No dia de hoje em 2001 a WWF comprou a WCW.

STAMFORD, Conn., March 23, 2001 - World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF) today announced its purchase of the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) brand from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS Inc.), a division of AOL Time Warner.
The purchase of WCW creates a tag team partnership with the World Wrestling Federation brand that is expected to propel the sports entertainment genre to new heights.
In keeping with the company's strategic alliance with Viacom, new WCW programming is anticipated to air on TNN in the near future. The possibility of cross-brand storylines and intrigue, however, may start as early as Monday night during WWF Raw Is War on TNN and the final performance of WCW Monday Nitro Live on Turner Network Television (TNT).
The binding agreement provides World Wrestling Federation Entertainment with the global rights to the WCW brand, tape library, and other intellectual property rights.
"This acquisition is the perfect creative and business catalyst for our company," said Linda McMahon, Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. "This is a dream combination for fans of sports entertainment. The incendiary mix of World Wrestling Federation and WCW personalities potentially creates intriguing storylines that will attract a larger fan base to the benefit of our advertisers and business partners, and propel sports entertainment to new heights."
"The acquisition of the WCW brand is a strategic move for us," said Stuart Snyder, President and Chief Operating Officer for World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. "We are assuming a brand with global distribution and recognition. We are adding thousands of hours to our tape library that can be repurposed for home videos, television, Internet streaming, and broadband applications. The WCW opens new opportunities for growth in our Pay Per View, live events, and consumer products divisions, as well as the opportunity to develop new television programming using new stars. We also will create additional advertising and sponsorship opportunities. In short, it is a perfect fit."
Following that, WCW head Brad Siegel, who had become hated amongst WCW employees for essentially not letting his employees know what was going on, issued the following memo internally.
"Today, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. is announcing that we have reached an agreement for the sale of WCW. This agreement with WWF holds tremendous potential for the WCW brand and assets. The press release announcing the news is attached.
As we told you last week, WCW programming will not appear on TNT and TBS Superstation after March 27. We will share more information with you about the WWF's immediate plans for WCW in the all-staff meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, at 10 a.m. at the Power Plant. Thank you."
Linda McMahon and Stuart Snyder, WWF's President and COO, held a press conference call later that day. Dave Scherer filed the following recap of the conference:
When asked for the purchase price of WCW, Linda said that she would not address that and would respect AOL's privacy policy on that.
When asked about contracts of wrestlers, Linda said that they would be assuming some of the contracts, but not all. That is part of the final details that the sides are working out now.
Any old WCW advertising deals that AOL had are their problems, not the WWF's.
Linda said that creating more wrestling product for WCW was exciting, not a daunting task.
When asked if they would have separate TV deals, PPVs, etc., Linda said that they plan to have the company retain it's identity as WCW. She said that they don't have any plans in place yet for where WCW will air. Linda was asked if this was their "crowning achievement" and she said it was a good acquisition today, but she didn't know if it was a crowning achievement.
She was asked what wrestlers they would bring in and she said, again, that she didn't want to say who, as she said above. But she said to expect exciting things from this.
When asked about what to expect, she made a key point of saying that they will create more PPV revenue down the road, as well as having more money created through the old footage they acquired. She also said that we can expect WCW PPVs, very soon or down the road. The WWF will use the power of their brand to promote the product.
When asked about the WCW finances, Stuart Snyder said that there weren't any surprises when he looked at the books and that the bad health of the company has been widely reported. He said that when the WWF joined negotiations this time (for the second time), things moved quickly. He said that when they talked about buying the company last year, they had TV exclusivity issues with Viacom,
They said that the XFL had nothing to do with them doing this.
Linda said that they expected to re-launch the brand on a Viacom property. She said to watch Monday because they may have a tease as to when programming could start.
Linda was asked how much programming they will do for WCW and she said that it hasn't been decided yet.
When asked if the deal would have an affect on WrestleMania, Linda said, "You know better!" Obviously, she won't give that away.
As for licensing and agreement deals, Snyder said they will take some of them. He said that it will take a week or so to work that out.
When asked if there was a chance this could fall apart, Linda said they signed a binding letter and the deal will be finalized next week. It will not fall apart.
Linda was asked how they would rework the WCW product. She said that the creative team would be given a chance to "wrap their arms around it".
When she was asked about starting a wrestling channel, she said it's not imminent now, but it could be down the road.
Linda said it was not a stock deal.
When asked if Nitro will be rewritten for Monday, she said that all she can say is that there are talks going on right now between the two creative teams.
When asked if the WWF had anything to do with WCW programming being canceled, Snyder said that they were negotiating before the programs were cancelled. He said that when they got back into the dealings, canceling programming was needed to be done, due to their connections with Viacom. That would mean that AOL chose selling WCW to the WWF over Fusient.
Snyder said that they began talking with AOL again about three and a half weeks ago. He said that the WWF had always had interest and once it became available, they took advantage of it.
When asked if developmental people and former ECW talents would appear on the new WCW show, she said it was possible, but she was not sure at this point. She again said that the creative team needs to get its arms around it and take it from there.
When asked if the WWF would take over WCW lawsuits, Snyder said no.
The final caller asked that if a worker playing a gimmick, like Sting, didn't want to come to the WWF, would another person play Sting. Snyder said it was too soon to say. Obviously, that never happened.
While it was mentioned that they did intend to keep WCW as a separate entity, although many had their doubts (which would later be proven correct). Ric Flair summed up the feelings of most when he said that he never thought he'd see the day that WCW didn't exist, although he would later admit to being happy about seeing the company sold to the WWF.
The WCW meeting would see the staff let go - they were not even allowed to return to their desks for their personal items, as they were immediately walked out of CNN Center after the meeting; one staffer lost an entire screenplay he had been writing on a company computer.
A WWE Human Resources staffer was present and the former WCW employees were allowed to submit applications for work with WWE. Very few were actually hired.