All language subtitles for Who Killed WCW - Season 1 - EP-03 - New Blood

[Eric] I had no idea how big
it was going to be.

I didn't know what the
NWO was about to become.

That leg drop was

WCW's lift off
into the future.

If you want surprises,
this is where you come.

Our show is live,
and you never know

what's gonna
happen here.

We were the #1 cable
rated show forever.

The NWO!

We already knew that
we were running thin.

[Laughing]

And I think it showed.

Did I like it?
---- no!

[Konnan]
Bro, 40,000 people,

and that's what
you're giving them?

You can't pretend that
people weren't mad.

[Bret] Idiots everywhere.
It's just...

mindboggling.

[Brad] Whenever you're
leading a night,

and now you're not
leading a night,

there is reason
for concern.

[Commentary] WCW is
literally unraveling here.

[Eric] My wife, she looked
at me like,

"What are you doing here?"
And I said...

"I got fired."

Before our very eyes,
it's falling apart.

Ted Turner hired idiots to
run a billion-dollar company

and, that was
his mistake.

[Overlapping voices]

You cannot sweep this
under the rug!

...this is a ----ing
television show.

...and I don't understand
what he's doing.

The real reason
men commit lies...

♪ [Extended flatlining beep] ♪

♪ [Dramatic instrumental] ♪

A lot of changes,
ladies and gentlemen,

at World Championship
Wrestling...

over the last 36 hours.

♪

WCW was one of many things

that I was responsible for,

and it was the thing
that I liked the least.

[Match bell ringing]

Eric is not,
is not there anymore.

You know, he was the glue
that held it together.

I was running it
at this point.

I didn't want to run it.

And I wanted somebody
to run it for me.

And a little bit different...

And, Bill Busch was the guy
who was sort of in place

as an interim when Eric
was no longer there.

And, he was the acting COO,
in a sense.

About a month after
Eric had departed,

Bill Busch makes his first
major move in running the

day-to-day operations
of the company,

which is securing
the services of the

WWF's creative team.

Busch, he called me
and said,

"We've made the best
hiring decision ever."

♪

He said,
"We hired Vince Russo."

Bischoff was gone, and
I remember Bill Busch

telling me they were gonna
bring Vince Russo in.

He supposedly was
some kind of...

genius, and now we've
lured him from WWF,

and now we've
got their genius.

When Vince Russo made the
jump to WCW to run

that entire ship,
I remember thinking...

Good for him, great.

This is the world of
professional wrestling.

This shit happens
all the time.

♪

I was excited when I heard
Vince was coming in.

♪

Good. Finally, like,
something new here.

I heard that he was a genius.

♪

Why would Vince Russo want to
leave the WWF and come here?

♪

I had a degree in journalism,
and I started freelancing

for the WWF magazine,
where I started writing

maybe about two
articles a month.

I would sit in while they
were writing the television,

and it was so bad that
I started writing

my own angles in the
magazine that had

nothing to do
with the TV show.

And, I get a call from
Vince McMahon's assistant.

[Phone ringing]

"Vince wants to see you up
in his office immediately."

It wasn't
even 9 o'clock yet.

He had the WWE Raw
Magazine in his hand.

And said,
"This is what our

television show
needs to be."

I was absolutely shocked.

It got to the point
where I was the

head writer of the show.

Then I get to work
with Ed Ferrara

who was a bonafide
television writer!

Just- it was real.

It was real.
You believed it.

There was a sense of danger,
like you almost had to

watch it because
you didn't know

what they were
going to do next.

I was definitely influenced
by what WCW was doing

at the time, without a
shadow of a doubt.

We were head-to-head,
and you had

a lot of people switching
back and forth,

back and forth,
back and forth.

So, the idea is,

you do not give them
the opportunity

to change that channel,

because once they
change that channel,

if something good
is happening on Nitro,

they're never coming
back to your show.

It's hard to argue with
the objective data,

which show that the WWF
actually enjoyed

a tripling of its revenues.

The television ratings
went from being anemic to

skyrocketing to levels people
didn't think of before.

Absolutely sold out!

The company was selling
out arenas left and right.

And, Vince Russo was
the head writer of

the WWF during
that time frame.

...Excuse me while
I kiss the sky.

The Summer Of Love...

Vince McMahon was starting
another show, Smack Down,

and he had pushed me
creatively

beyond my limits.

I had three small kids.

I wasn't seeing them at all.

I honestly believe I was
on the verge of

a nervous breakdown.

♪

He just expected Ed and
I to write a second show,

never offered
any more money.

And, bro, it's like I was
building such a close,

tight bond, relationship
with Vince that

I started asking myself
the question...

"Does this guy care about me
as much as I do about him?

Or am I the cash cow
that's writing his show?"

I was so burnt out,
I broke down and

I cried in Vince's office,
okay.

And right then and there-
I went right to

my office and called
my WCW connection.

He made the decision,

what's best for him
and his family,

and he went after
an opportunity

to go down to WCW,

and you're handed
the entire book.

Write the story.

There was an awful lot of
enthusiasm at that time that

this could be what's
needed to give WCW

the shot in the arm
that it needed.

It's a brand-new
Monday Nitro!

I looked at WCW as
a great challenge,

and what I saw here was
I saw a whole breed

of a new blood

that was stuck
somewhere in the middle

because for
whatever reason,

they couldn't break that
"establishment".

And listen, man, the day I
walked into that locker room,

I had every mid-carder
coming up to me.

I had never met
them before.

Bro, I'm talking about
like the Malenkos.

Benoits...

And the Konnan.

Unsettling!
Here he comes back!

Juventuds and all
these great people.

Man, those guys- ah,
the Rey Mysterios,

Ultimo Dragons,

all those lucha guys
that came in and...

pushing each other
to be the best,

pushed me to
another level.

We gon' turn
this motha out!

Now can you dig it?

There wasn't anybody better
in terms of ring skills

than the mid-carders so,
you know, I think there was

more talent there than
people gave them credit for.

And, I remember
locking eyes

with Hogan the first time.

The red and yellow!

You gotta understand,
when you're a New Yorker,

there's like a sixth sense.

Like, you just know
he did not trust me, bro,

as far as he could throw me,
and he was not gonna

believe one word
that I said.

And I'm gonna come out and
say it- and I've never

said this publicly before-
no doubt in my mind

Bischoff was responsible
for a little of this.

I am partially responsible
for costing Eric his job.

Eric is gone,
but Eric's boys,

the people that he took
care of and made rich,

were not in tune with
what Russo wanted.

Don't wake a
sleeping giant.

I was always a
fan of Vince's.

I just told him, like,

"You ain't in
Kansas anymore."

Like, this ain't WWE.

1, 2, 3!

This is some
----ed up shit.

[Shouting]
Goldberg! Goldberg!

I had an absolute great
plan, and if you go back and

watch the first 3 months,
you'll see it.

And, at that time,

Jerry Springer was so hot,

so we always had that
on in the background,

and what was
Jerry Springer?

It was controversy with
characters and storyline.

That's what the show was.

And basically, that's what
we needed to do.

He hit him
with a mummy!

Vince Russo's program,
everything was quick.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

I tried to stay positive,
I was very hopeful.

But it definitely was a shift
from a more laid back

sort of atmosphere,
and it's more electrified

and, louder, faster,
that sort of thing.

[Indistinct shouting]

It definitely was a shift.

[Grunting]

[Vince]
I know the numbers!

The numbers are
on the internet!

And in those three months,
the numbers went up-

slightly-
but they went up.

To me, it wasn't about
wrestling at that point.

It was lots of T&A.

Woo! Alright!

[Dick] He took us in a
direction that

even corporate
didn't like.

Watch it, Billy.

This is family hour!

It had a little positive
effect on the ratings,

but not much.

Certainly made it
not advertiser friendly.

Crowbar.

[Vince]
My job was to

make this show the
absolute best that

I thought it could be,
and to make this show

to not just please
wrestling fans,

but to be appealing to an
entire wrestling audience.

[Konnan]
His thing was like,

we already have a
wrestling audience.

Let's get the audience that
isn't watching wrestling.

But bro, if you're a casual
fan and you're watching

Judy Bagwell on
a pole match.

...high above the ring
on the forklift now!

Why would you want
to watch that,

or a pinata match,
or whatever?

He's got the pinata!

This is not WCW.

This is a comedy act.

...meatballs, and we're
gonna do it all night.

[Booker T] I don't think it
was for the fans.

It seemed like,
you know,

he was entertaining
himself.

Hey, boys!

[Indistinct chatter]

[Indistinct shouting]

Vince Russo was
just another idiot.

He's a shit stain.

And I always thought
in the back of my mind

that he was there to
lead to our ultimate demise.

[Evil voice] When does
our journey begin?

On the 7th night.

Maybe a good theory that
Vince Russo had

decent success at WWE
because Vince McMahon

was there to pick out
what was good and,

keep that and throw away
what was bad.

[Indistinct shouting]

And then, Vince Russo
comes in and,

he doesn't have that buffer,
or he doesn't have

that person
telling him no.

Never do that!

[Kevin] The whole group of
people in the office

thought he had gone too far
down the road,

away from
where WCW was.

[Vince] Listen, man,
the one thing

I really started
noticing was

every time I turned
around, JJ Dylan,

and Kevin Sullivan
were having sidebars.

And as soon as
I looked at them, boom,

now the politics are
rearing their ugly head.

So, Busch calls me
into his office.

He said, "Vince,
we're thinking of

going in a direction.

We're gonna go more
into a, ah, committee,

and we want you to be
part of a committee."

And bro, without missing
a beat, I said, "Bill...

I got a contract.

The contract states that
I am head of creative.

I am not interested in any
of your committees."

I said, "So, I am
going to go home,

and you guys
can figure out

how you're
gonna pay me."

And that was
the end of it,

and I, I went home,

and they continued
to pay me.

Sullivan.

I just thought it was
such a complete change.

When he first left,
I said,

"We're gonna get
back to wrestling."

Hey guys...

Benoit,
Perry Saturn,

Dean Malenko,
Eddie Guerrero.

When those guys
showed up at TV and

I wasn't there,
the undercard...

they went absolutely ballistic,
because they knew.

They went to work one day,
and Vince isn't here.

They knew.

They, they knew
what had happened.

They were such an
intricate part of the show.

But, they weren't
Nash, Hall,

Hogan, Macho Man.

They could've been.

But, they weren't.

So, in an effort to try to
make it up to those guys and

calm everybody down,
Sullivan made the decision

to put the
belt on Benoit.

Let's get the official
word if we can!

I remember at that TV taping,
they asked for their release,

and Bill Busch said,
"Yes, you can go."

Not realizing exactly
where they were going.

It was a Monday night.

I'm sitting in the restaurant
having dinner with my wife,

and on the screens,
I could see that

Monday Night Raw was on.

And I see Eddie, Dean, and
Chris, and Perry Saturn,

and I thought, wow,
WCW have hit rock bottom.

If those guys are jumping
ship, it's inevitable.

[Indistinct shouting]

And,
I said to my wife,

"Knowing Turner
the way I do,

how much do you want to bet
they're gonna call me and

ask me to come back?"

[Commentary]
I cannot believe it!

15 days after Chris Benoit
wins the WCW

World Heavyweight title,
he appears on

Monday Night Raw in
the front row with

the heart of the
WCW mid card-

Eddie Guerrero,
Dean Malenko,

and Perry Saturn.

Keep in mind that those
defections had been

happening the other way
for the longest time.

Well, now the
opposite is happening,

but it's especially damaging
to WCW because

these are characters,
and these are wrestlers,

who have their best
years ahead of them.

It was a big deal.

When those four guys
walked out- Ooh.

The silent hush heard
around the world.

[Indistinct commentary]
...on top!

You knew that was big.

You knew that
was a big move.

I think the office was like,
"---- those guys," you know,

"we don't need 'em."
And I was like, bro,

if they would've let
Eddie, and Benoit,

and all these people...

do programs as
the guys on top...

we might still be in business.

[Vince] The ratings plummeted
after I left.

Sullivan's in charge...

Boom. We hit rock
bottom again.

All the decisions
went through me,

and I think somebody
suggested bringing Eric back.

Since my relationship
with Eric was always good,

and we had a successful
formula that was working

when we were working
together on it.

So, I think the idea
of bringing Eric back,

being involved as either a
consultant or whatever

he was, seemed like a
good idea at the time.

So, I went back to Brad, said,
"Okay, here's the deal.

Write me a new contract.

I don't want to be
an employee,

because you guys are crazier
now than you were

when I left. I'll, you know,
report to you, nobody else."

That was my deal and,
and they took it.

And, Brad said,
"Do you think-

Would you mind,
before we make a decision,

meet with Vince Russo
and decide if you think

you can work with him."

[Vince] I never thought
it would work.

But, Brad Siegel
said to me-

here's what he said:

"I want you to work
with Eric Bischoff."

Brad Siegel never
said to me at any time,

"Eric is your boss.
Eric is in charge of you.

Eric has the final say,"
so I don't know what

he had to say to get Eric
aboard. I have no idea.

My job was to
oversee Vince.

That's what I was hired
to do by Brad Siegel.

My job definition was
overseeing Vince Russo

and the creative process.

♪

You know, my memories of
exactly what happened

are really sketchy.

But if Eric came back,
I had to approve it.

[Eric] Look, I have a pretty
strong opinion

about Vince,
professionally.

But as a person,
he's a charming guy.

And, I thought,
I can make this work.

[Cheering]

What?! No way!

Vince Russo and I

have more in common
than anybody knows.

When I got back to WCW,

in many respects,
it was worse.

[Indistinct commentary]

#69! Oh!

The stuff! Two points!

[Off-screen] I'm gonna show you
just like a couple of clips.

You're gonna be watching it,
and then just any

commentary, reactions,
memories, stories.

Anything that
comes to mind.

What was your
thoughts on this?

[Vince] But Kevin, I've gotta
ask you a question.

How many brain cells

have you burnt over
the years, Kevin?

I remember they were trying
to drop that blood on me.

They missed like 19 times.

Now what?

[Audience screaming]

You know what?
Take that clip...

and show it

after the finger poke
of doom,

and then you tell me
what killed WCW.

[Splattering &
crowd shouting]

Look at my face.

Like, ah, you gotta
be kidding me.

The New Blood strikes again!

The New Blood's symbol!

And Nash is walking slowly,

drenched in the red.

Kevin Nash in pursuit!

This was a
monthly... doing,

that they did something.

Russo running out
of the building!

[Eric] The company was in worse
shape than it was when I left.

They are getting
to their limousine.

There was no hope.

Get that damn
camera out of here.

[Eric] The only way I knew
how to turn that around

was to kind of force a
creative reset,

and that reset involved...

the Millionaire's Club,
which was the

established
top-level talent....

versus the young,
up-and-coming,

the young guns.

It's kind of a classic story.

The Millionaire's Club fighting

for their very careers!

[Vince] Bro,
that was inspired by

what has been going on in
wrestling from day one.

From day one, that's the
wrestling business.

And I'm, I'm a firm believer
that if you're gonna create

a story, try to create one
that's based on

some sense of reality.

[Vince] The Millionaire's Club
at WCW were the top guys

that were making
all the money.

Okay, the- you know,
the Hogans, the Savages,

the Flairs, the Lugers,
you know,

Sting fell in that category.

The, the New Blood
were the hungry,

younger guys that were making
a fraction of their salary

because they were
being held down by

the Millionaire's Club.

So now they were gonna
have their day in court.

Hey! Terry
"The Bollster" Hogan!

Maybe!

Maybe you haven't paid
attention around here!

A lot of tension at
that time because,

you know, the changing
of the guard,

that stuff was real too,
you know.

The stuff with Hogan and
the, the older guys.

You know, those guys didn't
want to give up their spots.

[DDP] You're like,
"We're making money"?

Yeah, cause we earned
our spot, you know,

and bottom line is now
we're finally making money.

[Booker] When Hogan said,
you know, he's getting older,

but, "Everybody in that damn
locker room's

getting older too."
[Laughing] You know.

Well, yeah, Hulk Hogan's
getting older,

and so is every other damn
wrestler in the back too.

Day by day.

That was a real statement.
That's someone who's-

who doesn't want to
let it go, man.

Kevin!

I get it, I understand it,
but for me...

you know, nah,
I always, ah,

went as far as
my talent could take me,

not my politics.

I knew there were
gonna be politics,

I just never thought
there were gonna be

politics to this extent.

Bro, even with all
these things,

yes, I am gonna go
into this to win.

I'm not gonna
go to work and

go through the motions,
and just waste my time.

I literally am still
going to do

every single thing I
possibly can do

to bring those
ratings back up.

♪

"Ready To Rumble" was a
major motion picture

that they were gonna do.

David Arquette
was gonna be the star,

and there were gonna be
multiple WCW wrestlers in it.

I like wrestling.

Are you gonna
be a wrestler?

[Laughing] You caught trouble
wrestling your weewee

out of your trousers
to take a leak.

It's not that
I have trouble.

I never really had an
interest in becoming a

professional wrestler,
except for the fact that

when I was a kid and I'd
look up at 'em, and, and...

I'd be like, "Ah, it would be
so great to be the champion,"

you know,
and just, ah-

But I never really
thought of

myself as a wrestler.

-The steel cage.
-Steel cage! Done!

But, part of the story line
in "Ready To Rumble" is that

my character, Gordie, becomes
a wrestler at the end of it.

And I think that was part of
the germ of the idea in

bringing me into WCW so
that we could sort of

have fun with
those worlds.

So, we have our
production meeting,

and the match is,
um...

Jeff Jarrett,
Eric Bischoff,

against DDP and
David Arquette.

We have a regular
production meeting.

Boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom.

Everybody leaves.
I'm literally there by myself,

and Tony Schiavone
comes over. And Tony says,

"Vince, do you mind if
I pitch you something?"

I said, "Tony, absolutely."
And I got the,

"What if...

David Arquette wins that
match and becomes

WCW Heavyweight
Champion?"

I call everybody back in.

"Guys, Tony pitched me
this idea.

What do you think?"

Bro, 100% of the
people were for it.

I don't remember how
the idea generated.

We'd done other things to
help promote movies, and,

and specific television
shows in the past.

This was a rather elaborate
way to promote the movie.

But I didn't see
the harm in it.

I just laughed
out aloud and...

I went, "Yeah, right,
so what are we doing?"

And Eric goes,
"That's what we're doing."

I go, "No, we're not."

He goes, "Yes, we are."
I go, "Bro, come on.

Stop ----ing with me.
We're not gonna do that."

I go,
"That's not a good idea."

It was like,
"That's a terrible idea.

You can't do that."

[Indistinct commentary]

Speared by Arquette!

Oh, Jarrett's got the belt!

Arquette-
1, 2, 3!

What?!

[Cheering]

What, what did-
What's going on here?

David Arquette won
the world title!

[David] Got this huge,
like, reaction

when they made me
the champion.

You know, people throwing
something, spitting on you,

and calling you the worst
things in the world, but...

It really hit me when

I was in the
locker room and,

Booker T was there, and
he was getting ready.

[Laughing]

He goes,
"Booker, man,

this is so great, man.
I'm the world champion!

I'm the world champion!"
You know, and he goes...

"How many times have you
been champ, Booker?"

He's like...

"I never won it,"
you know.

And then he goes...

He, his, his mood
totally changed.

And then I was like,
"Oof, whoa, okay,"

that like,
that hit me, so...

[Sharmell] It was hard to
see that, you know,

you do have these guys who

pretty much have given their
lives for this sport,

and then you have a
Hollywood actor,

even though it's
David Arquette who

we know and love,
come in and win that title.

Yeah, that, that,
that's a hard thing.

I would say it was just
another nail in the coffin of

a company that was rapidly
dying at that time.

[Booker] I thought it was a
bad idea putting the

World Heavyweight
Championship

on David Arquette.

I mean, movie star or not,
it's just not a good play.

And when you do something
like this, you go,

"Okay, where do
we go from here?"

Well, people were pissed that
this actor that had never

paid his dues-
cause that's a big thing,

paying your dues, right?-
was a world champion.

And Vince's rebuttal
to that was,

"It got eyes on
the product."

I don't know how well it did
in the ratings, but, I go,

"Yeah, but it got people
talking for the wrong reasons."

I don't think that
was a good idea.

Bro, I'll never forget,
the next morning after that,

I get up, I go downstairs
to the front desk.

What's on the front cover
of the USA Today?

That would have
never, ever happened

in a million years.

And at that time,
that's what we are after.

And again, bro,
I'm going to say it,

I write a television show.

If you think about the
importance of the world title

in wrestling, yes,
it's predetermined,

but it does carry with it
a huge amount of value,

and I think fans perceived
this as another attempt to

get the interest back in
one day rather than

building for the future.

[Eric] The wrestling audience
didn't appreciate it.

In the eyes of, you know,
the hardcore wrestling fan.

And I'm not
dismissing them,

and I don't mean
it derisively.

But, the really passionate
wrestling fan felt that

it really made a
mockery of the title,

to use that title
in that way.

I didn't feel that way
in that moment.

I was looking at the
bigger opportunity,

and felt like we could
sustain a couple weeks

of bad press.

I think Eric put himself
in a position to where...

he stopped calling the shots,
and just started being

a part of the shots that
were being called.

And I think that was,
perhaps, the biggest problem.

It is what it is.

I didn't stop it,
let's put it that way.

I supported it.

And I participated,
for God's sake.

The World
Heavyweight Champion!

[Shouting & cheering]

I would do the same
thing today, bro.

Without blinking an eye,

I would do the same
exact thing today.

Quite frankly,
I could care less.

Arquette goes out
there the next day!

He doesn't want
the championship!

What?! Whoa! Bro!

[Stammering]
I, I, you know-

we followed that up
in the story line.

What did he have it, bro,
for like a week?

Hey, I think I
killed out there.

Listen, Page, this has
all been a big fluke,

it's been a whole lot of
fun, but I don't deserve

to be the World
Heavyweight Champion.

And he went out on,
you know, the next day,

and he goes, "Man,
I shouldn't have the title.

People like Booker T
should have the title."

Tonight, I'm gonna
relinquish the belt,

and give up the title.
I don't deserve it.

How about that?

-These guys deserve it.
-[Booing]

Maybe Booker T
deserves it,

but I don't deserve it.

You know, I was like,
"Wow!" You know?

So, he might have been
my biggest cheerleader,

you know, he might have been
the spark that lit the flame.

I started at the
bottom of that company,

and I had seen these
guys on television,

and now I'm in the same
locker room with them,

and competing with them
at the highest level.

I was doing something that
I had never imagined

or dreamt of doing in
a million years.

Now the axe kick!

[DDP] I knew Book was
gonna be a big star.

When he was putting on
grease paint one time

when he was doing
G. I. Bro.

He said, "I'm here, and I'm
gonna keep doing what

I'm doing, and eventually
I'm gonna get there."

And I'm like, "You know
what, bro, you're right,

you are." I said, "You got
the best attitude ever."

Thinking about winning the
world title for me

in this company,
is something that

I never really
thought about.

When I first came in
this company, it was,

you know,
it was a clique.

It was a good old boys
clique, you know,

and if you wasn't in
the good old boy clique,

you only went to a
certain level, you know.

♪

'Cause I was Black,
to be honest.

I knew how good I was.

There wasn't a
doubt in my mind.

But you still wonder if the
company would be

willing to accept
a Black champion.

♪

He was beloved,
everybody loved him.

He was so easy
to work with.

He paid his dues.

Booker, like, had completely
thrown in the towel of

ever thinking he was going
to be a champion

because he knew the
political game!

Everybody's fighting
for the same spot!

And especially, bro,
when you're on top,

you got everybody
gunning for you.

So, when Hulk
was on top, yes,

did he do everything
he possibly could

to secure that spot?

Bro, 1000%.

♪

[Eric] Halloween Havoc '99
I think was

the last time
Hogan appeared.

Of course, I was sent
home in September of '99.

Hogan stuck around
because he was

obligated
and advertised.

But,
without me there,

Hogan really wasn't
too interested in

working in any way,
shape, or form with Russo.

So, when I came back
to work with Russo,

that certainly made it
a lot easier.

Eric is now treating me

as I'm below him.

And I, I had
had enough.

So, I called Brad Siegel.

And I said,

"Brad, if you want to
make Eric head of creative,

freaking make him
head of creative!"

And bro, Brad Siegel said,
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Vince! I want YOU to
write creative."

Bro, two days later was
Bash At The Beach.

Bash At The Beach 2000 was
really the culmination point

of the tension between Russo
and what he wanted to do,

me and what I was willing
to do in the role I was in,

and what Hogan was
willing to do...

given that he had
creative control.

I will say this up front,
without a shadow of a doubt,

if there was no
Eric Bischoff,

I would have had a great
relationship with Hulk Hogan.

And, I don't think
there ever

would have
been an issue.

Hulk and I have a good idea
of what we wanted to do

with his participation.

He and I are on
the same page,

and Hulk Hogan has
creative control,

so that's pretty much
the end of any dispute

or conversation, right.

But at the same time,
Vince Russo had

his ideas of what
he wanted to do.

And what he was able
to do was

take the original
idea of Hulk and I's,

which was create some
kind of scenario

where Hulk gets so
frustrated, or disgusted,

or pissed off, he grabs the
belt and walks out of

the building, presumably
never to be seen again.

That was the plan.

[Vince] I'm saying to myself,
bro, no.

You're not walking out
of here with the belt.

-Now what?
-I don't know, it's...

Who's laying down
on this one?

But what Vince Russo did was
jump in the middle part of

our plan, and decided that
once Eric and Hulk

left the building-
which we did,

according to script,
OUR script-

Vince Russo jumped into
the ring, live,

and went into business
for himself and

implemented
his own idea.

[Cheering]

Hey, let me tell ya who
doesn't give a shit

about this company!

That God damn politician,
Hulk Hogan!

I remember looking around,

talking to some of the
other Nitro Girls, like...

"Is, is this what's supposed
to be happening?"

Like, what's going-
is this written?

What is going on?

Hulk Hogan tonight
wants to play

his creative control card.

Holy shit.

This, this is...

he's shooting, you know,
he's talking for real.

This is not a work.

But one thing I do
want to point out.

As much as this was a work,
and everybody was,

you know, in on it,
when I talk about reality,

I really am
this pissed off.

Hogan got his belt,
and he went the hell home,

and I promise
everybody or else

I'll go in the
God damn grave,

you will never see
that piece of shit again.

I didn't know that
was coming, and...

that promo to me felt as
real as it possibly can be,

as far as two people having

a venomous animosity
towards each other.

The point of this promo
was not to run Hogan down.

The point of it was...

we need Booker
to win the belt,

and I need to make sense of

why this match is happening.

For the WCW title,
two deserving guys-

Jarrett! And Booker!

Will compete for the WCW,

and they'll tear this
God damn house down!

I found out about 10 minutes
before I had to wrestle.

This all came as
a surprise to me.

I really don't know
what's going on.

Vince made the decision.

Cut that promo before
I had to go out.

Man, I had so
much energy.

Opportunity has knocked,
and I will be damned

if I don't
answer that door.

I am gonna do what I have
to do tonight to take

that gold home, take it
around my waist,

and taking it to the
next millennium.

Now can you
dig that shit?

I can.
Tony, back to you.

I was ready to become
the world champ.

I remember, before the bell
rang I jumped up so high,

you know, and, you know,
just because I was like,

"Let's get this done,"
you know.

[Indistinct shouting
& crowd cheering]

...2! ...3!

[Cheering]

Booker T's the champ!

♪ [Triumphant] ♪

♪

It took somebody
like Vince Russo,

somebody that was outside
the box that pushed them

to make a decision,
and then, you know,

check their conscience
for a second.

I came back for
the Booker Ts!

I was totally out of
the loop, as far as...

what was going on with...

Vince Russo and

Hulk Hogan and
Eric Bischoff.

[Vince] Bro, the next day
on the internet,

everybody bought this-
hook, line, and sinker.

And bro, what you got over
and over and over again was,

"Finally! Somebody put
Hulk Hogan in his place!"

Hulk is at home,
and he's reading this,

and he's seething, and his
ego is kicking in because

now it looks like this
jackass, Vince Russo,

got one over
on Hulk Hogan.

That's why this company's
in the damn shape

it's in because of
bullshit like this.

[Cheering]

My phone's just
nonstop vibrating.

Hulk's phone's
blowing up.

And now we're starting to
hear bits and pieces

from different people
about what Russo did.

And we're looking at
each other like this can't,

this can't
possibly be true.

Hulk Hogan, who is
contractually entitled to

have final say
over creative...

and yet, he throws all of that
out the window and

goes into business
for himself?

Tears the script up,
and says,

"No, I'm gonna do it
my way instead"?

We couldn't believe
that that happened.

As far as Hulk was
concerned, he's done.

There's going
to be a lawsuit.

As far as I'm concerned,
I'm done.

Regardless of who did
what and who says what,

let's just look at it from
the most important person

in the equation, which is
the people paying money to

come and see the shows,
buying the Pay Per View,

showing up to
the live events.

Why would I buy into the idea
that the next Pay Per View

is gonna be the
biggest event ever,

or the next match is
gonna be unbelievable

when it seems like every
time they hype something up

some nonsense
like this happens?

Ultimately, I think what
this represented was the

blowing up of this new
creative team that

many had predicted
was inevitable.

And unfortunately,
it played out,

not behind the scenes,

but in front of
everyone to see.

You could talk about
angles and storylines,

and this and that-
the fact that I was

in a position to be able
to do the right thing-

Booker T becoming
the champion and

a man finally getting
what he deserved and

getting through all that
red tape and all the BS

was far and away my
greatest moment.

Russo's stunt made it
impossible for me to,

A, trust Vince Russo.

Or really the judgement
of anybody else,

including Brad Siegel.
Brad had a choice.

He could have
sent Russo home

following
Bash At The Beach.

But he didn't.

Eric and Hogan
were partners in

what they wanted
to do at WCW.

And, I was trying to do
whatever I can do

to get it back on track.

[Cheering]

I came back to the guys
behind that curtain

that give a shit about
this company!

Post Bash At The Beach,

now we have another
creative shake-up.

Eric goes home,

Hulk is never to be seen
on WCW TV again.

And for the next 3 months
we have Vince Russo and

a booking committee mapping
out WCW's story lines.

So much had happened,

there had been so many
attempted restarts and reboots

and changes of direction
that the entire promotion

was sort of in a
state of shell shock.

Once the bleeding started,
it was a consistent

deterioration of
WCW's business.

[Indistinct commentary
& shouting]

Everything was
very spontaneous,

in the moment:
"What gets me excited now?"

Learn the meaning of the
world discipline, ladies?

[Indistinct shouting]

He was doing a
lot of segments

with himself involved.

[Indistinct commentary]

Well, he was brought
in to be a writer.

And then, he'd write
himself into the show.

And, write himself
as one of the

main characters
in the show.

This is my show!

This is my house!

And these are my people!

I'm just going to be 1000%

completely honest with you.

As far as an
on-air character,

I felt that I was better than
80% of that roster.

They put so much
pressure on me, bro,

that I made the mistake
of saying, "You know what?

F' it.
If you want ratings,

I will go out there and
get ratings myself."

I almost get killed, bro.

I almost got killed.

[Crowd shouting]
Oh! Whoa!

What I'm looking for
tonight is ratings!

Big ratings!

And we're gonna deliver,
you son of a bitch!

Like, to this day, people
think that's who I am.

That's why so many
people dislike me,

hate me who don't
know me because

they think I'm my character.

Knock it off,
know your place.

He put the belt on himself.

He became
champion somehow,

which I just thought was
kind of self-serving.

I can't even imagine,
you know,

what brought that on except
for childhood dream...

that every one of us
have had.

So, I get
Vince doing it.

I don't think it
was a good idea.

But, I get it, and he had
a lot of heat,

you know, internal
and external.

[Shouting commentary]

Bro, listen, I never
thought I was a wrestler.

Again, this is a
television show.

All I'm trying to do is

entertain an audience.

[Indistinct commentary]

Bro, I should have never
gotten in the ring.

I was really concerned
about my health.

They were hurting me
on purpose.

First of all, with Goldberg,
he's supposed to spear me

into the entranceway.

And I told him ten times:

"Bro, I got a concussion.

Like, just please work me
to the entranceway."

What does he do, bro?

He spears me right
into the iron rail.

[Indistinct shouting]
Whoa!

Come on, come on, man,
like no question about it.

If I wanted to
intentionally hurt him

he'd be underground
right now.

And anyone who
doesn't believe that

doesn't know
anything about me.

I think so, without a doubt.
Without a doubt.

And that was it,
that, that spear,

that was the one that
put me away, that was it.

Why am I putting my health
on the line when, obviously,

nobody gives a crap about
this company anymore?

Russo! I'm here!

And I'm waiting, Vince.

So, the last show that
Vince Russo is credited

to have written is the
October 2nd, 2000,

edition of Monday Nitro.

He gives an interview
the next day on WCW Live,

lamenting everything that
was going on in the company,

and then he's gone from the
picture after that point.

This is Russo
in 2000, baby.

Hulk Hogan...

I don't give a damn.

You think I care
about Eric Bischoff?

I could give a damn.

Ratings 2.7, 1.7, 0.7.

I don't care.

Vince Russo losing
his job next week,

I don't give a damn.

♪

When I see this, and I
see that guy there,

it really reminds me of how
much I hate the business.

I mean, I'm gonna
be honest with you.

I mean, there's a lot of
people that

don't like me saying that.

That's the fact
of the matter.

It really brings me back
to the, the damage,

emotionally, that this
business did to me.

That's ab-
absolute truth.

God honest truth.

And then, those same
politics exist today.

♪

What is the
fate of WCW?

We're talking about a
company that, at its peak,

was generating in the
neighborhood of $200 million

a year, and a huge
part of pop culture.

It's a hit every
Monday every night.

But it wasn't anymore.

It was so bad!

The bickering,
the in-fighting.

We're Time-Warner.

Is it that important to own
a wrestling company

that's losing money,
bleeding massively?

I'll sit and watch the
----ing thing sink

from my ----ing house.

It didn't feel like
a family anymore.

You had to look
out for yourself.

What's gonna happen here?
Are they gonna stick with this?

Are they not gonna
stick with it?

I said, "Brad, why don't
you let me explore

selling WCW while it still
has some value?"

Going out!

We thought we were coming
to work like a regular day.

Do you know anything?

And no one knew
until that night.

Because the fate of WCW

is in my hands.