Guest mickberna Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 On Friday's Byte This, Bischoff, who I guess is often held responsible for the downturn and eventual demise of WCW, spoke about how WCW actually died. AOL screwed them. When the Time/Warner - AOL merger happened, the new suits apparently all wanted to stick their noses into one of their hottest properties, and apparently the creative and technical direction of the promotion ended up being ulimately decided by the new corporate braintrust. Then, when Bisch wanted to buy out WCW with Fusient Media, he figured the deal was signed, sealed, and delivered, but then some AOL/Time Warner idiots agreed to grant the deal only WITHOUT airtime on a Turner station, which basically made the deal worthless. So instead, Vince bought them out. I imagine some of you may know this stuff already, but I learned quite a bit hearing Bisch talk today. It's interesting how things came so close to turning out drastically different. Instead, we have a wrestling monopoly and a failed NWO return. F**K YOU, AOL.
Guest Prince Paul Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 I fucking hated AOL. Long live broadband.
Guest cynicalprofit Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 Im on free aol, and i still hate them. They're trying to create a monoply and they dont play fair with smaller businesses. They offer shit service and allow every idiot on the planet to get online. thats not a good thing. Unless your a hacker and know how to steal credit cardnumbers. Which aol isnt very good at stopping.
Guest Nezbyte Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 AOL fucking sucks because of bad business. Now they really fucking suck cuz they fucked one of my favorite past times.
Guest SuperTonyJaymz Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 Kinda like that moive(which Im the only one who likes) AntiTrust... Open Source damnit! Let the lil guy win!
Guest RickyChosyu Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 I'm not in love with AOL either, but business is business, and WCW was lossing way too much money to be considered a worth-while endevor, so they cut it from their programing like any sensible business would. The ratings they were getting were decent ratings, but ratings alone don't mean anything. Merchandise, ticket sales, and Pay Per View revenues were abysmal, and eventually, the company would have gone out of business. I'm also of the opinion that the way Bischoff previously controlled WCW (or didn't , in most cases), the promotion wouldn't have lasted long under him Fusient Media anyway. I know we might not have a monopoly, but Eric would not be able to make WCW a force again with the way he does business, and how bad WCW was at the time. However, I do think it would have benafitted the WWF in that there would be WCW Invasion, no nWo Invasion, and no Hulk Hogan title reign to kill ratings the way they did. Then again, Bischoff might have merely slowed those events from happening, not prevented them.
Guest Shaved Bear Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 AOL does suck...AIM isnt bad though...
Guest hockeytown9321 Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 Yes AOL had to get rid of WCW becasue of the huge money losses, but it was still doing good ratings for cable. The guy that took over programming just didn't like wrestling, so he cancelled it. AOL would not have lost money had they kept WCW programming. I don't know how long Bischoff's group could have sustained the losses, but I have to believe that Eric would have been a lot more frugal with his spending, since it would have been his money.
Guest RickyChosyu Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 Yes AOL had to get rid of WCW becasue of the huge money losses, but it was still doing good ratings for cable. The guy that took over programming just didn't like wrestling, so he cancelled it. AOL would not have lost money had they kept WCW programming. I don't know how long Bischoff's group could have sustained the losses, but I have to believe that Eric would have been a lot more frugal with his spending, since it would have been his money. Yeah, WCW for the time wasn't doing too bad on cable standards, but the company was doing horrible business. I think people forget that one of the first things Bischoff did in his last run in power was turn Goldberg heal, which shows how enept he is at good booking when there isn't money to spend. Most likely, he would have booked Goldberg/Hogan as the top feud and business would continue to dwindle. Bischoff really lost the ability to book more than week to week, and as the current WWE situation shows, that doesn't work. But hindsight is 20/20, and all that, so it's hard to say what would have happened. The main reason for dumping WCW was that they didn't want to be associated with wrestling anymore, I think.
Guest Nezbyte Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 Bisc could've brought wCw back, because he got to renegocitate all the contracts (right?), he probably would've cut all the shit, and gave some quality TV. Sure, it wouldnt beat the WWE, but it'd be SOMETHING.
Guest HartFan86 Posted July 20, 2002 Report Posted July 20, 2002 I guess AOL is really in trouble money wise and have almost gone out of business a few times since the sale of WCW...good for them, they earned it. Now that all these big hot shots are getting caught for fucking over people (Enron, Worldcom), I wouldnt' be surprised if AOL is investigated next.
Guest hockeytown9321 Posted July 21, 2002 Report Posted July 21, 2002 Actually it was more Russo's idea to turn Goldberg heel, Bischoff didn't do a lot of booking during that time. You're right about AOL not wanting to be associated with wrestling anymore. Jamie Kellner is the guy who took over programming, and his first act was to cancel WCW. It's his fault more than anyone else's why Vince has a monopoly.
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