How Dave Scherer Would Turn Around WWE

[Guest Retro Rob]

I often get mail from people asking me what I would do to turn things around if I was in charge of WWE creative.  Generally, I don't spend a lot of time fantasy booking because to me it's both frustrating and a total waste of time.  No matter how good the ideas are that I could come up with, WWE would never use them so to me, it's just an exercise in futility to even go down that road.  Today however, I will venture out and wrap up on a silver platter an idea that could turn around both WWE's recent downturn in business as well as make the brand extension a success, all in one easy step.  I also want to say that I realize that egos at WWE will prevent this from ever happening, for a number of reasons, but I won't let that stop me.  If they did it, it would be money in the bank.

 

First let me say that my idea is hardly revolutionary.  To be honest, part of the reason to do it is because it has worked so well in the past.  In this case however, given that WWE has shown that they are serious about establishing the brand extension, my idea makes even more sense to do, especially now when they have two rosters full of talent that not only are not over, but haven't even been booked to get over.  If there was ever a time to wipe the slate clean and start over with a fresh idea, this is it.

 

What I proposes is that WWE goes all the way with the extension and sets up two true separate companies, both of which they will obviously own.  Through an intricate series of events that, in the tradition of how great shoot angles of the past uses real life events to lay the groundwork for the story, uses legitimate incidents to break Raw away from the grasp of WWE and establishes a "new company" that will be run by two people who have the legitimate background to make claim to the ownership.

 

History has shown that, with the exception of the botched WCW-ECW angle in 2001, invasion angles have always drawn big money.  Even in 2001, adding ECW to the mix spurred the July PPV that year to a big buyrate.  The balance of power in the US business was turned in the mid 1990s by that very concept when the nWo took over WCW.  The fact is, people get behind that storyline and in a market with no competition, what is needed more than anything is "a choice" for the consumers.  If they play this idea correctly, they could give the appearance of that choice being a reality.

 

It all begins on Raw one night.  The way you do it is very subtle, over the course of a few weeks or maybe even a month.  It starts on an episode where Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler open the show by saying that "Eric Bischoff is not at Raw tonight".  Throughout the first hour of the show, they speculate as to why Bischoff is not there.  Steve Austin breaks character in the back with Vince McMahon and both men say that they have no idea where Bischoff is.  Just then, a courier delivers them a letter.  Bischoff informs them in the package that he is in court, and later that night they will get the explanation as to where exactly he is.  That is all the letter says.  Austin and Vince are perplexed.  Vince says he will call Linda in Connecticut and ask what legal business the company has that Bischoff could possibly be attending to.

 

For the next half hour, Ross and Lawler wonder what is going on and heavily play up that it's never a good thing when someone goes to court and that no good can come from that.  At 10:30, a video feed bursts into the TitanTron.  From "earlier that day", Eric Bischoff is shown walking up the steps and into a Federal court building in New York City.  The clip lasts maybe 30 seconds.  Then, because it has already been announced, the night's main event takes place until about 10:50, all while Ross and Lawler wonder what Bischoff was doing.  At that point, Austin comes out to the ring and calls out Vince to tell the people what is going on.  Vince comes out to the ring, totally out of character (no Rogers strut, etc.) and says that he and Linda have called everyone in the company and they have no idea why Bischoff would be representing them in court.  He is totally confused and doesn't know what is going on.

 

Just then, there is another feed on the TitanTron and we are shown Bischoff walking out of the court house, smiling from ear to ear.  He takes a few steps and then stops, turns and looks back.  Out of the courthouse comes, Paul Heyman, also smiling from ear to ear.  He and Bischoff shake hands and embrace, a true sign of the apocalypse for Vince.  A graphic goes up on the video feed that says, "We will see you next week Vince."  The show ends with Vince stunned.

 

Raw starts the next week in normal fashion.  As the show begins, Bischoff and Heyman come through the crowd, with a police escort and a guy in a suit, into the ring.  Vince and Austin come storming out and the guy in the suit hands Vince a legal document.  As Vince is reading it, Bischoff explains that after over two years, he has gone to court to charge McMahon and WWE with monopolistic practices in the quashing Fusient Media Ventures' attempt to buy WCW in 2001.  He accused McMahon of using connections inside of AOL Time Warner to drop Fusient's deal so that WWE could buy WCW and destroy it.  He lays out true specific points from when Fusient, which he refers to as "my company", lost out in the WCW bidding and tells McMahon that the judge said he had a strong case and expedited his trial date to two weeks or a month from now, depending on how long you want to go with this part of the angle. 

 

Heyman then takes the mic and explains to the crowd that while he had a valid television deal with Viacom and TNN, McMahon undermined him by jumping from USA and taking his TV spot, effectively putting his company out of business.  He points out that while he was in the right at the time and WWE was obviously wrong, he was in a poor cash position, which McMahon knew and took advantage of through his intimate knowledge of ECW finances. Heyman said that he didn't have the resources to go to court and sue McMahon for stealing his TV deal because he put everything he had left into saving his company, which ultimately failed. 

 

He then says to Vince directly, "Remember me?  I was the guy you were so nice to as my company, ECW, was going down the tubes.  I was the guy you promised a job and future to, and who you advised to close down and come work for you and get a fresh start.  I am also the guy who, after you stole my company out of bankruptcy court, was sent home to rot when you didn't need me for anything anymore.  I didn't see I was being played at the time, but I do now, and so does the judge in New York. I too have an expedited hearing and like Bischoff, am suing you for 500 million dollars.  Have a nice night and see you in court." 

 

Bischoff and Heyman leave back through the crowd.  Vince reads from the legal document that the case is set to go to trial, on a Wednesday (not Tuesday because that is too contrived) in two weeks to a month, again depending on what they decide for a timeline.  Vince is stunned, and scared.  Later in the show, he is on a phone call from Linda, extremely stressed, out saying, "I know damn well this could cost us everything.  You don't have to tell me that.  You have to tell me how we can get out of this."

 

Over the next two weeks/month of TV, the McMahons are shown going nuts and the company is in disarray.  The McMahons lawyers tell them that they have done everything that they are accused of doing and are advised to set up a meeting and settle because if it goes to court, they are doomed.  They conference call Bischoff and Heyman and Heyman says, "Vince, you have always loved to live your life in front of the cameras, so we won't stop now.  We will have this discussion on Raw next week."  Of course, that Raw is two days before the trial.

 

That Monday on Raw, The McMahons, Bischoff and Heyman, along with their lawyers, meet in that very ring.  The McMahons offer a relatively small settlement.  Heyman and Bischoff counter that they will not budge from their combined one billion dollar demand.....unless they could have what they wanted all along, a wrestling company with stars and a TV slot.  They are not greedy.  They don't want to push Vince out of the business they way that he did to them, they just want what should be theirs and Vince's greed and gluttony will be what pays for it.

 

Bischoff and Heyman say that in order to drop their suits, they want the Raw and Heat television slots and all of the talent from their former respective companies (which would make it easier to balance the roster for a true split, for example by saying the Dudleys are ECW guys).  The McMahons have until the end of the show to accept or refuse this settlement.  If they refuse, see you in court on Wednesday.

 

After much angst through out the show, at 11:06, The McMahons finally agree to the demand, realizing that half a company is better than losing everything.  The show goes off the air with Bischoff and Heyman in the ring, smiling.  Bischoff says, "Fans, tune in next week for the first edition of...." Heyman jumps in and screams, "WECW MONDAY NIGHT RAW!!!"

 

Maybe in 2001, but I don't think that is the way to go now. Any other thoughts?

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The details of that angle would go over most smarks heads, just think how the 'marks' would look at it.

 

For that angle to work (within it's own established universe, I personally don't see it working _at all_, but if it were to work...) they would have to use a lot of video footage, a lot of newspaper articles, a lot of transcripts to let the fans know that "this actually happened", hell, they'd have to dedicate an ENTIRE SHOW _just_ to a broad history of all 3 companies and their relationships together.

[Guest JMA]

I think the idea could work--provided it's pulled off properly.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The probability of error with this sort of thing is HIGH (given the WWE's track record) and if it failed - the consequences could be fatal.

[Guest JMA]

The probability of error with this sort of thing is HIGH (given the WWE's track record) and if it failed - the consequences could be fatal.

True. I admit it would've worked better in 2001. But I believe the potential risk is worth it.

[Guest Retro Rob]

The general concept of his idea (minus all the corporate garbage) would have been GREAT back in 2001. I really don't think people give a shit about the "WECW" concept anymore. Plus if they were to put all the ex-WCW/ECW guys in the same fed, THEN the brand extension would really be unbalanced.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

The reason why Invasion failed is because Vince didn't get all big names people cared about and did stupid shit like sticking one of WCW's biggest stars, DDP, in a fucking retarded stalker angle.

 

Anway, Vince didn't kill WCW. AOL Time Warner killed WCW! And being a Bichoff fan like I am, I would love to see Eric have a position in WWE where he would have REAL power in the company.

[Guest Human Fly]

For an angle like this to work, it would have to be run as a totally seperate company. No advertising for SD!, no two brand ppv, and a writing staff that is totally different. If they were to let Bischoff and/or Heyman run the book then the "new brand" would have a totally different feel. Maybe even only run the new brand in old ECW and WCW towns (with the exception being MSG, if a company doesn't run there it will be looked at as inferior).

[Guest Gary Busey]

Nope. It'd be just as fake as Invasion 2001. It would just be more WWE vs WWE.

 

If they want to get an invasion going sometime in the future, they need to get a completely new wrestling company going that has nothing to do with the WWE.

 

Get something on Tuesday or Friday nights, booked by Heyman or Cornette, that is completely devoid of any mention of WWE at all and is a more traditional wrestling show. Skip the Sports Entertainment-- that's what WWE is for. Make it harder wrestling with more logical story's. Bring up the farm talent and "fire" some midcarders from WWE to establish it's own identity. No cross promotion is vital-- no characters or previous stories from any other company, and neither company should ever mention the other. Build up it's own characters, storylines, gimmicks, etc and then a year or two (or three) later, try an invasion. The companies must be completely separate, though, this can't be stressed enough.

 

It would work, it would just take a lot of planning. Hell, just upgrade OVW's production values and give them a slot on TV. I hear they do good things.

[Guest CanadianChick]

It could work. But if WWE wants to improve, I personally think they should focus their energy on feuds with wrestlers, and not authority. You just know that if this ever happened, we would get a VInce vs. Bishoff or Heyman match. DO you really want that?

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

2001 would have given them a safety net as they were still a successful company that could have afforded a monsterously botched angle (inVasion... which wasn't monsterously botched, it just seriously sucked cause Vince had no balls) but in terms of "the right time" storyline wise, this angle can be done now easily. As both Bischoffs and Heymans have tried to play Vince's game, work for the company, get paid etc etc. but at the end they both are made out to be jokes (esp. bisch). This is actually some pretty good motivation and it wouldn't take much to convince the fans.

 

The real problem comes in the execution and the details of the angle. This thing would have to be worked on for like 2 months -around the clock - with the first year planned out in its entirety. Not to mention convincing the fans to tune into a "non WWE property" as WECW (???) would be.

[Guest Mr Monday Night]

I like it... I would definately make sure the two shows have seperate "styles" I would like to see the Raw show LOOK like a ECW or WCW event, not a WWE attempt at immitating a Nitro or an ECW on TNN. You know?

[Guest Askewniverse]

The WWE doesn't necessarily need a big angle like this to turn itself around. There are some more simple things that they could do instead, such as:

 

- less screen time for the McMahons

- using simple, yet logical storylines

- less emphasis on the "WWE style"

- clean finishes in matches.

 

Then again, I'm just a cynical fan, so what do I know?

[Guest JMA]

The WWE doesn't necessarily need a big angle like this to turn itself around. There are some more simple things that they could do instead, such as:

 

- less screen time for the McMahons

- using simple, yet logical storylines

- less emphasis on the "WWE style"

- clean finishes in matches.

 

Then again, I'm just a cynical fan, so what do I know?

I'd say you know a lot.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

NO NO NO NO NO

 

 

No more of this authority figure shit. No more smarky shoots.

 

 

I WANT WRESTLING.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

I personally think it sucks. The shows would revolve around this and all of these non-wrestlers while it was going on.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

I personally think it sucks. The shows would revolve around this and all of these non-wrestlers while it was going on.

Exactly. This is just Scherer being a mark for Heyman, ECW, and a bunch of "names" whose name value has completely disappeared, whereas the WWE's has just dropped down a lot. The only thing this kind of angle can do is drive away fans who don't care about all this sort of nonsense.

[The Dames 0]

I wouldn't say that. Of course it would have to be focused on the non-wrestlers during the transition phase, but after that, it would be about the individual wrestlers on each show.

 

Dames

[Guest Retro Rob]

I think the biggest problem is that the "WECW" would consist of Goldberg, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner in the main events.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

The fact is WECW would suck. First it's a stupid name and they should just give up on the concept of WCW and ECW. Both are dead and buried. No need to piss on the graves anymore than you already have.

[Guest CanadianChris]

It couldn't possibly work. The only guys WWE has truly gotten behind are their homegrown stars...Rock, Angle, HHH, HBK, Taker, Kane, etc. With all those guys on one show, you'd have the other show with a whole bunch of guys who've received aborted and/or half-assed pushes in the recent past, who've been weakened in the eyes of the marks as a result. Ratings for Raw would go into the toilet within weeks.

[Guest JMA]

I think the biggest problem is that the "WECW" would consist of Goldberg, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner in the main events.

They wouldn't have to be in the main events. Hell, fire Nash, Steiner, and Goldberg. I'd put Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit in the main events.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Hardly the most original idea I have ever heard. It's been done, really, and it bombed badly because the WWE is not willing to make WCW look better than them.

 

That idea sucks, actually.

[Guest TheHulkster]

It would be extremely hard to suspend disbelief with this storyline. So he's trying to reccommend that Heyman and Bischoff go behind Vince's back all while being aired on WWE television in an attempt to sabatoge his company and then have those 2 come out to the middle of the ring during a WWE show, through security, and claim to take WWE's stars to form another company. Now read that again and tell me that has even the least bit basis in reality. Does he really think that the fans are that dumb that they wouldn't shit on that storyline? Then again, some fans make me wonder.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

It would be extremely hard to suspend disbelief with this storyline. So he's trying to reccommend that Heyman and Bischoff go behind Vince's back all while being aired on WWE television in an attempt to sabatoge his company and then have those 2 come out to the middle of the ring during a WWE show, through security, and claim to take WWE's stars to form another company. Now read that again and tell me that has even the least bit basis in reality. Does he really think that the fans are that dumb that they wouldn't shit on that storyline? Then again, some fans make me wonder.

This is the main problem with any of these pseudo-shoot "smart" storylines. To actually care about the storyline you would need to be a "smart" fan that knows all sorts of backstage nonsense, business history, etc.. But then, how are those sorts of fans supposed to take the worked part of the storyline seriously when they know what's really going on. Frankly, I think only the dumbest marks (meaning basically little kids that just recently got into wrestling) would believe everything happening is real, but what reason would they have to care about the storyline?

[Guest JMA]

It would be extremely hard to suspend disbelief with this storyline. So he's trying to reccommend that Heyman and Bischoff go behind Vince's back all while being aired on WWE television in an attempt to sabatoge his company and then have those 2 come out to the middle of the ring during a WWE show, through security, and claim to take WWE's stars to form another company. Now read that again and tell me that has even the least bit basis in reality. Does he really think that the fans are that dumb that they wouldn't shit on that storyline? Then again, some fans make me wonder.

Hell, the WWE expects fans to believe Kane would attempt to murder JR on live television. They also expected us to believe Angle would throw Austin off a bridge with weights attached. They even taped these two events. Not to mention all those times Kane and Taker used supernatural powers...

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

I think the foundation is actually pretty strong.

 

Bisch and Heyman sue McMahon for unfair business practices, for monopolizing the wrestling industry, and will take him to court and sue him for everything he has... or are willing to receive a settlement - which comes in the form of their own promotion - RAW, in this matter.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Really bad idea. Its like something Russo would come up with. Not only would it go over everyone's heads but it would further contrive the whole authority figure crap. The main thing is this wouldn't turn around ANYTHING. To turnaround the company they need to attract more outside, mainstream fans. They need a concept that will click. Hulkamania, nWo, Austin/Mcmahon. The only people that will care about this shit is die hard wrestling fans, and thats basically all that's left anyway. It will probably alienate the few casual fans left. Personally I think a more sports oriented, MMA type style is the way to go but what do I know I guess.