All language subtitles for Who Killed WCW - Season 1 - EP-04 - The Final Nitro

[Loud popping &
fans cheering]

♪

WCW is about to
dominate the globe

with professional wrestling.

10 million people in the
United States were

zeroed in on professional
wrestling.

We were the number
one cable rated show.

For almost two years.
Mind blowing.

And, when something
gets too big, too fast,

shit's gonna hit the fan
at some point, and it did.

Little by little,
we just fell.

We already knew that
we were running thin.

It is so good to be king.

He cared more about
ratings than

he cared about
advertising dollars.

It was a shit show.

Vince Russo was
just another idiot.

He was there to lead
to our ultimate demise.

Kiss my ass!

I was done.
It was over.

I could'nt care less.

No doubt in my mind Bischoff

was responsible for
a little of this.

Another nail in the coffin
of a company that was

rapidly dying at that time.

I don't control that shit.
I go out and I do my job.

My check didn't change.

It was the easiest money
I ever made in my career.

Like,
they got what?

Hey!

When guys got those
kind of agendas,

thinking about themselves,
that's pretty much

when the ship
started to go down.

This is some
fucked up shit.

You ain't in
Kansas anymore.

[Overlapping voices]

You cannot sweep this
under the rug!

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

The real reason
men commit lies...

[Extended
flatlining beep]

♪ [Dramatic orchestral] ♪

♪

♪

[Production Crew]
Grid going out!

♪

It is at an end.

It didn't feel like
a family anymore.

It felt like everybody
was out for themselves,

and it seemed like the blood
was in the water and

the sharks were
coming to get it.

I think everybody
just didn't know

what was happening.

We were still hearing
the rumors that

we were just gonna
shut the doors.

So, I think at that point
everybody was just really...

unsettled.

It's easy to lose sight of
how lucky we are

to be part of this.
Hopefully, it ain't over.

WCW wrestling is so important
to me, and there's just...

that one guy at Turner,
I think just

doesn't think wrestling's
cool or whatever,

so he's gonna ruin it for
millions of people.

I think Turner finally
started looking into the

books and said, "We gotta
pull the plug on this."

No matter how much Ted
Turner loved this business

and wanted to, you know,
keep it afloat,

you start looking at the
books at that time and

seeing how much money
we were spending,

I can only imagine how much
money went out the window.

Oh, my god.

After Brad brought me back
to kind of oversee Russo,

it was apparent to me
that things were more

dysfunctional within Turner
Broadcasting and

in the relationship between
Turner and WCW

than they had ever been.

And I'm not talking about what
was going on on television,

or how much money they
were making or losing.

I'm just talking about
the relationship.

♪

Time Warner is a company of
winning brands and

winning people,
and so is AOL.

For this merger-
just like when we put

Turner Broadcasting
into Time Warner

it made the company
much, much stronger.

And I think we're
all committed to

making this thing work.

AOL was absolutely
ubiquitous at that time

in terms of in the public
consciousness

the company introduced
many people to

the concept of
logging on to the internet

for the very first time.

[Ad] I've been on America
Online two months,

and it's really been
a revelation for me.

You've Got Mail!
[Laughing]

This is at the time where
a lot of the new internet

dotcom businesses were
receiving wild overvaluations

based on promises
of future growth.

If you looked at the
assets, besides furniture-

[Laughing]- they have
a subscription list,

and that's the people
who subscribe to AOL.

AOL's leadership in the early
part of 1999 also were

keenly aware of this
reality as well.

So, one option that was
considered was to merge with

a media and entertainment
conglomerate,

which was Time Warner.

[News] The combined company,
which will be called

AOL Time Warner gives each
partner what it now lacks.

[Guy] What ended up happening is
that AOL shareholders

would receive 55% of
the new company,

and Time Warner 45%.

Now, my dad's never
been online on his own.

Never touched a computer,
never owned a cell phone,

never used an ATM.
Right? He's old school.

So, I think it was a whole
generation gap lost on

AOL's going to buy this
giant company with nothing,

where the older investment
guys are like,

"Well, you can't
turn it down.

Hundreds of dollars a share,
this is gonna be awesome.

We're all gonna make a
billion dollars,"

but nobody would
stand up and go,

"This is a Ponzi scheme,
man," right?

This is, this is all
gonna fall apart.

The Blockbuster deal still
needs regulatory approval,

and a nod from Time Warner
and AOL shareholders.

AOL had serious,
serious issues.

You know, WCW got
caught up in that also.

And essentially you could
say it was collateral damage.

Wrestling has become
fun, crazy entertainment.

It is, it's an
alternative.

It doesn't define
our network.

It's one night a week.

It's a hit every
Monday night.

But it wasn't anymore.

Because it was broken
and I had to fix it,

I was a physical
presence there.

I was in there trying to do
whatever I can do

to get it back on track.

Big mistake!

What a bunch of
fucking boobs.

It was so bad!

I really felt like,
okay, stake in our heart.

It was a chaotic
shit show and a blur.

And, I said, "I'm about to
get the hell out of here

because I've had it."

You had to look out
for yourself.

[Janie] I just felt
like Brad didn't

know anything
about wrestling.

I mean, he knew about
the corporate side,

but he wasn't a
wrestling person.

He wasn't somebody
that was gonna try to

help save the company.

It was like going
through the motions.

To be completely honest,
I couldn't fix it.

And the red kept
getting redder.

And the ratings kept falling,
and falling, and falling.

[Guy] In addition, WCW drove
away its paid audience.

Look at the difference in
buy rate between the

uncensored Pay Per View in
March of 1999 and the

same event just 12 months
later in March of 2000.

They basically put on the
exact same main event.

Hogan-Flair two years
in a row.

[Commentary]
Hold onto your hats!

1, 2, 3!

In March of '99, the
uncensored Pay Per View

enticed some 325,000 viewers

to purchase the event,

but just 12 months later,
only 60,000 people were

willing to purchase
the 2000 version of

WCW Uncensored.

That represents
a drop of 81%.

♪

[Eric] The narrative, it was
at the end of 2000.

WCW had losses of
around $62 million.

That's the narrative.

And I think that there
probably is a grain of truth

to that, but what people
don't understand...

is the why.

Professional wrestling is
very different

when you're a company like
Time Warner AOL.

A lot of answering to
shareholders that have

expectations on a monthly
and quarterly basis.

I think there was a lot of
debt from other divisions in

the company that could
be allocated- legally-

but allocated as losses against
WCW because everybody

knew it was gonna be written
off as a loss anyway.

The bullshit internal
transfers that people

tried to park all their
trash on our books while,

while we were getting hurt.

It was clear to me at
that point that

Turner Broadcasting
didn't want

anything to do with WCW,

and I said to Brad,
specifically, I said,

"Brad, why don't you let me
explore selling WCW

while it still has
some value?"

Because, the velocity at
which WCW was

losing ground at that
particular time

was pretty dramatic.

Brad kind of chuckled at me,
and he said, "Eric,

you know this company.
We don't sell anything.

We buy things."
So I just let it go.

Fast forward...

Good evening.

Today we announce that
the Federal Communications

Commission has approved the
merger of America Online

and Time Warner Inc.

So the merger was announced
on January 11th 2000.

Finalized on
January 11th 2001.

There had actually been a
lot of financial experts

who had been predicting
the imminent demise

of AOL for quite some time.

Keep in mind that throughout
the year 2000

a number of significant
things happened.

We had the dotcom
recession, right,

we had a number of these
internet companies that were

going to be the darlings of
the future that went

belly up, which affected
AOL in a serious way.

Its stock price
dropped by 50%,

which of course creates a
huge pressure to look

closely at which divisions
are profitable and

which are registering
huge losses.

That put WCW even more
in the crosshairs.

There were a lot
of executives

at very
senior levels.

The only person standing in
front of them was Ted Turner.

The merger happens.

Ted becomes Vice Chairman.

You know, he was excited
about that at first.

And you know, you have an
office in New York,

you know, "I've made it."
Well, no,

your name made it,
your businesses made it.

But they didn't want even
want to hear

at the board meetings
from him.

[Eric] Ted Turner was no
longer a challenge.

Ted Turner was regulated to
the corner and didn't have

a voice or vote in
his own company.

You know, Ted is no longer
in a position to have

control over WCW
and its affairs.

[Brad] I remember saying, y
ou know, with Time Warner,

is it that important to own
a wrestling company

that's losing money,
bleeding massively,

has lost money every year of
its existence except for

one or two years-
is that really

what Time Warner
needs to own?

I don't think we need this.

[Off-screen]
Brad Siegel, take one.

Mark.

I get a phone call
from Brad.

And he said, "So,
let me ask you, Eric,

a couple months ago you
brought up the idea of

selling WCW. Do you think
you could find a buyer?"

And I immediately said,
"Sure." I had no idea,

I'd never done
anything like that before.

But I assured him that I
could find someone

who had the
resources to buy it.

I said, "Do you want me
to put a deal together?

You want me to try to put
some people together?"

And he goes,
"See what you got."

I went to a guy by the
name of Peter Guber.

Peter Guber at that point of
time owned a company

called Mandalay Sports
and Entertainment.

He's a very, very, very well
established Hollywood guy.

And he said, "Look, I'm not
interested in investing,

in buying WCW,

but I think I know some
people who may."

And he put me in touch
with Brian Bedol and

Steve Greenberg, who owned
a company called

Fusient Media Ventures.

Fusient Media Ventures
had created the

Classic Sports Network,

which became
ESPN Sports Classic.

Brian and Steve
understood media.

They had great connections
in New York, on Wall Street.

And, we hit it off, and
started the process.

I called Brad back, said,
"Okay, I got the investment."

Fusient Media funded
the initial round

with 5 million
of their own,

and then went out and raised
$62 million in the market,

so I felt like I was capable
with the financial resources

and the right
partners with me,

there was
potential for WCW.

They professional
wrestling genre

as a whole is
indestructible.

It's just a matter of the
company being

in the right hands.

Eric was invested in

trying to keep WCW
alive and moving.

So, it was very exciting
when the opportunity

came up to buy it.

And it wasn't surprising
that he went 100% all in

and just gave it
all he had.

We had come up with a loose
plan of what we were

going to do once the deal
was consummated.

For example,
went out to Las Vegas.

We met with the Hard Rock
and they were planning on

building a entertainment
theater on top of one of

their parking garages that
would hold about 3500 people.

So, we started to negotiate
the opportunity for kind of a

full-time location, producing
our shows in front of a

live audience in Las Vegas
every Monday night.

And one of the initial
thoughts we had is

let's bring WCW back with
this Pay Per View

called The Big Bang.

So, on January 11th 2001,

it appears that
Fusient Media Ventures

has purchased
the company.

The figure that was reported
at the time of the

apparent sale to Fusient
was $67 million.

You know, there's a lot of
exuberance about,

once again, this being now
the turning point.

Now we've got the
new owners in play,

now Eric Bischoff's
back in his position,

this is where we're
off to the races.

The new goal is
100 weeks in a row,

and that's kind of what's
in the future for WCW.

Oh, I was excited.
I thought, you know,

okay, great, this is gonna
open a new door.

We're gonna continue
to go on like we are.

I think we were gonna
see a, a smarter,

newer, more refreshed
version of Eric.

He looked really gung ho
to make this work.

[Eric] Turner Broadcasting
guaranteed us our time slot

on Monday night
and Thursday night.

So, our job was then
to produce the show,

find the advertisers, and
turn the show profitable.

I remember that being
part of the deal,

and I liked that as
part of the deal.

Knowing that you've
got that slot,

then being able to calculate
what the advertising value

of that's gonna be...

is critical.

So, it was a fait accompli
as far as we were concerned.

And we were scheduled
to close that deal.

[Guy]
On the March the 6th,

Jamie Kellner is
announced as the

new CEO of
Turner Broadcasting.

Jamie Kellner is someone
whose reputation certainly

preceeded him in the
television business.

He is credited with having
a huge influence over the

growth of the Fox Network,
and then actually becoming

a founding partner
of the WB Network.

And, upon being
appointed to the role,

his initial comments to
the press were that-

I'm paraphrasing-
"This is a great company,

full of great people.

I'm gonna try not
to mess things up.

I'm going to tweak it."

Jamie Kellner was one of the
best television executives

in the business,
but Jamie hated wrestling.

He hated it, you know.
He hated it, didn't get it.

Didn't want anything
to do with it.

It was a pain in the ass,

and we were losing so
much money all the time

that I think- I made the
suggestion to sell WCW.

I don't know if
it came from me,

or somebody suggested
and I latched on to it,

and Jamie was like,

"Yep, get rid of this
as fast as you can.

I don't want anything
to do with it."

March 16th, Brad Siegel
sends out a memo advising

WCW employees there's going
to a period of hiatus.

Then just a few days later...

Actually, there's not
gonna be a hiatus,

but the programming is
being canceled after a

29-year run on the
Turner Networks.

And that leads us to an
episode of Monday Nitro

in the midst of all of this
chaos that has to occur

in Gainesville, Florida
that Monday evening.

Many of you may know that
for the past six months

I've been working with
a group of people

whose goal it was,
and is,

to acquire World
Championship Wrestling.

But recently we've hit a
couple road blocks

that may be
in fact brick falls.

And, while it is
still in my power,

I want to do something
befitting what could be

very well the last
night of wrestling

on the Turner Networks.

[Audience shouting]

That being said, I'll see
you all in Panama City

next Monday night,
the Night of Champions.

[Commentary]
Incredible!

♪

[Eric] We're just getting
ready to close,

and I got a call
from Brian Bedol,

and Brian said,
"Eric, it's done."

I said,
"Congratulations, Brian!"

He said, "No, you don't
understand. It's done.

The deal is over.
It's off the table."

We were rounding third
heading for home

and there was no
warning whatsoever.

It came completely
out of the blue.

Jamie Kellner,
he was the head dog.

And he looked
at the WCW deal,

and contemplated us having
at least a couple of years

of two hours of prime time
on Monday night,

two hours of prime time
on Thursday night,

and Kellner didn't want that
beachfront property

to be dedicated to
wrestling content.

He wanted that
prime time schedule

for other programming.

The cold, hard truth
is that WCW was

completely reliant
on television.

So much so in fact
that Eric Bischoff

famously quipped that
without television the

company was worth
20 bucks, if anything.

So, at that point,
when you take the

television distribution off
the table, you're taking

90% of the revenue
out of the equation.

The deal was not
worth it to us.

It effectively
killed the deal.

I was devastated.

♪

What am I doing here?

Stu Snyder.

Ready, go.
Action.

♪

Growing up,
I loved wrestling.

I lived in New York.

I remember going to Madison
Square Garden once a month.

Bruno Sammartino.

Ivan Putski,
Gorilla Monsoon,

George "The Animal" Steele.

I can go on.
I enjoyed it, I loved it.

It's a core element
of my childhood.

I joined Turner
Broadcasting in 1993.

My responsibility was to
come onboard and head up

the unit called Turner
Home Entertainment.

And then, I left,
did a few other things,

including becoming
the president and

chief operating officer of
WWF Entertainment.

The first thing I was
looking to do was to

keep growing the
core business.

To look for new opportunities
for the company.

I continued to read about
what was happening at WCW.

I kept reading about the
behind the scenes angst

going on there.

The ratings
weren't improving.

What's gonna
happen here?

Are they gonna
stick with this?

Are they not gonna
stick with it?

And then what I recall
is picking up the phone,

and calling Brad and,
you know,

just checking in
first of all,

'cause we've known each
other for a long, long time.

I keep reading about
this stuff. Are you okay?

And, you know, he'd share
with me some of

the angst he was
going through.

I may have said something to
the effect of, "Hey, look,

if there's ever a reason
to have a conversation,

I think we might be
interested."

We were aware that there
was another player.

It didn't factor
into anything.

I didn't know their deal,

I didn't know what
they were offering.

Knew nothing.

Internally at WWF,
we had made a decision,

we thought if we could do a
transaction to acquire WCW,

we were going to work really
hard to get that done.

On Friday March 23rd,

the WWF announces
the unthinkable,

that it has purchased
its competition, WCW.

♪

On March 26th, 2001,

the final episode
of WCW Nitro is

broadcast live from
Panama City Beach, Florida.

What is this for?

Last two days, oh.

♪

[Indistinct television]

♪

It's great.

♪

Get the fuck out of here.

Do you know anything?
What's going on tonight?

-Holy shit.
-What is that all about?

♪

Panama City, Florida.

Wow, that's big time,
brother.

Here we go, in 5...

4...

♪

You had Vince McMahon
starting the show, on camera.

It's hard to overstate
just how shocking

that was at the time.

Imagine that.

Me, Vince McMahon.

Imagine that.

Here I am on
WCW television.

How can that happen?

Well, there's only way.

You see, it was just a
matter of time before

I, Vince McMahon,

bought my competition.

That's right.

I own...

WCW.

Therefore, in its
final broadcast,

tonight on TNT,

I have the opportunity
to address-

What is the fate of WCW?

Because the fate...

the very fate of WCW...

is in my hands.

[Audience shouting
& cheering]

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

And no one knew
until that night.

No one knew.

We saw Vince come
up on the tron.

No matter how you look
at it, at that point,

you know, no matter
how it's spread...

they win the war.

When WWE acquired WCW,

it felt like the
end of an era.

It sucked.

The 800-pound gorilla
of the room had won.

Had no idea what Vince
would do with it.

I didn't know if it was more
advantageous for him to

buy it and keep it afloat,

and then have
the competition.

Or destroy it.

So, the fear of the unknown
is pretty, pretty heavy.

There was a lot sadness
and a lot of uncertainty.

Who they were gonna hire,
who they were gonna cut.

[Off-screen] We don't really
know what's going on.

People are happy and
sad at the same time.

They don't know why.

I don't think you want my
real feelings about it,

'cause it ain't pretty.

It was very emotional.

I remember
Dusty was there,

so I was sticking
pretty close to him.

There were WWF
signs up,

which was really weird.

You know, 'cause there's
always signs like on the

dressing room doors,
you know, wherever,

and you were
seeing "WWF".

I mean,
it felt like a slap.

I remember Shane McMahon
coming in and,

and he had like a little
brief meeting with everybody.

And we get told that the
company's been sold to

the WWE,
and tonight,

everybody's gonna
find out about it.

And a lot of guys were like,
"Oh, my god."

As I was seeing,
you know,

the wrestlers and
performers backstage...

you know, shoulders might
have been slumped

before they walked
through the curtain,

but then when they
walked through,

it's back to
business as normal.

And then when they came
back after their match,

or segment, or whatever,
it's back to...

"What's going on?
What's gonna happen?"

Let's not lose sight of the
fact this is the last Nitro

on the Turner Network, and
we're going out with a bang!

Scott Steiner and I, we,
ah, had a conversation.

And Scott goes,
"Bro, you know,

what do you think
they're gonna do, man?

What do you think
they're gonna do?"

And I look at Scott,
and I go, "Bro,

we was
auditioning that night."

Booker T,
the cover!

[Indistinct commentary]

Oh! And he nailed it!

Everyone was
working that night,

so we went out
and we rocked it.

[Indistinct shouting
commentary]

And 1, 2- could it be it?
Yes, it is! Yeah!

Booker T!
[Match bell ringing]

I didn't know I was gonna win
the world title that night,

but then when I did
find that out, I go,

"Oh, yeah, man. I got a
chip in the game.

They got eyes on me,"
you know, so I was, ah...

I was really excited.

I was probably perhaps
one of the only guys

that was excited though.

[Nash] I mean,
it was sad, you know.

It was, it wasn't even sad,
it was pathetic.

Because fucking people
actually showed up.

"Hey! You guys want to
be on the Titanic?"

Nah. Good.

I'll sit and watch the
fucking thing sink

from my fucking house.

[Eric] I didn't watch it
as it happened live.

I feel bad for the
talent that were there.

I feel bad for the production
staff that were there

that didn't see it coming,
had no idea

what their futures
were going to be.

It's a big life change, but
as far as the brand, itself,

I walked away from it.
I no longer cared.

It's gonna be an
emotional thing.

You see a lot of
production guys,

a lot of people with cameras
taking pictures of the guys

and, to me, I look at it as
the day you left college,

and guys you might
not see again.

But this is a tight-knit
group of guys we have.

Like one of the camera guys,
and what a sweetheart guy.

He'd been working for
the company for 27 years.

All of those people...

lost their livelihood.

And that's why I say
fuck you, Jamie Kellner.

I was concerned about
a lot of people that

just couldn't walk into
a job so easily.

Our jobs are so different.

It's not a factory.

We don't do the same
thing every day.

We're a combination of
a circus and the army.

And, to get that good at it,
we had to have

the right people in
the right places.

And, the way you got
to that point was

the trust of one another.

♪

♪

And now you can't do it
together anymore.

♪

Everybody was in a
bad space. You know,

a lot of them didn't know
what they were gonna do.

But, there is a time,
you know, you gotta...

you know,
you gotta let it go.

But in this business,
it's a little bit different.

What was really
weird to me,

this multimillion
dollar company

was sold to WWE
for like nothing.

I'm not saying that
there was anything

spooky kooky
going on there.

But, I have
my suspicions.

♪ [Bell chiming] ♪

I own WCW!
I own the WWF!

And you will treat me
with respect!

[Booing]

♪

When you think about the
final purchase price,

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,

that gets sold for a little
over 4 million bucks.

I always thought that,

when I heard the price
of what they paid for WCW,

it was an inside job
of some sort.

[Clicking film reel]

Somebody filled their
pockets by making that deal

for cheaply as it was.

Maybe there's
an envelope...

pushed across the desk.

Maybe you got influence with
the guy that's selling it.

Look, there's some
murky circumstances.

Stu Snyder was an executive
at Turner Broadcasting, and,

oh, by the way, Stu Snyder,
after the fact just

happens to land a plum
executive role with WWE.

Oh, my god,
that's, that's Bob Ryder!

That's Bob Ryder
from WCW.com!

Bob, run!
Run!

Bob Ryder, he was one of
the hosts on shows

that were broadcast
over WCW.com.

So, in the summer
following the

sale of WCW being
purchased by the WWF,

Bob Ryder puts out a widely
disseminated post online,

essentially alleging that
there had been

a conspiracy at play.

[Eric] Bob Ryder,
he was a good man,

and a good friend.

And I know that Bob had
written about a theory that

Brad Siegel helped facilitate
the actual sale to WWE

by convincing Jamie Kellner
to take the

distribution of programming
out of the deal.

Bob's theory was Brad Siegel
really didn't want WCW

as a part of the
Turner portfolio,

and this was
Brad Siegel's way of

using Jamie Kellner
to kill the deal.

[Guy] The conspiracy theory is
really something like

out of a wrestling
storyline, essentially.

There was a plot initiated
by Brad Siegel and

Stu Snyder to clear the
path for it to have

a quick sale to the WWF.

Stu Snyder at that time was
the president of the WWF,

he had previously worked
at Turner Broadcasting,

had a relationship
with Brad Siegel.

And so, the allegation
was that

there were covert
talks between the two,

and the primary piece of
evidence was the fact

that WCW was sold
for 4.3 million bucks.

I don't know
that that's true.

It is a conspiracy theory.

Unfortunately, there are
enough questions,

and questionable
relationships,

that lend interest in
a conspiracy like that.

No. Well,
first of all, it was-

I mean, we'd known each
other our entire careers.

I mean, the fact
that Stu Snyder

was running WWE and was

a likely buyer for WCW

is purely coincidence.

No.

It's as simple as that.

My understanding is that Brad
reported up to Jamie Kellner,

and that Jamie made
the decision, said,

"I don't want it on our, on
our air," and canceled it.

[Guy] If you think about
how serious these

particular allegations are,
and the fact that

they would lead to
potential FCC violations

and have serious
professional and

personal consequences
for all people involved,

it's quite the
audacious plot,

given the high profile
nature of the people that

we're talking about and,
what they stood to lose if,

eventually, they would
be convicted

essentially of
corporate espionage.

I'm not saying I'm 100%
convinced that Stu Snyder

was part of an orchestration
to make sure WCW

got sold for nickels
on the dollar.

I'm not suggesting
that I know that.

I just lean in that
direction because

I don't believe in the
number of coincidences

that surround this
entire situation.

I'm just not buying it.

I understand... gossip.

I understand rumor.

But, it's easy to sit on
the sidelines and

not really understand the
economics of the businesses

to say what
something is worth.

If there was a deal out
there worth $60 million,

I can guarantee you as
I'm sitting here today,

the Turner executives
would have made a deal.

We wanted to sell it.

When we sold it,
that's what it was worth.

My regret is that when the
ratings started to plummet,

we could not find
the right story,

the right players in that
story to turn it around.

You know, that's a
big regret of mine.

We weren't successful.

Sometimes that happens.

You can't always
be successful.

I feel a responsibility
for it because

I clearly was not the
person to do it.

I didn't know the
business and

the story well enough to,
to write it myself.

I'm not a writer.

So, yeah, I'm really
sad about that,

and regret it wasn't
a different outcome.

In my opinion,

without a strong advocate...

who really believed
in the business,

it would have been
tough to exist there,

with everything else,

their challenges
as a company.

But that world had passed.

Ted was that person who
was its chief advocate.

In the new AOL Time Warner,

without that person,

I don't know how
it succeeds there.

And, for good or for worse,
the one thing that

all the talent knew,

they knew where the
buck stopped at WWF.

It was Vince.

You were either in line
or you were out.

That's how Vince
ran that place.

That place was a
different story,

a different time,
different era.

So, unless you had somebody
like that who can go,

"This is the way it's gonna
run and I have the support of

corporate to leave it alone
and let me do my thing,"

I think it would have
been challenging.

It's been proven that
it was challenging.

♪

Let me be clear:
we weren't looking at all

to buy something
and kill it.

This brand is still good.

It's still relevant,
to an audience.

We're gonna figure out,
how do we keep it alive?

And maybe over time
it comes back

as a separate show.

In my head, I saw this
great rivalry that

was under one roof.

♪

First of all, it all started
with the famous

Shane McMahon showing up
on WCW, on Nitro.

And proclaiming, you know,
the storyline of, basically,

Vince was gonna buy WCW,
but- [claps]-

he snagged it
out from him.

[Shane]
That's right!

I now own WCW!

I remember sitting down in
my hotel room and

writing down all the wrestlers
who I had hoped to wrestle-

Goldberg,
Sting, Savage.

Everybody in the NWO.
It's like, I remember

writing everybody down
and going to Vince,

and saying, "Hey,
this might be a good idea.

What about this guy, and
this guy, and this guy,

and this guy?
Let's bring them in."

[Eric] There was so much
speculation as to how,

how it would all work.

What people don't realize
is that when

WWE acquired WCW,

the assets of WCW,
the contracts

weren't really part
of the equation.

It wasn't like all of
the talent that was

under contract automatically
came to WWF.

At least not the big names
that mattered.

Some of those people had
quite a bit of time left

on their contracts and they
were gonna get paid anyway.

I knew that at the time guys
were getting 50 cents

on the dollar on their
existing contracts.

[Laughs] That was not
happening with me.

I'm not gonna give in.
I'm not gonna do it.

So, if I had to sit out
for three years,

I sat out for three years.

Not everybody wanted
to go to work for WWE.

You didn't have Sting,
you didn't have Lex Luger,

you didn't have Goldberg.

What do you really have?

I still had like over a year
left on my contract.

They offered me
a 50% buyout,

and, ah, go to work
or just, you know,

sit at home for
the next year.

I said, "Nah, man,"
I said,

"You know, out of sight,
out of mind," you know.

I remember Ric Flair
said a long time ago,

"Time off is your
worst enemy." You know,

so I was like,
let's get-

take the 50% buyout and
let's go to work.

Wait a minute!
What the hell?

[Fans shouting]

Ah! Booker T!

He's the WW...
WCW champion!

Back then it was a test.

Let's throw these
guys out here,

see how good
they really are

compared to
the WWE guys.

Shane and I decided
to join forces.

Oh, the invasion storyline
was supposed to be

the best that WCW
had to offer versus

the best that
WWE had to offer.

But, we were in no shape to
actually be able to really,

really pull off an invasion
mainly just because

we did not have enough
star power to

really, really get that
thing off the ground.

And they never really did
a WCW-WWE feud correctly,

and I think that was a big
mistake by Vince McMahon.

I think he could've done
some really cool match-ups

and some really cool things.

-Hey, yo.
-[Cheering]

They were gonna write

the history that
they wanted to create,

and no matter
how you looked at it,

we were the confederate
soldiers going to work for

the union, and if you
thought that you were

gonna go over one of their
top guys, bullshit.

They brought us in
under the guise of,

"this isn't gonna
work twice".

I looked at Scott, I said,

"We're gone, we're done,
we're dead."

[Indistinct commentary]

I get to have the
wonderful experience

to watch my friend,
who now has been

sober for 11 months,

go downstairs and just start
pounding drinks.

And he's like, "Fuck it."

You talk about a miserable
day in my life?

♪

When it's the WCW,
there was no room in

New York City for a
company like WCW.

That's just the way
I felt about it.

When the WWE won the war,

not only did they want
to win the war,

but they wanted to bury
their opposition

and they wanted to
plant the flag.

And that's what they needed
to do more than anything

to really solidify
winning that war,

planting that flag.

Yeah, they had to
be in, you know,

a dominant position
to do that, yeah.

We're back live here,
ladies and gentlemen.

This crowd is still buzzing.

Here comes
Mr. McMahon back.

He promised to name the
new general manager of Raw.

2002, Vince McMahon
called me,

and while Vince was
speaking, I had already

made up my mind that
this is my opportunity.

Allow me to
introduce you to

the new general
manager of Raw.

His name is
Eric Bischoff!

I'm not gonna say that
everybody in WWE

was happy to
see me show up,

but the people
that mattered

could not have made me
feel more at home.

[The Rock] I like Eric a lot,
we're good buddies.

Known him for a
very long time.

And, he has his bust on
the Mount Rushmore of

professional
wrestling executives.

[Eric] Everything that
went wrong-

the Fusient sale
falling through,

the fact
that the narrative is,

"Eric Bischoff
cratered WCW"-

I had an opportunity to
write the last chapter

of my story.

Wait a minute...

What?
What the...?

What the hell is going on?
What is this?

You know, I had been with
WWE for a few years as that

general manager
character and

everything was going great,
and I remember getting

the phone call from
Stephanie McMahon,

who was head of creative
at that point.

She goes, "Eric,
I don't want you

to take this
the wrong way.

You've done a great job.

But we're gonna go in
a different direction."

Eric Bischoff

has abused his power
for too long.

John Cena was going to
hit me with his finish and

drag me out of the ring,
and John Cena was

gonna throw me in the
back of a garbage truck,

and I was gonna be
hauled out of the arena.

And I very seldom
questioned creative,

but I went to Vince,
and said,

"It doesn't make any sense
for John Cena to do it.

It makes more sense
for you to do it."

And I thought,
if I'm gonna do this,

I'm gonna have
fun doing it.

I'm gonna make
this fun for me.

And I did, and I
had a blast.

And I got to live a dream
and rewrite my own chapter,

and I loved it,
every minute of it.

There's not a second
of it that I regret.

Ooh.
[Laughing]

Who killed WCW?

I think it was
Turner corporate.

And, some of the people
within the booking committees.

AOL Time Warner.
The executives,

they were embarrassed
by goofy wrestling.

The guys in Turner that
didn't want us and

didn't like us, and the
top guys not letting

the mid-card guys
interact with them.

WCW killed itself.

The cast of characters

that was WCW,
killed WCW.

It didn't function
as a team any longer.

It functioned as a bunch of
self-seeking individuals.

I've never see anybody
that was that high up

in the food chain take
less responsibility.

This is what killed WCW.

They were fighting
within themselves.

They were eating their own.
The wolves.

Who killed WCW?
That's easy.

Turner Sports.

It would have to be the
person with the check book.

It would have to be
Eric Bischoff.

Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff-
two guys that had

zero knowledge about
how to run wrestling,

and they put themselves
in a position to

tell people like me
what to do.

And, that's
what killed WCW.

As a matter of fact,
I'm gonna give myself-

[Applause]- A round
of applause for that!

Yes, thank you.

Bro, they took such a drop
from where they were

to where it was
when it was sold,

and so much money lost.

I don't think anybody could
have done anything.

So, I would say a business
decision killed WCW.

I don't think one person
could have killed WCW

by any stretch of
the imagination.

There were a
shitload of people

who contributed
to its downfall.

I think it's a
collection of factors,

a number of reasons
that explain its demise.

There's plenty of
blame to go around,

but I think ultimately it
was inevitable that it was,

it was going
to fall apart.

A good buddy of mine,
he's one of my best friends-

Downtown Bruno-
when I first started,

I said, "Bruno, give me
some advice."

He said, "You're gonna hear
a voice one day,

and that voice is
gonna say,

'Go on home,
the big run's over'."

WCW as an entity,
they heard that voice.

And the big run was over,
and it was fucking awesome.

♪

Wow, man!
What a run!

It was always about the
performances for me.

It was always
about the fans.

We were rock stars.

Everywhere we
went was packed.

DDP!

The whole WCW experience
was a hell of a ride.

Period.
[Laughing]

Let us remember
the lessons,

learned in stride,
to build a fairer and

more equitable future
for wrestling.

We've done over 350
or 60 some odd Nitros.

You know, a lot of
these people are like,

are like family to me.

It was a good ride,
it was fun.

You were like a big family
even though

you're a
dysfunctional family.

You may not get
along with everybody,

but you're still gonna be
there when it comes to it.

It was the greatest job.

They let us be as creative
as we wanted to be.

The first time I realized
WCW was big was

my very first show
when I debuted.

There was a
palpable energy.

You could feel the crowd.

There's something special
and something different

about a wrestling fan.

It just blew my mind to see

what a big deal
WCW really was.

He's got him up!

Those were some
great times.

Terrific times.

And it came to an
abrupt end like that.

But hey man, all good
things come to an end.

♪

I still think that, you know,
when it comes down to it,

WCW is Eric's creation.

Any success they had
was with Eric.

There's nobody on
this planet that can

look in the mirror and say,

"I beat Vince McMahon

at professional wrestling

for 83 weeks."

It's a pretty fucking huge
accomplishment.

♪

Cool.

Time fucks with
your head, you know.

It's...

it becomes distorted.

My memory is more

like a series
of photographs.

There's bits, and pieces,
and moments

that stand out in my mind,
but...

as time goes on,
they kind of just

all blur together.

When I look back at my
time during WCW-

the journey, the ups,
the downs-

the ride all along the
way was a rush.

We were the #1 wrestling
company on television

in the world.
Very proud of that.

I was able to experience
and achieve things

that nobody
thought possible.

And I wouldn't have had
any of this

if it wasn't
professional wrestling,

so I'm grateful for
every minute of it-

the good, the bad,
everything in between.

Very lucky.