Post by Fury on Jul 13, 2011 4:21:54 GMT -5
The Invasion 2001
The Fall of WCW and ECW
It was no secret WCW and ECW were facing a serious battle to keep their companies alive. Both had their financial troubles and both were facing a problem in their products being aired on TV.
For WCW they had debts to pay, they were losing large amounts of money per year including a reported $60 Million loss in 2000 alone. Ratings were at an all time low due and Time Warner had been looking to sell the company for a while now and a couple of interested buyers had emerged, including Eric Bischoff’s Fusient Media ventures and Vince McMahon’s WWF itself. WCW also faced another problem in addition to this. Since the AOL/Time Warner merger, WCW programming was being scrapped from Turner broadcasting. In addition to the massive amounts of money being lost, WCW was now off the air.
ECW had it’s problems as well, the company had created huge financial liabilities to various companies and workers. ECW had nowhere to air it’s programming since it had been cancelled on TNN once WWF replaced it. They also had to cancel their March PPV Living Dangerously but that had to be cancelled. It seemed it was simply a matter of formalities before ECW claimed bankruptcy and was no more.
The Meetings
Vince McMahon had now become the frontrunner to purchase the rights to both WCW and ECW. He met up with the key people from both the brands. Apparently the offers were low, somewhat insulting to both companies and Paul Heyman left feeling betrayed by McMahon whom had apparently contradicted things he had earlier told and made no promises to take care of anyone associated with the brand, even going as far as only offering concrete deals to Heyman and Rob Van Dam.
Meanwhile another name emerged on the WCW side of things, one who had been synonymous with the company. Richard Fliehr, otherwise known as Ric Flair. He and a group of investors that included a number of names associated with WCW over the years joined together to inquired into a possibility of purchasing the rights to WCW. Flair had watched the company he bled for and helped build into a multi million dollar empire go to pieces behind Bischoff and Vince Russo. Flair and his group began to look over the records of the company, inquired into some network deals to see if getting the company back on it’s feet was possible. Flair didn’t want the company to and the superstars whom had worked to make this company to fall into the hands of Vince McMahon who was offering a very low amount and not willing to pay out a lot of the contracts.
The Phone Call
Flair decided to make one last phone call, he knew it was probably going to be futile but he had to try as it could possibly help, it could possibly be their only chance to keep WCW alive. He phoned Paul Heyman whom almost hung up immediately but Flair convinced him to stay on the line. He pleaded with Paul and presented a plan to keep both WCW and ECW alive.
Heyman didn’t really have any desire to return to WCW, the company had treated him like shit, the main thing being not wanting to deal with Eric Bischoff. But he heard Flair out and to be honest he was intrigued by a lot of things. He knew not to trust the WCW name but that was dealing with Bischoff, not Flair whom seemed genuine. He told Flair that he’d think about his options.
The Outcome
It was March 26, 2001. The last Monday Nitro airing on the Turner networks. To commemorate the occasion WCW was running a champion of champions night. Flair delivered a promo at the beginning of the show saying WCW will live on forever regardless of what happens. It was time for the main event of the evening as Flair took on Sting, in perhaps the final chapter of the most storied rivalry in WCW history. The match went back and forth before Sting picked up the victory over Flair. All of a sudden a group of men jumped the barricade and attacked Steiner and Booker T. This group was lead by none other than Rhino and included The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Masato Tanaka, Justin Credible and Rob Van Dam. The ECW superstars were attacking Flair and Sting. A couple of WCW superstars including Diamond Dallas Page and Booker T ran out to defend Flair and Sting from the attackers but they too were attacked. So was Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson, and referee Nick Patrick. ECW stood tall to end the last Monday Nitro on Turner networks.
Flair had done it, later that night he received calls from 2 networks wanting to air WCW if ECW was involved, he had a number of people wanting to invest money in the company. The war between WCW and ECW had just begun.
The Fall of WCW and ECW
It was no secret WCW and ECW were facing a serious battle to keep their companies alive. Both had their financial troubles and both were facing a problem in their products being aired on TV.
For WCW they had debts to pay, they were losing large amounts of money per year including a reported $60 Million loss in 2000 alone. Ratings were at an all time low due and Time Warner had been looking to sell the company for a while now and a couple of interested buyers had emerged, including Eric Bischoff’s Fusient Media ventures and Vince McMahon’s WWF itself. WCW also faced another problem in addition to this. Since the AOL/Time Warner merger, WCW programming was being scrapped from Turner broadcasting. In addition to the massive amounts of money being lost, WCW was now off the air.
ECW had it’s problems as well, the company had created huge financial liabilities to various companies and workers. ECW had nowhere to air it’s programming since it had been cancelled on TNN once WWF replaced it. They also had to cancel their March PPV Living Dangerously but that had to be cancelled. It seemed it was simply a matter of formalities before ECW claimed bankruptcy and was no more.
The Meetings
Vince McMahon had now become the frontrunner to purchase the rights to both WCW and ECW. He met up with the key people from both the brands. Apparently the offers were low, somewhat insulting to both companies and Paul Heyman left feeling betrayed by McMahon whom had apparently contradicted things he had earlier told and made no promises to take care of anyone associated with the brand, even going as far as only offering concrete deals to Heyman and Rob Van Dam.
Meanwhile another name emerged on the WCW side of things, one who had been synonymous with the company. Richard Fliehr, otherwise known as Ric Flair. He and a group of investors that included a number of names associated with WCW over the years joined together to inquired into a possibility of purchasing the rights to WCW. Flair had watched the company he bled for and helped build into a multi million dollar empire go to pieces behind Bischoff and Vince Russo. Flair and his group began to look over the records of the company, inquired into some network deals to see if getting the company back on it’s feet was possible. Flair didn’t want the company to and the superstars whom had worked to make this company to fall into the hands of Vince McMahon who was offering a very low amount and not willing to pay out a lot of the contracts.
The Phone Call
Flair decided to make one last phone call, he knew it was probably going to be futile but he had to try as it could possibly help, it could possibly be their only chance to keep WCW alive. He phoned Paul Heyman whom almost hung up immediately but Flair convinced him to stay on the line. He pleaded with Paul and presented a plan to keep both WCW and ECW alive.
Heyman didn’t really have any desire to return to WCW, the company had treated him like shit, the main thing being not wanting to deal with Eric Bischoff. But he heard Flair out and to be honest he was intrigued by a lot of things. He knew not to trust the WCW name but that was dealing with Bischoff, not Flair whom seemed genuine. He told Flair that he’d think about his options.
The Outcome
It was March 26, 2001. The last Monday Nitro airing on the Turner networks. To commemorate the occasion WCW was running a champion of champions night. Flair delivered a promo at the beginning of the show saying WCW will live on forever regardless of what happens. It was time for the main event of the evening as Flair took on Sting, in perhaps the final chapter of the most storied rivalry in WCW history. The match went back and forth before Sting picked up the victory over Flair. All of a sudden a group of men jumped the barricade and attacked Steiner and Booker T. This group was lead by none other than Rhino and included The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Masato Tanaka, Justin Credible and Rob Van Dam. The ECW superstars were attacking Flair and Sting. A couple of WCW superstars including Diamond Dallas Page and Booker T ran out to defend Flair and Sting from the attackers but they too were attacked. So was Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson, and referee Nick Patrick. ECW stood tall to end the last Monday Nitro on Turner networks.
Flair had done it, later that night he received calls from 2 networks wanting to air WCW if ECW was involved, he had a number of people wanting to invest money in the company. The war between WCW and ECW had just begun.
ing shit, this will be insane!
