I close my eyes and lay on my bed. I felt like I was traveling back on time. Is crazy how much thing have changes since this. Is crazy how many things didnt happend.
Vince would cut off his left nut and sell it, if it meant he'd have a 4 or a 5 in the ratings. Cause right now in 2021, they're doing 2014 TNA numbers and that's not an exaggeration
LOL at the comment of Triple H possibly being released. Don't know if that was meant to be a joke, but I think secretly Bryan Alvarez was just hoping that it would happen. Even around that time, I'm pretty sure it was well known that Paul Leveq was already in good hands with the McMahon family, and knew he had a job secured with WWE until he felt like leaving on his own terms. I mean, come on, if the average wrestling fan knew this, then Alvarez HAD to have known this. He's probably just not a huge fan of Hunter's, and understandably so.
I was so in shock when i saw Shane pop up on Monday Nitro and to see NITRO/RAW simulcasted at the end of the night. Because I wasn't in the know about WCW being on the brink of death, until it happened. Unlike today, i'm connected to almost every piece of pro wrestling news and info. It was shocking then and it is shocking now, though i'm not surprised WCW went out of business after the abysmal product they were putting on TV in 1999/2000. It's still sad to see WCW go out of business.
I've heard this Wrestling Observer Live episode a million times since it was uploaded here, but I feel like it's a true time capsule to listen to this today. Today is the 20th Anniversary of the last Nitro episode to ever air, and a lot has changed (good and bad), since that fateful day happened. It took 18 years, but Pro Wrestling finally returned to the Turner Networks in the form of AEW on October 2nd, 2019. Goldberg is still a part of the industry in some form as of 2021, and since this time, WWE has inked two major multi-million deals with FOX and Peacock, ensuring that they make money hand over fist. The Independent scene is mostly dead due to the ongoing pandemic, and the other major companies (MLW, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling), have good products but they're experiencing stagnation due to all the products feeling the same with no fans in the arena. So a lot has happened, some good and mostly bad. With that said, being reminded of how the business was in 2001 compared to now is an eye-opener. Large crowds everywhere, monster ratings and star power up the ass, and now all of those things are scarce. It's sad.
It's crazy how much wrestling has dropped from being must see tv to just being something that people on twitter bitch about. There's probably more wrestling nostalgia podcasts than modern fans now.
@@mcomiskey7 I think it's proof that there are fans out there who are still interested in wrestling, but just don't want to watch. I know I'm always gonna watch and that's never changing, but there are so many lapsed fans out there who just need a reason to care about Pro Wrestling again. They're out there, you just gotta draw them in.
This is hilarious: "They can't bring Golberg and pay him millions for one match." Fast forward 20 years and that is what they do with Lesnar and Golberg
Horace Ramirez At the time of this edition of the radio show, no one had the faintest idea of how the WCW invasion would play out. Nice attempt at a phony straw-man argument, though...
Horace Ramirez To be fair the plan was that, as kkofthefunk said it was to be the replacement for Smackdown but was shelved for reasons mostly traced back to "Buff Bagwell is a giant bellend"
@@kkofthefunkoffv3 Nitro was going to replace Raw. TNN was roped in on this idea and threaten to sue WWE/F because TNN paid for WWE/F Raw and not WCW Monday Nitro.
Meltzer said you can't build anything on syndication, yet Ring Of Honor has been around for 13 years on syndicated television. Then again, Sinclair Broadcasting Group owns that company so I guess that's where the line draws between ROH and everyone else when it comes to syndication. On a side note, there was a commercial that aired on television in the middle of 2001 advertising a June 27th WCW show at the Stabler Arena. Some tickets were actually sold for that because my Grandma had some tickets for that show stored away in her house and I didn't see them until 2 years ago, so I always thought that it was weird why WWF would advertise that and not follow through with it. Plus, in the April 2001 edition of WCW Magazine, there was an ad at the back of the magazine for a PPV called the Big Bang. I remember reading the magazine at my cousin's house after watching the tape of the Final Nitro, wondering if there was any hope for that happening. That would've been interesting if WWF picked up on those plans and allowed that PPV to air.
+Cameron Mcdonley Very true and I think also now with the clearance that ROH can get on COMET which is available on digital cable now it actually helps the visibility of the company but its still a bit of a road for them just because people are used to a level of production that the WWE currently uses. I remember seeing ads for "The Big Bang" because when I was growing up and witnessing the end of WCW there were ads in PWI and a mag called "The Wrestler" and sadly it never came about because of the deal falling through. You know what really sucks? To me this mentality of WWE the only company to go to is kind of toxic. Okay Japan isn't super strong but NJPW is still doing well right? I actually get more enjoyment out of one of their 3-4 hour monthly shows than I do a weekly WWE show which is why I don't watch them anymore...hell I'm tempted to go watch UFC and I'm not an MMA guy so what does that tell ya
Joshua Curtis Same. I stopped watching WWE in September of last year because it was so stagnant and not going anywhere. It's still pretty bad right now, regardless of the positive reception they got for the Royal Rumble this year. Right now I'm watching New Japan, Ring Of Honor, CZW, Lucha Underground and a bunch of other promotions. WWE I don't think can be as mainstream as they were in the 90s. Ever.
@@cameronmcdonley9795 WWE is one of the largest channels on RU-vid and are currently primetime on FOX. The brand is more mainstream and well known as ever before. The problem is that they turned their audience against them and their biggest demographic is ageing out.
The new "WCW" was so watered down, they had to bring ECW in to form the Alliance, and even that didn't work out. Didn't change the fact that Booker and DDP, two former WCW Champions, were dropped to the midcard, plus Austin as a heel? It worked once...BEFORE the Attitude Era was even thought of. Add to that, Vince VS his two children. as if that angle wasn't already beaten into the ground in the 2 years prior to the Invasion angle.
Meltzer seemed so certain there would be a Nitro show. I heard that was going to be the case. Was it not after WWE had that all WCW match that they scrapped those plans or was that only a rumor?
Basically What sucks is the crew they had for an announce team I liked a lot. It was Arn Anderson as the color analyst and Scott Hudson as the lead play by play guy. The first problem was when they were leading into the commercial before the match Hudson actually says "For the WWF title its Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell". While we know he meant it was supposed to the WCW title that botch screwed it up and then the match I guess was less than great and the same with the Smackdown match which was Kidman and someone. I legit forgot who he faced What I would have done is split the RAW and SD shows to really test it. Give the WWF crew the 1st hour and the "Nitro" Crew the 2nd and see how that worked. If in the two hour segments (1st for RAW and then SD) they could give a compelling hour to the fans then go with it. The BIG issue was a lot of the guys they (could) take were basically cruiserweights and virtual job guys for WCW so no big names were coming until the contract ran out from Time Warner. I was hoping to see guys like at the very least Steiner and maybe Luger as far as big names (Scott came later sadly) but I think it would have helped to have a good young nucleus for the WCW crew and then maybe one or two big names from the RAW crew to come over but MAYBE that's just me. Its funny because now we have NXT (I watched one show from that brand and I was underwhelmed) and they kind of do that thing now that they could have done with WCW...its just not on at 11 to 1 like it was going to be which...yeah To think that in March this will all have been 14 years ago...scary when you think about it
I'm thinking Bischoff, Jerry Jarrett and Turner should have somehow started something with Hulk as figurehead. Since there wasn't TV, they could have started doing a big PPV show later in 2001 just to see if people would be interested. And if that makes money, you becoming a PPV-only promotion doing 12 shows a year. To make the WCW connection, you call it NWA or something.
@@johnnyskinwalker4095 Turner wasn't legally allowed to get back in the wrestling business until at least 2006. Ted also lost most of his wealth when the dotcom bubble burst, making his AOL/Time Warner stock worthless.
Without television they wouldn't have made a profit doing a PPV. Jerry Jarrett lost his money on TNA, which is why he sold his stake to the Carter family within months. TNA never made any profit but they were allowed to exist because Dixie was just that much of a mark and Daddy wanted to make her happy.
There's something I never understod about the direction they choose to go in with the Invasion, with this all WCW turning babyface at the beginning of it..a year after this the first WWE Draft takes place and the brand extension begins...around Summer of 2002 the roster start to split definitively and what basically was the WCW Title is revived on RAW as the World Title...sure, that title is disconnected from the original WCW Title, but we all know that is what it represents, hell, for the first months that's actually the same big gold belt WCW had at the end....and by 2003 Triple H as the World Champion is facing Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash and Goldberg for the title...basically RAW was Nitro plus Triple H, HBK, young guys and a couple ECW guys....why didn't they do that from the start?
...and what I mean by that is, why didn't they just do some wacky angle in which WCW took over Smackdown for example? Why didn't they did an Invasion version of the Draft that still came a a year later? Instead of having RAW and Smackdown, they could have WWF RAW and WCW Smackdown or changing the name into Nitro, bringing in the new guys and having the starpower problem resolved by having WCW steal a couple of talent and bring in the guys they took from ECW? I could see RAW with Austin, Jericho, Angle, Rock, Benoit, Edge, The Hardys and Smackdown/Nitro with HHH, HBK, RVD, Booker T, DDP, Nash, Christian, Storm, Mike Awesome, the Dudleys...and they had a war the same way RAW and Smackdown had back then and today.
That is correct. Shorty after this McMahon would do the infamous angle where he forced Trish to strip down to her underwear as he berated her in the ring, I'll give Vince credit for that one.
I have always said that the whole linda vince trish triangle story was my favourite Especially cause of trish Linda sedated in a wheelchair and vince and trish flaunting together Linda deserved it I always thought trish and vince made a good couple great chemistry
Even if Shane appeared right away, they should have waited before doing the Invasion with many people crossing over. They bought a few contracts sure, you don't have to use these guys right away. One guy that was free was Hogan. He didn't have any contracts. You can bring him up after Mania as one of the Leader of the WCW side. No need to turn Austin.
I know everybody is saying these are like GTA III ads, but these commercials are just like the ones they had on OnA when they went to XM. Obviously not professional voiceover people reading scripts about the dumbest shit on Earth. It's so similar that I'm wondering if it's the same people that were putting them together.
it was an inside job,i red a report a year ago,that some1 from tunner corp had a friend from vinces office and they both scammed 2 mark wcw worthless,i might b wrong but eric bischoff was gunna buy wcw for over $20 million and buy all wcw contracts,and wcw corporate executives stalled,then vince buys wcw 4 under $5 million and wcw still had 2 pay all wrestlers under contract,i can post the report and u ppl can read it 4 ur self!
