Tag: ECW

With the WCW crew enroute to Europe for a one-week tour, the questions about the future of the company remain.

With little substantial information available, much of the talk going around consists of rumors, but it is clear the two possibilities remain–the company will either be purchased by a group headed by Eric Bischoff, or have its expenses cut to as much bare bones as possible and remain part of Turner Broadcasting. While the rumors within the company were strong of the latter most of the week, that still seemed to be the least likely possibility based on those closer to the situation.

Based on an article in the online Broadcasting and Cable magazine, using Linda McMahon as the source, talks have broken down between the two companies. The WWF purchase, considered the most likely scenario just a few weeks ago, had strongly cooled in recent weeks. Vince McMahon, publicly, as late as 11/1, had talked about it as being something the company was looking into and it was still under consideration as late as the weekend. 

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It’s come down to the finish line in the story of how the wrestling industry is going to shake down.

Exactly what the future of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling will end up being is up in the air, and it has never been a more harrowing time to be a full-time pro wrestler in the United States.

Most believe the two most likely companies that will wind up owning WCW before the next few weeks are up are either the World Wrestling Federation, or a company put together by Eric Bischoff. Many sources close to the situation seem to peg the WWF deal as being far more likely since at press time it appeared the Bischoff group had taken itself out of the running. The belief is that the WWF would run WCW as a separate company building up to a promotion vs. promotion feud, which wouldn’t occur right away, but with both groups under t

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As the bar raises once again, the question becomes when does the bar hit the breaking point.

SummerSlam was a spectacular show, with a great main event storyline going in, and even with a little tweaking of the main event itself due to Kurt Angle’s injury, a strong storyline paid off at the end while leaving the viewers still wanting more. But the match that stole the show was the tables, ladders and chairs match with Christian & Edge, The Dudleys and the Hardys.

There were numerous spectacular bumps from the top of the ladders, both in the ring, and over the top rope through tables. Although everyone involved was probably plenty sore the next morning, nobody was seriously hurt. Earlier in the show, Shane McMahon did a spectacular looking stunt bump, falling backwards some 30 feet into what was apparently a very safe crash bad in a garbage bin. It’s already a given that not just independent wrestlers, who imitate what they see in the big-time, but kids in their backyard, are going to imitate what the WWF does.

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The entire pro wrestling landscape is expected to change greatly over the next few weeks. But there would be no such thing as intelligent speculation on how it’s going to end up.

There are basic points of change for all three major companies in the United States. WWF is attempting to move its television from USA Network to what would become a revamped TNN, with Sunday Night Heat moving to MTV. This can affect ECW, which is also on TNN, in several different fashions, which could either be the greatest break the company has ever received, or its absolute death sentence. WCW is now on the blocks. With Ted Turner looking to leave the Time Warner/AOL conglomerate, the wrestling company, which Turner has always fought to keep in the family when outside offers came in, or during down times when major executives suggested shutting it down, is no longer protected and it’s coming at the worst time possible as the company is suffering from record losses.

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Tomomi Tsuruta, who started out as an instant sensation and went on to be one of the most enduring stars in pro wrestling history, passed away at 4 p.m. on 5/13, from complications after undergoing a kidney transplant operation in the Philippines. He was 49.

Tsuruta was an undisputable Hall of Fame calibre performer. He was a major star in pro wrestling literally from the first week of his career in Japan. He was the country’s first truly elite level world class worker and was still arguably the best worker in the business at the time he first took ill, which largely sealed his career two decades later. 

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When the smoke cleared after nine months of title changes largely forced upon him and designed to surprise, Paul Heyman finally went back to the original Plan A–as the latest surprise.

Justin Credible (Peter Polaco), who Heyman had planned to be ECW heavyweight champion dating back more than 18 months, with the idea of not putting the title on him until he had a national television outlet, and being the wrestler that Rob Van Dam would chase in the company’s top program, wound up with the title after two more switches at ECW’s “Cyberslam” show on 4/22 in Philadelphia at the ECW Arena.

The title changes over the past year have all been mandated not by long-term planning, but by short term-reactions to various problems. The original plan was for Shane Douglas to hold it until getting a national outlet, going to Credible for a long run, finally building for Van Dam’s big chase. But that was changed several times along the way. 

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The landscape of American pro wrestling may undergo major changes within the next month.

Starting off, WWF officially gave notice to the USA Network on 3/1 that it is cancelling its contract with them effective in September when the new TV season starts. This isn’t necessarily as big as it sounds, but most feel it is bigger. The WWF’s deal for Raw, Livewire and Superstars expired in September 2001, but WWF has the right to get out of the deal in September 2000 by giving the network six months notice and USA Network has the right to match any offer. The Heat contract expires in September 2000 so they don’t have to give notice on the show. This enables them to officially begin shopping the cable package around to other buyers, but doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be leaving the USA network.

Based on posturing and media reports, it appears CBS/Viacom is willing to make a huge move, backed up by buying a $100 million equity interest in the company.

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For the year, WWF increased attendance 20%. Monday night Raw ratings for the year as an average increased from a 4.40 average in 1998 to a 6.04 average in 1999, a 37% increase. PPV buy rates for the year increased from a 1.02 average in 1998 to a 1.25 average in 1999 which is a 23% increase. In 1998, WWF sold out 33.5% of its house shows while the figure increased to 63% of its shows in 1999. Average live gate per arena show increased from $188,482 in 1998 to $286,495, a whopping 52% caused by a combination of the increase in attendance and an increase in average ticket price from $18.84 to $23.84.

While there has been no slowdown in live event sales in reality, since WWF has traditionally drawn better January through March every year and this year was no exception, there was a noticeable drop in Monday night ratings in August, coinciding with the beginning of football season. Raw averaged a 6.57 from May through July, which was its all-time peak. The show dropped to a 5.84 average from August through December which is a significant decline during a period when more people are watching television, and that’s with weaker competition from Nitro.

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