Bruce Prichard on WWE buying WCW
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard is an audio podcast that discusses topics, events, wrestlers and memorable moments through the lens of former WWE executive Bruce Prichard co-hosted by Conrad Thompson.
The show was launched in August 2016 on MLW Radio. The episodes typically range from 2 hours to 4 hours in length, and include discussions about previous WWE pay-per-views and former WWE wrestlers.
Wake up with the Morning Deuce with Bruce: www.Facebook.com/SomethingToWrestle
Don't miss our live shows
www.BoxOfGimmicks.com
Buy a Shirt, Get a Call from Bruce: www.BrucePrichard.com
Save Yourself Some Money: www.SaveWithBruce.com Logos and album art by Dave Silva
All backgrounds licensed by Videoblocks
Videos edited and uploaded by Steve Kaufmann Some copyrighted images may have been curated and altered to create the uniquely transformative piece of content you're watching.
I would like to hear Vince McMahon come on the show and add his two cents on certain matters , but I think deep down Vince is more Kayfabe than anyone else in the business
Even if Vince were to tell the truth, no one would believe him anyway because everyone already believes that he'd just Kayfabe it. What's the point?
I always wondered why WWE didn't use Halloween Havoc as a pay-per-view. They had the right talent for it to be huge.
I mean...did you see how they handled WCW? Is this a surprise?
@@somegamer7958 they did what they needed to do with WCW. There was no way they could've kept both companies. I'm talking about one pay-per-view. Not an entire company.
@@babayagaslobbedaknobba They needed to bury WCW? That's what was needed?
My point still stands. They're idiots. So of course they wouldn't have the brains to use WCW's best PPV
It’s amazing how Bruce remembers what people say in his stories
It's his life,he doesn't do nothing else apart from wrestling.so he do remember it
I also remember every word people say
My ex wife had an uncanny knack of remembering everything I ever said
I think he's about half full of shit honestly.
@@thewaker34 then why does he choose not to talk about certain things or that he can't remember certain things? If he's just making stuff up why wouldn't he do it for everything?
I love Prichard's Heyman and Patterson
It seems weird for a guy loving Pat Patterson....
@M Harris you're fucking weird
i like Prichard. A lot. And his big sighs when he has to talk about certain things always cracks me up in an entertaining way
Dave Meltzer may have said it best.Vince McMahon bought WCW like you would buy a grill at a yard sale.
Ted Turner stop caring about wrestleing all he cared about was time Warner cable Vince could never compete with Ted Turner he let Vince win
@@jesusaguilar5735 Sure he did buddy..... The merger between Time Warner and AOL was the final blow for WCW along with poor ratings and dwindling audiences. WCW was taken off because of the merger between the 2 companies but it was already failing before that. It wasn't Ted's network anymore and he lost a lot of money because of the merger. "Ted let Vince win" Don't be a mark. Ted never managed WCW, it was Bischoff and the other executives. Ted was the owner but he didn't run the show like Vince did the WWF. Ted wasn't in the battle, it was Bischoff. All of this is well documented.
@@pikkon899 Ted Turner had the money to destroy Vince with nwo
@@pikkon899 your the mark not me all Ted Turner cared about tbs and let wcw was his toy dumbass and he got tired of playing with it and just threw it away I'm 32 years old and been watching wrestleing all my life so fuck off
@@jesusaguilar5735 Yeah, and? Again, he didn't run the show, it was Bischoff and the other executives. Everyone knows Ted had more money than Vince. Ted wasn't just wrestling, he owned television networks. Vince was all Wrestling and that's his game. Prior to the merger, WCW was already failing. Don't be a mark and just move on.
He sounds like the teacher from south park ☺
Skip Bayless. Conrads voice not prichards
And by the way, Stu Snyder would end up returning to Cartoon Network and became its President for most of the 2010s
Put the comic books down, come up out of the basement, ask your dad for $100 dollars so you can go get laid
Was actually earlier before that and single-handedly ruined Toonami and cartoon Network with CN real showing live action shows on a network that specifically zeros in on cartoons!
To be fair, Fusient's far more expensive deal involved getting a guaranteed 10 years of airtime on TBS, before Jamie Kellner came in and canned that. As Eric Bischoff said - and he was right in this case - without the TV time, WCW was worth twenty bucks [sic].
And Bischoff who knows better than anyone of this matter pretty much said that after the AOL merger they were less and less interested in keeping ''Wrasslin'' on their TV stations. Who knows if Vince could've gotten a slot on their stations.
It's a real shame Eric didn't manage to grab that deal before Vince got it.
Less than 4mil? Deal of the century.
Watch the WCW documentary and I believe Jericho says he could have bought it himself. Bischoff’s last gasp was to get a group of investors to buy it. Almost had it too but the deal fell through
Idk why Bruce is so weird about things that happened almost 20 years ago. Like it really matters now.
Vince still owns the WCW logos and trademarks he could easily reboot WCW nitro replacing smackdown let's be honest the smackdown name has ran its course it was one of Rocks catchphrases and needs a makeover
Cool belts! Where’s that sweet sweet WCW TV title? I think Vince would be wearing that around WWE HQ!
"(The title belts) are just props." Confirmed it. I could FEEL WWE having this stance for years. Storing all the titles in a TV case. Collectors take better care of the titles than them. Hell, they didn't know the Big Gold they got wasn't the Crumrine. >_>
The big gold is still the best one of all time. Even with the bent top
Spend my days working hard on the go
but the hands on the clock keep spinnin to slow
Rap is crap
but the hands on my cock keep spinnin too slow
But the hand on the clock keeps spinning too slow
@@markmullins132 and i cant wait to be alone with my baby toniiiiight.
Why couldnt Bishoff and some WCW wrestlers all put money together and raise 2 million dollars and buy WCW?
Because the offer to them would have been $8-$10 million. In his book (and other places), Bischoff opined that WCW without TV was not worth anything.
They had the money, but no tv and without tv "WCW was worth--2 BUCKS!"
bichoff and harvey productions were going to buy wcw, but no cable tv network was interested in wcw at that time.
Not correct steel. Bischoff was going to buy it under the assumption Turner networks would still carry it. They were cancelling it no matter what so Bischoff pulled out of the deal.
Lol thats what i said no other networks want it
WCW could still have made it. Shane could have went in there, partnering with Eric Bischoff and brought in some new talent and some WWF rejects. It would have made it.
It wouldn't have made it without a TV deal.
that was bischoff's initial plan. Eric saw the writing on the wall and he and some other investors put together a proposal to acquire WCW from Turner Sports, take it off tv for a few weeks, then relaunch on TNT as an independent production. The issue was that AOL/Time-Warner refused to air any more wrestling. Bischoff could have still bought it, but would have been faced with the delimma of dropping several million dollars for what was basically a production company and then having to negotiate a deal with another network (which could have taken months or years). So he said screw it and walked away.
AOL then cut it loose, and WCW as a property was declared bankrupt which triggered a ruling from the WWF v WCW copyright infringement suit from 96 where Vince sued WCW over Scott Hall maintaining his 'Razor Ramon' persona. In that settlement ruling, if WCW ever went bankrupt Vince would get first dibbs on all properties.
So yes, Vince buried the WCW talent. He was never going to put over gimmicks he didn't create. But that's not to say he wouldn't have tried to salvage it if Nitro and Thunder had kept their time-slots. But as far as using his own time slot to promote individual WCW talent over his own guys who stuck with him, that was almost certainly never going to happen on a large scale.
@@maxdecphoenix Jamie Kellner is a hellspawn tbh.
I am not sure. Nash and Russo had done so much damage
The problem was there was no TV. AOL killed WCW. They didnt want wrestling on those channels when they merged with Time Warner
God Dam Pal!!!
Lol @ "what did Vince say?" ...... "Goddamn Pal"
I mean come on, What else would he say?
Ric Flair has said he'd have bought it if he knew they were going to let it go for such a low price to Vince.
Vince only bought the tapes. Nothing else.
@@salvagemonster3612 Uh no, he bought WCW itself. He may have only wanted it for the archive, but he bought the whole thing.
That has always been such a silly trope that’s fun to say for the cameras. In a world where Flair did buy it, he wouldn’t have had any way to monetize it. All it included were a few rings and the tape library with the IP. It had no TV or talent included. And that’s where the actual costs come in. It’s a fun line to say but if one ever looked at what the business actually was they’d quickly see it’s silly.
If Booker got some of WCW's squared circles, especially from The Undertaker, they're probably in Texas City, Texas at World Gym Arena.
I haven't thought of it, but is Reality of Wrestling using one?
@@pigs18 yes. Vince gave two WCW rings to The Undertaker. Taker, in turn, gave one of the rings to Booker T. Booker T and The Undertaker are both from Houston, Texas.
And then you blew the biggest angle ever in pro wrestling history for an old man's ego
Such a stupid take. Completely ignoring contracts, finances, and personal relationships
@@Jhoncena22 Vince spent tens of millions of dollars on the XFL. He had enough money to buy the contracts. He just didn't want to
@@hermonymusofsparta that’s not how it works but I’m glad you have a superficial understanding of everything.
He didn’t choose to not buy out every deal because it wasn’t possible, he chose not to because it wasn’t practical long term. You have to consider that the guys who didn’t come in right away had large money remaining to stay home. A lot of them realistically had no interest to return prior to then. Even if he offered to match it dollar for dollar would most people choose to work for that same money or sit home and rest for it?
So in a hypothetical world where he did buy all those contracts to have them come in right away he’d have had to pay them well above what they would have been getting to make it worth foregoing the chance to take some time and rest. Then factor in the long and short term business impact doing that would’ve had. You’d make all your current guys upset, because you’d be shelling out well above what they’re making to bring in the guys who tried to put you out of business. So there isn’t just the cost of doing it financially but also the cost on morale. Then factor that you sharply increase the pay scale of your roster. All the top guys you have now who aren’t being guaranteed the amount you’d have to guarantee the WCW guys are going to want the same. And so now you’ve increased the guarantee scale by 4x going forward. All for a storyline you aren’t even sure will be successful.
And in the end, despite it not being what everyone hoped, it was financially successful. It did the most buys of any non-WM PPV ever. And they didn’t have to drastically change their business to make it happen.
@@hermonymusofsparta that’s not how it works. Those guyhad contracts with Turner, not WCW. They couldn’t make them come to WWE. That’s not how contracts work.
Wcw had some cool straps. I would take the late 90s Wcw version of the U.S. title over todays version. Same with the Cruiserweight title. Their hardcore title was actually a real title whitch idk was good or bad but it looked good kinda a ECW world title rip off though. And the T.V. title was a good looking title belt also. Especially the one Arn Anderson held.
We were told originally they wanted none of the sets or rings or trucks. Also said the rings only went as gifts to the big WWF stars as a trophy for winning the war
What episode of 'Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard' was this segment from, again?...
Lol the sigh Bruce gave at 0:23 🤣
Conrad how can you claim Bruce to be a belt guy and say that the Reggie Parks wCw winged Eagle United States belt (one of the most beloved else ever amongst without and wrestling fans alike) was not worth keeping around or on television??? The WCW tag belts as well..
Would've been nice to keep wcw alive
I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHOW!!!
Vince was a business man. Those running wcw just were there for a pay day. They bled it dry. Ted made to many bad business decisions over a decade that cost him his company.
If you like soaps watch WWE. if you like wrestling watch WCW. I don’t cuurrr what anyone says I just watched both companies episodes from the 90s again on the network back to back. WHOOO!
Conrad: You hear about it. What does that sound like? What does Vince says.
Vince: Goddam, Pal.
$3.4 million.
When they talk about wcw heavy weight champion belt is cool and other belts are just belts , are you kidding me I have a great respect for the United States championship belt now that is a greatness belt for wcw
They got the WCW Power Plant now the The WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER.
How did they get out of not paying debt but get the name?
Buying the content was such forward thinking idea. Probably done on accident.
has the network made its money back on just the library ?
Darrin H. - I'm Sure A Long Time Ago
oh yeah i know .. was just being a smart alec lol sorry
I think they made it back on the nwo t-shirts alone lol
God damn pal
World RUSTLING Federation
Around that time I remember hearing that it was for something like 1.9 million dollars, which stunned me, as that was chump change for the WWE.
Vince made it clear he only wanted the library. No rings, trucks, contracts, chairs, signs, merchandise etc etc. t was a smart move. He could make all that investment back in one year selling tapes
@@salvagemonster3612Yes, it was a very good investment for the library alone.
@@salvagemonster3612 what do you mean library
The worst thing that ever happened in wrestling. Lack of legit competition leads to the crap they have nowadays!
I also think political correctness has hurt it even worse.
7:34 of course the Janitor is named Carlos... classic WWF creative freudian slip 👏🏻
Who cares
Think about this...Turner wants to sell WCW and has few buyers willing to pay big money for WCW but instead Turner makes a business deal to sell WCW to the lowest bidder...if that sounds like a Vince bad door deal in cahoots with someone at Turner you need to go and listen to an old Shoot video with Kevin Sullivan where he agrees that something strange went on behind closed doors...I wish Meltzer or someone in mainstream media had asked that question at that time...smells really fishy...maybe somebody made money to bring this together in Turner Org...
turner didnt sell wcw. aol-time warner sold wcw. they wanted to get rid of the property ASAP.
So the Scott hall Nash invasion won then! Way to go vince
He paid (an estimated) 2-4 million for (basically) a tape library and the rights to the name wcw. That was all that was for sale. No one else really had the platform to use that. This isnt complicated nor does it call for conspiratorial debate.
Ted didn’t have any control anymore. Ted didn’t make any deals. Vince only wanted the library and nothing else. Thus the low bid. Vince also knew they needed money and the board needed the cash. No back door about it. Just good business decisions
It was supposed to be common knowledge that they bought it for $2 million.
according to the Wall Street Journel, wWE paid just over $2.5 million for the WCW Trademarks and Video Library, They didn't buy rings, lights etc, apparently it was all in the price. Chris Jericho claims he could have purchased WCW back in 2001
@@DeanMoxley87 Thanks for the info.
7:33
When WWE Network first started, just like everyone else, I had all three libraries at my finger tips. I chose to watch ECW, WWF 80s era and WWF Attitude era. Although I loved the NWO, I had no interest in reliving any of the WCW PPVs. I wonder if others felt the same way.
Mark Terry nope, WCW, had many fantastic pay per view events, rivaling ANYTHING WWF had at the time
WCW 4 LIFE.
Mark Terry, OH F#CK No.
I'll watch any ppv of WCW for 96 and 97 and 98. Seems like after early 99 they just went to complete shit
I just watch the pay-per-views and specials no need to relieve
What they didn't get the WCW TV title!!!!
I was a total mark when that happened.
The restaurant WWF NEW YORK in Time Square cost more than purchasing WCW
Oh yeah? Well I thought the WWE NY restaurant fucking sucked. We went there back in April of 2000 to catch their PPV that month we ordered some drinks and apps for the table they had wings, chicken fingers, quesadillas, mozzarella sticks, you know shit like that. All of the food was sub par AT BEST. The only good thing they had was the store. I was able to buy all kinds of t-shirts and take them home with me rather than having to wait for them to arrive. At the time I lived overseas l didn’t move to the US till 2001 so whenever you’d order WWE merchandise online it would take sometimes 2 months to arrive.
The thing I hated when Vince bought WCW he killed a lot of good Wrestler in WCW that I believe was and could of been stars in WWF I really got mad when WWF bought WCW
When this happened, I was hoping for one night Raw, WCW, and ECW shows on separate nights a week but what he did was put the WCW guys in front of a pro WWE crowd that totally shit on the idea of a WCW product, THEN they go and put ECW on Syfy and give us Sandman beating the shit out of a zombie! What a joke
That is NOT THE WCW LOGO
Uh, Yes it is. It’s not the “last” wcw logo used but yes it was one of the logos they used. It literally takes about 4 seconds to look it up and see for yourself.
Yes, and no. It's complicated but for legal reasons there were TWO WCWs after the sale. The one AOL owned had to keeping paying off the guaranteed contracts and held various contracts (toys/video games) and anything WWE didn't want (like the office building).. The WCW that WWE owned (WCW,Co.?) controlled all the character rights, the tape library, belts, and the rings. That is the logo of the latter entity.
Wwe untied states belt is alright but not so good and it’s way to small for a belt
Sean johnson *too
NXT should've been branded as WCW
I like him but you can’t really trust anything Bruce says. He’s a spin master.
Really just bought them off of TV
The final nail in the coffin of other competition, and with it the quality of wrestling subsequently suffered.
This killed wrestling wwe no longer had competition
The Torch ??? Lol
wcw made many mistakes and sealed its own future,but for a company at the time like aol time warner to be hateing of there own product so much that they couldnt see the value in it was amazeing,im talking about the library and ip content,for an internet company that was a pioneer of the internet not to realise,hey we can offer content online to rent or for people to buy at the very least and make money for very little hosting is astounding.I know they were trying to cut costs after the merger and all and it was a different time but it was a missed oppertunity,even hanging onto the rights and content wwe paid less than 4 million for it peanuts for a corporation to gain,wwe seen the potential and eventualy did the network.its no wonder time warner dumped aol out again,this and other disasters showed how dumb the were
Funny stuff
The end of wrestling
Bischoff needs more recognition for the rise of WCW.
I was never a wwf/wwe fan. I thought their product sucked & it still sucks to this day. Yeah wcw wasn't perfect, ESPECIALLY towards the end, but even wcw's worst was better than anything wwe could ever put on. Wrestling died when wcw folded.
Bruce kisss ass
Roll Tide.