Nick and Jon: "Live" in New Jersey #45 - The WCW Sale Conspiracy Theory - 11/11/15

On January 11, 2001, the wrestling thought that Eric Bischoff bought World Championship Wrestling, along with a content distributor called Fusient Media Ventures. For almost 2 months, that seemed to be the case. The entire company was starting to restructure to change the mainstream wrestling scene once again. Creative directions were being fleshed out, new philosophies were beginning to be implanted, and a complete company reboot was looking to be set up for May 6, 2001, in Las Vegas, NV called The Big Bang.

However, on March 23, 2001, the World Wrestling Federation made the purchase to buy WCW from AOL/Time Warner for a fraction of what Fusient offered to pay for the company. All TV was off the networks TBS and TNT.

Why?

On Nick and Jon: “Live” in New Jersey, Nick Reigota and Jon Harder take the time to discuss all the ulterior motives behind a unique move in the world of television and wrestling. Thanks to an incredible thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1jza61/the_virtually_unknown_story_about_how_the_wwf_may/) by a Reddit user named SharkBoy247 (http://reddit.com/u/sharkboy247), Jon went into detail on everything that was theorized within the thread, with a little more news knowledge than the original thread reported. Could Sharkboy247 have been correct on his theory?

We theorize and attempt to show examples of Stu Snyder and Brad Siegel POSSIBLY conspiring to undercut Eric Bischoff and Fusient, utilize the Viacom exclusivity deal of WWF, try to showcase how BOTH had ins (Snyder was a former Turner exec, Brian Bedol and Tom Lassaly with Fusient worked with Time Warner), and how deep Fusient was in with their plans involving WCW outright. Also, the talks of finances come into play, as well as AOL/Time Warner’s financial issues immediately after the merger.

If you interested in a take involving a sale that changed wrestling forever and never has been the same since, please check out this edition of Nick and Jon: “Live” in New Jersey, as we present the WCW Sale Conspiracy Theory.

SOURCES USED:
http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2011/03/23/17723791.html
http://www.angelfire.com/wrestling/WCWNWO/bischoff.txt
http://money.cnn.com/2001/01/11/deals/wcw/
http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2000/wwe-corporate-wwe-entertainment-appoints-stuart-snyder-as-president-and-chief-operating-officer
http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2001/wwe-corporate-wwe-entertainment-inc-acquires-wcw-from-turner-broadcasting-cross-brand-storylines-to-create-intriguing-possibilities-for-fans-expected-to-increase-television-ratings-ppv-buys
https://web.archive.org/web/20010207211045/http://fusient.com/ Fusient.com web archive
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?_r=0 How the AOL-Time Warner Merger Went So Wrong
http://www.oocities.org/colosseum/arena/9893/wcw_sale3.htm - Bob Ryder Quotes, 2001 via Tom Zenk
http://alternativenation.net/interview-eric-bischoff-ted-turner-wcw-2001-nash-hall-contracts - Eric Bischoff interview, AlternativeNation.net
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ga/762297 - Universal Wrestling Corporation
Controversy Creates Cash by Eric Bischoff
The Death of WCW (both original and 10th Anniversary Edition) by RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez
Stealing Time by Alec Klein
http://wxf.forumcommunity.net/?t=35418395 – Wrestling Observer Eyada Archive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_tq0nhgjC4 - WCW was sabotaged w- Kevin Sullivan, Chris Kanyon, Vince Russo, & Kevin Nash, YouTube
Email answer from Scott Hudson, former WCW announcer