The Giant indefinitely, stating that he was going to make him spend the next 10 years at home wishing he was Ric Flair.
At a backstage meeting in August, Eric addressed the roster. There was pressure mounting-up on the company and on Eric's head from Time Warner, and whilst he had thoughts of lambasting the majority of the roster, he knew that the established talent were fairly near the end of their current deals, and some were either injury prone or way past their prime at this point. Instead Eric addressed the roster, and explained that the type of interviews that wrestlers such as Chris Beniot, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Buff Bagwell had been giving, where they voiced their frustrations with the way that WCW President Ric Flair had become drunk with power since winning control of the company - a 'worked-shoot' meant to refer to their frustrations with their positions in the company - were his idea and his way of letting fans know that WCW realized they were now losing the ratings war, and asking fans to bare with them and give them time to progress. He said that if anyone was unhappy with creative, they had an opportunity to speak up. Out of the entire locker room, only Raven did. Bischoff promised that everyone's concerns would be listened-to and that the company would improve once again. Like the fans, wrestlers just had to give him time.
Unfortunately time was the one thing Bischoff didn't have. He was sent home a month later in September 1999, and in October 1999 Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera were brought into the company from WWF to become the new writing team. When Vince Russo was fired in December 1999, Bischoff was brought-back after being fired a few short months before, with people quickly realizing what a mistake it was to gamble on Russo. Bischoff decided that this time around he was going to run things differently. He regretted how he had gotten too close to certain talent in the past, and admitted it may have clouded his judgement and perception. Diamond Dallas Page had Bischoff's ear at the time, acting in the best interests of the boys, knowing that he was set for life in the company. Even Chris Kanyon was acting as something of an unofficial talent scout for the company, that is how a young Shane Helms received his job. Rounding out Bischoff's motley crew were agents Arn Anderson, Terry Taylor and Johnny Ace, with the talent going to these men to pitch storyline and character ideas.
All throughout the year 2000 WCW's unhinged monster, Scott Steiner, systematically put wrestlers on the injured list. That list includes: Bill Goldberg, Booker T, Buff Bagwell, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Geurrero, The Giant, Raven, Saturn, Shane Douglas and Sting.
In January 2001 WCW was sold as a package deal, including wrestler's contracts, trademarks and copyrights, to Eric Bischoff's Fusient Media Ventures. The television air time was still on TNT and TBS in their regular time slots, in an iron-clad contract, as Time Warner retained minority interest in the company. "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Fusient Media Ventures that truly represents a win for all parties," said Bradley J. Siegel, president of general entertainment networks, TBS, Inc. "The Fusient management team's experience in programming, production and marketing at Classic Sports Network lends itself perfectly to the WCW business. Their entrepreneurial business-building expertise, combined with the powerhouse brands and distribution that TBS Superstation and TNT provide, will be a winning combination." Eric Bischoff would make the decision to replace Thunder with classic WCW footage, filling the time-slot on TBS, until such a time that it was deemed necessary to re-debut Thunder.
Jericho faces Goldberg at Halloween Havoc 1998 in a losing effort, taking a record amount of Jackhammars in the process. Although Jericho would take some time off to sell the injuries from so many injuries, he would return in mid-1999 during a time when Goldberg himself was "injured" (preparing for his movie debut in 1999 film Universal Soldier: The Return alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme). This kept the pair away from each other, giving them something to return to at a later date.
At the beginning of 1999 Ric Flair won a match with Eric Bischoff which gave him the title of President of WCW. Unfortunately Flair quickly became corrupt with power. The Giant was kicked-out of a reunited nWo in January, losing favor with Hogan as he reunited with Nash. A storyline then started with Ric Flair courting The Giant back into WCW, signing him to a new 10 year deal, mirroring Paul Wights real-life contract negotiations with the company. The Giant was out for blood and wanted Hogan in a match, but Flair abused his power by inserting him into the match in place of The Giant. This began a short feud between Flair and Giant, which took-over most of the early 1999 telecasts. Flair eventually suspended The Giant indefinitely, stating that he was going to make him spend the next 10 years at home wishing he was Ric Flair.
At a backstage meeting in August, Eric addressed the roster. There was pressure mounting-up on the company and on Eric's head from Time Warner, and whilst he had thoughts of lambasting the majority of the roster, he knew that the established talent were fairly near the end of their current deals, and some were either injury prone or way past their prime at this point. Instead Eric addressed the roster, and explained that the type of interviews that wrestlers such as Chris Beniot, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Buff Bagwell had been giving, where they voiced their frustrations with the way that WCW President Ric Flair had become drunk with power since winning control of the company - a 'worked-shoot' meant to refer to their frustrations with their positions in the company - were his idea and his way of letting fans know that WCW realized they were now losing the ratings war, and asking fans to bare with them and give them time to progress. He said that if anyone was unhappy with creative, they had an opportunity to speak up. Out of the entire locker room, only Raven did. Bischoff promised that everyone's concerns would be listened-to and that the company would improve once again. Like the fans, wrestlers just had to give him time.
Unfortunately time was the one thing Bischoff didn't have. He was sent home a month later in September 1999, and in October 1999 Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera were brought into the company from WWF to become the new writing team. When Vince Russo was fired in December 1999, Bischoff was brought-back after being fired a few short months before, with people quickly realizing what a mistake it was to gamble on Russo. Bischoff decided that this time around he was going to run things differently. He regretted how he had gotten too close to certain talent in the past, and admitted it may have clouded his judgement and perception. Diamond Dallas Page had Bischoff's ear at the time, acting in the best interests of the boys, knowing that he was set for life in the company. Even Chris Kanyon was acting as something of an unofficial talent scout for the company, that is how a young Shane Helms received his job. Rounding out Bischoff's motley crew were agents Arn Anderson, Terry Taylor and Johnny Ace, with the talent going to these men to pitch storyline and character ideas.
All throughout the year 2000 WCW's unhinged monster, Scott Steiner, systematically put wrestlers on the injured list. That list includes: Bill Goldberg, Booker T, Buff Bagwell, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Geurrero, The Giant, Raven, Saturn, Shane Douglas and Sting.
In January 2001 WCW was sold as a package deal, including wrestler's contracts, trademarks and copyrights, to Eric Bischoff's Fusient Media Ventures. The television air time was still on TNT and TBS in their regular time slots, in an iron-clad contract, as Time Warner retained minority interest in the company. "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Fusient Media Ventures that truly represents a win for all parties," said Bradley J. Siegel, president of general entertainment networks, TBS, Inc. "The Fusient management team's experience in programming, production and marketing at Classic Sports Network lends itself perfectly to the WCW business. Their entrepreneurial business-building expertise, combined with the powerhouse brands and distribution that TBS Superstation and TNT provide, will be a winning combination." Eric Bischoff would make the decision to replace Thunder with classic WCW footage, filling the time-slot on TBS, until such a time that it was deemed necessary to re-debut Thunder.
